Over the next four days, I focused on creating my master plan while studying the orb, cultivating frenzy and practicing every technique I could. I started with the stances, repeating the small movements over and over by shifting between them. I then added in some of the more advanced techniques, which involved just a bit more movement but mostly all internal opening and closings of meridians. It actually became more of a mental workout than physical to memorize each sequence correctly. I began by doing just ten repetitions of each technique at a time, but then slowly worked my way up to doing fifty before having to take a break. During the breaks I would ‘rest’ by cultivating more Frenzy to mend my arm.

I kept the routine going, hour after hour, day after day.

By the third day my arm had stopped hurting and by the fourth I amazingly had full use of it again and could even perform a push-up or two in between my technique practice.

Although I had expected a somewhat faster healing process using the technique, I was honestly shocked by just how effective it was. Cultivation was way more powerful than I even thought. I had expected my arm to be in a sling for weeks, but now it had nearly fully healed in only days. The gash in my side was still coming though. Although I felt it getting better with my constant use of the [Pain soothes the Frenzied Flame] technique it would perhaps take a bit longer to heal than my arm. Or maybe I just needed a lot more frenzy.

I found that while I could generate some frenzy on my own using the [Frenzied Flame] technique and focusing on what happened to me in my past, the results were minuscule. It seemed, just like with the limitations of the absorption techniques, I needed active, real-time interaction to make it work.

So much for brooding my way to immortality, I thought.

On the plus side, the cut on my cheek was scabbing over nicely and would add a fine bonus to my [Fear the Flame] technique once it formed a scar, or so the finer details of the technique explained anyway.

When using the technique, seek always to impose your might through the beholding of your form alone. A hulking physique is superior in this regard and wear not elaborate robes or thick armor, for they are a sign of weakness or the reliance on artifacts. Display instead your bare form and let your enemy see the scars of battle you have already survived and how willing your are, to endure yet more, to ensure his defeat.

Yup, Threja had gotten that one down pat, I thought.

I read further into the manual seeking the best ways to progress and generate frenzy. While I couldn’t find anything specific, I did find somewhat of an answer hinted at in the 189th Shura.

Shura 189

Think it no mystery that many Flames are kindled upon the field of battle, for there is no better place to harness one’s strength then within the thralls of combat.

That’s all it said, but the message was pretty clear and made a lot of sense too. Getting into fights, getting my ass kicked and eventually kicking other people’s asses was probably the best way to generate frenzy. I cracked a grin. Too bad I hadn’t learned the [Your Rage is my Strength] technique before picking that fight with Hein. I probably missed out on massive amounts of Frenzy with how badly I pissed him off.

Still, getting into random fights with cultivators probably wasn’t a good idea. Immortal pecking order and all that. I had already painted a bullseye on my back and maybe for the whole neighborhood too. No way could I go adding more without gaining more strength. But how do I gain more frenzy without getting into actual fights?

And then it hit me as quick as Hein’s backhand to my face. What the hell was I thinking? Cultivators traveled lightyears to come here and do just that, to train by not fighting people, but monsters. And my job gave me front row access.

The thought caused my flame to stir.

Not that I would expect to generate much rage fighting a monster, but I’m sure a lot of fear and pain might be involved. I grinned like a maniac and suddenly understood Threja’s suicidal thinking a bit more. I couldn’t wait to get back to work now. Although I’d need to find a weapon of some kind first. And then I’d need a way to sneak it in and out of the proving grounds with me. Or maybe I could throw it over the wall and just stash it outside. But then I’d also need a way to somehow find and fight my own monsters all while hiding it from my client.

Okay slow down, I told myself. One problem at a time.

Before I could even think of doing any of that, I needed to heal up and then at least get strong enough to not die in a single bite from something. And to do that I needed to reach the 3rd Tier and Qi Body Refinement. Or Frenzy Body Refinement for me, I supposed. But I’d studied the orb and there wasn’t anything that spoke specifically to that. It was written like an advanced text where the basics of cultivation methodology was already assumed to be understood and well known. And while I had a fairly good understanding of the Body Refinement Realm from school, I got kicked out long before the Foundation classes. Maybe I was doing something wrong. Or was missing something completely. Hell, I didn’t even know how to tell when or if I had broken through to the 3rd tier or not.

I sighed and wished I hadn’t been such a dumb ass back in school.

But there was one person I knew who definitely wasn’t a dumbass when it came to all this stuff. I cursed myself for not going to visit her sooner and for more reasons than one. Bouncing out of my cot, I threw on a freshly laundered overcoat complements of Yu Li, and then headed for the door.

It was time to go check on Mu Lin.

* * *

I realized I hadn’t been out of my room in days. Yu Li had continued to ‘apologize’ by bringing me dinner each night from the square. And thank goodness for that too. I had almost considered investing in a stove and cooking pot just so I could stay in my room and keep studying by cooking my own food, but that type of thing was more suited for country living, like the people who lived and worked on the farms. In urban areas like these, there just wasn’t the space for it, plus I’d probably just end up burning down the place eventually. It was much easier and cheaper to buy freshly cooked meals from the vendors each day.

Plus, they knew how to cook and I didn’t.

The whole concept made me think about just how much the cultivators had set us back as a people. We had the damn Internet and Door Dash, and now here we were living like peasants back in stone ages, eating half-rotten meat and cooking with wood and fire. I often wondered why that was. The cultivators had achieved space travel, yet still they forced their society to live in such a crude and backwards way. Or at least that’s how we were forced to live, down here on the surface. I glared up at the giant pagoda again.

Perhaps that’s how the cultivators truly maintained their control.

It was mid-afternoon now and as I walked through the square, I felt several sets of eyes fall on me. I knew most everyone by name and they knew me, but when I greeted them they either looked away quickly or pretended they didn’t see me at all.

I didn’t even need to sense their fear to know what they were thinking: Dead man walking, here’s the guy who’s going to get himself killed by the Silver Leaf Sect and take us all with him.

I tried to use [Your Fear is my Strength] on them but either I hadn’t mastered the technique quite yet or their fear just wasn’t the right type to absorb, or maybe range was thing. Didn’t matter though. That kind of fear was a shitty way to collect frenzy, I decided.

I recognized the old man who had tipped his hat to me earlier however and he gave me a friendly smile and a polite bow. Strangely I sensed fear from him as well. But it was different. If fear tasted like lemons, then this was more like lemonade. I almost dismissed it as just an oddity at first until I recalled the description from the [Fear the Flame] technique. With my Focus of the Mind mastery I could recall the text with near perfect clarity.

[Fear the Flame] – the simple bearing of one’s fangs is sometimes all that is required to defeat one’s foe. Gather your frenzy and with a mere look or phrase, exert your dominance and feed from the fears of your enemies or bolster the resolve of your allies.

If Fear could also work on your allies, then maybe this was a positive form of fear… like reverence maybe, or respect, or awe? Whatever it was if felt kind of cool and when I tried [Your Fear is my Strength] again as I passed by him, I was rewarded with a tiny burst of frenzy.

That put a bit of pep in my step, both literally and figuratively as I sent the frenzy directly to my still slightly aching legs.

* * *

Mu Lin’s place was just a block or so over, past an abandoned gas station and nestled within what was once an apartment block, but to get to it, I had to pass through the central market first.

The familiar scent of wood smoke from the food vendors immediately caught my nose, mixing with the more earthy aromas of livestock and fresh produce brought in from the farms. There were perhaps a few thousand people in the large open space, that I think used to be the parking lot of a strip mall. The sounds of buying and selling echoed through the air—shouting and haggling, the squealing of pigs and the crowing of roosters before they were quickly silenced by the falling chop of a cleaver. It was a den of chaos and confusion, yet somehow the exchange of coin for goods occurred seamlessly and without turmoil or strife. That was perhaps due to the imperial guard who stood watch over the market as well as the black veiled enforcers who roamed through the crowds.

I stayed well clear of them, more from habit than from having a lighting core being stashed on me this time. I pushed against the sea of bodies as I passed by carts piled full of various herbs, vegetables and grains. There wasn’t a lot of variety, but what was there looked fresh. I found someone selling persimmons and dropped a few coppers to buy a bag full.

A cultivator yelling at the top of his lungs drew my attention. He was dressed in the neutral-colored robes of the imperial dynasty, beige and off white and stood on a small dais. Flanking him were several enforcers who kept a watch over the crowd while thrumming their bamboo clubs on their palms.

“Tired of being a commoner? Wish to join a sect and gain immortality?” he shouted while tossing sheets of paper into the crowd. “Find your courage and fight in the Tournament of Mortal Champions! Become a citizen of the Dynasty!”

I was about to steer clear when the cultivator leaned forward and slapped one of the sheets of paper to my chest. “Hey! You look like a scrapper!” he said pointing at the scab on my cheek. “Take it. Many offers of citizenship this year. A special event too. You might be victorious. Who knows?”

I gave him a polite smile and bow in front of the enforcers and then gave the paper a quick glance before tucking it away into my overcoat. It was the same crap as every year, except there was some special expo with high level Cultivators coming from the core worlds. I suppose that could be entertaining, but for me that probably meant a whole lot more work as a handler. Then the thought hit me. More excursions made for more opportunity for me to train and fight monsters. That could be a good thing.

As I strolled away a smirk of confidence curled my lip. I didn’t need to join their damn Sects to become immortal now. I had my own path to power. Still, an opportunity to battle low tier cultivators might be a good way to grow my skills too.

Or a good way to expose yourself as a follower of the Frenzied Flame, I thought more sardonically.

I sighed. Too bad the prize wasn’t something more valuable, like tons of money. It might be worth the risk then. But citizenship? To hell with that. I was trying to tear down the Dynasty, not join it. Just as I was about to leave the market, I spotted something that caught my attention far more than the tournament did.

An artisan cultivator from one of the smithing sects had set up shop. This was a rarity of sorts as most of the smiths stayed within the artisan district, selling their goods there. But from time to time, one would venture out the sell their wares on the road. There were no weapons to be had of course. As ‘lowly commoners’ we weren’t able to carry real weapons. But what constituted a weapon was all in the eye of the beholder.

“Afternoon,” I greeted the man with a short bow. “How much for that wood cutting axe?”

The man glanced behind him to his collection of logging and farming tools on display. He was middle aged and fit looking, with a good bit of muscle and a completely bald head. He had a beard but part of it was patchy, which kind of reminded me of that cultivator I had fought. But the hair didn’t seem to be pulled out. On closer inspection it looked like the patch was due to a burn and the scar tissue had now scabbed over, preventing hair growth.

“That one is half a tael,” he said.

“That much?”

“It’s made with Qi imbued steel. 2nd tier grading.” He lifted the axe, which had a sizable shaft but a relatively small blade. Not ideal, but it would do. As I took it from him, it felt much lighter than I would have expected it to.

“You could cut forever with that blade,” he said smiling at his own handiwork. “It will never dull. Hells, with an axe of this quality, it will practically chop the wood for you.”

I handed it back to him. “Seems nice, but a bit out of my price range. Got anything a little cheaper?”

He jerked his head back as if offended. “I only produce quality wares. And for a good price. You cannot find cheaper. Besides it’s barely a week’s wage!”

Or a month’s rent, I thought to myself. I barely had enough money left to eat for the month, much less afford this. Still, what he said was true. A Qi infused tool like this was rare to come by, especially at this price. I laughed inwardly at my predicament. If there was an easy way to convert that lightning core into cash, I could probably afford to buy the whole damn district, but here I was sweating over half a tael.

“How long will you be here?” I asked.

“Just for today,” he said.

That figured.

“Hold it for me then. I’ll be back for it later.”

I left the market with no idea how I was going to afford it, but if I’d learned one thing from Threja it was to not let an opportunity pass. One way or another, I was going to get that axe and then I was going to go fight monsters with it.

The human variety too.