My hand and jaw were begging for ice by the time I made it to the markets. I went to one of the more expensive fish mongers who could afford to buy the stuff from the artisan sects who controlled the precious commodity and asked if I could borrow a little. The woman had a look of revulsion when she saw my face and probably gave me the ice just so I could stop bleeding all over her catch.

I wrapped the ice in a cloth she gave me and pressed it soothingly to my jaw while also using [Pain soothes the Frenzied Flame]. My innards felt spent from all the channeling and I could feel my cot beckoning me. No more studying tonight, I thought. My body was calling the shots now and I had abused it for too long. But there was still one last piece of work I needed to do. I approached the tool smith from earlier and he had the same look of revulsion on his face as the fish monger.

“What did you do?” he said. “Try to rob someone to get the money?”

“Eh,” I mumbled with my busted jaw. “Was just setting a date for a future engagement.”

He furrowed his brow.

“Nevermind. You said that axe was half a tael. Only a week’s wage, right?”

“I told you I’m not staying here long. Especially not a week. Pay now or forget it. I’m done my rotation through the districts. I’m headed home tonight.”

“I’ll pay you in week’s worth of work then.”

“Eh?”

“You heard me,” I said, borrowing a line from Threja’s vocabulary. “You’re a smith. You must have a furnace to run. A lot of wood that needs chopping. Maybe even a tree or two? Or some iron that needs lugging here or there?”

I probably could have found a dozen other ways to scrape together the half-a-tael I needed to buy the axe, but I needed to obtain resources that went far beyond mere money now. I’d just signed a check I knew I couldn’t cash when it came to Hein. Not yet anyway.

As annoying as the little punk was, he was still a Foundation Realm cultivator with years more experience than I had. More than that, he was a clan member in the Silver Leaf Sect, which meant he’d been trained in mystic kung fu since before he could even walk. Still, I was pleased that I’d stuck to my path. No backing down. Now all that was left to do was to gain the strength to back up my words and for that I needed opportunities that would provide me with the means to grow.

“I’m not looking for an apprentice,” the man said.

“And I’m not looking to be a smith. I’m just looking for some hard larbor to pay off the debt for obtaining that fine piece of Qi-steel right there.” I pointed to the axe. “So can you help me out?”

I focused what little Frenzy I had left into [Strugglers Resolve].

I recalled its description in my memory and hoped it would work.

[Struggler’s Resolve] – the path of the struggler is forever filled with tribulation. This technique will convert your Frenzy into an iron will of determination that even others can feel and see.

After staring at him with it for almost a minute, he finally just threw his hands up and said, “Alright fine. My forge is in Misato Village, in the artisan district, right on the edge of the forest. I suppose I could use an early restocking of the lumber piles before winter sets in.” He then set to writing something on a piece of paper and handed it to me. “Show that to the enforcers when you arrive. It’ll grant you permission to enter the district. Tell them you are looking for Master Edrik.”

I smiled and gave him a bow. “Thank you, Master Edrik. I’ll be there first thing in the morning.”

* * *

I knew something was wrong the minute I entered the square.

The normal amount of people were there, but it wasn’t lively, or at least not anymore. It looked like I’d just missed a party. But not the good kind. Food and splinters of wooden furniture lay strewn all across the ground. A few of the storefronts lining the square had their windows busted in and people were milling about as if in a daze. Then came the familiar sense of hate and fear as all eyes turned on me.

Something wet and slimy hit me on the back and I saw a rotten peach hit the ground next to my foot. I turned to see one of my neighbors, a black girl around Yu Li’s age scowling at me.

“There he is! It’s him!”

The crowd riled up and began pelting bits of random crap at me while shouting in a fervor.

“Go apologize now!”

“You did all this to us, Chun!”

“Look! Hein must have beaten him already!”

“Apologize to Master Hein!”

“Apologize you dumb bastard!”

Through the chaos, Yu Li found me, grabbing my arm. “Chun, look at this! They all hate us now!”

I noted then that even Yu Li was being pelted by the fruits and vegetables as she cradled Su Ling to her chest, the baby crying and adding more confusion to the chaos. I shielded them both as best I could as the physical and verbal assault continued.

“What happened?” I said. Although I didn’t really need to ask. I just needed confirmation. “Did Hein do all this?”

Yu Li scowled and then crouched down to pick something off of the tarmac. She thrust it into my hands and when I looked, I saw it was a printed leaflet.

Residents of D Block, Native Housing District

In one months time, I shall return to this domain for an official apology from the two offenders, Chun and Yu Li who have tarnished my honor and insulted my family. As a community, you shall, at noon, gather to witness this event and shall also apologize for harboring such insolent natives within your sect. Upon apology from all parties, I will be merciful and pardon these transgressions. Should any party fail to apologize, however, there shall be further consequences.

The merciful, Master Hein, of the Silver Leaf Clan

I laughed out loud the moment I finished reading. No wonder he’d been so pissed-off when I checkmated him. He didn’t just announce his ‘Apology Party’ to his men, he put it in writing and sent an invite to the whole damn square. “That ass went through the trouble of making flyers? No wonder it took him four days to come and—”

“Chun!” Yu Li nudged me with her elbow. “Are you even here right now? Look at all this. Look at what you’ve caused!”

I let out a sigh. Something else stirred within me as I endured my neighborhood’s collective ire. Sadness. As much as I was trying to do all this to protect them, they still couldn’t see past the fear and I couldn’t blame them. I’d done nothing to earn their trust as yet, but I would.

I picked a table from off its side and jumped on top of it.

It made me an even bigger target and the pelting increased.

“Hear me out!” I shouted to them. When they wouldn’t stop I converted some of that ire in the air into frenzy and then repeated again with [Fear the Flame], “Hear me out, I said!”

The result was immediate.

The pelting stopped and they all looked me like I was some kind of madman. And hell, maybe they were right. I then switched to [Struggler’s Resolve] to hopefully convey that what I was about to say next was indeed my word.

“I know you’re all angry and maybe scared too,” I said. “But you’re right. What Master Hein did here today, was indeed all because of me.” And totally unacceptable, I wanted to add, but I didn’t want to take the speech in that direction. “I take full responsibility for what has happened. And as such, I will promise you this. I will on that day one month from now, be here to take full responsibility for everything. And when that day is over, I promise you that you will no longer bear the ire of Young Master Hein.”

The reception went about as well as I figured it would.

The curses and food throwing resumed along with a call for me to apologize right away. But it didn’t matter. I had made my proclamation and my path was now bound by my own word. I jumped off the table and landed next to Yu Li.

“Don’t worry about this. I got a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Best get Su Ling out of this mob,” I said, pushing her towards the safety of an overturned vegetable cart. “They’ll calm down eventually.”

I didn’t wait for her to respond and instead drew everyone’s friendly fire by throwing my hand into the air and waving to them with an asinine smile. The word Chun was spat out like a mantra as I parted the crowd and made my way towards my apartment, enduring their insults with [indifference] and shoring my mind with [Struggler’s Resolve].

I smiled inwardly at the abuse though.

I’m on my way, Big Sis.

I’d found my first struggle on my path towards greatness. And with the amount of frenzy I’d need to unleash to defeat Hein, I was probably going to need as much struggle as I could endure to keep the demon in check.

* * *

After getting a quick wash in the communal bathroom, I crashed onto my cot and let the pain of the day finally sink in. My jaw felt like it was the size of a house and body was on fire from all the pain. As I started to stiffen up, I thought I could feel just the tiniest bit of frenzy still present within me. It wasn’t being generated by anything though, and yet there it was—a small flicker of frenzy tucked away in hidden flame of my dantian. I smiled. I realized I had just managed to take my first step towards frenzy storage. It wasn’t much, but it was a start and one day, flame willing, it would grow to become a solid core.

The small progress filled me with a renewed vigor and somehow I got the energy to roll out of my cot and retrieved the orb. I know I’d already promised myself not to study tonight, but I just couldn’t help it. I had a full day of hard labor ahead of me, a neighborhood that hated me and a mid-tier Qi cultivator who probably wanted me dead.

I had to use every second I had to stay one step ahead. I found the section on body refinement and studied as much as I could before my eyes finally grew heavy and I drifted off into oblivion.