The next day I was up and at it early again.

I resisted the urge to resume reading the manuals, my mind still hungry for more knowledge, but I knew if I started reading, I’d probably end up spending the whole day with my nose in a book. And with the start of the Wooden Bracket tournament just five days away, I couldn’t afford to do that.

I needed to prioritize my time wisely.

I made it into work with a few minutes to spare and used the extra time to have a quick powwow with my team. Yi Fu, Ren and Rho stared up at me attentively as I called them together and I couldn’t help but feel a mixture of guilt and pride as I looked at the three kids. Guilt for how badly I’d been neglecting them in pursuit of my own goals, but pride for how well they had progressed regardless.

“Okay listen up,” I said. “You guys have been doing great. You’ve all been able to manage the clients pretty well on your own while I’ve been out scouting, but now it’s time to take it to the next level.”

They all looked at me expectantly and I felt like even more of a heel for what I was about to ask them to do next. Although it would result in the outcome I would promise, the motivation for it was completely selfish again.

“You’re getting to the stage now where you can take clients out on your own, but I want to ensure you can do completely solo before I tell Sumatra.”

“Seriously?” Yi Fu said looking excited. “Will it be more pay if we can do that?”

I shrugged. “Probably not. Sumatra’s a pretty cheap guy, but you’ll at least have a bit more freedom to do what you want when out in the wild. And trust me, that can be a reward in and of itself.”

And I should know, I almost wanted to add. I’ve been abusing it this whole time. Damn, maybe pursuing cultivation was really turning me into an ahole.

“So this is what’s going to happen,” I said, breaking myself out of the negative train of thought. “For the next week, when I take you guys out, I’m going to hand the clients over to you as normal, but I’ll be moving much further away. I want you to be able to operate like I’m not even there.”

“But you still will be right?” Rho asked looking nervous.

I chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell Sumatra to give us low-end clients so we won’t end up in any place hairy. But yes, I’ll be there, but you probably won’t see me. I want you to gain the confidence you need to survive out there on your own.”

That part was true. They did need to break off from me at some point and honestly, with the amount of solo time I’d given them already they would probably be fine. Still, I felt a bit nervous about it—like a parent about to send their kid off too school for the first time or something.

Although it probably wouldn’t feel much different to them, for me it would be taking my supervision from afar aspect to an all new height—or perhaps depth, depending on how you looked at it. The training I needed to do was intense and I had to maintain complete focus. Where I was maybe checking on them every hour or so before, I needed to trust that they’d be ok so that I could spend as much time as possible leaning my Kung Fu.

“We’ll meet up at the end of the day,” I said. “Until then, I’m trusting you guys to take care of the clients on your own.”

All three of them beamed with pride as they gave me polite bows.

“Yes, Elder Brother!”

I felt unworthy of the lemonade they spewed, but I had to put that to the back of my mind. I had to have complete focus if I was going to advance. Still, I made a promise to reward them for this someday, somehow. Even though they didn’t know it, these three kids were helping me tremendously along my path.

“Let’s get to it then,” I said with a smile, reinforcing them with confidence as I laid on [Struggler’s Resolve]. “We got a long day of work ahead.”

* * *

Once we got back into the wild, I found a relatively calm area of the forest with C and D class monsters and let my team loose. I then booked it about a mile away, to an area close to some Belrugs that I could use for fast frenzy generation.

Finally, I sat in lotus position and recalled the next six forms within the Axe technique manual. They were all various types of attacks, most involving spinning movements and juggling my axe from hand to hand to confuse the enemy. None of them resembled anything like my crude [Three Log Chop] and [One Chop Cleave] techniques. While those were powerful and effective against things like monsters, they were pretty slow and easy to dodge. These skills on the other hand, were designed to fight other martial artists, using feigns and misdirection to expose weaknesses.

I started as I did the day before, practicing the forms slowly at first to master the movements and then picked up speed once I got it down, before repeating them over and over again. Hours flew by as I practiced all day, but I managed to get down three of the last six forms, fueling my training with frenzy as I did so.

I wasn’t sure if it was normal practice to “speed-train” I decided to call it, but it was effective. I was sacrificing using my frenzy gained from killing the Belrugs to speed my muscle memory instead of using it to develop my inner flame. All in all, I considered it a good tradeoff though, but performing the maneuvers at ten times the speed was exhausting.

By the time I met back up with Yi Fu, Ren and Rho I was completely spent, but was happy to see that they had managed just fine without me checking up on them. That gave me confidence to continue my training regime throughout the week. When I got home, I barely had enough energy left to study, but I got at least an hour in, researching the path to lightning techniques, before I eventually passed out.

I repeated everything the same the next day with me learning the next three techniques. The day after that I finally started putting everything together. I was truly beginning to appreciate the notion of mental capacity now. Although I had trained my body to perform the motions, keeping all twelve of the forms straight in my mind was a challenge and putting them together even more so.

I tried a simple combination routine of shifting between Fourth, Eleventh, First and Eight form, and completely screwed it up, winding up spending a full ten seconds just standing still wandering what the hell I should be doing next.

I took a break after that and began to question if I were truly making decent progress or not. As I sat in lotus in the middle of a grassy clearing, I searched further within the Axe manual through my mind’s eye. I had learned all twelve forms now, but they were merely the basics. The next section was combining those forms into true techniques. There had to be a couple dozen of them, listed simply by name and attached with the corresponding form combinations.

[Sliding Guard Break] for example was a shift to the left using [1st Form], a quick turn before advancing using [4th Form] and then a series of diagonal chops using [9th Form] and [10th Form] before spinning and retreating with [3rd form]. It sounded simple on paper, but again when I tried to put it into action, I was fumbling all over myself.

“Damn it!” I cursed loudly as I collapsed onto my ass, tripping over my feet.

Maybe I didn’t have the forms down as good as I thought.

Or maybe it was just too much to remember in too little time.

After all, it took years to master this stuff, right?

I was trying to do it in a week.

Still, I was mere days away from my first real tournament match and I had to get this right. I beathed deeply and considered where I was in my overall progression now, forming the tables inside the manuals within my mind’s eye.

Foundation Establishment

1st

Qi Gathering

2nd

Qi Channeling

3rd

Qi Body Refinement

4th

Qi Mental Refinement

5th

Qi concentration

6th

Qi Manifestation (internal)

7th

Qi Manifestation (external)

8th

Qi Condensing

9th

Qi Hardening

Considering what I could actually do now, perhaps I had progressed much more than I thought in total. In my foundation training I had already achieved internal and external manifestation and was able to condense Qi, or frenzy competently. That left only a single step of frenzy hardening before I was able to advance to the core realm. Although if I recalled Threja’s teaching as well as the orb’s I still needed to conquer the Fear of Certain Death to make that breakthrough happen. I wasn’t sure what that would even entail, but to get there did I need to fully master all the steps within Foundation mastery first?

That had me recalling the tables for Body Refinement and Metal Refinement next.

Body Refinement Category

Stages

Description

Muscle Strengthening

I to V

Increases your passive casual strength and your ability to do damage through frenzy infused techniques. At 1st stage you will be at peak natural conditioning. At 3rd stage you will have the strength of ten men. At level 5th stage you are able to snap steel as easily as twigs in your palms. Train by infusing frenzy with strenuous exercise.

Reflex Sharpening

I to V

Increases the swiftness at which your body moves and reacts. At 1st stage you will be at peak natural conditioning. At 3rd stage you can snatch arrows out of the air. At 5th stage you are able to run faster than a swallow and move a blade quicker than the eye can see. Train by infusing frenzy into quick attacks and actions which test your speed and coordination.

Body Hardening

I to V

Increases the durability and harness of your skin and bones. At 1st stage you will be peak at natural conditioning. At 3rd stage you can resist flames and the blows of dull objects. At 5th stage your body has become as strong as iron and can resist most blades and even arrows. Train by using frenzy to mend your broken skin and bones.

Internal Strengthening

I to V

Increases the body’s ability to withstand prolonged exertion, toxins and the strain of high-level frenzy infused techniques. At 1st stage you will be at peak natural conditioning. At 3rd stage you can consume strong spirits without intoxication. At 5th stage your body can utilize multiple techniques at once without ill effects. Train by using frenzy to mitigate the effects of toxins and by performing techniques that use high bursts of frenzy.

Mental Refinement Category

Stages

Description

Mental Capacity

I to V

Increases your ability to store, retain and recall information. At 1st stage you will be at peak natural conditioning. At 3rd stage you have the ability to recall small portions of information with complete clarity. At level 5th stage you are able to recall several tomes worth of information with clarity. Train by memorizing techniques, texts and transcribing the same.

Mental Quickness

I to V

Increases the swiftness at which you can recall and correlate information you have retained. At 1st stage you will be at peak natural conditioning. At 3rd stage you can quickly recall and correlate information, even under duress. At 5th stage you are able to perform complex computations with ease and correlate information with the subconscious mind. Train by performing calculations or split decision making while under duress.

I could confidently say I was around level IV in all of my Body Refinement categories now thanks to all the monsters I was killing in between my practice sessions. And with the “Speed-Training” methods I was likely closing in on level V when it came to Reflex Sharpening.

My Mental Refinement was similarly advanced. When I had first read the table in the orb I was wondering how I was even going to train that, but memorizing the various manuals, recalling them and now putting them into practice by learning the forms had caused me to advance to at least stage IV in each.

I eased back on my elbows and stared up at the sky as I reflected on all of my accomplishments. I could hardly believe it to be honest. If I tallied everything up, I was what cultivators would call being a half-step away from being a Core Realm Cultivator already. For someone who’d been a Qi dummy for years just a few weeks ago, it was almost too hard to believe.

Had I truly advanced so quickly? Or was the method of gaining frenzy just that much more powerful than Qi. Regardless which was true, I had pushed far beyond what my fake core was telling people now. And that meant that I was likely much, much stronger than anyone I would face in the Wooden Bracket. That meant that even winning it should be a cake walk, but I knew that already, even before I knew I was this strong. The purpose of fighting in the Wooden Bracket was not for me to get stronger but to become more skilled. And at that, I think I was still at barely a novice level.

I huffed out a sigh. Only two days left until I’d I know for sure whether I had learned anything useful or not. Practicing forms from a book was one thing, but being able to employ them in combat, knowing which ones to use and how to counter someone else’s techniques was something completely new to me. Hell, even the little kids I would be up against would have more experience at it than me.

Still, I made a decision.

If I was going to learn, then I needed to pay the full price. That meant I needed to use only my skills to defeat my opponents when fighting in the Wooden Bracket. Using my frenzy to overpower them would be robbing myself of an education I so desperately needed. But to do even that, I needed to at least become proficient at the basics first. That strengthened my resolved and reignited the forge of my inner flame.

Two days left. I could do it. I would have to.

My future success would depend on it.

Renewed with inner focus, I picked myself off the ground and started the forms again.

* * *

Master Hei Dong approached the training compound with something rarely felt stirring within his soul. It was an almost alien sensation—an emotion not felt for years, it seemed. But today he would give in to it, for he was certain now that it was a sentiment truly worthy to uphold.

For once in a very long time, Hei Dong felt pride.

As the servants opened the double doors to the training compound, that same pride surged again as the sounds of combat came from within. There, across the hard clay surface of the training yard was Hein sparring with the girl Zu Tien.

He paused to watch them a moment, both of them wielding wooden swords, with Zu Tien having the addition apparel of her prosthetic glove fitted with wooden blades. When he had first tasked Hein with the training the disgraced girl, he did not think he would take to it as fervently and seriously as he had, but now, looking at the results, Hei Dong was sure that Hein must have found some new purpose of his own within her.

The two cultivators faced off against one another, dancing across the tops of an array of elevated stone pillars shooting up from the ground nearly thirty feet high. Their yells of techniques echoed powerfully off the perimeter walls of the compound and soared into the open air above. They moved like hummingbirds, quicker than the eye could see, exchanging positions on the pillars as they clashed with one another again and again.

The girl, Zu Tien, was bathed in sweat, her breathing ragged as she lunged at Hein with martial strikes, her elegant sword patterns lacking only the luminous flashes of Qi indicative of the Silver Leaf Clan technique. Hein deflected her attacks with the calm confidence of a master, flashing from pillar to pillar in the blink of an eye.

Zu Tien paused for a slit second, and even from this distance, Hei Dong could sense the building of her Qi. She disappeared, causing Hein to drop into a more defensive stance. Then in an instant she reappeared in seemingly eight places at once, simultaneous diving at Hein with a crisscross pattern of attacks.

“[Eight Heaven! Zero Point Strike!]”

Hein became a blur of motion as his wooden sword deflected each attack with precision, his Qi speeding his movement to godlike proportions. With a final strike, he deflected her attack and then kicked Zu Tien in her abdomen, sending her crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust.

“Still weak!” Hein shouted down to her, but then after a pause he added, “…but better. You may regain your honor yet by defeating that clown.”

Zu Tien rose to her feet, wiping a streak of blood from her mouth. “I have sworn my life to do so. I will not fail, master.”

Hein chortled. “For your sake, you’d better not.”

“Who is this clown you speak of?” Hei Dong said as he approached the pillars casually. “Surely you would not be referring to one of your sister’s retainers in such a manner, Hein.”

The boy straightened with a look of shock on his face and near simultaneously, both he and Zu Tien vanished in a burst of Qi, before reappearing before him crouched on one knee.

“My deepest apologies, father,” Hein said. “We did not perceive you entering.”

“So I noticed, but you did not answer my question either.”

“It was but a jest, Master Hei Dong,” Zu Tien said quickly. “It was I who began to refer to my elder sister as a clown. The one I am to face to regain my honor. I deeply apologize.”

Hei Dong grimaced. “You play a dangerous game to disrespect any member of this clan in such a way, Zu Tien, especially in your position.” He then looked to Hein. “And you…you should not be perpetuating such disrespect.”

“I apologize, father,” Hein said, glancing up at him. “It was a mere tool to build Zu Tien’s confidence in facing a greater foe.”

As Hein looked up at him, he couldn’t help but sense that flicked of familiar cunning in his eyes. The pride which had momentarily begun to slip was quickly restored. Hei Dong smiled. “Fine. But let not a word of it transpire beyond the two of you. Your sister would be most insulted to have one of her elite referred to as such.”

“Yes, father.”

Satisfied, Hei Dong withdrew the weapon he had been concealing within his robes and held if before Hein.

The boy’s eyes grew wide. “Is..is that my blade?”

Hei Dong smiled knowingly. “It is what was once your blade, yes.”

Flipping the slim two-edged jian over in his hand, Hei Dong himself marveled at his own handiwork. The blade, reinforced with over five taels of Aurorean Silver and ten full measures of his own hardened Qi, gleamed with a hue of its own, it’s power pulsating within his palm. “I have been pleased with your rehabilitation of Zu Tien, thus I have decided to give you a reward. I have reinforced your blade, to the Fifth tier. It is now, no longer known as the Silver Tear Talon, but the Luminous Silver Tear Fang.”

Hei Dong offered the weapon to his son and he took it eagerly into his hands.

“Father…when did you do this?”

“While you slept, of course.” He couldn’t help but smile at the notion. The Aurorean Silver would likely cost him far more dearly than what it was worth, but there was no need to let it go to waste. And, if he was being honest, simply being able to craft was a welcome distraction from the daily pressures of organizing the tournament.

The preliminaries were completed and the Wooden Bracket would soon start. Although the Fire Birds had made no disruptions during the preliminaries, it was still yet to be seen if Lo Feng would stand by his word and issue a trial by might to settle their dispute, or if he would simply sink low enough to strong arm him by sabotaging the event.

With no writ yet received from the courts, Hei Dong had made precautions to heightened security regardless. Still, who knew what the Fire Birds would truly do. In any case, being able to gift his son with a blade this strong was a consolation of sorts. Even a High Tier Core Realm Cultivator would be envious of such an exquisite weapon. It was a reminder of his value as an artisan. A cultivator was only as strong as his weapon.

Or so Hei Dong liked to believe.

“Why don’t you test it?” Hei Dong said. “On the pillars.”

“Are you certain?” Hein said.

Hei Dong chuckled. “If you can break one, I would consider it money well spent.”

Hein cracked a sly grin as he rose to his feet.

He leapt into the air and froze in place the force of his Qi pushing Hei Dong back.

“[Ninth Heaven! Silver Moon Arc!]

He spun in place with a violent horizontal slash of his blade. From its tip a blinding arc of light sailed outwards and struck three of the pillars, their bases shattering before the arc hit two more behind them. All five then fell and collapsed to the ground in a ruble of thunder.

Hei Dong’s heart was in his throat. His pride surged with a mixture with something more.

Awe and wonder.

He looked at the boy. “Since when have you become this strong, Hein?”

Hei Dong had expected that he could have deeply scored or perhaps fallen one of the pillars with the power of the new blade, but to fell five in a single technique?

Hein merely flashed him a cocky grin.

“Do not look so surprised, dear father,” he said. “Zu Tien has not been the only one advancing.”