Chapter 5: The Price of Power
The golden light coalesced into a menu that hung in my vision like a divine scroll.
[CULTIVATION RESTORATION OPTIONS]
[CURRENT LP: 396]
OPTION 1: MERIDIAN REPAIR (BASIC)
Cost: 500 LP
Effect: Repairs 30% of damaged meridians
Time: 7 days
Result: Can cultivate at 40% efficiency
Status: INSUFFICIENT FUNDS
OPTION 2: FORCED BREAKTHROUGH
Cost: 1000 LP
Effect: Restore to Qi Condensation 3rd Layer instantly
Risk: 60% chance of permanent damage
Status: INSUFFICIENT FUNDS
OPTION 3: ALTERNATIVE CULTIVATION PATH
Cost: 300 LP
Effect: Unlock unique cultivation method
Difficulty: Extreme
Potential: Exceeds original limits
Status: AVAILABLE
I stared at the third option, my finger hovering over empty air.
"What's an alternative cultivation path?"
[STANDARD CULTIVATION: GATHER QI, REFINE IT, ADVANCE REALMS]
[PREDICTABLE, PROVEN,限LIMITED BY TALENT AND RESOURCES]
[ALTERNATIVE PATHS: UNCONVENTIONAL METHODS]
[HIGHER RISK, HIGHER REWARD]
[EXAMPLES: BODY REFINEMENT, SOUL CULTIVATION, LUCK MANIPULATION]
"Luck manipulation?"
[YOUR HEAVENLY LUCK SYSTEM IS ESSENTIALLY FATE MANIPULATION]
[IMAGINE: CULTIVATING LUCK ITSELF AS YOUR FOUNDATION]
[EVERY FORTUNATE ENCOUNTER STRENGTHENS YOU]
[EVERY IMPOSSIBLE SURVIVAL REFINES YOUR CORE]
[EVERY DEFIED PROBABILITY BECOMES POWER]
I sat back against the rotting grain sacks, processing this. Traditional cultivation gathered spiritual energy from heaven and earth. What the System proposed was something entirely different—using my own improbable existence as fuel.
"What's the catch?"
[THREE CATCHES]
[FIRST: NO STANDARD CULTIVATION MANUAL EXISTS]
[YOU MUST CREATE YOUR OWN PATH]
[SECOND: INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS]
[PROBABILITY MANIPULATION CAN BACKFIRE CATASTROPHICALLY]
[THIRD: THE HEAVENS THEMSELVES WILL NOTICE]
[DEFYING FATE ATTRACTS ATTENTION FROM THOSE WHO ENFORCE IT]
"The Celestial Court?"
[POSSIBLY]
[CERTAINLY OTHER ENTITIES]
[BUT CONSIDER: THEY ALREADY WANT YOU DEAD]
[WHAT'S A FEW MORE ENEMIES?]
I almost laughed. The System had a point. I was already hunted by conspirators who'd sealed my talent and orchestrated my murder. What did I have to lose?
"Show me the details."
[ALTERNATIVE PATH: THE FORTUNE DEFYING MANUAL]
[COST: 300 LP]
[CREATES UNIQUE CULTIVATION METHOD BASED ON YOUR HEAVENLY LUCK SYSTEM]
STAGE 1: LUCK FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT
Absorb ambient fortune from your surroundings
Convert LP into cultivation base
Each realm requires exponentially more LP
STAGE 2: PROBABILITY CORE FORMATION
Condense luck into a tangible core
Manipulate outcome probabilities directly
Reality bends to your will (within limits)
STAGE 3: FATE SOVEREIGN
Transcend probability itself
Write your own destiny
Become unkillable by conventional means
[WARNING: CULTIVATION SPEED DEPENDS ON LUCK POINT GENERATION]
[DANGEROUS SITUATIONS = MORE LP = FASTER GROWTH]
[YOU MUST CONSTANTLY COURT DEATH TO PROGRESS]
"So I have to almost die repeatedly to get stronger?"
[ESSENTIALLY: YES]
[IRONIC, GIVEN YOU JUST RETURNED FROM ACTUAL DEATH]
[BUT THIS IS THE PRICE OF AN UNCONVENTIONAL PATH]
I closed my eyes, weighing the options. Wait weeks to repair my meridians with LP I didn't have? Risk a forced breakthrough that might cripple me permanently? Or take a completely untested path that required me to gamble with my life over and over?
The old Chen Wei would have chosen safety.
But the old Chen Wei was dead, cremated as a pig in front of his entire clan.
"Purchase the Fortune Defying Manual."
[CONFIRMING PURCHASE]
[300 LP DEDUCTED]
[CURRENT LP: 96]
[GENERATING UNIQUE CULTIVATION METHOD...]
[ANALYZING HOST COMPATIBILITY...]
[INCORPORATING HEAVENLY LUCK SYSTEM...]
[CREATING FOUNDATION TECHNIQUES...]
Golden light exploded behind my eyes. Knowledge poured into my mind like molten metal—not gentle, not gradual, but brutal and all-consuming. I felt my brain reorganizing to accommodate concepts that shouldn't exist.
How to sense the invisible threads of fortune that connected all events.
How to identify probability nodes where reality was malleable.
How to pull luck from the world itself and weave it into power.
The pain was excruciating. I bit through my lip to keep from screaming, tasting copper. My body convulsed. For a terrifying moment, I thought the knowledge would shatter my mind entirely.
Then it stopped.
[FORTUNE DEFYING MANUAL: ACQUIRED]
[STAGE 1 TECHNIQUE UNLOCKED: LUCK SEVERANCE]
[STAGE 1 TECHNIQUE UNLOCKED: FORTUNE ABSORPTION]
[CURRENT CULTIVATION REALM: NONE]
[READY TO BEGIN FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT]
I gasped for air, my entire body drenched in cold sweat. But underneath the pain, I felt something new—a sixth sense awakening. I could perceive luck now, see it as faint golden threads connecting people, places, events.
The storage building I was hiding in? Nearly black with misfortune, forgotten and decaying.
But outside, toward the main compound? Brilliant threads of fortune, concentrated where wealth and power resided.
And one thread in particular burned brighter than the rest—a thick golden cord extending from somewhere in the eastern section of the compound, pulsing with accumulated luck.
[DETECTING: MAJOR FORTUNE CONCENTRATION]
[SOURCE: EASTERN TREASURY]
[ANALYSIS: CLAN'S ANCESTRAL TREASURES]
[CENTURIES OF ACCUMULATED GOOD FORTUNE]
[PERFECT TARGET FOR FORTUNE ABSORPTION]
"You want me to steal luck from my own clan's treasury?"
[NOT STEAL]
[ABSORB]
[FORTUNE IS RENEWABLE]
[YOU'D BE BORROWING AMBIENT LUCK THAT WOULD REGENERATE]
[PROBABLY]
"Probably?"
[PROBABLY]
I rubbed my face, trying to think clearly. The eastern treasury was heavily guarded, accessible only to clan elders and my father. Getting inside would be nearly impossible.
But I was a ghost now. And ghosts went where the living couldn't.
"How much fortune do I need to establish my foundation?"
[MINIMUM: 500 LP WORTH OF ABSORBED LUCK]
[EASTERN TREASURY CONTAINS: ESTIMATED 2000+ LP WORTH]
[ABSORBING HALF WOULD ESTABLISH YOUR FOUNDATION]
[ABSORBING ALL WOULD PUSH YOU TO QI CONDENSATION PEAK]
The temptation was enormous. In one night, I could go from crippled to powerful. But draining my clan's accumulated fortune? That felt like crossing a line.
[REMINDER: YOUR CLAN IS MOURNING THE SON THEY CREMATED]
[YOUR CLAN'S ELDERS COVERED UP YOUR MURDER]
[YOUR CLAN'S TREASURY VERSUS YOUR SURVIVAL]
[CHOOSE]
The System was right, but I still hesitated. Then I thought of Elder Feng closing the investigation. Of the guards who'd searched for my "intruder" blood trail but would never search for my murderers. Of a system that had failed me so completely that I'd died alone, poisoned by my fiancée while my sworn brother watched.
"Fine. But I take only what I need. No more."
[ACCEPTABLE]
[INITIATING QUEST: FORTUNE HEIST]
[OBJECTIVE: INFILTRATE EASTERN TREASURY]
[OBJECTIVE: ABSORB 500-1000 LP OF FORTUNE]
[REWARD: CULTIVATION FOUNDATION ESTABLISHED]
[BONUS: ADDITIONAL REWARDS BASED ON PERFORMANCE]
I stood slowly, testing my injured body. The healing salve Xiao Lan had applied was working—the pain had dulled from agonizing to merely terrible. I could move, if carefully.
"When's the best time to infiltrate?"
[ANALYZING GUARD ROTATIONS...]
[OPTIMAL WINDOW: HOUR OF THE RAT (11 PM - 1 AM)]
[GUARD CHANGE AT MIDNIGHT CREATES 7-MINUTE GAP]
[CURRENT TIME: HOUR OF THE DOG (9:23 PM)]
[WAIT TIME: 1 HOUR, 37 MINUTES]
I used the time to practice the techniques burned into my mind. Fortune Absorption was straightforward—locate luck, draw it in, convert it to cultivation energy. Simple in theory.
In practice? I tried absorbing the meager fortune clinging to an old crate and immediately felt like I'd swallowed lightning.
[WARNING: ABSORBING FORTUNE WITHOUT PROPER FOUNDATION IS DANGEROUS]
[YOUR BODY CAN'T PROCESS IT YET]
[LIKE POURING WINE INTO A BROKEN CUP]
[RECOMMENDATION: ESTABLISH FOUNDATION FIRST BEFORE MAJOR ABSORPTION]
"Then how do I establish a foundation without absorbing fortune?"
[PARADOX DETECTED]
[SOLUTION: START EXTREMELY SMALL]
[ABSORB MINOR FORTUNE INCREMENTALLY]
[BUILD TOLERANCE SLOWLY]
[THEN ATTEMPT TREASURY]
I spent the next hour absorbing tiny traces of luck from my surroundings. A lucky nail that hadn't rusted. A fortunate beam that hadn't rotted. Microscopic amounts that nonetheless made my meridians scream in protest.
[FORTUNE ABSORBED: 0.5 LP]
[PROGRESS: 0.5%]
[THIS WILL TAKE APPROXIMATELY 847 YEARS AT CURRENT RATE]
"Very helpful, System."
[I AIM TO PLEASE]
By the time the hour of the rat arrived, I'd managed to absorb a total of 3 LP worth of minor fortune. My meridians felt like they'd been scrubbed with glass, but I'd built a tiny foundation—enough that I might survive absorbing larger amounts.
Might.
[TIME: 11:07 PM]
[GUARD ROTATION IN 53 MINUTES]
[RECOMMEND: MOVE TO TREASURY NOW]
[SCOUT LOCATION BEFORE ATTEMPTING INFILTRATION]
I slipped out of the storage building into darkness. The compound had settled into night rhythms—occasional guard patrols, distant conversations, the soft glow of lanterns from occupied buildings. Most of the clan was asleep, exhausted from funeral preparations and grief.
Perfect.
I moved through shadows, using every servant passage and hidden route my childhood had taught me. The Fortune Defying Manual had awakened that sixth sense for luck, and I could perceive it now—guards with bad fortune were inattentive, distracted. I avoided those with good fortune, who might spot me through sheer chance.
[FORTUNE SENSE: ACTIVE]
[DETECTING OPTIMAL PATH...]
The eastern treasury sat at the compound's heart, a squat stone building with reinforced doors and formation arrays glowing faintly on the walls. Two guards stood at the entrance, both alert, both carrying the weapons and bearing of serious cultivators.
[GUARD 1: QI CONDENSATION 7TH LAYER]
[GUARD 2: QI CONDENSATION 9TH LAYER]
[DIRECT CONFRONTATION: SUICIDE]
"I'm not planning to fight them."
[GOOD]
[BECAUSE YOU WOULD LOSE INSTANTLY]
I circled the building, staying in darkness, looking for alternatives. The front was obviously impossible. The sides had no windows—the treasury was built like a vault. But the roof...
I looked up. The treasury's roof was solid tile, but the building next to it—a records hall—was close enough that someone athletic could potentially jump the gap.
Someone with cultivation could do it easily.
Someone without? Nearly impossible.
[PROBABILITY OF SUCCESSFUL JUMP: 12%]
[PROBABILITY OF FALLING TO DEATH: 67%]
[PROBABILITY OF ALERTING GUARDS: 21%]
"Can I spend LP to improve those odds?"
[YES]
[50 LP: INCREASES SUCCESS TO 45%]
[100 LP: INCREASES SUCCESS TO 78%]
I had 99 LP total. Spending 100 would leave me in debt, which the System apparently didn't allow. But 50 LP for 45% odds...
Those weren't good numbers. But they weren't impossible either.
"What happens if I fail the jump?"
[BEST CASE: BROKEN LEGS, CAPTURE, EXECUTION]
[WORST CASE: BROKEN NECK, IMMEDIATE DEATH]
[SYSTEM CANNOT RESURRECT YOU TWICE]
I stared at the gap between buildings, my heart pounding. This was insane. I was crippled, exhausted, barely able to walk without pain. Attempting a jump that even healthy me would have struggled with?
But that was the entire point of the Fortune Defying Manual, wasn't it? Court death to grow stronger. Risk everything to gain power. Defy probability itself.
"Spend 50 LP. Enhance the jump."
[CONFIRMING]
[50 LP DEDUCTED]
[CURRENT LP: 49]
[PROBABILITY MANIPULATION ACTIVE]
[FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD]
[OR KILLS THEM]
[USUALLY KILLS THEM]
I climbed the records hall using a drainage pipe, every muscle screaming. At the roof's edge, I looked across the gap—three meters of empty air between me and the treasury roof.
Three meters I had to cross without cultivation, without strength, without anything but luck.
The guards below were changing positions. Midnight was approaching. This was my window.
I backed up ten steps, took three deep breaths, and ran.
My injured leg nearly gave out on the second step. My shoulder exploded with pain on the fourth. By the time I reached the edge, I knew I didn't have enough speed, enough power, enough of anything to make this jump.
But I jumped anyway.
Time seemed to slow. I saw every detail with crystalline clarity—the moon above, the guards below, the gap widening beneath me. I was falling short. Physics and reality were winning.
Then the probability manipulation kicked in.
A gust of wind that shouldn't exist pushed me forward. My hand caught the treasury roof's edge by millimeters when it should have missed by inches. My injured shoulder held weight it shouldn't be able to bear.
I pulled myself up, rolled onto the roof, and lay there gasping.
[JUMP: SUCCESSFUL]
[PROBABILITY DEFIED: +25 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 74]
[SEE? COURTING DEATH HAS BENEFITS]
"I think I broke something," I wheezed.
[PROBABLY]
[BUT YOU'RE ON THE ROOF]
[NOW FIND AN ENTRANCE]
The treasury roof had ventilation slats near the peak—too small for a person, but large enough to see through. I crawled over and peered down.
The interior was exactly what I expected: shelves of jade boxes, racks of weapons, pedestals holding artifacts. But what I saw with my fortune sense made me gasp.
The entire treasury glowed like a captive sun. Golden threads of accumulated luck wove through every object, centuries of fortune concentrated in one space. This was the Chen Clan's inheritance, the material representation of eight generations of success and prosperity.
And I was about to drain it.
[FORTUNE CONCENTRATION: CONFIRMED AT 2000+ LP]
[ACCESSING VIA VENTILATION: IMPOSSIBLE]
[YOU NEED TO GET INSIDE]
"The doors are guarded and formation-locked."
[CORRECT]
[HOWEVER...]
The System highlighted something I'd missed—a small service hatch on the roof's far side, probably for maintenance access. It was locked, but it was also old, corroded, easier to bypass than the main entrance.
[LOCK DIFFICULTY: MODERATE]
[YOUR SCHOLARLY KNOWLEDGE INCLUDES BASIC FORMATIONS]
[PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS: 34%]
[OR: SPEND 30 LP FOR 75% SUCCESS]
I crawled to the hatch and examined the formation lock. It was indeed old—maybe fifteen years since the last maintenance. The script had faded, the energy flow inefficient.
I could break this. Maybe. If I was lucky.
Which, technically, was my entire cultivation path now.
"Spend 30 LP."
[CURRENT LP: 44]
[PROBABILITY MANIPULATION: ACTIVE]
I pressed my hand against the formation, feeling for weaknesses. The Fortune Defying Manual had given me an instinct for probability nodes—places where reality was thin, where luck could tip outcomes.
There.
A single character in the formation script, slightly misaligned. I pushed a tiny thread of my absorbed fortune into it, not breaking the formation but exploiting its existing flaw. The character flickered, shifted, and the lock clicked open.
[FORMATION BYPASSED]
[+15 LP FOR CLEVER SOLUTION]
[CURRENT LP: 59]
The hatch opened onto a ladder leading down into the treasury's interior. I descended carefully, my heart hammering. This was it—the point of no return. Once I started absorbing the clan's fortune, there would be evidence, questions, investigations.
But I was already dead. What more could they take from me?
[EXACTLY]
[NOW ABSORB QUICKLY]
[GUARDS ROTATE IN 4 MINUTES]
I dropped into the treasury and immediately staggered. The concentrated fortune was overwhelming, a pressure against my fortune sense like standing under a waterfall. Every object screamed with accumulated luck.
I approached the nearest shelf—jade boxes containing pills and elixirs. Each one glowed with its own fortune thread. I placed my hand on a box and activated Fortune Absorption.
Power slammed into me.
It was nothing like the gentle trickle of absorbing minor luck from old crates. This was a torrent, a flood, pure concentrated fortune that felt like liquid fire in my non-existent meridians.
[FORTUNE ABSORBED: 25 LP]
[WARNING: ABSORPTION RATE TOO FAST]
[YOUR FOUNDATION CAN'T HANDLE THIS VOLUME]
I gritted my teeth and kept absorbing. Pain was irrelevant. Danger was the point. This was how the Fortune Defying Manual worked—by constantly pushing past limits, by surviving what should kill me.
[50 LP ABSORBED]
[MERIDIANS: 15% REPAIRED]
[CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK]
Another jade box. Then another. The fortune flowed into me like a golden river, not gentle but violent, reconstructing my cultivation foundation through sheer overwhelming force.
[100 LP ABSORBED]
[MERIDIANS: 35% REPAIRED]
[DANTIAN: BEGINNING REFORMATION]
[CRITICAL WARNING: YOU'RE APPROACHING FATAL THRESHOLD]
I couldn't stop now. I was so close. Just a bit more—
The treasury door burst open.
"Who's there?!" Guard Captain Yang stood in the entrance, sword drawn, spiritual sense flooding the room.
Our eyes met.
His widened in shock as he recognized the supposedly cremated young master standing in the clan treasury, hand on a jade box, surrounded by flickering fortune threads only I could see.
"Young Master Chen Wei?" he whispered. "But you're... you're dead. I watched them burn your body."
[SITUATION: CATASTROPHIC]
[COVER BLOWN]
[GUARD CAPTAIN: FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT REALM]
[YOU: STILL MOSTLY CRIPPLED]
[RECOMMENDATION: RUN]
But I'd absorbed too much fortune too quickly. My body was locked in the absorption process, unable to move. Golden light leaked from my skin as centuries of accumulated luck forced its way into my reformation foundation.
Captain Yang's shock turned to action. "Thief! Intruder! Alert the—"
He never finished.
The fortune I was absorbing suddenly reversed flow, exploding outward in a shockwave of pure probability manipulation. Time seemed to stutter. Captain Yang's sword, raised to strike, suddenly slipped from his grip. His foot caught on nothing. He stumbled backward through the door he'd just entered.
And the door, untouched by any hand, slammed shut and locked itself.
[FORTUNE BACKLASH DETECTED]
[UNCONTROLLED PROBABILITY MANIPULATION]
[WARNING: THIS SHOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE YET]
[ANALYSIS: YOUR ABSORPTION EXCEEDED SAFE LIMITS]
[RESULT: SPONTANEOUS TECHNIQUE ACTIVATION]
[CONGRATULATIONS: YOU ACCIDENTALLY INVENTED A NEW SKILL]
I collapsed, the absorption finally complete. My body felt like it had been torn apart and reconstructed from golden light.
[FORTUNE ABSORPTION: COMPLETE]
[TOTAL ABSORBED: 500 LP]
[CULTIVATION FOUNDATION: ESTABLISHED]
[CURRENT REALM: FORTUNE FOUNDATION 1ST LAYER]
[CONGRATULATIONS: YOU HAVE OFFICIALLY BEGUN CULTIVATION]
Outside, I could hear Captain Yang screaming for reinforcements, his fists pounding on the treasury door. The lock wouldn't hold long—he was Foundation Establishment realm, far beyond what a simple formation could restrain.
I had maybe two minutes before this building would be swarming with guards.
[SITUATION: STILL CATASTROPHIC]
[BUT NOW YOU HAVE CULTIVATION]
[NEW SKILL AVAILABLE: LUCK SEVERANCE]
[USE IT TO ESCAPE]
"What does Luck Severance do?"
[SEVERS THE FORTUNE THREADS CONNECTING CAUSE TO EFFECT]
[EXAMPLE: GUARD SEARCHES FOR YOU]
[SEVER HIS FORTUNE THREAD]
[HE BECOMES UNLUCKY, FAILS TO FIND YOU]
[COST: 10 LP PER USE]
I looked at the maintenance hatch above, then at my fortune sense showing a dozen guards converging on the treasury. Their fortune threads glowed bright with purpose and alertness.
Time to make them unlucky.
I activated Luck Severance on the three nearest guards. Their golden threads flickered and went dark.
Immediately, I heard crashes and curses from outside.
"—tripped on something!"
"My sword's stuck in the scabbard!"
"Which building is it? I can't remember!"
[LUCK SEVERANCE: EFFECTIVE]
[ENEMIES EXPERIENCING SUDDEN UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES]
[WINDOW OF ESCAPE: OPENING]
I climbed the ladder back to the roof hatch, my body protesting but no longer crippled. The fortune absorption had repaired enough of my meridians that I could move with something approaching normal human capability.
Not cultivator speed. But better than before.
[CURRENT LP: 59]
[FORTUNE FOUNDATION: STABLE]
[RECOMMEND: IMMEDIATE EVACUATION]
I emerged onto the treasury roof to find the compound in chaos. Guards ran in confused patterns below, their severed fortune making them trip, collide, mistake directions. Captain Yang was still pounding on the treasury door, but now other guards couldn't find which building he was in.
It was beautiful chaos.
And in chaos, a ghost could disappear.
I jumped from the treasury roof—not a desperate leap this time, but a controlled descent using my newly restored cultivation. Not graceful. Not impressive. But functional.
I landed in shadows, rolled, and ran toward the eastern storage building while guards searched everywhere except where I actually was.
[ESCAPE SUCCESSFUL]
[FORTUNE HEIST: COMPLETE]
[REWARDS CALCULATING...]
I made it back to my hiding spot just as the compound's alarm bells began ringing in earnest. Behind me, I heard Captain Yang finally break through the treasury door, his voice carrying across the compound:
"Impossible! Someone was inside! The formation lock was bypassed! Alert the Patriarch immediately!"
I collapsed behind the grain sacks in the storage building, my entire body trembling with exhaustion and the aftermath of fortune absorption.
But I was smiling.
Because for the first time since my resurrection, I felt power flowing through my meridians again. Not much. Not impressive. But real.
I had taken the first step on an impossible path.
[QUEST COMPLETE: FORTUNE HEIST]
[REWARDS: CULTIVATION FOUNDATION ESTABLISHED]
[BONUS: NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: FORTUNE SEVERANCE]
[BONUS: +100 LP FOR SUCCESSFUL INFILTRATION]
[CURRENT LP: 159]
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: THE THIEF WHO STOLE LUCK]
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: PROBABILITY DEFIER]
[CURRENT STATUS:]
Realm: Fortune Foundation 1st Layer
LP: 159/1000
Cultivation Method: Fortune Defying Manual
Skills: Fortune Absorption, Luck Severance
Condition: Exhausted but Functional
Cover: Blown (Partially)
[NOTE: CAPTAIN YANG SAW YOUR FACE]
[NOTE: YOUR CLAN NOW KNOWS SOMEONE INFILTRATED THE TREASURY]
[NOTE: THEY DON'T KNOW IT WAS THEIR "DEAD" YOUNG MASTER]
[YET]
Outside, voices shouted orders. Guards searched buildings. My father's voice, sharp with authority, demanded answers about the treasury intruder.
And I lay in darkness, no longer powerless, no longer helpless, beginning my climb from ghost to something far more dangerous.
The hunt had been fun.
Now the real game was beginning.
[STATUS UPDATE:]
Cultivation: Fortune Foundation 1st Layer (ACTIVE)
Biggest Problem: Captain Yang Saw You
Biggest Advantage: They Think You're Dead
Next Challenge: Staying Hidden While They Search
Ultimate Goal: Still Revenge, But Now With Actual Power