Chapter 8: The Manhunt Games
I left the Wanderer's Rest at dusk, when shadows grew long and the Outer Ring's predators emerged for their nightly hunting.
Except tonight, I was hunting too.
The first Chen Clan search team found me,or thought they did,in an alley near the market district. Three guards, all Qi Condensation 3rd-5th Layer, moving in coordinated formation. Professional. Dangerous.
Perfect.
I watched them from a rooftop, my fortune sense painting their movements in threads of probability. They were searching methodically, checking every doorway, every shadow. One of them carried a jade slip that glowed faintly,some kind of detection talisman.
[ENEMY ASSESSMENT]
[LEADER: QI CONDENSATION 5TH LAYER - SWORD SPECIALIST]
[GUARD 2: QI CONDENSATION 4TH LAYER - SPEAR USER]
[GUARD 3: QI CONDENSATION 3RD LAYER - BOW USER]
[COORDINATION: HIGH]
[VICTORY PROBABILITY: 12%]
"Twelve percent in direct combat," I murmured. "Good thing I'm not planning to fight fair."
I extended my fortune sense, feeling the probability threads connecting the three guards. They were lucky right now—alert, coordinated, their search pattern efficient. But luck was malleable.
Especially for someone whose entire cultivation system was built on manipulating it.
I activated Luck Severance on all three simultaneously.
[COST: 30 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 99]
[EFFECT: TARGET FORTUNE TEMPORARILY SEVERED]
[DURATION: 10 MINUTES]
The change was immediate and subtle. The leader's next step caught on a loose stone. The spear user's weapon suddenly felt heavier than it should. The archer's bow string made a sound that wasn't quite right.
Small things. Meaningless things.
Except in life-or-death situations, small things mattered.
I dropped a loose roof tile.
It clattered into the alley below, drawing their attention. The leader signaled his team, and they moved toward the sound with weapons ready.
"Check it out," the leader ordered. "Could be our target."
The archer moved forward to investigate, unlucky enough to volunteer, unlucky enough to separate from his team. His foot caught on nothing, throwing off his balance just enough.
I dropped from the rooftop behind him, using Probability Step to land in perfect silence. My hand clamped over his mouth before he could shout. My sword pressed against his kidney.
"Don't move. Don't speak," I whispered.
He froze, terror flooding through him. He was younger than me, maybe seventeen, probably an outer disciple sent on this manhunt for experience.
Tonight was educational for both of us.
"Your coin purse. Slowly."
Trembling hands produced a small leather pouch. I took it, feeling the weight—maybe thirty silver taels.
"Your detection talisman."
He hesitated. I pressed the blade deeper, not breaking skin but promising I could.
The jade slip followed the coins.
"When I let you go, you're going to walk away. If you shout, if you warn them, this blade goes through your spine. Understand?"
A terrified nod.
I released him and melted back into shadows. He stumbled forward, gasping, and his companions rushed over.
"What happened?!"
"Someone... something... grabbed me from behind. Took my coins and talisman. I couldn't see—"
"Which direction?!"
The archer pointed randomly, still shaking. His severed fortune made him point wrong—away from where I actually was.
The team ran off chasing nothing.
[ENCOUNTER: SUCCESSFUL]
[RESOURCES GAINED: 30 SILVER TAELS, DETECTION TALISMAN]
[COMBAT AVOIDED]
[+35 LP FOR DEFEATING SUPERIOR OPPONENTS WITHOUT FIGHTING]
[CURRENT LP: 134]
I examined the detection talisman as I moved across rooftops. It was keyed to my spiritual signature,or what they thought was my spiritual signature. Interesting. The talisman couldn't find me because I was dead in their records, and the spiritual signature it searched for belonged to Chen Wei's Qi Condensation cultivation.
Fortune Foundation registered differently. The talisman was essentially useless.
[ANALYSIS CORRECT]
[THEIR DETECTION METHODS ARE OUTDATED]
[THEY'RE HUNTING SOMEONE WHO NO LONGER EXISTS]
[ADVANTAGE: YOURS]
Over the next three hours, I hit four more search teams.
The second team lost their supply packs when a "random" rope supporting them mysteriously frayed.
The third team's leader fell into an open maintenance hole he'd walked past safely five times—his luck suddenly failed on the sixth.
The fourth team spent thirty minutes arguing about which direction to search because their compass started giving conflicting readings. It hadn't malfunctioned. They were just unlucky enough to stand near a natural magnetic anomaly at exactly the wrong time.
By midnight, I'd accumulated:
127 silver taels
8 detection talismans (all useless)
3 decent swords (better than my current one)
2 sets of guard armor
Various cultivation pills and minor resources
More importantly, I'd earned 180 LP from successful encounters.
[CURRENT LP: 314]
[STRATEGY: HIGHLY EFFECTIVE]
[CHEN CLAN SEARCH TEAMS: DEMORALIZED]
[REPUTATION FORMING: "GHOST OF THE OUTER RING"]
I returned to the first safe house on Xiao Chen's list—a basement beneath a closed shop, accessible through a hidden entrance in an alley. Sparse, cold, but defensible.
I laid out my acquisitions and took stock.
The cultivation pills were basic—Qi Condensation supplements that wouldn't help Fortune Foundation much. But the silver was useful. The swords could be sold or kept as backups. The armor... interesting possibility there.
"System, can Fortune Foundation cultivators use normal cultivation resources?"
[PARTIALLY]
[STANDARD QI-BASED PILLS: 10-20% EFFECTIVENESS]
[YOUR CULTIVATION REQUIRES LP, NOT QI]
[HOWEVER: SOME RESOURCES CAN BE CONVERTED]
"Converted how?"
[FORTUNE ABSORPTION CAN EXTRACT LUCK FROM FORTUNATE ITEMS]
[CULTIVATION RESOURCES ARE INHERENTLY FORTUNATE]
[SOMEONE WAS LUCKY TO OBTAIN THEM]
[YOU CAN ABSORB THAT LUCK]
I picked up one of the pills—a basic Qi Gathering Pill worth maybe five silver taels. Through my fortune sense, I could see thin golden threads clinging to it. Residual luck from its creation, from the cultivator who'd carried it, from the probability that it would be used effectively.
I activated Fortune Absorption.
The pill crumbled to dust in my hand, its accumulated luck flowing into me like a small stream of warmth.
[FORTUNE ABSORBED: 3 LP]
[PILL DESTROYED]
[CONVERSION RATE: APPROXIMATELY 1 SILVER VALUE = 0.5 LP]
Not efficient, but useful. The remaining seven pills netted me 21 LP total.
[CURRENT LP: 335]
A sound from above made me freeze—footsteps on the shop's ground floor. Multiple pairs, moving carefully.
"—said he saw someone enter through the alley. Could be our target."
"Could be anyone. This district is full of squatters."
"Check anyway. Hundred gold taels is worth checking everything."
[WARNING: HUNTERS ABOVE]
[ESTIMATION: 4-5 PEOPLE]
[CULTIVATION: UNKNOWN]
[DISCOVERY PROBABILITY: 67%]
The basement had two exits—the alley entrance I'd used, and a tunnel that supposedly led to the sewers. Xiao Chen had marked it as "emergency only."
This qualified.
I gathered my acquisitions quickly, moving toward the tunnel entrance. Above, the footsteps grew closer. Someone was testing floorboards, looking for hollow sounds that might indicate a hidden basement.
They were thorough. Unlucky for them, thorough sometimes meant slow.
I activated Probability Step, my footfalls completely silent despite the basement's creaky wooden floor. The tunnel entrance was hidden behind a false wall—I found it by feeling for probability distortions, places where reality didn't quite match appearance.
The wall swung open silently. Beyond it, darkness and the smell of waste water.
Perfect.
I slipped through and closed the false wall behind me just as I heard, "Wait, there's a hollow space under here!"
The tunnel was cramped, wet, and absolutely disgusting. It also led away from the hunters, which made it beautiful.
I navigated by fortune sense, feeling probability threads that suggested "this direction leads somewhere" versus "this direction leads to death by drowning in sewage."
[NAVIGATING: AZURE PEAK CITY SEWER SYSTEM]
[DANGER LEVEL: MODERATE]
[SPIRIT RATS: PRESENT]
[TOXIC GAS POCKETS: POSSIBLE]
[GETTING LOST: HIGHLY LIKELY]
"You're so encouraging, System."
[I AIM FOR ACCURACY OVER ENCOURAGEMENT]
Twenty minutes of crawling through darkness brought me to a junction where three tunnels met. My fortune sense suggested the middle path was safest, but I noticed something interesting about the left path.
It glowed with probability threads—thick, golden strands suggesting something significant lay in that direction.
"System, what's down there?"
[ANALYZING...]
[DETECTING: CONCENTRATION OF FORTUNE]
[SOURCE: UNKNOWN]
[CURIOSITY INADVISABLE]
[ALSO: PROBABLY GOING TO INVESTIGATE ANYWAY]
The System knew me too well.
I took the left tunnel, following the fortune threads deeper into Azure Peak City's underground. The tunnel widened into something that looked almost intentional—carved walls, reinforced ceiling, signs of deliberate construction rather than natural formation.
The fortune concentration grew stronger with each step.
Finally, I emerged into a chamber that stopped me cold.
It was an underground shrine of some kind, maybe twenty meters across. Ancient formation arrays covered the walls, their script so old I couldn't read half of it. In the chamber's center sat a stone altar, and on that altar rested a single object.
A jade pendant, glowing with accumulated fortune so intense it hurt to look at with fortune sense.
[DETECTING: ANCESTRAL JADE PENDANT]
[FORTUNE CONCENTRATION: 500+ LP]
[AGE: 200+ YEARS]
[STATUS: ABANDONED/FORGOTTEN]
"The Ancestral Jade Pendant," I breathed. "Elder Feng's letter mentioned it. He said the Celestial Court wanted it from the Chen Clan treasury."
[CORRELATION: CONFIRMED]
[THIS IS likely A CHEN CLAN ARTIFACT]
[QUESTION: WHY IS IT IN THE SEWERS?]
I approached carefully, watching for traps or formations. The chamber was old—decades or centuries old. Dust covered everything. The formations were inactive, their power sources long since depleted.
Someone had hidden this here. Deliberately. Long ago.
The pendant itself was beautiful—white jade carved with intricate patterns that suggested clouds and mountains. Fortune clung to it like morning dew, centuries of accumulated luck compressed into a single object.
I reached for it, then hesitated.
"System, if I absorb this pendant's fortune, what happens?"
[IMMEDIATE: +500 LP MINIMUM]
[POSSIBLE: BREAKTHROUGH TO FORTUNE FOUNDATION 2ND OR 3RD LAYER]
[ALSO POSSIBLE: UNKNOWN EFFECTS]
[THE PENDANT IS OLD AND POWERFUL]
[ABSORBING IT MAY TRIGGER... SOMETHING]
"Something. Wonderful. Very specific."
[WOULD YOU PREFER I LIE AND SAY IT'S PERFECTLY SAFE?]
Fair point.
I stood in the forgotten shrine, hand hovering over the pendant, weighing options. This artifact was what the Celestial Court wanted. Elder Feng had specifically mentioned it in his report. It contained enough fortune to advance my cultivation significantly.
But taking it would leave evidence. Would create questions. Might trigger something I wasn't prepared for.
On the other hand, I was currently being hunted by my own clan for a hundred gold bounty. Caution seemed like a luxury I couldn't afford.
"Fortune favors the bold," I muttered, and grasped the pendant.
Power slammed into me like a tidal wave.
Not just fortune—memory. History. Knowledge compressed into the jade over centuries, suddenly flooding my mind.
I saw flashes:
A man in ancient robes, placing the pendant here with trembling hands. "Hide it. They can never know. The bloodline must be protected."
A battle, centuries ago. Chen Clan cultivators fighting against robed figures bearing the symbol I'd seen on the man in black robes—the Celestial Court.
A woman screaming as formations carved into her infant son's spiritual root. "His talent must be sealed! The Celestial Court demands it!"
My father, younger, arguing with an old man. "Why must my son be weak? Why can't he cultivate properly?" The old man's response: "Because strong Chen descendants draw their attention. Better weak and alive than talented and dead."
The visions fragmented, scattered, too much information too fast.
But one truth crystallized with absolute clarity:
This wasn't the first time the Celestial Court had suppressed the Chen bloodline. They'd been doing it for generations. Sealing our talent. Killing promising descendants. Keeping us weak.
Because we were descended from something that terrified them.
[FORTUNE ABSORPTION: COMPLETE]
[LP GAINED: 500]
[CURRENT LP: 835]
[BREAKTHROUGH IMMINENT]
[WARNING: BLOODLINE MEMORY UNLOCKED]
[CHEN CLAN ANCESTRAL INHERITANCE: PARTIALLY ACCESSED]
[YOUR SPIRITUAL ROOT SEAL: WEAKENING]
Power exploded through my meridians. The Fortune Foundation I'd barely established suddenly expanded, strengthened, refined. Golden light bled from my skin as centuries of accumulated luck forcibly advanced my cultivation.
[FORTUNE FOUNDATION 1ST LAYER → 2ND LAYER]
[FORTUNE FOUNDATION 2ND LAYER → 3RD LAYER]
[FORTUNE FOUNDATION 3RD LAYER → 4TH LAYER]
[BREAKTHROUGH COMPLETE]
[CURRENT REALM: FORTUNE FOUNDATION 4TH LAYER]
[EQUIVALENT POWER: QI CONDENSATION 7TH-8TH LAYER]
I collapsed against the altar, gasping. My body felt remade, my meridians thrumming with power I hadn't possessed hours ago. But more than that—I felt the seal on my Heaven Grade spiritual root cracking.
Not breaking. Not yet. But weakening.
Soon, I'd have access to my true talent. Soon, I'd cultivate at the speed the Celestial Court had feared enough to kill me.
[ACHIEVEMENT: RAPID ADVANCEMENT]
[ACHIEVEMENT: ANCESTRAL INHERITANCE DISCOVERED]
[ACHIEVEMENT: BLOODLINE SECRETS REVEALED]
[+100 LP BONUS]
[CURRENT LP: 935]
The jade pendant crumbled to dust in my hand, its fortune completely absorbed. No evidence remained except the memory of what I'd seen.
And those memories changed everything.
My entire life—the weakness, the mockery, the "trash" label—all of it had been deliberate suppression. Not natural lack of talent. Not my failure.
Someone had crippled me at birth and called it mercy.
"They were protecting me," I whispered, understanding finally crystallizing. "The seal wasn't punishment. It was protection. Keep me weak so the Celestial Court wouldn't see me as a threat."
[HYPOTHESIS: CORRECT]
[YOUR PARENTS LIKELY KNOW THE TRUTH]
[THE SEAL WAS MEANT TO KEEP YOU ALIVE]
[QUESTION: WHO BROKE IT?]
I froze. Who had broken the seal? It had weakened naturally at eighteen, triggering my "awakening" that prompted the Celestial Court to order my death. But natural weakening after eighteen years suggested...
"It was designed to break," I said slowly. "Whoever sealed me—they set it to release when I turned eighteen. They were protecting me until I was old enough to survive what came next."
[THEORY: PLAUSIBLE]
[BUT IT FAILED]
[YOU WERE MURDERED BEFORE THE AWAKENING COMPLETED]
[CELESTIAL COURT MOVED FASTER THAN EXPECTED]
Questions spun through my mind faster than I could process them. Who had sealed me? Why eighteen years specifically? What was my true bloodline that the Celestial Court feared it so much they'd suppress it for generations?
And most urgently—did my parents know I'd been sealed? Were they complicit, or victims themselves?
A sound echoed through the tunnels—distant voices, getting closer.
"—heard something down here!"
"Probably rats. These sewers are full of them."
"Check anyway. The target could be hiding anywhere."
[HUNTERS APPROACHING]
[MULTIPLE GROUPS CONVERGING]
[YOUR FORTUNE BREAKTHROUGH CREATED SPIRITUAL DISTURBANCE]
[THEY DETECTED IT]
"Wonderful timing," I muttered, gathering my pack. The shrine had a second exit—a narrow passage leading further into the underground. I took it without hesitation, my newly enhanced cultivation making movement easier.
Fortune Foundation 4th Layer felt different. Stronger, yes, but also more intuitive. I could sense probability threads with greater clarity, manipulate them with less effort. What had cost 10 LP before might only cost 7 or 8 now.
The passage led upward, eventually emerging into an alley in the Outer Ring's eastern section—far from where I'd started. Perfect.
I pulled my hood up and checked my appearance. The fortune absorption had left me slightly luminous—my eyes glowed faintly gold, my skin carried a sheen that suggested power.
Conspicuous. But not dangerously so. Many cultivators showed physical signs of breakthrough.
I needed somewhere to spend the night. Somewhere the hunters wouldn't expect.
[ANALYZING OPTIONS]
[RECOMMENDATION: HIDE AMONG OTHER CULTIVATORS]
[THE OUTER RING HAS SEVERAL CULTIVATION HALLS]
[WANDERING CULTIVATORS GATHER THERE TO TRADE AND TRAIN]
[YOU WOULD BLEND IN]
"Hiding in plain sight again?"
[IT WORKED LAST TIME]
[ALSO: YOU NEED COMBAT TRAINING]
[FORTUNE FOUNDATION 4TH LAYER WITH NO COMBAT EXPERIENCE]
[IS LIKE HAVING A SWORD YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE]
The System had a point. I'd been cultivating for less than two days. I had power, but no skill. No techniques beyond the basic Fortune Defying Manual methods. No real combat experience against opponents my own level.
If I encountered a trained Qi Condensation 7th or 8th Layer cultivator, I'd probably lose despite equivalent power.
That needed to change.
I made my way toward the Outer Ring's cultivation district—a section where wandering cultivators, rogue disciples, and talented commoners gathered to exchange techniques and test themselves against each other.
It was also where mercenaries and bounty hunters frequently visited, looking for work or targets.
Walking into it while worth a hundred gold bounties was either brilliantly bold or catastrophically stupid.
Probably both.
[DANGER ASSESSMENT: EXTREME]
[DISCOVERY PROBABILITY: HIGH]
[POTENTIAL REWARD: COMBAT EXPERIENCE, TECHNIQUE KNOWLEDGE, LP FROM RISK]
[RECOMMENDATION: PROCEED WITH CAUTION]
[ALSO: TRY NOT TO DIE]
[REMINDER: NO SECOND RESURRECTIONS]
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
[YOU'RE WELCOME]
The cultivation district was busier than I expected despite the late hour. Cultivators kept different schedules than normal people—many trained through the night when yin energy peaked.
I walked through streets lined with training halls, technique vendors, and small arenas where people fought for honor or silver. The energy here was different—more vital, more dangerous. Everyone carried weapons. Everyone moved like they knew how to use them.
I felt like a fraud wearing my stolen guard armor and cheap sword.
But I also felt excited.
This was where real cultivators were made. Not in protected clan compounds or prestigious sects, but in places like this—where you either got stronger or got dead.
I approached a medium-sized training hall called "The Iron Mountain." A sign outside advertised: "Sparring Partners Available - 5 Silver Per Match - No Deaths, Serious Injuries Acceptable."
Perfect.
Inside, the hall was exactly what I expected—a large open space with sand floors, weapon racks on the walls, and a board listing available sparring partners with their cultivation levels and specialties.
A bored-looking man at the front desk glanced up as I entered. "Here to fight or watch?"
"Fight. I need a sparring partner."
"Cultivation level?"
I hesitated. Fortune Foundation wasn't a standard realm that would appear on any list. "Equivalent to Qi Condensation 7th Layer."
The man's eyebrow rose slightly—that was respectable for someone my age. "Specialty?"
"Mixed martial arts. Sword focus."
"Five silver for one match, fifteen minutes. Serious injuries possible but lethal attacks forbidden. Break the rules, you're banned. Understand?"
I placed five silver on the desk. "Understood."
He checked the board. "We have three available partners in your range. Gao Lin—spear specialist, Qi Condensation 7th Layer. Tang Wei—unarmed combatant, Qi Condensation 8th Layer. Or there's Liu Shan—sword specialist, Qi Condensation 7th Layer, but he fights aggressive. Your choice."
"Liu Shan. Sword versus sword."
"Arena three. Good luck not dying."
[QUEST INITIATED: BAPTISM BY COMBAT]
[OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE SPARRING MATCH]
[OPTIONAL: WIN SPARRING MATCH]
[REWARD: COMBAT EXPERIENCE, TECHNIQUE INSIGHT]
[BONUS: +50 LP IF YOU WIN]
I walked to arena three, a circular pit surrounded by low walls where spectators could watch. A few people lounged around, not paying much attention—sparring matches were common here.
My opponent was already waiting.
Liu Shan looked like violence given human form—scarred face, predatory eyes, sword worn with use rather than decoration. He sized me up with professional interest.
"You're young," he noted. "Fresh breakthrough recently? I can smell new power on you."
"Is that a problem?"
"Just means you don't know how to use it yet." He drew his sword—a well-maintained blade that sang as it cleared the scabbard. "Don't worry. I'll teach you. Try not to die too quickly. Makes me look bad."
The desk attendant called out: "Match begins in three... two... one... fight!"
Liu Shan moved.
Fast. Faster than I'd expected. His sword came at my throat in an elegant strike that would have killed me if this wasn't a practice match.
I barely got my own blade up in time to deflect.
The impact sent shockwaves through my arms. He was strong—much stronger than the Red Viper Gang thugs I'd fought. This was a trained cultivator, someone who'd spent years mastering the sword.
[OPPONENT ANALYSIS]
[LIU SHAN: QI CONDENSATION 7TH LAYER]
[SWORD MASTERY: ADVANCED]
[COMBAT EXPERIENCE: EXTENSIVE]
[YOUR VICTORY PROBABILITY: 23%]
Twenty-three percent. Better than I'd feared.
Liu Shan pressed his advantage, his sword a silver blur in the arena's light. Each strike was precise, economical, designed to find weakness and exploit it ruthlessly.
I defended desperately, my Fortune Foundation cultivation the only thing keeping me alive. I couldn't match his skill, but I could make him unlucky.
I activated Luck Severance.
[COST: 10 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 925]
His next strike, which should have broken through my guard, instead caught on my crossguard at an awkward angle. His foot, which should have been perfectly placed, slipped slightly on the sand.
Small things. Meaningless things.
Except they gave me openings.
I countered with Fortune Strike, my blade finding the gap in his defense that probability suggested existed. My sword touched his shoulder—not deep enough to injure seriously, but enough to draw blood.
First point to me.
Liu Shan's eyes widened with surprise, then narrowed with interest. "Luck manipulation? That's your cultivation method? Interesting."
He came at me again, faster, harder, no longer holding back. His sword work was beautiful and brutal, each strike a lesson in efficiency and violence.
I survived through probability manipulation and desperation.
Luck Severance made him slip at critical moments. Fortune Strike found gaps in his defense that shouldn't exist. Probability Step let me move just out of range of attacks that should have connected.
But it wasn't enough.
He was too experienced, too skilled. My tricks bought me time, created opportunities, but I couldn't capitalize on them properly. I didn't know enough techniques. Didn't have enough training.
His sword got through my defense and scored across my ribs—not fatal, barely even serious by cultivator standards, but it hurt like fire.
[HP: REDUCED]
[INJURY: MINOR RIB LACERATION]
[CONTINUE FIGHTING?]
"Yes," I gasped, backing away to reassess.
Liu Shan didn't press his advantage. Instead, he lowered his sword slightly. "You're making mistakes. Want to know what they are?"
I stared at him, confused. "This is a sparring match. Why would you help me?"
"Because I'm paid to spar, not to just beat up inexperienced kids." He gestured with his sword. "Your probability manipulation is good. Creative. But you're relying on it too much. You're not a real sword fighter yet—you're a luck manipulator who happens to hold a sword. See the difference?"
I did. And he was right.
"Fifteen minutes isn't enough to teach you properly," Liu Shan continued. "But I can show you one thing. Watch."
He demonstrated a basic combination—thrust, parry, counter-cut. Nothing fancy. But executed with perfect form, perfect timing.
"Luck manipulation is powerful," he said. "But skill multiplies luck. A lucky strike with bad technique is just sloppy. A lucky strike with good technique is unstoppable. Try again. Same combination. I'll move slow."
We spent the next ten minutes not really sparring, but training. Liu Shan walked me through basic sword work, correcting my stance, my grip, my movement. The spectators lost interest and wandered away—teaching sessions weren't entertaining.
But I was learning more in ten minutes than I'd learned in years of casual instruction at the Chen Clan.
"Time," the attendant called.
Liu Shan sheathed his sword. "You've got natural talent and an interesting cultivation method. But you need proper training or you'll die the first time you face someone who knows what they're doing. Come back tomorrow if you survive the night. I'll give you a discount—three silver per session."
"Why?" I asked. "Why help me?"
He smiled slightly. "Because I was you once. Young, inexperienced, with power I didn't know how to use. Someone helped me then. I'm passing it forward."
[QUEST COMPLETE: BAPTISM BY COMBAT]
[RESULT: SURVIVED (NO VICTORY)]
[REWARD: COMBAT FUNDAMENTALS LEARNED]
[BONUS REWARD: TRAINING OPPORTUNITY DISCOVERED]
[+25 LP FOR LEARNING FROM DEFEAT]
[CURRENT LP: 940]
I bowed respectfully. "Thank you, Instructor Liu."
"Just Liu Shan. I'm not anyone's instructor. Just a wandering sword who knows a few things." He glanced at my face, and something flickered in his expression. "You look familiar. Have we met before?"
My blood went cold. "I don't think so."
"Hmm. Must be imagining it." But his eyes lingered on my features a moment too long.
[WARNING: POSSIBLE RECOGNITION]
[LIU SHAN MAY HAVE SEEN YOUR WANTED POSTER]
[RECOMMEND: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY]
I nodded and headed for the exit, forcing myself not to run. Behind me, I heard Liu Shan talking to the desk attendant.
"That kid. What's his name?"
"Didn't give one. Paid in silver, didn't ask questions."
"Interesting..."
I was two streets away before I let myself breathe normally. That had been close. Too close.
But I'd learned something valuable. Power without skill was just flashy weakness. I needed training. Real training.
And Liu Shan had offered exactly that.
The question was whether I could risk coming back, or whether he'd figure out who I really was and claim the hundred gold bounty.
[DECISION POINT]
[OPTION 1: RETURN FOR TRAINING (HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD)]
[OPTION 2: AVOID LIU SHAN (SAFE, NO PROGRESSION)]
I found a quiet rooftop to spend the night, wrapped in my cloak against the cold. Below, Azure Peak City continued its endless movement—hunters searching, criminals hiding, life continuing regardless of individual struggles.
Somewhere, my parents grieved. Somewhere, Elder Feng plotted. Somewhere, the Celestial Court calculated their next move.
And here, I lay on a rooftop with 940 LP, Fortune Foundation 4th Layer cultivation, and more questions than answers.
But I was alive. I was growing stronger. And I was learning.
Two more days until my new identity was ready.
Two more days to survive the manhunt.
Two more days to decide what kind of ghost I wanted to be when I finally returned from the dead.
I closed my eyes and let exhaustion claim me, the System standing silent watch over my fortune threads.
Tomorrow, the hunt would continue.
Tomorrow, I'd decide whether to risk training with Liu Shan.
Tomorrow, I'd grow stronger or die trying.
But tonight, I was just Chen Wei—supposedly dead, actually alive, and learning that the second chance at life came with a very steep learning curve.
l
[STATUS UPDATE:]
Realm: Fortune Foundation 4th Layer
LP: 940/1000
Bounty: 100 Gold Taels (Active)
Time Until New Identity: 2 Days
Combat Skill: Beginner (Improving)
Biggest Discovery: Ancestral Jade Pendant, Bloodline Secrets
Biggest Risk: Liu Shan's Possible Recognition
Next Challenge: Continue Manhunt Survival, Decide on Training.