I woke to the sound of fighting.
Not close,maybe three streets away,but violent enough that even half-asleep, I recognized the clash of steel and the crackling discharge of qi techniques.
[ALERT: COMBAT DETECTED]
[PARTICIPANTS: MULTIPLE]
[CULTIVATION LEVELS: QI CONDENSATION 5TH-9TH LAYER]
[ESTIMATED COMBATANTS: 8-12]
I crawled to the rooftop's edge and looked toward the commotion. Dawn light painted the Outer Ring in shades of gray and gold, and in that light, I saw chaos unfolding in the market square.
A young woman,maybe twenty, with Foundation Establishment cultivation radiating from her like summer heat,was surrounded by what looked like bounty hunters. She fought with twin daggers, her movements fluid and deadly, but she was outnumbered and clearly exhausted.
"Just surrender!" one of the hunters shouted. "The Celestial Court wants you alive, but they didn't say in how many pieces!"
The Celestial Court.
[INTEREST DETECTED]
[RECOMMENDATION: OBSERVE FROM DISTANCE]
[THIS IS NOT YOUR FIGHT]
But I was already moving, using Probability Step to leap across rooftops toward the battle. Not to intervene,I wasn't that suicidal. But to learn.
Anyone the Celestial Court wanted badly enough to send a dozen hunters after was someone I needed to know about.
I reached a rooftop overlooking the square and crouched behind a chimney, extending my fortune sense to map the battlefield.
The woman was good. Foundation Establishment 2nd Layer, which made her significantly more powerful than anyone attacking her. But there were twelve hunters, and they were coordinated. Every time she tried to break through, three more would block her path.
And she was bleeding from a dozen wounds.
[ANALYSIS: TARGET IS LOSING]
[ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL CAPTURE: 5-8 MINUTES]
[PROBABILITY OF ESCAPE: 11%]
One of the hunters,a man with a scar across his face and Qi Condensation 9th Layer cultivation,circled behind her. His sword glowed with condensed qi, preparing a strike that would cripple rather than kill.
The woman's fortune threads were dark, tangled, almost black with misfortune. She was unlucky today. Unlucky to be here, unlucky to be outnumbered, unlucky to be,
Wait.
I focused my fortune sense on those threads, and understanding hit me like cold water.
Her bad luck wasn't natural. Someone had cursed her. No,not cursed. Something was actively draining her fortune, making her unlucky at critical moments. That's why she kept missing strikes that should connect, why her footwork kept slipping on stones that shouldn't matter.
Someone was using luck manipulation against her.
I scanned the hunters, looking for the source, and found him—a thin man standing back from the combat, his hands weaving subtle gestures. Fortune threads extended from his fingers to the woman, draining her luck and feeding it to the other hunters.
A Fortune Manipulator. Rare. Dangerous.
And completely vulnerable while he concentrated on his technique.
[DETECTING: HOSTILE FORTUNE MANIPULATOR]
[TECHNIQUE: LUCK SEVERANCE + FORTUNE THEFT]
[SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED]
[WEAKNESS: REQUIRES CONCENTRATION]
I watched the thin man's technique with professional fascination. He was doing what I did, but better. More refined. His Luck Severance was smoother, his Fortune Theft more efficient.
I could learn from this.
Or I could stop him and see what happened.
"System, if I sever his fortune while he's using that technique, what happens?"
[BACKLASH]
[HIS TECHNIQUE WOULD COLLAPSE]
[THE STOLEN FORTUNE WOULD RETURN TO ITS SOURCE]
[HE WOULD BE TEMPORARILY VULNERABLE]
[COST TO YOU: 15 LP]
Fifteen LP to potentially save someone the Celestial Court wanted dead. Someone who might have information I needed. Someone who could explain what the hell the Celestial Court was and why they were hunting people like us.
Also, the thin man's technique was fascinating, and I wanted to examine it more closely. Preferably while he wasn't actively using it on someone.
"Do it."
[ACKNOWLEDGED]
[TARGETING: FORTUNE MANIPULATOR]
[ACTIVATING: LUCK SEVERANCE]
I extended my will toward the thin man's fortune threads and cut them.
[COST: 15 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 925]
The effect was immediate and spectacular.
The thin man's technique shattered like broken glass. The fortune he'd stolen from the woman,hours worth of accumulated bad luck,snapped back to him all at once.
He screamed as probability itself turned against him. His foot caught on nothing and he fell. A loose roof tile chose that exact moment to fall and strike his head. His sword somehow slipped from his belt and stabbed through his own foot.
In three seconds, the fortune manipulator went from dangerous to writhing on the ground in pain and confusion.
The woman felt the change immediately. Her daggers, which had been clumsy and slow, suddenly moved like liquid silver. Her footwork, which had been slipping, now flowed perfectly.
She killed three hunters in the next five seconds.
The scarred leader realized what happened and shouted, "Retreat! Something's wrong! Fall back!"
But it was too late. The woman's fortune had returned, and with it, her superiority. Foundation Establishment against Qi Condensation was never a fair fight—the hunters had been winning through numbers and luck manipulation.
Without both advantages, they died.
She cut through them like wheat, her twin daggers painting morning air with blood. The scarred leader lasted longest, his superior cultivation and skill letting him defend for almost thirty seconds before her blade found his throat.
Then it was over.
Twelve hunters lay dead or dying in the market square. The woman stood among the bodies, breathing hard, her clothes soaked in blood,theirs and hers.
And her eyes, sharp and intelligent, scanned the rooftops until they found me.
"You can come down now," she called. "I know you're there. I felt when my luck changed. Someone helped me. Might as well show yourself."
[DECISION POINT]
[SHE KNOWS SOMEONE INTERFERED]
[SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHO]
[OPTIONS: REVEAL YOURSELF OR FLEE]
Fleeing felt cowardly. Also, she was Foundation Establishment. If she really wanted to catch me, she probably could.
And I had questions. So many questions.
I dropped from the rooftop, using Probability Step to land softly in the square. I kept my hood up, my hand near my sword, my fortune sense extended for danger.
The woman studied me with eyes that had seen too much death. "You're young. What are you, seventeen? Eighteen?"
"Old enough."
"And stupid enough to interfere in Celestial Court business." She sheathed one dagger but kept the other out,not threatening, just cautious. "That was fortune manipulation. You cut Zhou Wei's technique and let his stolen luck backlash on him. Clever. Where did you learn that?"
"Self-taught."
"Bullshit. Fortune manipulation isn't something you stumble into. Someone taught you, or you found a manual, or..." She paused, her eyes narrowing. "You're Fortune Foundation cultivator. That's rare. Extremely rare. Most people who try unconventional paths die before they succeed."
"I've noticed the dying part," I said dryly.
She laughed—a sharp, bitter sound. "I bet. What's your name?"
"Wei Chen." The lie came easily now.
"I'm Yun Xia." She wiped blood from her daggers. "And you just saved my life, Wei Chen. Which means I owe you. But I'm also curious why a Fortune Foundation cultivator is wandering the Outer Ring at dawn interfering in fights that could get him killed."
"I could ask why the Celestial Court wants you badly enough to send twelve hunters."
"Fair point." She gestured at the bodies around us. "We should move before city guards arrive. I know a place. We can talk there, and I can pay my debt with information. Interested?"
[DECISION: TRUST YUN XIA?]
[ANALYSIS: SHE'S POWERFUL, HUNTED BY YOUR ENEMIES]
[TRUSTWORTHINESS: UNKNOWN]
[POTENTIAL VALUE: HIGH]
[DANGER LEVEL: SIGNIFICANT]
"Information about the Celestial Court?"
"Everything I know. Which is considerable." She smiled without warmth. "I used to work for them, after all."
That decided it.
"Lead the way."
Yun Xia's "place" was a hidden room above an abandoned warehouse, accessible only through a series of trapped passages that would kill anyone who didn't know the exact route.
"Paranoid," I observed as she disabled the seventh trap.
"Alive," she corrected. "There's a difference."
The room itself was sparse but functional—bedroll, supplies, weapons, and most interestingly, stacks of jade slips covered in notes.
"Research?" I asked.
"Intelligence. Information is the only weapon that matters against the Celestial Court." She sat cross-legged and gestured for me to do the same. "You helped me. I'll pay that debt with answers. What do you want to know?"
"Everything. Start with what the Celestial Court actually is."
Yun Xia pulled out a jade slip and projected an image—a complex organizational chart that made my head hurt looking at it.
"The Celestial Court claims to be heaven's administrators on earth. They maintain order, enforce cosmic law, prevent bloodlines and techniques from upsetting the balance. That's the official story."
"And the real story?"
"They're tyrants who fear anything they can't control. They suppress bloodlines that show too much promise. They steal cultivation methods that work too well. They kill anyone who might threaten their monopoly on power." Her voice was flat, emotionless. "I know because I spent five years as an enforcer for their Eastern Branch."
"Why did you leave?"
"They ordered me to kill a child. A ten-year-old girl whose only crime was having Heaven Grade spiritual roots in a bloodline they'd been suppressing for decades. I refused. They marked me for death." She met my eyes. "That was six months ago. I've been running ever since."
[YUN XIA: ANALYSIS UPDATED]
[FORMER CELESTIAL COURT ENFORCER]
[CURRENT STATUS: HUNTED]
[TRUSTWORTHINESS: MODERATE TO HIGH]
[SHARED ENEMY: CONFIRMED]
"The Chen Clan," I said slowly. "Do you know anything about them?"
Her expression sharpened. "The Chen Clan of Azure Peak City? Yes. They're on the Celestial Court's watch list. Have been for generations. Why?"
"Because I'm Chen Wei. The supposedly dead young master they murdered to prevent my Heaven Grade root from awakening."
Silence fell across the room. Yun Xia stared at me, and I saw her mentally connecting pieces.
"The funeral was three days ago," she finally said. "The whole city talked about it. The tragic young master who died from cultivation deviation. But you're here. Alive. Fortune Foundation cultivator." Understanding bloomed in her eyes. "You came back. How?"
"Honestly? I have no idea. I died. Then I woke up with a system that let me resurrect in exchange for luck points. Everything since has been improvising."
"A system." Yun Xia leaned forward, fascinated. "That's... unprecedented. I've heard theories about cultivation systems, but never confirmed cases. What does it do?"
I explained the basics,the Fortune Defying Manual, luck point generation, probability manipulation. Not everything,I wasn't stupid enough to reveal all my capabilities,but enough that she understood.
When I finished, she was smiling. Actually smiling, the first genuine expression I'd seen from her.
"Wei Chen,Chen Wei,whatever you want to call yourself. You're exactly what the Celestial Court fears most. An unconventional cultivator with a system they can't predict, from a bloodline they've been trying to suppress, who's already died once and came back."
"How is that good?"
"Because it means you're dangerous to them. And anything that's dangerous to the Celestial Court is my ally." She pulled out another jade slip. "I'm going to tell you something that will get us both killed if anyone finds out. The Chen bloodline isn't just any suppressed lineage. Your ancestors were Fate Weavers."
"Fate Weavers?"
"Cultivators who could manipulate destiny itself. Not just probability like you do now, but actual fate. They could see the future, change outcomes, rewrite causality. The Celestial Court nearly lost control of the entire eastern provinces when Fate Weavers were active. It took them fifty years and thousands of deaths to suppress your bloodline."
[INFORMATION: BLOODLINE HERITAGE REVEALED]
[CHEN CLAN ANCESTRAL ABILITY: FATE WEAVING]
[YOUR HEAVEN GRADE ROOT: FATE WEAVER POTENTIAL]
[CELESTIAL COURT FEAR: JUSTIFIED]
"That's why they sealed me," I breathed. "If I'd awakened as a Fate Weaver"
"You'd have been unstoppable. Fortune manipulation is probability. Fate Weaving is certainty. The difference between 'maybe I'll win' and 'I have already won.'"
I thought about the pendant's memories, the visions of my ancestors fighting the Celestial Court. Fate Weavers. My birthright, stolen before I could even understand what it meant.
"Can I still awaken it? The Fate Weaver ability?"
"I don't know. The seal was damaged when they killed you,your resurrection probably shattered it completely. Your Fortune Foundation cultivation might be your spiritual root trying to express Fate Weaver abilities through an alternative path." She paused. "But Wei Chen, if you do fully awaken as a Fate Weaver, the Celestial Court will send everything they have to kill you. Not hunters. Not enforcers. Their elite forces. Nascent Soul realm cultivators who can destroy cities."
[WARNING ACKNOWLEDGED]
[CURRENT POWER: FORTUNE FOUNDATION 4TH LAYER]
[NASCENT SOUL REALM: APPROXIMATELY 10,000 TIMES STRONGER]
[SURVIVAL PROBABILITY AGAINST ELITE FORCES: 0.003%]
"Then I need to get stronger. Much stronger. Fast."
"Agreed. Which brings us to my debt." Yun Xia produced a manual from her storage ring. "This is a Celestial Court combat technique called Shadow Step. It's similar to your Probability Step but more refined. I can teach it to you, along with actual combat training. Consider it payment for saving my life."
[TECHNIQUE OFFERED: SHADOW STEP]
[COMPATIBILITY: HIGH]
[VALUE: SIGNIFICANT]
"Why help me this much? One life debt doesn't require this level of assistance."
"Because I'm tired of running, and you're the first person I've met who has a chance—however small—of actually hurting the Celestial Court." Her eyes were fierce. "Help me fight them, and I'll help you get strong enough to survive. Deal?"
I thought about Liu Shan's offer yesterday and Yun Xia's offer now. Two different teachers, two different approaches. Liu Shan could teach me swordwork and fundamentals. Yun Xia could teach me Celestial Court techniques and give me intelligence.
I needed both.
"Deal. But I have other training commitments. Can we work around those?"
"The sword instructor at the Iron Mountain? Liu Shan?" At my surprised look, she smiled. "I've been watching the Outer Ring. I saw your match yesterday. You have potential but no polish. Liu Shan is good for fundamentals. I'll teach you the advanced techniques and tactics. Between us, we'll make you actually dangerous."
[ALLIANCE: FORMALIZED]
[YUN XIA: COMBAT INSTRUCTOR + INTELLIGENCE SOURCE]
[RELATIONSHIP: ALLIES AGAINST CELESTIAL COURT]
[+100 LP FOR SECURING POWERFUL ALLY]
[CURRENT LP: 1010]
A thousand LP. I'd hit the milestone.
[ACHIEVEMENT: 1000 LP ACCUMULATED]
[SPECIAL REWARD UNLOCKED]
[PROCESSING...]
[NEW FEATURE AVAILABLE: FATE GLIMPSE]
[COST: 100 LP PER USE]
[EFFECT: SEE ONE POSSIBLE FUTURE (1-24 HOURS AHEAD)]
[NOTE: FUTURE IS NOT FIXED, ONLY PROBABLE]
[CHANGES BASED ON YOUR ACTIONS]
"I just unlocked something new," I told Yun Xia. "A technique called Fate Glimpse. Lets me see possible futures."
She went very still. "That's a Fate Weaver ability. Minor version, but definitely Fate Weaver. Wei Chen, your bloodline is awakening faster than I expected. We need to accelerate your training before the Celestial Court realizes what you're becoming."
"How long do we have?"
"Weeks. Maybe a month if we're lucky. They're still processing your 'death.' But once they investigate and find the pig corpse substitution,and they will,they'll know you're alive. Then they'll mobilize everything."
[TIMELINE: CRITICAL]
[ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL FULL MOBILIZATION: 2-4 WEEKS]
[CURRENT POWER: INSUFFICIENT]
[REQUIRED POWER FOR SURVIVAL: UNKNOWN BUT SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER]
A knock at the door,a specific pattern Yun Xia had described as her ally's signal.
She opened it to reveal a young man carrying a bundle of papers. He froze when he saw me, his hand moving to a weapon.
"Relax, Feng. He's with me," Yun Xia said. "Wei Chen, this is Feng Ming. Intelligence gatherer, information broker, and the person who's been helping me track Celestial Court movements."
Feng Ming nodded warily. "The bounty target? Hundred gold for information on Chen Wei?"
"The same. He's not a target anymore,he's an ally."
"Your funeral," Feng Ming muttered, setting down his papers. "Speaking of which, there's news. The Chen Clan discovered the pig corpse substitution this morning. Elder Feng nearly had an aneurysm. They're escalating the search."
My stomach dropped. "How escalated?"
"Two hundred gold bounty now. And they're bringing in a tracker,someone with a bloodline sensing technique. If you're anywhere in Azure Peak City, he'll find you within three days."
[THREAT LEVEL: CRITICAL]
[BLOODLINE TRACKER: EXTREMELY DANGEROUS]
[YOUR CHEN BLOODLINE: DETECTABLE]
[RECOMMENDATION: LEAVE CITY OR FIND COUNTER-MEASURE]
"Three days," I repeated. "My new identity isn't ready for two more days."
"Then you have a problem," Feng Ming said. "Because Shen Tu,that's the tracker,he's never failed. Once he has your bloodline signature, you can't hide. Distance doesn't matter. Disguises don't work. He'll hunt you until he finds you or dies."
Yun Xia's expression was grim. "There's one option. A technique I know that can mask bloodline signatures. But it requires you to temporarily sever your connection to your ancestral heritage. You'd lose access to your Fate Weaver potential until you reversed it."
"For how long?"
"Weeks. Maybe months. And reversing it is dangerous,might trigger a full bloodline awakening when you do."
[DECISION POINT: CRITICAL]
[OPTION 1: MASK BLOODLINE (SAFE FROM TRACKER, LOSE FATE WEAVER DEVELOPMENT)]
[OPTION 2: FLEE CITY (DANGEROUS, KEEPS FATE WEAVER POTENTIAL)]
[OPTION 3: ELIMINATE TRACKER (EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, SOLVES PROBLEM PERMANENTLY)]
I looked at the three people in the room—Yun Xia, former Celestial Court enforcer. Feng Ming, information broker. And myself, supposedly dead young master learning to be dangerous.
We were a strange alliance. Probably doomed. Definitely outmatched.
But we were also what the Celestial Court feared most: people who refused to stay suppressed.
"How strong is this tracker? Shen Tu?"
"Foundation Establishment 5th Layer," Feng Ming said. "Specialized in tracking and capture, not direct combat. But he's never alone—travels with a protection detail of at least six Qi Condensation cultivators."
"So we'd need to separate him from his detail first."
Yun Xia smiled slowly. "You're thinking about killing him."
"I'm thinking about eliminating a threat permanently. Seems more efficient than running or hiding."
"I like how you think." She pulled out a map. "Shen Tu always uses the same base of operations when he's tracking—the eastern checkpoint station. It's defensible, which he likes. Also predictable, which we can exploit."
"We?" I asked.
"You saved my life. Now I'm invested in keeping you alive long enough to be useful against the Celestial Court." She marked locations on the map. "Feng, I need intelligence on Shen Tu's schedule and protection detail composition. Wei Chen, you're going to need to reach Fortune Foundation 5th Layer minimum before we attempt this. Can you do that in two days?"
"I can try."
"Try harder. Because if we fail, if Shen Tu captures you alive, the Celestial Court will do things to you that make death look merciful."
[QUEST GENERATED: ELIMINATE THE TRACKER]
[OBJECTIVE: KILL SHEN TU BEFORE HE FINDS YOU]
[TIME LIMIT: 3 DAYS]
[DIFFICULTY: EXTREME]
[REWARDS: +500 LP, BOUNTY REMOVED, BLOODLINE SECRET PROTECTED]
[FAILURE: CAPTURE, TORTURE, PERMANENT DEATH]
I looked at the map, at the marked checkpoint station, at my own hands that were steadier than they should be considering what we were planning.
Three days ago, I'd been a weak young master dying at his birthday party.
Now I was planning to assassinate a Foundation Establishment tracker and his armed escort.
The Fortune Defying Manual was aptly named. I was definitely defying probability.
The question was whether I'd defy it successfully or just get killed more creatively.
"Alright," I said. "Let's kill a tracker. But first, I need training. Lots of training. And I need to reach Fortune Foundation 5th Layer."
"Then we start now," Yun Xia said. "No sleep. No rest. Two days of intensive training and cultivation. If you survive that, we attempt the assassination."
She drew her daggers, their edges gleaming in morning light.
"Lesson one: how to fight someone stronger than you and actually win."
I drew my sword, feeling fortune threads swirl around us both.
"I'm listening."
[STATUS UPDATE:]
Realm: Fortune Foundation 4th Layer
LP: 1010/2000
Bounty: 200 Gold Taels (Escalated)
New Threat: Bloodline Tracker (3 Days Until Arrival)
New Ally: Yun Xia (Former Celestial Court Enforcer)
New Feature: Fate Glimpse (100 LP per use)
Current Objective: Train + Advance + Assassinate Tracker
Time Limit: 2 Days