Yun Xia didn't believe in gentle instruction.
"Block!" she shouted, her dagger coming at my throat.
I barely got my sword up in time. The impact sent vibrations through my arms, and before I could recover, her second dagger was already sweeping toward my ribs.
I activated Probability Step, shifting just enough that her blade missed by millimeters.
"Stop relying on your techniques!" She didn't slow down. "Fortune manipulation is a crutch if you use it to compensate for bad fundamentals. What happens when you run out of LP in the middle of a fight?"
"I die?"
"Exactly. So learn to fight properly first. Techniques second."
Her next combination came faster—high strike, low sweep, spinning slash. I defended desperately, my sword work sloppy but improving with each exchange.
[COMBAT TRAINING: ACTIVE]
[SKILL PROGRESSION: DETECTED]
[ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPETENCY: 47 HOURS OF INTENSIVE PRACTICE]
We'd been at it for three hours already. My arms felt like lead. Sweat soaked through my clothes. Every muscle screamed for rest.
Yun Xia looked like she'd just started warming up.
"Foundation Establishment cultivators have stamina you can't match yet," she said, reading my exhaustion. "But that's good training. Learn to fight while exhausted, because real combat is never convenient."
She attacked again, and this time I saw the pattern,her high strikes always preceded low sweeps. Small tells in her footwork that telegraphed her next move.
I exploited it, deflecting her high strike and stepping inside her guard before she could complete the sweep.
My sword touched her throat.
"Better," she acknowledged, stepping back. "You're learning. Now do it a thousand more times until it's instinct."
We trained until noon without stopping. Sword work, footwork, defensive positioning, counter-attacks. Yun Xia was brutal but effective, correcting every mistake with a strike that left bruises.
By the time she called a break, I could barely stand.
"Eat. Drink. Fifteen minutes, then we start cultivation training." She tossed me a canteen and some dried meat. "Your Fortune Foundation is too weak. You need to advance to 5th Layer minimum before we attempt the assassination."
"How?" I asked between bites. "I need LP to advance, and I'm not exactly in position to court death right now."
"Wrong mindset. You're always in position to court death,you just need to recognize the opportunities." She pulled out a jade slip. "This contains information on a spirit beast den three miles outside the city. Iron-Hide Boars, Qi Condensation 4th-6th Layer equivalent. Dangerous enough to generate LP, weak enough you might survive."
[QUEST DETECTED: SPIRIT BEAST HUNTING]
[OBJECTIVE: HUNT IRON-HIDE BOARS FOR LP]
[ESTIMATED LP GAIN: 10-25 PER BOAR]
[DANGER LEVEL: HIGH]
[PROBABILITY OF INJURY: 78%]
[PROBABILITY OF DEATH: 12%]
"Twelve percent chance of death," I noted. "That's almost reasonable by my recent standards."
"We'll make it safer. I'll accompany you, handle any boars above 5th Layer, and provide backup if things go wrong. Your job is to kill the weaker ones and absorb their fortune." She smiled without warmth. "Think of it as advanced training."
"When do we leave?"
"Now. We're burning daylight, and you need LP more than you need rest."
The spirit beast den was exactly as advertised,a cave system in the hills outside Azure Peak City where Iron-Hide Boars nested. The air stank of animal musk and old blood.
"They're territorial," Yun Xia explained quietly as we approached. "Attack in groups if threatened, but individually they're straightforward fighters. Charge, gore with tusks, try to trample you. Fast but not particularly smart."
[DETECTING: 12 IRON-HIDE BOARS]
[THREAT ASSESSMENT: MODERATE TO HIGH]
[RECOMMEND: ENGAGE WEAKER TARGETS FIRST]
I extended my fortune sense, mapping the boars inside the cave system. Most clustered in the deeper chambers, but three younger ones—probably adolescents—patrolled the outer areas.
"Three targets," I whispered. "Outer chamber. Qi Condensation 4th Layer equivalent or lower."
"Good hunting. I'll watch from here. Only intervene if you're about to die." She settled against a tree, her daggers ready but sheathed. "Try not to need me."
I approached the cave entrance, my heart pounding. This was different from fighting humans. Spirit beasts didn't hesitate, didn't fear death, didn't negotiate.
They just attacked.
The first boar detected me when I was ten meters inside the cave—a young male, maybe four hundred pounds of muscle and bad attitude. Its hide gleamed with a metallic sheen that gave the species its name.
It charged immediately, tusks lowered, hooves thundering on stone.
[IRON-HIDE BOAR - QI CONDENSATION 4TH LAYER]
[SPECIAL TRAIT: ENHANCED DEFENSE]
[WEAKNESS: EYES, JOINTS, UNDERBELLY]
I activated Fortune Strike, spending 10 LP to find the optimal target. My fortune sense screamed that a direct confrontation would fail—the boar's hide was too tough, its charge too powerful.
But it was charging in a straight line, which made it predictable.
I waited until the last possible moment, then used Probability Step to sidestep. The boar's momentum carried it past me, and in that instant of vulnerability, I struck.
Not at its hide. At its rear leg joint, where armor was weakest.
My sword bit deep. The boar squealed, stumbling, its charge broken. Before it could recover, I was already moving, using its own bulk as cover while I circled to its unprotected side.
Three more strikes—eye, throat, underbelly. Not elegant. Not honorable. But effective.
The boar collapsed, bleeding out on cave stone.
[IRON-HIDE BOAR DEFEATED]
[+15 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 1025]
I activated Fortune Absorption on the corpse, drawing in the residual luck that clung to it. Spirit beasts accumulated fortune through survival—every day alive in dangerous territory was a probability defied.
[FORTUNE ABSORBED: +8 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 1033]
Two more boars emerged from deeper in the cave, drawn by their companion's death cry. Both were larger, stronger, more aggressive.
[IRON-HIDE BOAR - QI CONDENSATION 5TH LAYER x2]
[COMBAT PROBABILITY: UNFAVORABLE]
[RECOMMEND: TACTICAL WITHDRAWAL]
I was already moving backward, toward the cave entrance where I had more room to maneuver. The boars followed, their rage making them reckless.
Perfect.
I activated Luck Severance on both simultaneously.
[COST: 20 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 1013]
The effect was immediate. The lead boar's hoof caught on an uneven stone, throwing off its charge. The second boar, trying to follow, collided with the first.
They went down in a tangle of tusks and hooves and confused squealing.
I didn't waste the opportunity. Fortune Strike guided my blade to the first boar's eye, driving deep into its brain. It died instantly.
The second boar recovered faster than expected, surging up despite its companion's corpse. Its tusk caught my leg, tearing through cloth and flesh.
Pain exploded up my thigh.
[INJURY SUSTAINED: MODERATE LEG WOUND]
[MOBILITY REDUCED: 15%]
[BLEEDING: ACTIVE]
I bit back a scream and activated Probability Step, putting distance between myself and the enraged beast. My leg throbbed with each movement, blood soaking through my pants.
The boar charged again, and this time I was ready. I led it toward a section of cave where the ceiling was lower, where a large stalactite hung like a stone sword.
As the boar passed underneath, I spent 25 LP on Luck Severance targeting the stalactite's structural integrity.
The stone that had hung for centuries chose that exact moment to fall.
Four hundred pounds of rock crushed the boar's skull. It died without understanding what killed it.
[IRON-HIDE BOARS DEFEATED x2]
[+35 LP]
[FORTUNE ABSORBED: +16 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 1039]
I collapsed against the cave wall, breathing hard, my leg bleeding freely. From outside, I heard Yun Xia call, "Still alive in there?"
"Mostly!"
"Good enough. Finish absorbing their fortune, then we move to the next den. I know three more locations we can hit before nightfall."
"Three more?" I stared at my injured leg in disbelief. "I'm bleeding."
"Cultivators heal fast. Wrap it and keep moving. You need LP, and we're burning time."
[CURRENT LP: 1039]
[LP NEEDED FOR 5TH LAYER BREAKTHROUGH: ~400 MORE]
[BOARS PER DEN: 8-15]
[ESTIMATED LP PER DEN: 120-180]
[MATHEMATICAL CONCLUSION: NEED 3-4 MORE DENS]
I bandaged my leg with strips torn from my shirt, applied the healing salve Xiao Lan had given me days ago, and limped out of the cave.
Yun Xia examined my wound with professional detachment. "You'll live. The leg will slow you down for the next few fights, which is good training. Learn to compensate for injuries, because real combat doesn't pause while you heal."
"You're enjoying this."
"Immensely. I haven't had a proper student in years." She checked the sun's position. "Next den is two miles west. We move now, hunt fast, then return to the city before the tracker arrives tomorrow."
By nightfall, I'd cleared four spirit beast dens.
The second den held Shadow Rats—fast, poisonous, attacked in swarms. I'd killed seven before their poison forced a retreat. Yun Xia had handled the remaining dozen with casual efficiency.
The third den was inhabited by Stone Serpents—slow but nearly indestructible, with scales that turned aside most attacks. I'd spent an hour learning to target their eye slits and throat gaps.
The fourth den contained something unexpected,a juvenile Thunder Wolf that had no business being this close to human territory. Yun Xia had insisted I fight it anyway.
I'd nearly died three times in that fight. The wolf was faster than me, stronger than me, and could discharge lightning from its fangs. Only fortune manipulation and desperate creativity had let me survive.
But I'd killed it. And absorbed its considerable fortune.
[CURRENT LP: 1,447]
[INJURIES: MODERATE TO SEVERE]
[EXHAUSTION: EXTREME]
[SKILL IMPROVEMENT: SIGNIFICANT]
We returned to Azure Peak City after midnight. I could barely walk, my body a tapestry of cuts, bruises, and burns. But I was alive, and I was stronger.
"Rest for four hours," Yun Xia ordered as we reached her safe house. "Then we do cultivation breakthrough. You have enough LP to reach 5th Layer, but the process is going to hurt."
"Everything hurts."
"Then a little more won't matter. Sleep now. I'll wake you when it's time."
I collapsed onto the bedroll she provided and fell into unconsciousness immediately.
I woke to Yun Xia shaking my shoulder. "Time. We have twelve hours before Shen Tu arrives in the city. You need to breakthrough now."
My body protested as I sat up. The healing salve had worked,most of my injuries had closed to pink scars,but exhaustion sat in my bones like lead.
"How do I breakthrough?"
"Fortune Foundation advancement is different from standard cultivation." She sat across from me, her expression serious. "Standard cultivators gather qi and refine it until qualitative change occurs. You manipulate probability itself. To breakthrough, you need to make your own advancement inevitable."
"Make it inevitable how?"
"By spending LP to guarantee the outcome. It's expensive, but faster than natural advancement." She pulled out the Fortune Defying Manual jade slip. "The technique is in here,Fortune Ascension. Costs 400 LP, but it forces breakthrough to the next layer."
[TECHNIQUE DETECTED: FORTUNE ASCENSION]
[COST: 400 LP]
[EFFECT: GUARANTEED BREAKTHROUGH TO NEXT FORTUNE FOUNDATION LAYER]
[SIDE EFFECTS: MODERATE PAIN, TEMPORARY EXHAUSTION]
[RECOMMEND: USE IN SAFE LOCATION]
I had 1,447 LP. Using 400 would leave me with 1,047—still substantial, but I'd need LP for the assassination attempt tomorrow.
"Do it," I decided. "I need the power more than I need the points."
I activated Fortune Ascension.
[EXPENDING: 400 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 1,047]
[INITIATING BREAKTHROUGH SEQUENCE]
Power flooded my meridians like molten gold. Not violent like the pendant absorption, but intense and relentless. My Fortune Foundation,the cultivation base built on manipulated probability,expanded and refined.
I felt reality itself shift around me as my connection to fortune deepened. The probability threads I'd been sensing became clearer, more numerous, easier to manipulate.
And I felt something else,a presence behind the fortune threads, a vast pattern of cause and effect that suggested destiny itself.
[FORTUNE FOUNDATION 4TH LAYER → 5TH LAYER]
[BREAKTHROUGH SUCCESSFUL]
[NEW ABILITIES UNLOCKED]
[SKILL ENHANCED: LUCK SEVERANCE]
[COST REDUCED: 10 LP → 7 LP]
[DURATION INCREASED: 10 MIN → 15 MIN]
[SKILL ENHANCED: FORTUNE STRIKE]
[COST REDUCED: 10 LP → 7 LP]
[EFFECTIVENESS INCREASED: +15%]
[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: PROBABILITY SHIELD]
[COST: 50 LP]
[EFFECT: CREATE BARRIER THAT DEFLECTS ATTACKS THROUGH PROBABILITY MANIPULATION]
[DURATION: 5 MINUTES]
[CURRENT REALM: FORTUNE FOUNDATION 5TH LAYER]
[EQUIVALENT POWER: QI CONDENSATION 9TH LAYER]
I opened my eyes to find Yun Xia watching me with approval. "How do you feel?"
"Strong. Really strong." I stood, testing my new cultivation. My injuries barely registered anymore. My movements felt fluid, precise. "I'm ready."
"Good. Because we're out of time." She pointed to the window, where dawn light was beginning to creep across the sky. "Shen Tu arrives in six hours. Feng Ming is gathering final intelligence on his protection detail now. We plan, we prepare, and then we kill a tracker."
She spread out a map of the eastern checkpoint station where Shen Tu would establish his base.
"This is suicide, you understand that?" she said without looking up. "Foundation Establishment 5th Layer tracker, six Qi Condensation guards, fortified position. We're two people—one Fortune Foundation 5th Layer, one Foundation Establishment 2nd Layer—attempting assassination in broad daylight."
"What are our odds?"
"Honestly? Maybe twenty percent if everything goes perfectly. Five percent if anything goes wrong."
[PROBABILITY CALCULATION: CONFIRMED]
[MISSION SUCCESS: 18-22% DEPENDING ON VARIABLES]
[RECOMMEND: ADDITIONAL PREPARATION]
"Then we make sure everything goes perfectly," I said, studying the map. "Tell me about Shen Tu. Weaknesses, patterns, anything we can exploit."
Yun Xia smiled. "Now you're thinking like an assassin. Let's plan a murder."
Feng Ming arrived an hour later with detailed intelligence.
"Shen Tu travels with six guards,all Qi Condensation 7th-9th Layer, all loyal to the Celestial Court. They rotate watches every four hours, never less than three on duty at once. Shen Tu himself stays in the central chamber, rarely ventures outside until he's ready to begin tracking."
"Defenses?" Yun Xia asked.
"Standard checkpoint formations—detection array at the perimeter, reinforced doors, emergency talismans linked to the city guard. If we trigger the alarm, we'll have Foundation Establishment reinforcements in five minutes."
"So we need to kill them all before the alarm activates," I summarized. "Seven targets, five minutes maximum."
"Impossible," Feng Ming said flatly. "You'd need to kill one person every forty seconds while also preventing any of them from activating emergency talismans."
"Not impossible. Just improbable." I looked at Yun Xia. "Which is kind of my specialty."
She was already nodding. "Fortune manipulation. You don't make it more likely we succeed,you make it less likely they can defend or call for help."
"Exactly. I hit everyone with Luck Severance the moment we engage. Their talismans malfunction. Their formations glitch. Their weapons stick in scabbards." I traced the checkpoint layout on the map. "Seven targets, but if they're all suddenly extremely unlucky..."
[TACTICAL ANALYSIS: FORTUNE SEVERANCE COMBAT MULTIPLIER]
[COST: 49 LP (7 TARGETS x 7 LP EACH)]
[DURATION: 15 MINUTES]
[EFFECT: ENEMY COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS REDUCED 40-60%]
[PROBABILITY OF TALISMAN ACTIVATION: REDUCED TO 8%]
"It could work," Yun Xia said slowly. "I handle Shen Tu directly—Foundation Establishment versus Foundation Establishment. You deal with the guards. If you can keep them unlucky and off-balance for even five minutes, I can kill Shen Tu and then help you finish the others."
"What about me?" Feng Ming asked.
"You watch the perimeter. Anyone approaches, you signal us. We abort if necessary." Yun Xia's expression was grim. "This is a one-shot plan. If we fail, if we're caught, the Celestial Court will execute all of us. No trials. No mercy."
"When do we move?" I asked.
"Noon. Shen Tu always takes a cultivation session at midday,habit from his training days. He'll be distracted, his guard will be at minimum rotation." She met my eyes. "Six hours to prepare. Then we commit to this insanity."
[QUEST UPDATED: ELIMINATE THE TRACKER]
[TIME REMAINING: 6 HOURS]
[PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS: 20%]
[PROBABILITY OF DEATH: 65%]
[PROBABILITY OF CAPTURE: 15%]
"Six hours," I repeated, looking at my hands. Two days ago, I'd been Fortune Foundation 1st Layer, barely able to fight street thugs. Now I was planning to assassinate a Celestial Court tracker and his armed escort.
The Fortune Defying Manual had promised I'd need to constantly court death to advance.
It hadn't mentioned that "courting death" would become my primary occupation.
"I need to visit someone before we do this," I said. "One hour. I'll be back."
Yun Xia studied me, then nodded. "Be careful. The city is crawling with bounty hunters."
"I'm always careful."
"You're really not."
Fair point.
I found Liu Shan at the Iron Mountain, instructing an early morning class. He saw me enter and dismissed his students early.
"Wei Chen. I hoped you'd come back." He gestured to an empty training area. "Though I'm surprised. The bounty on Chen Wei went up to two hundred gold. Very tempting for a wandering sword like me."
"Are you going to claim it?"
"If I wanted to, you'd already be in chains." He drew his practice sword. "But I told you—I was you once. Young, desperate, trying to survive in a world that wanted me dead. Someone helped me then. I'm still passing it forward."
"Why?"
"Because strength without purpose is just violence. And I've seen enough violence." He tossed me a practice sword. "But we're not here to philosophize. You came for a reason."
"I might not survive today. If I don't come back, I wanted to say thank you for the lesson. It helped."
Liu Shan was quiet for a long moment. "You're planning something stupid."
"Extremely stupid."
"The tracker? Shen Tu?" At my surprised look, he smiled slightly. "I hear things. Wandering cultivators talk. Word is the Celestial Court sent their best bloodline tracker to find someone very important. And you're the only missing young master worth that level of effort."
"You could still claim the bounty."
"I could. Won't." He moved into a ready stance. "But I can give you one more lesson. Free of charge. Consider it my investment in your survival."
For the next forty-five minutes, Liu Shan drilled me in advanced swordwork—not techniques, but principles. How to read an opponent's intent. How to exploit small openings. How to kill efficiently.
"Foundation Establishment cultivators are stronger and faster than you," he said, demonstrating a counter-strike. "But strength and speed mean nothing if they can't land a hit. Use their power against them. Make them overcommit. Strike where they're not."
"You talk like someone who's killed Foundation Establishment cultivators before."
"Several." His expression was distant. "Long time ago, before I became a wandering sword. Before I decided teaching was better than killing."
"Why did you stop?"
"Because I looked in a mirror one day and didn't recognize the person staring back." He sheathed his practice sword. "Don't make my mistakes, Wei Chen. Kill when necessary. But don't let killing become what defines you."
[COMBAT LESSON: COMPLETE]
[SKILL IMPROVEMENT: MODERATE]
[ASSASSINATION PROBABILITY: INCREASED TO 23%]
I bowed deeply. "Thank you, Instructor Liu."
"Just Liu Shan. And Wei Chen? Whatever stupid thing you're about to do—make sure you survive it. I'm starting to like having a student again."
I left the Iron Mountain feeling oddly centered. Two teachers now—Liu Shan for fundamentals and philosophy, Yun Xia for tactics and ruthlessness. Between them, maybe I'd become something worth being.
If I survived the next six hours.
I returned to Yun Xia's safe house to find her checking weapons with mechanical precision. Two daggers, three throwing knives, a short sword as backup, and a small crossbow loaded with poisoned bolts.
"Ready?" she asked without looking up.
"As I'll ever be."
"Good. Because it's time." She stood, her weapons disappearing into hidden sheaths. "Feng Ming is already at the observation point. We move in thirty minutes. Any last words before we commit to this insanity?"
I thought about my parents, grieving for a son they thought was dead. About Xiao Lan, risking everything to help me. About Liu Shan's lessons and Yun Xia's brutal training. About the Celestial Court that had suppressed my bloodline and killed me to protect their power.
"Yeah," I said, checking my own sword. "Let's go kill a tracker."
[QUEST ACTIVE: ELIMINATE THE TRACKER]
[TIME: NOON]
[TARGET: SHEN TU + 6 GUARDS]
[PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS: 23%]
[FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD]
[OR KILLS THEM]
[USUALLY KILLS THEM]
We left the safe house and headed toward the eastern checkpoint.
Toward certain danger and possible death.
Toward my first real test as a Fortune Foundation cultivator.
I was terrified.
I was excited.
I was ready.
[STATUS UPDATE:]
Realm: Fortune Foundation 5th Layer
LP: 1,047/2000
Combat Skill: Intermediate (Rapidly Improving)
Allies: Yun Xia, Liu Shan, Feng Ming
Current Mission: Assassinate Shen Tu
Time Until Mission: 30 Minutes
Probability of Success: 23%
Probability of Death: 65%
[THE TRAINING IS COMPLETE]
[THE PREPARATION IS DONE]