The eastern checkpoint was a squat stone building at the edge of the Outer Ring, designed more for customs inspection than serious defense. Three stories, reinforced doors, formation arrays glowing faintly on the walls.
And inside, seven people who wanted me dead.
I crouched on a rooftop fifty meters away, my fortune sense extended, mapping the building's interior through probability threads. Each person inside created a knot of fate—bright threads for the guards on duty, dimmer ones for those resting, and one blazing constellation in the central chamber.
Shen Tu. The tracker.
[DETECTING: 7 TARGETS]
[SHEN TU: FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT 5TH LAYER - CENTRAL CHAMBER]
[GUARD 1: QI CONDENSATION 9TH LAYER - EAST ENTRANCE]
[GUARD 2: QI CONDENSATION 8TH LAYER - WEST ENTRANCE]
[GUARD 3: QI CONDENSATION 8TH LAYER - ROOF PATROL]
[GUARDS 4-6: QI CONDENSATION 7TH LAYER - RESTING SECOND FLOOR]
"Roof guard is the problem," Yun Xia whispered beside me. She'd been motionless for five minutes, watching the patrol pattern. "Takes him three minutes to complete a circuit. That's our window—when he's on the far side, we breach."
"And Shen Tu?"
"Feng Ming confirmed he entered cultivation meditation ten minutes ago. He'll be deep in his session for at least another twenty minutes. That's when he's most vulnerable—his spiritual sense is turned inward, his defenses relaxed." She checked her daggers one final time. "We kill the guards first. Fast and silent. Then we hit Shen Tu before he can react."
"Seven targets in three minutes," I said. "Even with Luck Severance, that's tight."
"It's impossible, which is why it might work. Nobody expects an assassination this brazen." She smiled without warmth. "Ready?"
[CURRENT LP: 1,047]
[ESTIMATED LP EXPENDITURE: 150-200 FOR COMBAT]
[REMAINING LP BUFFER: ADEQUATE]
I activated Fortune Sense at full power, feeling probability threads stretch across the checkpoint like a spider's web. Each guard's movement created ripples in fate. Each moment held countless possibilities.
I began identifying the optimal path—the sequence of events that gave us the highest probability of success.
"Guard on the roof reaches the north corner in forty seconds," I whispered. "That's when we move. I'll take the east entrance guard, you take west. Both simultaneously. If we're synchronized, neither will have time to raise alarm."
"And the roof guard?"
"I'll handle him immediately after. Fortune Strike from below—he'll never see it coming."
"Ambitious. I like it." Yun Xia shifted into a ready position. "Thirty seconds."
I drew my sword, checking the blade's edge one last time. The weapon was good quality—stolen from a Chen Clan guard three days ago—but it felt inadequate for what we were attempting.
Then again, everything about this plan felt inadequate.
"Twenty seconds."
My heart hammered against my ribs. This was different from fighting spirit beasts or thugs. These were trained cultivators, loyal to an organization that wanted me dead. If we failed, if even one guard survived long enough to activate an emergency talisman...
"Ten seconds."
I extended my will toward all seven targets, preparing to activate Luck Severance on everyone simultaneously. It would be expensive—49 LP total—but necessary.
"Five. Four. Three."
The roof guard reached the north corner, his back to us.
"Two. One. Go."
We moved.
Yun Xia vanished from beside me, her Foundation Establishment cultivation letting her cross fifty meters in heartbeats. I used Probability Step combined with Fortune Strike, my sword already swinging as I dropped from the rooftop.
[ACTIVATING: LUCK SEVERANCE - ALL TARGETS]
[COST: 49 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 998]
[DURATION: 15 MINUTES]
[EFFECT: ENEMY FORTUNE SEVERED]
The change rippled across the checkpoint like a wave. Every guard's luck simultaneously plummeted. Small things went wrong—weapons shifted in scabbards, armor straps loosened slightly, footing became uncertain on stones that had been safe moments before.
The east entrance guard heard me land behind him and spun, reaching for his emergency talisman—
His fingers fumbled. The talisman slipped, clattering to the ground.
My sword took him through the throat before he could retrieve it. He died silently, eyes wide with confusion.
[GUARD 1: ELIMINATED]
[+15 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 1,013]
Across the checkpoint, I heard a muffled gasp—Yun Xia's target dying just as quietly. Two down.
The roof guard above heard something and called down, "Chang? Everything alright?"
I didn't answer. Instead, I activated Fortune Strike, focusing every point of luck manipulation into a single thrown dagger.
The blade left my hand, its trajectory impossible—curving around a support beam, finding an updraft that shouldn't exist, striking the roof guard's eye with precision no mortal throw could achieve.
He fell without a sound, his body sliding down the sloped roof.
[GUARD 3: ELIMINATED]
[+18 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 1,031]
Three down. Four remaining, including Shen Tu.
Yun Xia materialized beside me, her daggers clean despite having just killed someone. "Second floor. The resting guards will have heard something by now."
She was right. I heard movement from above—accelerated footsteps, voices calling questions.
"They're coming down," I whispered. "If they see the bodies—"
"They won't see anything." Yun Xia pulled out a smoke pellet and crushed it. Thick gray fog immediately began billowing from the broken capsule, filling the checkpoint's ground floor. "Move. While they're blind."
We rushed up the stairs as three guards came down, all reaching for weapons. They ran straight into the smoke, coughing, disoriented.
Perfect.
I activated Fortune Strike on the lead guard—Qi Condensation 9th Layer, nearly my equal in raw power. Under normal circumstances, he'd be dangerous.
But his luck was severed, and mine was ascendant.
His foot caught on a stair step that shouldn't have been uneven. He stumbled forward, off-balance, directly onto my waiting blade.
The sword punched through his leather armor like it was paper, finding the gap between ribs with impossible precision.
[GUARD 4: ELIMINATED]
[+20 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 1,051]
Yun Xia moved like death itself in the smoke. I heard wet sounds, gurgled gasps, then silence.
[GUARDS 5-6: ELIMINATED BY YUN XIA]
Six down. One remaining.
The smoke began to clear, and through it, I saw the central chamber door swing open.
Shen Tu stood in the doorway.
He was younger than I'd expected—maybe thirty, with sharp features and eyes that seemed to see through deception. His cultivation base pressed against reality like a physical weight—Foundation Establishment 5th Layer, three full layers above Yun Xia.
"Clever," he said, his voice surprisingly calm given six of his guards lay dead around us. "Luck manipulation to make them vulnerable, smoke for cover, synchronized assault. Professional work."
His spiritual sense swept over me, and I felt him analyzing every detail of my cultivation.
"Fortune Foundation 5th Layer. Unusual choice of path." His eyes narrowed. "Wait. I know that bloodline signature. You're—"
"Dead," I finished. "I'm supposed to be dead."
"Chen Wei." Understanding and shock warred on his face. "But the funeral was confirmed. The cremation verified. How are you—" He stopped, clearly reconsidering. "It doesn't matter. The Celestial Court wants you eliminated permanently. I'll collect double bounty for confirmed kill."
He moved.
Foundation Establishment speed was horrifying. One moment he was in the doorway, the next his fist was inches from my face, wreathed in golden energy that promised instant death.
I activated Probability Shield.
[COST: 50 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 1,001]
[DURATION: 5 MINUTES]
Reality twisted around me. Shen Tu's fist, which should have connected, instead deflected at an impossible angle—striking the wall beside my head hard enough to crack stone.
His eyes widened in shock. "What—"
Yun Xia's dagger took him in the kidney.
He roared in pain and rage, spinning faster than she could retreat. His palm strike caught her ribs, sending her flying through the wall into the next room.
[YUN XIA: INJURED]
[STATUS: MODERATE DAMAGE]
"Foolish," Shen Tu snarled, pulling the dagger from his back. Blood soaked his robes, but he remained standing—Foundation Establishment cultivators could survive injuries that would kill weaker people. "Did you think two children could assassinate me? I've been hunting rogue cultivators for twenty years!"
His spiritual sense exploded outward, filling the entire checkpoint. I felt it probe my defenses, analyze my techniques, searching for weakness.
Then his expression changed.
"That bloodline..." He breathed in sharply. "You're awakening. The Fate Weaver inheritance is beginning to manifest. The Celestial Court will—"
I didn't let him finish.
I activated Luck Severance directly on him, spending every point of advantage I could muster.
[COST: 25 LP - FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT TARGET]
[CURRENT LP: 976]
His next step caught on nothing. The dagger wound in his kidney, which should have been manageable, suddenly shifted, nicking something vital. His own technique, gathering for a killing strike, misfired and backlashed into his meridians.
Small things. Meaningless things.
Except in combat between life and death, small things mattered.
I attacked while he was off-balance, my sword seeking his throat. He blocked—barely—his superior cultivation letting him defend despite his sudden run of bad luck.
"Luck manipulation won't save you," he growled, pressing his advantage. Even injured and unlucky, he was faster, stronger, more experienced. "I've fought Fortune Foundation cultivators before. You're all the same—tricks and probability until someone stronger breaks through."
His fist glowed with condensed energy. If that hit me, Probability Shield or not, I'd die.
Yun Xia burst from the destroyed wall, blood running from her mouth but eyes blazing with determination. "Chen Wei! Hold him for five seconds!"
Five seconds holding off a Foundation Establishment 5th Layer cultivator who wanted me dead.
Might as well be five hours.
But I tried anyway.
I activated every technique I had simultaneously—Fortune Strike to find openings, Probability Step to dodge his attacks, Luck Severance to make him unlucky. I spent LP like water, burning through my reserves to stay alive.
[LP: 976 → 950 → 925 → 890...]
One second. His fist missed my head by millimeters.
Two seconds. My sword caught his arm, drawing blood but not stopping him.
Three seconds. His knee caught my ribs, cracking something vital. Pain exploded through my chest.
[INJURY: SEVERE RIB DAMAGE]
[INTERNAL BLEEDING: MODERATE]
Four seconds. He grabbed my throat, lifting me off the ground. His fingers were iron, cutting off my air.
"Die, Fate Weaver."
Five seconds.
Yun Xia appeared behind him, moving faster than I'd ever seen her move. Both daggers glowed with concentrated qi—everything she had poured into a single strike.
She drove them both through Shen Tu's neck from behind.
Blood sprayed. The tracker's eyes went wide with shock and pain. His grip on my throat loosened.
I didn't waste the opportunity.
I activated Fortune Strike with the last of my strength, my sword finding his heart while Yun Xia's daggers trapped him from behind.
The blade punched through his chest, through his Foundation Establishment defenses, through his life.
Shen Tu, the Celestial Court's master tracker, died with my sword in his heart and betrayal in his eyes.
[SHEN TU: ELIMINATED]
[+500 LP]
[QUEST COMPLETE: ELIMINATE THE TRACKER]
[ADDITIONAL REWARDS: +200 LP, BLOODLINE SECRET PROTECTED]
[CURRENT LP: 1,590]
He collapsed, taking my sword with him. I fell to my knees, gasping for air, my ribs screaming in agony.
Yun Xia staggered over, her own injuries obvious. "Status?"
"Alive. Barely. You?"
"Same." She pulled out a healing pill and bit it in half, giving me one piece. "Take this. We need to move. That fight made noise. City guards will investigate."
I swallowed the pill, feeling its energy work on my injuries. Not healing them completely, but enough that I could move without passing out.
"Search the body," Yun Xia ordered. "Trackers always carry valuable intelligence. Then we burn this place and disappear."
I searched Shen Tu's corpse with hands that shook from adrenaline crash. Storage ring—I took it. Jade slips with information—I took those too. A communication talisman that was probably linked to the Celestial Court—I crushed it.
And in his inner pocket, I found something unexpected.
A wanted poster. Not mine—someone else's.
A young woman's face, maybe twenty-five, with determined eyes. Beneath her portrait: "Wanted by Celestial Court - Lin Mei - Fate Weaver Descendant - Extremely Dangerous - 1,000 Gold Taels."
"Yun Xia," I called. "There are others. Other Fate Weavers they're hunting."
She looked at the poster, and I saw recognition in her eyes. "Lin Mei. I know her. Trained with her years ago before I left the Celestial Court. She escaped six months before I did." She took the poster. "If Shen Tu was tracking her too, that means..."
"That means the Celestial Court is systematically hunting down every Fate Weaver descendant they can find," I finished. "It's not just me. It's all of us."
[QUEST GENERATED: THE FATE WEAVER RESISTANCE]
[OBJECTIVE: FIND OTHER HUNTED FATE WEAVERS]
[OBJECTIVE: BUILD ALLIANCE AGAINST CELESTIAL COURT]
[DIFFICULTY: EXTREME]
[REWARDS: UNKNOWN BUT SIGNIFICANT]
Yun Xia pulled fire talismans from her storage ring and began placing them around the checkpoint. "We discuss this later. Right now, we run."
She activated all the talismans simultaneously. Flames erupted, consuming the checkpoint and the bodies within.
We escaped through the smoke and chaos, two injured cultivators disappearing into the Outer Ring's maze of alleys and rooftops.
Behind us, the checkpoint burned, taking all evidence of what we'd done with it.
We reached Yun Xia's safe house an hour later, both barely able to stand. I collapsed against the wall while she barred the door and activated defensive formations.
"We did it," I said, the reality finally sinking in. "We actually killed him."
"We got lucky," Yun Xia corrected, drinking from a healing tonic. "If Shen Tu had been one layer higher, if his guards had been more alert, if anything had gone slightly wrong—we'd be dead."
"But we're not."
"No. We're not." She smiled slightly. "Twenty-three percent probability of success, and we beat the odds. Your Fortune Foundation cultivation is irritatingly effective."
I managed a weak laugh that turned into a cough. My ribs still hurt despite the healing pill.
Feng Ming burst through the door, face flushed with exertion. "You're alive! I saw the checkpoint burning and thought—" He stopped, taking in our injuries. "Medical supplies. Now."
He rushed to gather bandages and healing salves while Yun Xia and I sat in exhausted silence.
"The Celestial Court will know someone killed their tracker," she finally said. "They'll investigate. They'll find the bodies burned beyond recognition, but they'll still know."
"How long before they send someone stronger?"
"Days. Maybe a week. They'll want to understand what happened first, gather intelligence, then deploy an appropriate response team." She met my eyes. "Which means we have maybe five days to prepare for what's coming next."
"What is coming next?"
"Retribution. The Celestial Court doesn't forgive and they never forget. We killed one of theirs, they'll kill dozens of ours in response. That's how they maintain control—overwhelming response to any resistance."
[WARNING: CELESTIAL COURT RETALIATION EXPECTED]
[ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL RESPONSE: 5-7 DAYS]
[THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME]
[RECOMMENDATION: INCREASE POWER IMMEDIATELY]
Feng Ming returned with medical supplies and began treating our wounds with practiced efficiency. "I have news. Your new identity is ready—Wei Chen, wandering cultivator from the Western Provinces. All documentation complete and inserted into official records. As of today, Chen Wei is officially dead and Wei Chen is officially alive."
"Good timing," I said. "Though I might need to leave Azure Peak City entirely soon."
"Running?" Yun Xia asked.
"Surviving. There's a difference." I pulled out the wanted poster I'd taken from Shen Tu's body. "You said you know this woman. Lin Mei."
"I do. Last I heard, she was hiding somewhere in the Northern Mountains, about two weeks travel from here." Yun Xia studied the poster. "Why?"
"Because if the Celestial Court is hunting all Fate Weaver descendants, then we're all facing the same enemy. Alone, we get picked off one by one. Together..." I trailed off, the idea forming as I spoke. "Together, we might actually be dangerous."
"You want to find her. Build an alliance."
"I want to survive long enough to awaken my full Fate Weaver inheritance and then burn the Celestial Court to the ground." I met her eyes. "But I can't do that alone. I need allies. I need other Fate Weavers. I need people who understand what we're fighting against."
[QUEST UPDATED: THE FATE WEAVER RESISTANCE]
[CURRENT OBJECTIVE: RECOVER FROM INJURIES]
[NEXT OBJECTIVE: LOCATE LIN MEI]
[ESTIMATED TRAVEL TIME: 2 WEEKS]
[DANGER LEVEL: HIGH]
Yun Xia was quiet for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Alright. We killed a tracker today. Might as well aim higher. Let's build a resistance."
"You're both insane," Feng Ming observed, finishing my bandages. "But I'm already implicated by helping you. So I suppose I'm insane too."
I checked my status, taking stock of what we'd accomplished and what lay ahead.
[CURRENT STATUS:]
Name: Wei Chen (Formerly Chen Wei)
Realm: Fortune Foundation 5th Layer
LP: 1,590/2,000
Identity: Established and Official
Bounty: 200 Gold (Chen Wei - Presumed Dead)
Injuries: Moderate (Healing)
Allies: Yun Xia, Feng Ming, Liu Shan, Xiao Lan
Enemies: Celestial Court, Elder Feng, Liu Yue, Zhao Ming
Immediate Threat: Retaliation Team (5-7 Days)
Long-term Goal: Awaken Fate Weaver Heritage, Build Resistance