Three days of recovery passed in Yun Xia's safe house.
Three days of my ribs slowly knitting together, of Feng Ming bringing intelligence reports about the Celestial Court's reaction to Shen Tu's death, of planning our next move.
Three days of watching Azure Peak City search for a dead young master who was sitting in a hidden room, very much alive.
"The investigation concluded this morning," Feng Ming reported, spreading documents across the table. "Official story: Shen Tu and his guards were killed by a rival tracker competing for the Chen Wei bounty. The Celestial Court is... displeased."
"Displeased?" Yun Xia raised an eyebrow.
"They executed the three closest competing trackers as examples. Sent their heads to the Tracker's Guild headquarters." Feng Ming's expression was grim. "That's how they handle failures. Someone has to pay, even if they weren't actually responsible."
[CELESTIAL COURT RESPONSE: BRUTAL]
[TRACKER'S GUILD: INTIMIDATED INTO COMPLIANCE]
[INVESTIGATION STATUS: CLOSED (OFFICIALLY)]
[ACTUAL SUSPICIONS: ONGOING]
"And the Chen Clan?" I asked, thinking of my parents.
"Your father has withdrawn from public life completely. Your mother still visits the memorial garden daily. Elder Feng is effectively running clan operations now." Feng Ming pulled out another document. "Which brings us to interesting news. Elder Feng requisitioned twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators from allied clans two days ago. Claims it's for 'security improvements,' but that's an army, not a guard force."
"He's preparing for something," Yun Xia said. "Question is what."
I thought about Elder Feng's ledger, his payments from the Celestial Court, his facilitation of my murder. "He knows I'm alive. Maybe not confirmed, but suspected. He's probably told his Celestial Court contacts, and they're planning their next move."
"Which means we need to move first." Yun Xia stood, testing her injuries. Three days of healing pills and rest had worked wonders,she moved almost normally now. "Wei Chen, can you travel?"
I stood carefully. My ribs protested but held. Fortune Foundation cultivation accelerated healing significantly,what should have taken weeks had taken days. "I can manage."
"Good. Because staying in Azure Peak City is suicide now. Elder Feng's army will start systematic searches soon, and even with your new identity, you're too recognizable." She pulled out a map. "The Northern Mountains, where Lin Mei is hiding, are two weeks away on foot. But there's a problem."
She pointed to a section of the map marked in red ink.
"The Crimson Vale. Notorious spirit beast territory, filled with Core Formation level threats. Most travelers take the long route around it,adds a week to the journey but keeps you alive."
"And the direct route?"
"Cuts through the Vale. Six days instead of two weeks. But survival probability..." She trailed off meaningfully.
[ROUTE OPTIONS]
[SAFE ROUTE: 14 DAYS, 95% SURVIVAL RATE, LOW LP GAIN]
[DANGEROUS ROUTE: 6 DAYS, 35% SURVIVAL RATE, HIGH LP GAIN]
"The dangerous route," I said immediately.
"Of course you'd choose that," Yun Xia muttered. "Fortune Foundation cultivators are all the same,addicted to risk."
"Not addicted. Required. My cultivation literally runs on courting death." I checked my LP—1,590 points. Strong, but not strong enough. "If the Celestial Court is sending retaliation in a week, I need to be stronger. Much stronger. The Crimson Vale offers exactly what I need."
"It also offers death. Frequently and creatively."
"Then I'll have to be lucky."
[QUEST GENERATED: THE CRIMSON VALE CROSSING]
[OBJECTIVE: CROSS CRIMSON VALE ALIVE]
[TIME LIMIT: 6 DAYS]
[DIFFICULTY: EXTREME]
[REWARDS: SIGNIFICANT LP, POTENTIAL BREAKTHROUGH TO 6TH LAYER]
[FAILURE CONDITION: DEATH BY SPIRIT BEAST]
Feng Ming cleared his throat. "Before you leave, there's one more thing. Your... associates in the Chen Clan. The servant girl, Xiao Lan. She's been asking questions about your disappearance. Discreetly, but Elder Feng's people have noticed."
My blood went cold. "Is she in danger?"
"Not yet. But if Elder Feng suspects she helped you..." He didn't need to finish the sentence.
I stood, decision made. "I need to see her. One last time before I leave. Warn her to stop investigating, give her resources to disappear if necessary."
"That's incredibly risky," Yun Xia said. "The Chen Clan compound is the last place you should go."
"I know. But I owe her everything. I'm not leaving without making sure she's safe."
[DECISION: INFILTRATE CHEN CLAN COMPOUND]
[DANGER LEVEL: EXTREME]
[PROBABILITY OF DETECTION: 67%]
[LOYALTY TO ALLY: ABSOLUTE]
Yun Xia studied me for a long moment, then nodded. "Fine. But we do it smart. Tonight, during the clan's evening cultivation sessions when most people are occupied. In and out, fifteen minutes maximum."
"I'm going alone."
"Like hell you are. You're good, Wei Chen, but you're not 'infiltrate your own clan compound alone' good." She checked her daggers. "I'll provide overwatch from outside. If things go wrong, I create a distraction while you escape."
"Why are you helping this much?"
"Because loyalty to allies is rare in this world. And I respect it when I see it." She smiled slightly. "Also because you're my best chance at hurting the Celestial Court, and I can't let you die stupidly before we accomplish that."
Fair enough.
The Chen Clan compound at night was simultaneously familiar and alien.
I crouched on the outer wall, my fortune sense extended, mapping the interior. New guards patrolled routes I didn't recognize. Formation arrays glowed where they hadn't before. Elder Feng's security improvements were evident everywhere.
[DETECTING: 47 GUARDS (INCREASED FROM NORMAL 30)]
[FORMATION ARRAYS: 15 (INCREASED FROM 8)]
[DIFFICULTY: SIGNIFICANTLY ELEVATED]
"This is suicide," I whispered to myself.
[AGREED]
[BUT YOU'RE DOING IT ANYWAY]
[FORTUNE FOUNDATION CULTIVATORS: CONSISTENTLY POOR LIFE CHOICES]
I activated Luck Severance on the nearest guard patrol—three cultivators walking a standard route. Their luck plummeted immediately.
[COST: 21 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 1,569]
One guard's bootlace suddenly came undone. He stopped to retie it, forcing his companions to pause. In that moment of distraction, I used Probability Step to cross the wall and drop into the garden below.
Silent. Invisible in the shadows.
I moved through servant corridors I'd memorized as a child, heading toward the kitchen quarters where Xiao Lan's room would be. Every step was calculated, each movement timed to guard rotations I'd been studying for thirty minutes.
Halfway there, I heard voices,Elder Feng's distinct oily tone, speaking with someone in the eastern garden.
I shouldn't investigate. I was on borrowed time, every second in the compound increasing my danger.
But I had to know.
I crept closer, using shadows and probability manipulation to remain undetected.
"confirmed then?" Elder Feng was saying. "The boy survived somehow?"
"The Celestial Court suspects as much." The second voice was female, cold, carrying authority. "Shen Tu's death was too convenient. Too professional. Someone eliminated him specifically to prevent Chen Wei's capture."
I edged closer, peering through ornamental bushes to see who spoke.
A woman stood with Elder Feng—maybe forty, wearing robes marked with the Celestial Court's symbol. Her cultivation base pressed against reality like a thunderstorm barely contained.
Foundation Establishment Peak. Maybe even half-step Core Formation.
[WARNING: EXTREME THREAT DETECTED]
[CULTIVATOR: FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT PEAK]
[IDENTITY: UNKNOWN]
[DANGER LEVEL: LETHAL]
[RECOMMEND: RETREAT IMMEDIATELY]
"What are your orders?" Elder Feng asked, his tone subservient in a way I'd never heard from him.
"The Celestial Court is sending Enforcer Liu to handle this personally. He'll arrive in four days with a full extermination team." The woman's expression was carved ice. "Your task is simple: if Chen Wei appears, delay him until Enforcer Liu arrives. Do not attempt to kill him yourself,we want him alive for questioning about his Fate Weaver inheritance."
"And if he doesn't appear?"
"Then we begin systematic elimination of everyone he might care about. Family, friends, servants who showed him kindness. We'll paint Azure Peak City red until he surfaces."
My hands clenched into fists. They'd kill everyone I'd ever known just to draw me out.
"His parents?" Elder Feng asked.
"Chen Tianlong and Lin Yuhua are to be kept alive for now. Their bloodline still has value. But everyone else is expendable." She turned to leave, then paused. "Including you, Elder Feng. Shen Tu's death happened on your watch. The Celestial Court expects results, or we'll find someone more competent."
She vanished in a blur of movement, leaving Elder Feng alone in the garden. I watched him stand there for a long moment, his expression twisted with fear and anger.
Then he pulled out a communication talisman and began speaking rapidly into it.
I'd heard enough.
I retreated from the garden and continued toward the servant quarters, my mind racing. Four days until this "Enforcer Liu" arrived with an extermination team. Four days to get far away from Azure Peak City, or everyone I cared about would die.
I found Xiao Lan's room and knocked softly,the pattern we'd agreed on weeks ago.
The door opened a crack, and her young face appeared, eyes widening in shock. "Young Master?! You're alive! I knew it, I told Xiao Feng you couldn't be dead, but everyone said I was foolish"
I pressed a finger to her lips, gesturing for silence. She nodded quickly and pulled me inside, closing the door.
"You're taller," she observed immediately. "And your eyes... they glow slightly. You're cultivating again?"
"It's complicated. Xiao Lan, I don't have much time. You need to stop asking questions about me. Elder Feng suspects you helped me escape. If he confirms it—"
"I know," she interrupted quietly. "I've been careful. But Young Master, they're saying terrible things. That you murdered guards, that you're working with enemies of the clan, that you've betrayed your family"
"All probably true," I admitted. "I've made enemies, powerful ones. And they're coming here in four days to kill everyone who might have helped me."
Her face went pale. "Xiao Feng. My brother"
"Needs to leave. Tonight if possible." I pulled out a pouch heavy with silver,
spoils from Shen Tu's storage ring. "Take this. Two hundred silver taels. Enough to get you and Xiao Feng far away, set up somewhere new, start over."
She stared at the pouch like it was a coiled snake. "I can't take this. Young Master, that's a fortune"
"You can and you will. Xiao Lan, you saved my life. Let me save yours." I pressed the pouch into her hands. "There's a contact in the Outer Ring,Feng Ming at the Wanderer's Rest. Show him this token." I gave her a jade slip Feng Ming had provided. "He'll help you disappear, forge new identities, get you somewhere safe."
Tears welled in her eyes. "What about you? Where will you go?"
"Far away. I'm hunting someone who can help me fight back against the people who did this." I pulled her into a brief hug. "Thank you, Xiao Lan. For believing in me when no one else did. For risking everything to help a dead man walk again."
"You're not dead," she said fiercely. "You're the most alive person I know."
A sound outside—footsteps approaching, multiple pairs, moving with purpose.
"—checked this corridor? The formation detected something."
"Sweep every room. Elder Feng's orders."
[WARNING: GUARDS APPROACHING]
[ESTIMATED TIME TO DISCOVERY: 90 SECONDS]
"I have to go," I whispered urgently. "Tonight, Xiao Lan. Take Xiao Feng and leave tonight. Promise me."
"I promise. But Young Master—" she grabbed my arm as I turned to the window. "Come back. When you're strong enough, when you've defeated your enemies. Come back and show them what happens when you push a Chen too far."
I smiled despite the danger. "I intend to."
I slipped through her window just as the guards reached her door. I heard them knock, heard Xiao Lan's sleepy voice answering innocently.
Then I was moving across rooftops, my fortune sense guiding me toward the compound's edge where Yun Xia waited.
Guards converged on my position—they'd detected something, even if they didn't know what. I activated Luck Severance on the nearest patrol and Probability Step to reach the wall.
[LP: 1,569 → 1,548 → 1,520...]
An arrow whispered past my head,a guard with better luck than most had spotted me. I twisted, using Fortune Strike to deflect the second arrow back at the shooter.
It found his leg. He went down screaming.
[STEALTH: COMPROMISED]
[ALARM: ACTIVE]
[RECOMMEND: IMMEDIATE EVACUATION]
I cleared the wall as bells began ringing across the compound. Yun Xia materialized from shadows, her expression tight.
"That didn't sound like 'fifteen minutes, in and out quietly.'"
"It never does." We ran together through the Outer Ring's maze of alleys. Behind us, I heard the compound erupting into organized chaos,Elder Feng's voice shouting orders, guards mobilizing, formations activating.
We didn't stop running until we'd crossed half the city and reached one of Feng Ming's backup safe houses,a basement beneath an abandoned shop in the merchant district.
"Status?" Feng Ming asked as we tumbled inside.
"Compromised but successful," I gasped. "Xiao Lan knows to run. And I have intelligence,bad intelligence."
I explained what I'd overheard: Enforcer Liu, the extermination team, the systematic elimination of anyone I might care about.
"Four days," Yun Xia said grimly. "We need to be gone in two, give ourselves buffer time."
"Gone where?" Feng Ming asked.
"The Crimson Vale," I said. "Then the Northern Mountains to find Lin Mei."
"You're serious about the Vale? Wei Chen, that's"
"The only option. We need distance, we need time, and I need to get stronger." I checked my status, calculating probabilities. "The Celestial Court thinks I'm powerful enough to kill Shen Tu. They don't know I barely survived that fight. If Enforcer Liu finds me now, I die. If he finds me after I've crossed the Vale and gained another layer or two..."
"You still probably die, but at least you make it interesting," Yun Xia finished. She smiled without humor. "I like those odds better."
[CURRENT LP: 1,520]
[ESTIMATED LP NEEDED FOR 6TH LAYER: 300-500]
[CRIMSON VALE EXPECTED GAIN: 500-800 IF SURVIVED]
[TIME AVAILABLE: 6 DAYS CROSSING]
"We leave at dawn," I decided. "Feng Ming, I need you to stay here. Monitor the situation, feed us intelligence via communication talisman, and help Xiao Lan if she needs it."
"You're making me the information anchor?" He looked almost offended, then thoughtful. "Actually, that's probably where I'm most useful. Fine. But try not to die in the Vale. I'm invested in your success now."
"I'll do my best."
We spent the rest of the night preparing,gathering supplies, studying maps of the Crimson Vale, planning contingencies. Liu Shan stopped by at midnight, summoned by a message from Yun Xia.
"Heard you're attempting something suicidally stupid," he said without preamble. "The Crimson Vale? Really?"
"Really."
He sighed and drew his sword. "Then you need one more lesson. The most important one."
For the next two hours, Liu Shan drilled me in survival combat,how to fight when exhausted, when injured, when facing certain death. Not techniques but mentality.
"Survival is about will as much as skill," he said, demonstrating a desperate counter-strike. "When everything says you should die, when probability itself is against you, you survive through sheer refusal to quit."
"That's very philosophical."
"That's very practical. The Crimson Vale kills talented cultivators every year. You know what separates survivors from corpses? The survivors refused to die until they made it through." He sheathed his sword. "Be one of the survivors, Wei Chen. I'm growing fond of having a student again."
"I'll try not to disappoint."
"You won't. You're too stubborn to die." He clasped my shoulder once, then left into the night.
Dawn came cold and gray.
Yun Xia and I stood at Azure Peak City's northern gate, disguised as wandering cultivators heading for the merchant roads. My new identity as Wei Chen held up perfectly,the guards barely glanced at our travel papers.
We walked through the gate and didn't look back.
Behind us, Azure Peak City sprawled across the valley,the place where I'd been born, raised, murdered, and resurrected. The place I'd called home for eighteen years.
The place I might never see again.
"Regrets?" Yun Xia asked quietly.
"Some. But mostly determination." I thought of my parents grieving, of Elder Feng's treachery, of the Celestial Court's casual cruelty. "They wanted me dead and buried. Instead, they created their worst nightmare."
"What's that?"
"A dead man who came back angry."
We walked north, toward the Crimson Vale and whatever waited beyond. Behind us, Azure Peak City faded into morning mist. Ahead, danger and death and the slim chance of survival.
[QUEST ACTIVE: THE CRIMSON VALE CROSSING]
[DISTANCE TO VALE ENTRANCE: 30 MILES]
[ESTIMATED ARRIVAL: TOMORROW EVENING]
[CURRENT STATUS:]
Realm: Fortune Foundation 5th Layer
LP: 1,520/2,000
Companions: Yun Xia
Enemies Pursuing: Enforcer Liu + Extermination Team (Arrives in 4 Days)
Objective: Cross Vale, Find Lin Mei, Get Strong Enough to Fight Back
I pulled up my hood against the morning chill and smiled.
Chen Wei was dead.
But Wei Chen was just getting started.
And the Celestial Court had no idea what was coming for them.
[STATUS UPDATE:]
Identity: Wei Chen (Established)
Location: Leaving Azure Peak City
Allies: Secured (Xiao Lan Warned, Feng Ming Positioned)
Enemies: Identified (Enforcer Liu Incoming)
Next Challenge: The Crimson Vale
Power Level: Insufficient but Improving
Determination Level: Absolute