I made a quick pitstop at ho, freshening up a bit before heading into the heart of downtown. It took a while to rember exactly where the Fire Bird headquarters was located. I had to make my way back to the River City Tea House first, where I had t that guy Kai Wong and then from there followed the route he had taken , going deeper into the seedier part of the restaurant district, until I finally found the alleyway and the nondescript wooden door tucked into the side of a red brick wall.
I knocked and a few seconds later a security slot slid open and a pair of eyes peered out at . As I t the person’s gaze their eyes grew wide before lowering into a scowl.
“You cheap shot bastard!” The door flew open, revealing the bald-headed man, Du Mak, standing in the doorway, his face creased with anger. “You’d better be here for our rematch!”
Just the sight of the guy nearly made laugh. “You still hung up on that shit, man? Give it a break. You lost fair and square. I ain’t got ti for that.”
“What’s going on here?” A second man arrived in the doorway, stout and heavyset with thick eyebrows. “Who are you? Who sent you?”
“Na’s Chun,” I said, squaring up on the both of them with [Struggler’s Resolve]. “I’m here to see your boss.”
“Like shit you are,” Du Mak said. “What business could a punk like you have with him?”
“Why don’t you go ask Hong Feng and find out?”
Eyebrows nudged Du Mak with his elbow. “He looks serious. You’d better go check it out.”
“Like hell I will! He’s not going anywhere until I can regain my honor.”
“What honor?” Eyebrows said and began to laugh.
I couldn’t hold it anymore and started laughing as well, causing a spike of anger to flare inside Du Mak.
“You think this is funny?” Du Mak said and then he turned to his sect mate and poked him in the stomach. “You shut up too, Ju Gong! This bastard refuses to accept my challenge and you think that’s right? He is the one with no honor!”
“Fine,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “Let’s do this. You go first.”
A look of excitent flashed across Du Mak’s face as he rubbed his palms together, stepping through the doorway. “Good! Now you’ll see what it truly ans to face a cultivator.”
“Ready when you are.”
The man Ju Gong stared perplexed as I tucked my hands behind my back and presented my chin to Du Mak. Du Mak lowered his stance, and just like before I sensed a building of Dark Frenzy within him. High-speed instincts kicked in as he drew his hand back to strike. I channeled my Frenzy into [Indifference] and [Iron Skin], bracing myself as his hand flew back quicker than I expected.
The wet smack of flesh on flesh resounded like a 20-pound turkey hitting the floor from two stories up. The next sound I heard was Du Mak screaming as he stared incomprehensibly at his hand that was now swelling like a balloon.
I didn’t feel a thing.
I grinned at him. “[My Turn]?”
Du Mak stared back at with quivering eyes. “H-how?”
I channeled my Frenzy into a swift backhand, giving Du Mak another cartwheel lesson as he careened into the side of the wall. Ju Gong looked at , and then to the unconscious Du Mak before looking back to again.
“I’ll take you to Master Hong Feng right away.”
* * *
Spirit herb smoke mixed with incense and the aroma of cheap booze greeted as I entered the back room to the Fire Bird’s den. Ju Gong rushed ahead of to where Hong Feng was seated behind a desk, smoking from a waterpipe while looking over a bunch of scrolls.
When Hong Feng whispered in his ear, the sect elder looked up and then gave a knowing smile. Ju Gong then beckoned forward and motioned for to bow, before bowing himself and then turning about to leave.
“Be sure no one else disturbs ,” Hong Feng said as Ju Gong departed and then he gestured to an empty seat across from him. “You may sit.”
I glanced around the room so more as I sat down. It was dark, cozy, and seedy all at once. Tapestries and weapons hung on the walls while an ancient chandelier hung from the ceiling, powered by what had to be Qi stones now, shedding a dull yellow light across the dark wood flooring and furniture.
Hong Feng took another draw on his waterpipe and blew out a stream of sweet-slling smoke as he looked at . “So, what brings you to my sect, Chun? Are you done with those books already?”
He knew damn well I wasn’t here about the books. The bastard was going to force to ask first, it seed, tipping the conversation in his favor already, but it wouldn’t matter. I still held the trump card.
“I’ve given so thought to your offer,” I said. “But I’m not sure your sect is the right one for .”
Hong Feng harrumphed. “Did you co all this way just to tell that?”
“Honor would demand it, no? You ca to find in person after all.”
He chuckled. “That I did. Which should tell you sothing about my offer. You know how many commoners would have jumped at such an opportunity?”
“True,” I said. “But we both know there ain’t nothing common about .”
I said the words with [Struggler’s Resolve] and the deathly grave tone caused Hong Feng to sit upright in his seat. He’d taken the first piece of bait. Now I had to keep stringing him along.
“And what makes you think you’re so special?” Hong Feng said, but he was clearly trying to backpedal now. He’d already confird how special I was by his invitation alone. But I would let him off the hook for that one. I needed to coax him into a deal, not piss him off by pointing out the obvious.
“I was thinking about what you said about the empire controlling everything,” I said, switching topics. “About there being no creativity to create new styles.”
“The empire controls more than that,” he said. “But I don’t need to tell you that, do I?”
I squinted my eyes in question and he smiled.
“You’re not the only planet to be subjugated by the Yee. Even my world was free once. Although that was more than four hundred years ago. The mories of the past still live on in so of us. You Terrans should almost count yourselves lucky to have been re mortals when the empire ca.”
“How’d you figure that?”
“The empire is far crueler when it cos to conquering cultivation worlds.”
I couldn’t imagine anything crueler than what we’d been through already and the faint mory of my parents being eaten alive by monsters caused my Fla to stir. “I think we’ve been through plenty.”
He chuckled. “Perhaps. It’s all a matter of perspective. To you, it may seem like everything, but compared to a world that already developed its own unique pathway to the celestial heavens, to have that stripped away is a fate worse than even death.”
“Yeah, that’s so perspective alright.”
“So of us are still unhappy with the outco,” Hong Feng said. “Forced to follow the strict rules of the empire. Unable to follow one’s true and natural path to immortality.”
He was fishing again and I was willing to take the bait this ti. “Yes, it seems when soone possesses a unique way of cultivating, that it must be either hidden or destroyed. I’m sure back on your world, there were lots of hidden arts that the empire probably wouldn’t approve of today.”
“Indeed,” Hong Feng said with another knowing smile. “So much has been lost to the control of the empire. But what can one do?”
“You do what you have to do,” I said. “So long as there is a remnant. It’s worth fighting for. Even if it ans giving up everything to do it.”
Hong Feng’s brows arched upwards in surprise. “No fan of the empire either, I see. I like the way you think.”
My words surprised even myself. I hadn’t ant to say all that, but it was like the Fla was talking for . And every word of it was true. Here I was in the middle of a sect headquarters talking to an elder. A place I’d never dread I would be, much less have co of my own volition. But this was the price. This was what I needed to do to win in the end.
“For different reasons than you, probably. But no, I’m not a big fan.”
Hong Feng took another draw on his pipe. “What do reasons matter when the goal is the sa?”
I nodded but I wasn’t trying to form alliances here. I needed to get the conversation back on track.
“The reason I said the Fire Bird Sect might not be for , is that I’m looking to create sothing new. Sothing different. I think you can appreciate that, right?”
Hong Feng raised a brow, taking the second piece of bait. “Different how?”
“Studying the lightning manual has given so new ideas. But conjuring lightning as a Fire Bird mber would raise many suspicions, don’t you think?”
“Then don’t bother with it,” Hong Feng said. “The ability to master lightning techniques is a rarity anyway. I’m honestly surprised you even chose that book. Fire would perhaps be more fitting for you. At least to start.”
I smiled at him and raised my palm. With a focus of Frenzy, I ignited a small ball of fire within my palm. “I’ve already started.”
Hong Feng’s eyes opened so wide I thought they were going to fall out of his head. I’d just shown him my trump card and by his unbridled response he had bitten the hook hard.
“Where did you learn that?” he said.
I snapped my palm closed, extinguishing the Fla. “Terrans are more resourceful than you think. But I may be willing to share this knowledge with you, if you are able to help .”
Hong Feng eased back in his chair, folding his arms across his wide stomach, clearly feeling the pinch of the hook now. “So… you have co here to barter with ? Don’t forget you still owe for that lightning manual. And do you really think that you can teach —an elder of the Fire Bird Sect—a single thing about fire?”
He was trying to backpedal again, but his initial look of shock had already given away his position. I pressed the matter further with a smile. “Not all fire is the sa.”
I had his full attention now, sinking the hook in further. He leaned forward. “What is it you propose?”
“Fire is the basis of lightning, correct?”
“It is within the sa aspect sphere, yes.”
“Then I will join the Fire Birds on one condition,” I said. “That you establish a new sub sect with the Fire Birds with lightning as its focus. Create that and I will gladly beco your first disciple.”
Hong Feng stared at dead pan for a mont, before bursting out laughing.
“You are amusing, Terran,” he said. “You don’t know what it is that you even ask for. Shall I prepare you a conjugal visit with the princess, as well?”
“You haven’t heard what I have to offer yet,” I said.
He chortled. “By all ans. Go ahead.”
“If I am able to create lightning from this fla, is that knowledge sothing you would want to possess yourself?” I ignited the fla in my hand again. “Allow to join this new sub sect and I’ll tell you exactly how I was able to do it.”
I used [Struggler’s Resolve] to let it sink in. His eyes shifted back and forth as he stared at the Fla. When I extinguished it, his eyes finally settled on mine and I could see a mutual understanding there. He was hiding a secret technique and so was I.
“You will put it in writing,” he said. A statent not a question.
I rely nodded. “If you wish. Of course.”
Hong Feng grimaced. “What you ask for is not so simple though.”
“It would be for you,” I said. “You’re already an elder with your own branch. The law governing the creation of a sub sect is no different than creating a new chapter. You could establish it within a day.”
He seed surprised I knew that much, but his brow remained furrowed. “I do not speak of the imperial bureaucracy. Yes, that is a simple matter. I speak instead of how I would present such a thing to my own sect mbers. How do you think it would look to appoint an unknown Terran as the star pupil of a new sub sect?”
I shrugged. “Depends on how badly you want to create this lightning, I guess.”
Hong Feng frowned. “You will need to give more than what you have offered, Chun.”
“What do you an?”
“I an you will need to earn your place within the sect. Joining us will an becoming a true disciple. And for soone like you, an outsider in more ways than one, giving such preferential treatnt will not be viewed favorably.”
It was his turn to weasel in so negotiation now. I’d shown my hand and he was willing to bite, but not for free apparently. Still, this was just a ans to an end for . I couldn’t give a shit about his sect issues. The imperial bureaucracy was all that mattered to . “So long as I can register within the Iron Bracket as a mber of the Furious Lightning Sect, you can get anything you want out of .”
Hong Feng’s eyebrows shot upwards. “Furious Lightning?”
I spread my arms in a welcoming gesture and gave him a grin, revealing my trump card in full. If he needed a bigger hint that I was a Berserker, then he’d have to be braindead. Hong Feng got the ssage loud and clear and the sudden burst of lemonade that ca from him was proof of it.
He suddenly stood. “You must co with .”
* * *
I followed Hong Feng through the corridors of the headquarters and back towards the section that was outfitted like a training arena. Scores of Fire Bird disciples were there, beating away on punching bags or each other. The disciples stopped to bow to Hong Feng as we passed through, but I didn’t go unnoticed either. What Hong Feng received in respect, I got back in the form of scowls and glares of suspicion.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“It is important that this arrangent et the approval of the sect,” Hong Feng said as he led through a set of heavy iron doors that further descended down a set of concrete stairs. “You will need to prove yourself. Both to them…and to .”
The way he said ‘to ’ made it clear he was looking for so further confirmation of my power. But could I really cut loose in here? We traversed down a couple stories and the stairway opened up into an imnse underground chamber.
Qi-infused lights lit up what looked to be the remnants of so kind of water or sewage treatnt facility with us arriving on a raised steel walkway that overlooked a two-story-deep pit where pumps and pipes used to be, judging by the rust stains on the concrete floor. Two large holes in the sides of the walls signified where the pipes used to run across a space that was big enough to fit two tennis courts.
In the center of the pit, two Fire Bird disciples were sparring, surrounded by a group of about fifty. The two n were wielding jian blades blazing with flas, one of them blue the other red. The blue-flad man was clearly superior, pressuring his opponents with lightning-quick techniques that shot flas high into the air. It was like watching a match at the arena, both of them Core Realm cultivators for sure. But more than that, there was the pressure of Dark Frenzy that I felt coming from the both of them, the blue-flad disciple in particular.
“Assemble!” Hong Feng shouted and imdiately the fight ended.
All of the disciples then lined up in rank and file including the mbers we had passed on the way in, who ran down the stairs behind us to join their brethren below. In all, I counted about a hundred of them, their red and orange robes blurring together to beco a sunset-colored sea at the bottom of the pit.
“Listen carefully,” Hong Feng said. “We have a new initiate who wishes to join as an Iron Bracket contender. For this reason, he must prove his worth against one of our own Iron Bracket contenders.”
I glanced at Hong Feng who rely gave a grin before turning back to his sect. “Let us see if he is worthy to join us at such a prestigious level.”
Imdiately murmurs arose from the crowd of Fire Birds, their disdain for palpable as they glared up at from two stories down.
What the hell had I gotten myself into now? I thought.
“Yin Chu!” Hong Feng shouted and one of the disciples from the front row stepped forward. He was blond haired, around my age with a nasty burn mark on the side of his face. And to my chagrin, it was the sa man who was wielding the blue-flad Jian a mont ago.
“This wasn’t part of the deal.”
Hong Feng chuckled and then leaned towards .
“It is now,” he whispered. “You will have the honor of fighting our lead Iron Bracket contender. If you can defeat Yin Chu, you will earn the respect and right to be placed in a league of your own within our ranks, becoming the first mber of our Furious Lightning Sect. But fail and you will have proven to that you do not possess the mastery I seek.”
Damn, the old bastard had managed to pull a fast one on after all.
With the preliminaries starting tomorrow, I wasn’t planning on fighting within the Iron Bracket for a few days yet, waiting on my match to turn up, but it seed fate had other plans.
My first Iron Bracket fight was going to be tonight.
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