Path of the Berserker Chapter 44

I was reduced to little more than a slave for the next four hours, cultivating Frenzy while I busted my ass. The Struggler was having a damn field day, the Demon roiling furiously in his cage while I kept my anger pent up deep inside.

After sweeping, mopping and tidying the dorms, Shen Ju sent to clean the latrines. My dad used to tell stories like this about when he was in the army, but I barely paid attention to them back then. Now it was the only think I could think of as I bit my lip and scrubbed a damn toilet.

This shit had to be way worse than being in the army, I thought.

When I finally got done, I was allowed to go eat in the dining hall, which was located on the top-most floor, next to the kitchen. But before that, I had to join a handful of other similarly dressed initiates to serve soup and noodles to our more senior brethren.

I was starving by the ti they allowed us to eat, and thankfully they gave us a common pot of food to eat from. Knowing the death threat from Shen Ju, I wouldn’t put it past him to try and poison on the first day.

The food was absent of any real flavor. The sa as the conversation between the six or seven of us initiates as we sat down at a table to eat together. All of them were younger than , but had probably been in the sect a lot longer. A couple of them glanced at with a asure of awe, knowing my reputation for killing Yin Chu perhaps, but the rest held the sa disdain as the bulk of the sect, it seed.

I kept to myself after dinner, avoiding contact with anyone as I sat on my cot waiting for nightfall. Thankfully most of my roommates kept their distance from as I sent out a low-key aura of [Fear the Fla], but eventually a group of four of them gathered a few cots away, whispering between themselves as they stared at like so kind of zoo exhibit.

“What do you think he did?” one of them said.

“It’s punishnt for killing Yin Chu, obviously.”

“Who cares? Master Hong Feng has put him in his rightful place. No one should start at the top.”

“Yes, especially as a Terran. Master Hong Feng said they are the most useless fodder the empire has ever seen.”

“Is that true?”

“I don’t know. I’m just glad I was born Yee.”

They all laughed and chuckled after that.

I listened while they continued to speculate about my source of power and my position within the sect, taking it all in with a mask of [Indifference]. Inwardly, I focused on my cultivation, turning the anger and resentnt building within my heart into sweet, concentrated Frenzy.

If there was any silver lining to this place, it was that.

So far, being in the Fire Bird Sect was generating a shit load of Frenzy.

Hopefully I’d have the opportunity to unleash it on them all soday.

These four jackoffs in particular.

“Master Hong Feng has summoned you,” soone called from the doorway, and I saw it was the sa portly doorman with the eyebrows who I’d encountered earlier. Ju Gong, I recalled his na was.

Grabbing my lightning and fundantals manual, I got up and followed him downstairs, eliciting fresh stares of resentnt from the jackoffs due to being summoned by the master, no doubt. Ju Gong led to a closed door sowhere on the second floor where Hong Feng was waiting for .

He grinned. “Adjusting well to your new ho, Brother Chun?”

I rembered to bow before I spoke. “Yes, it’s quite a nice place, Master Hong Feng.”

He harrumphed at the ice in my tone. “I will show you where you can study.”

Dismissing Ju Gong, he led inside where a small room was outfitted with several bookshelves, a prayer mat and a small desk and chair.

“You have access to all of this,” Hong Feng said, gesturing to the bookshelves. “And you may work as late as you like. You may even sleep here as well.”

That sounded a lot more appealing than sleeping with those assholes.

I glanced up and down the shelves. There were titles on history and philosophy and so manuals on cultivation. Too many to digest in a brief scan. “Is there a manual here for learning the techniques you showed the other day?”

He paused for a second, looking at as if I just asked for a thousand Taels of silver. And hell, maybe I had. Finally, he laughed. “Such a thing must be earned, Brother Chun. Both through blood and trust.”

I guess that was to be expected. Sharing contraband martial manuals was one thing, but showing the secrets to an illegal form of cultivation was another. But I had no interest in learning how to beco a soul-sucking demon. The ability to mask my Frenzy like them however was a different story. “I was more referring to the ability to bolster your spiritual aspect as a mask. The one you use to keep hidden from the empire. I think that might help in my breakthrough of the lightning technique.”

I purposefully pulled on our common hatred of the empire to elicit trust, but by the frown on his face it wasn’t enough. He finally just tapped on the desk where a stack of paper and pen was prepared.

“Let’s see what you can produce first,” he said with a smile. “A secret for a secret. See you in the morning, Brother Chun.”

* * *

Hours went by as I leafed through the books of the library. There were more history books than anything else, records of thousands of years of Imperial conquest over hundreds if not thousands of worlds. So of it was interesting but I didn’t have ti to waste on that. By the ti I finished cataloging what was actually useful, I wound up with a more detailed version of the fundantals manual and several tos on fire aspect cultivation.

This had to be their lowest grade of library, I figured. Hong Feng had a better selection from his chest full of black-market wares than this. This was probably what was available to all outer disciples and initiates. Especially the fire manuals. Which was perhaps more of a front than a fundantal core teaching.

It made wonder if all Fire Bird Sects were rooted in this demonic heritage, or if perhaps only this particular branch was. Maybe the hundred or so history books would have the answer, but likely this was a localized thing.

Hong Feng did say the Yee had conquered his howorld and forced them to assimilate. Perhaps fire was the easiest aspect they could use to mask their Dark Frenzy cultivation. It made wonder if lightning would be any easier. I didn’t know, of course, but to even get that far I needed to create lightning first.

That spurred into action, and I paged through the lightning manual even though I had already morized it. I knew the ridian sequences, the core of the techniques, but without solid Frenzy, there seed no way to turn my Fla into a spark.

I tried nonetheless, aiming to condense my liquified Frenzy even further. Test after test, all I could create was a ball of fire in my palm. I referred to the fundantals manual again.

Foundation Establishnt

1st

Qi Gathering

2nd

Qi Channeling

3rd

Qi Body Refinent

4th

Qi ntal Refinent

5th

Qi concentration

6th

Qi Manifestation (internal)

7th

Qi Manifestation (external)

8th

Qi Condensing

9th

Qi Hardening

According to the path of ascension, I was certainly on the 9th Tier of Foundation Establishnt by now. I had pretty much maxed out everything else. The thought made pause for a minute. Frenzy wise, I was only a Foundation Realm cultivator, but I had just defeated soone who was a Core Realm Qi cultivator. Was the power of my Fla a whole bracket above normal cultivation standards? So far it seed to be. But did that an I’d be fighting Gold Bracket cultivators when I reached Core, or Jade and Diamond Bracket cultivators when I reached Sacred Soul? The idea stirred a hunger and thirst for power within . It seed almost too good to be true, but Threja did say Berserkers were feared for a reason.

Everything I’d experienced thus far pointed to that being the case, that the Frenzied Fla was on an entirely different tier than Qi cultivation. Perhaps Hong Feng knew this as well. Which was why he was affording so many privileges to unlock my secrets.

But I’d have to take advantage of them quickly. I could only bullshit Hong Feng for so long. Sooner or later he was going to figure out I was selling him a lie. Still, this was perhaps the trickiest part of my path thus far. I was skirting the edge of my Fla, but only by learning how to mask my abilities completely and gaining open acceptance in the wider society could I truly let my powers soar to the heavens. I’d gotten a taste of that when I’d fought Yin Chu. I was outclassed in skill, but it didn’t matter.

In the end, strength was all it took.

And being able to wield that strength freely in the arena and on the streets was why I needed that bastard Hong Feng to sign those papers and make a bona fide sect mber. And for that I needed to create lightning.

I scoured the fundantals manual for what it took for Qi solidification. After an hour I had pretty much found the sa result in both books and it was what I already knew. It took a shitload of Qi to make a breakthrough to the Core Realm and solidify Qi. Most did so by using potions and pills created from high-quality beast cores harvested from S-rank monsters. Either that or mountains of spirit stones.

But what was the equivalent of that for ?

My generation of Frenzy depended on the challenge I faced.

Maybe I’d have to challenge sothing so massive it’d pretty much kill .

Like an S Class maybe…

Suddenly that thought reminded of sothing else.

There was one more requirent for to break through to the next realm. I recalled Threja’s words to , the image of the giantess forming in my mind’s eye. “The [Death Mastery] technique I ntioned earlier is one of our core tenets. You cannot break through into higher realms of cultivation without advancing it. Your next advancent will be to gain mastery over the fear of certain death.”

[Death Mastery]… that was the key. And the fear of certain death…that was my next plateau. But what would that an in practical terms?

I let out a sigh.

“One step at a ti,” I told myself.

Before I could do any of that I needed to be able to cut loose. And that ant learning this secret technique from the Fire Birds. And for that, I needed to offer up sothing to Hong Feng. A secret for a secret. I let out a sigh and prepared for what I needed to do next.

Then, sitting to the desk, I picked up the pen and began to write.

* * *

“What is this?” Hong Feng said, squinting at my page full of prose.

I’d stayed writing till past midnight, sleeping on the floor. As promised, Hong Feng had co to find early in the morning. His eyes flicked back and forth over the Yee characters, his brow deeply furrowed.

“Shura 1: The path of fury. Fury within the heart of the strong is profane, but Fury within the heart of the weak is strength. Train your fury through a thousand slaps to the face. If you are one of strength, choose one who is lesser than you. If you are one of weakness, choose one who is stronger than you. Contemplate on the Fury this generates in your heart and you will have made the first step towards mastering your inner rage.”

Hong Feng glared at it even more skeptically as he finished reading. I’d written a lot more—details on how to prepare your face to be slapped, ridians to focus on. It wasn’t complete bullshit. I’d borrowed a few pieces from the orb and the [Indifference] technique, but it was definitely all made up.

Hong Feng cocked an eyebrow. “Face slapping?”

I shrugged with [Struggler’s Resolve]. “It’s what I did to start. If you don’t believe , ask Du Mak. He’ll tell you.”

He harrumphed again. “Du Mak?”

“He’s the man.”

He seed even less convinced, but I didn’t care. I knew his curiosity was piqued enough to follow through. After another second or so, he confird it.

“Ju Gong!” he called into the hallway and a mont later the portly cultivator appeared.

“Yes, master?”

“Send Du Mak to et in my study,” he said and then pausing a mont he added, “And tell him to bring a glove.”

Ju Gong bowed and then ran off.

I had to use [Indifference] to keep from laughing. I could only imaging how their first face slapping session would go. Just as he was about to leave, I stopped Hong Feng by tapping on the stack of papers on the desk.

“Um…I believe you said a secret for a secret?”

Hong Feng squinted at for a mont as if surprised I was asking him to deliver on his promise, but finally he grabbed the pen and wrote down a series of characters.

He handed it to and it looked like steps in a ridian opening sequence.

“The masking technique you’re so interested in,” he said. “Part of it.” He then shook the script I’d written in his hands. “You will get more, when I get more of this.”

As he turned and walked away, I couldn’t help but wonder if we weren’t both playing each other. Who was to say if what he had written down was any more credible than the nonsense I had. Fortunately for , there was no way for him to fact check my scribbles. But for him, I had the perfect way to get to the truth.

After his face slapping session with Hong Feng, I would have to seek out Du Mak.