Thunk

  “Mission scroll?” The disciple manning the mission desk drawls, a different one this time, as he takes the offered scroll and the swords I slammed in front of him.

  It takes a few minutes to confirm the swords are from the deserters and I’m walking out the hall with my purse heavier and a pep in my step.

  I barely made it back in time, quite literally the last day to hand in the mission before it was considered a failure with an inner disciple sent after me for cleanup and to bring me back for punishment.

  Don’t need to deal with that though!

  The reward was generous, just enough to make what I suffered worth it. Enough contribution points to almost afford another Martial Art, so soon after my last as well. Given that I already have an offensive art, I’ll need to figure out what I need next, maybe movement or stealth?

  But back to the reward, on top of the points I also received a hefty monetary sum that covers the costs of the pills I used and repairing my gauntlets with more to spare.

  I’d shake hands with whoever gave the recommendations that got me this mission, after I beat them within an inch of their life of course. They made me use all my pills!

  Granted they were the only reason I was able to hold out long enough, that and breaking through to the seventh stage which made me hardy enough to push through my injuries.

  Got halfway to the village before I met the village’s hunters, apparently the bandit I interrogated ran straight to the village, and of course with me being there for bandits, one of them just shot the man dead. Unlucky for him.

  That led the two to cautiously follow the bandit’s tracks to see if I was still alive or not. They did end up finding me alive, just on death’s step, and quickly brought me back to the village healer. He never learnt formally, so not recognized as a doctor by the Empire, but was good enough that he was able to stitch me up and keep me breathing.

  It took another day for me to heal and get over the lethargy from consuming so many pills back-to-back. But it gave the hunter’s time to head over to the bandit’s camp and pick around their belongings. Most of it turned out to be clothing and foodstuffs, nothing worth more than a handful of coins I sold to the villagers along with the ‘weapons’ and armour the bandits had for scrap.

  They found none of the merchandise the bandits stole over the weeks they were active, however the hunters found heavy purses in the tents belonging to the deserters, so they must have found someone willing to buy their stolen goods.

  Oh well. I would’ve sold the goods to the villager anyway so this saves me the trouble. More coin for me!

  Not fit to travel back to the sect on foot, I hitched a ride on one of the village’s few horses to a nearby town and then hired a merchant to get me to Cloudrest Town which eventually led me here.

  First stop with my new wealth, the Medicinal Hall. The next step after pills if what’s commonly sold isn’t enough or is far too expensive and you need specialized help. They charge a foot and a hand for their service, but it’s worth it considering the doctors are qualified enough to be retainers for high noble families or even the royal dynasty.

  I pretend to not notice Doctor Shu’s derisive snort after she inspects the ugly line of stitching down my chest. I have no idea how my ribcage withstood the slash but I’m thankful that I have strong bones, otherwise I would’ve had my innards spilling out.

  “Horrible stitching, it does the job, but that’s all it does. I’ll be replacing it so it will scar less but the damage is done. It will fade away with most beautification pills; would you like to purchase one?”

  I vigorously shake my head at that, the cheapest one of them that merely straightens one’s nose costs more than ten of the missions I took combined.

  “Then you will have it unless you reach Qi Condensation where it will slowly start to fade.”

  She smears a numbing paste across my chest before plucking out the rough stitches and replaces them, cleaner and not pulling at my flesh as much. Not sure if you’re supposed to remove stitches but I’m no doctor.

  I get a new wrapping over the stitches with some medicinal paste before she takes a look at my hands, where I did indeed break some bones in, but it was a common enough injury in the village that she says a few good thing’s about my treatment.

  With sturdier braces to replace the one made of sticks for my hands and a Bone-Mending pill, I head out, feet taking me to a familiar little courtyard.

  “You’re back!”

  Tie Feng notices me first, putting down the board with paper he was writing on and getting to his feet with a smile. I let out a laugh when Lan Yue twists mid-handstand, spots me, and promptly topples with a startled squawk that Tie Feng ignores as he walks to me.

  “How’d the mission go?” He asks with some concern and curiosity.

  “It went pretty well, had a hiccup near the end but I ended up completing it and getting the sweet reward,” I say proudly.

  “Is the ‘little’ hiccup why I can see bandages around your torso?” Lan Yue asks as she strolls over, recovering from her fall with near-perfect grace, save for the lone leaf stuck in her hair.

  I blink, looking down to see a sliver of said bandage peaking from my collar, “Well, well, don’t you have wandering eyes Yue.”

  My teasing has no effect as she stares at me blankly with a raised brow.

  I cough, “I may have been hit with what I think was a Mortal technique.”

  That gets a glint of concern in her eyes as Tie Feng’s jaw drops in a bit of horror.

  “It sounds worse than it actually is,” I add quickly, a little white lie never hurt anyone.

  “Zhan!”

  “No Xue wait-! Oof!”

  I take that back, I should have said the truth as I’m left writhing on the ground in pain after being tackled by a four foot nothing girl who’s now panicking above my fetal body.

  ---

  A week crawls by before my friends finally release me from the mandated bed rest they forced on me. Lan Yue and Tie Feng checking in on me to make sure I’m not secretly stressing my body in my room.

  It happened only once and I learnt my lesson after Tie Feng found me doing push ups.

  Now after finally being able to do stuff other than sitting around all day, I’m heading back to the training grounds after a bit over a month since Elder Lieshen had us new disciples fight for a Martial Art. I’ve been warned by everyone else to watch out for some people, particularly anyone that acts anything like a typical cultivator. So, arrogance.

  Don’t want a random young master, or mistress, finding me offensive to their sensibilities after a spar and try to cripple me. Chen Yun and the others said they’ve seen it happen to three disciples and they couldn’t afford to recover from their injuries, all three of them were of commoner descent.

  But anyways, I can’t keep fighting the same people, otherwise I’ll learn bad habits so per Chen Yun’s advice. Also, everyone’s gone doing missions, bar Tie Feng whose studying for an exam of some sort, so I have no one to spar with.

  Looking around the familiar grounds, looking pretty much the same as before bar any inner disciples around to monitor the spars occurring, everyone expected to watch themselves.

  Though there’s always someone watching out of sight, making sure no one dies. The sect is fine with crippling other disciples, just not killing them.

  Anyways, aside from a few duels that blur at a speed I can’t match, likely at the eighth or ninth stage, nothing seems out of place since the last time I came, plus I don’t see anyone that screams young master, so I should be fine.

  Drifting close to a wall, I warmup with my spear, moving through stances and moves fluidly and with more strength than before. At the sixth stage, I always felt like I wasn’t using all the strength and speed that I could. I was certainly stronger than an average person but not able to use everything that my body could offer.

  “Hey!”

  Now that’s not the case. Every move can be done with the full strength my body is capable of.

  “You ignoring me?!”

  But if my body is at its peak… what’s left to push? What’s left to improve?

  I unconsciously pull my shoulder down to slip out the grip on my shoulder and slide my feet across the dirt to see an unfamiliar face looking at me in anger and a little bit of surprise.

  “Can I help you Senior Brother?”

  The man’s irritation fades as he preens and gives me a smug smile, “Yes you can Junior Brother. A Senior Brother of mine mentioned a Junior Brother that was able to accomplish an extermination mission, his very first mission at that, and felt to want to meet such an exceptional Junior and see if he is in need of guidance from a senior that can help him ascend through the sect.”

  Uh oh.

  “And may I ask what this generous Senior Brother’s name is?” I ask.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Senior Brother Biu.”

  The pieces fall neatly into place.

  The recommendations came from Biu and his group. I’ve very rarely spoken to any senior disciples, and I doubt that the disciples of Elder Lieshen even remember my face. So who else but the one that asked for ‘protection’ money that didn’t my rejection well? The one I was specifically warned who might try sabotaging me.

  He smirks as I piece together the game he’s playing, “Like I said, Senior Brother Biu wants to meet you. He is willing to hear your apology for the disrespect you showed him last time, perhaps with a little… gift to show your sincerity.”

  I keep an eye on his hands as I give a little bow to his smug form, “Apologies Senior Brother, but I will have to respectfully reject his offer once again. Though I did not wish to be disrespectful before, please convey my sincerest apologies for both this and my last rejection.”

  His smile turns from smug to malicious as I give my rejection, and I tense as his hands twitch.

  “Are you sure you wish to reject Senior Brother’s generous offer once more Zhan?”

  Those standing nearby watching the spar and eavesdropping on our conversation recognize the shift in his tone and step away from the two of us, murmuring in anticipation.

  “Yes I am. Now if you will excuse me, I remember I have something to do,” I don’t move my eyes from his form as I go to take some steps back to the edge of the impromptu circle made around us.

  My paranoia pays off as I see his hands blur down to grab a chain hanging from his waist before he flicks his wrist to-

  OH SH-!

  I abort the grab for my weapon and crouch down as the damn meteor hammer whistles over my head-

  Bang

  I’m tossed to the side as it impacts the shaft of my spear, forgetting that it pokes above my head strapped to my back as it is. Rolling on the ground to recover to my knees I grab my spear as he reels his hammer back in.

  “Really!?” I yell in dismay.

  He bent my spear! Again!

  Imagining the cost to fix or even replace the entire thing, I turn to glare at the man across from me who chuffs a laugh as he spins the heavy ball of metal half the size of my head beside him.

  “Should’ve just agreed boy! Now what are you going to do against someone at the seventh stage!”

  Guess the idiot doesn’t know I advanced. Good.

  I dodge to the side as he flicks his wrist to send the ball straight at me and dash in which makes him backstep rapidly in panic at my speed whilst pulling his chain and I duck down, minding my spear this time, as the ball goes flying over me towards him.

  Now in my range, I send a thrust at him and curse at it being off-centre due to the bent head, letting him take a sidestep to dodge and he lets the chain of his hammer wrap around his neck, and I jerk my head back to dodge the hammer that comes back around.

  Off-balance from leaning back, I can’t muster enough force for a proper counter before he’s retreating. He flicks his chain horizontally to swing the ball at me that I counter by leaping forward and impaling the butt of my spear into the ground and crouch whilst bracing it.

  The chain flies above me, hammer whistling by my back, and the chain wraps around the shaft of my spear.

  The hammer locks against my spear with a grinding snap. Pulling my spear from the ground, I meet his smirk with one of my own as he pulls the chain with all his might.

  Not taking the pills that decrease strength in exchange for lean mass and speed is considered a dumb idea, even those that focus on strength over speed considered brutes, but I’m satisfied with my choice as I savour the surprise and dread as my spear doesn’t move from my grip.

  I slide my foot back and heave.

  The peanut gallery erupts with gasps and exclamations as my opponent decides to stick to holding the handle of his weapon and it results in him screaming as he’s pulled off his feet and rocketing towards my back. I jut my elbow out.

  Crunch

  He goes head over heels around my arm, doing a somersault in the air before landing face first by my feet in a groaning heap.

  Shaking my arm out, I let out a breath and relax as he stays down, coming to himself as he goes fetal and moaning in pain as he clutches his face.

  Grabbing my spear, I glare at the bent shaft once more but slump in defeat and unwrap the chain from it, tossing it to the ground and go to step out of the crowd that decided to watch the so-called ‘feud’.

  “-what a brutish way to end it.” “Well what would you expect of one of his frame.” “So inelegent.” “I don’t know, did you see those arms?” “Wait what- oh look, his opponent’s getting up again.”

  The few still around murmur as I walk out the ring before they suddenly start yelling and backing away from me that gets me turning around to see what-

  “FALLING STAR!”

  Mid-turn, cold metal slams into my bicep, a jolt of pain shooting up my arm as I feel my flesh cratering under the force. Instinct kicks in, ripping the weight off my leading foot, I let the drag me, spinning me in place.

  With a yell, I halt my spin in a heartbeat and redirect my momentum to my reared arm, spear still locked in my grip.

  After the fight with the deserter, I kept looking back on it, how I managed to turn a fall into power to use for Adamantine Crash. The manual insists it’s impossible without a solid stance to channel all your force into a single strike, yet I did it anyway. It felt… natural.

  I bent the rules of the technique, why not keep going? Why limit it to just my fists?

  My muscles lock up as the shaft leaves my hands and I watch in satisfaction as it whistles towards the wide-eyed man at a speed I can confidently say none in Body Tempering can react to.

  It punches in just below his ribcage, missing his heart by a breath, and would’ve torn straight through him, spine and all, if a hand hadn’t caught the shaft and stopped it just short of touching bone.

  “I believe this is just enough punishment for a dishonourable attack against a fellow disciple.”

  With a rapidly beating heart from being so close to meeting my end, again at the end of a Mortal technique, I just barely recognize the robes of Elder Lieshen and get it in my head to bow along with the other disciples nearby.

  The elder just snorts at the man gasping in pain of having a spear in his stomach and pulls.

  My face pales as I catch the spear absently thrown my way, blood and pieces of entrails stuck to the weapon, as the elder looks down at the disciple clutching his torn stomach, trying to hold his guts in.

  “Now that is enough punishment. Stop blabbering like an infant you fool!” He snaps at the crying man who has just enough of a conscious to turn his sobs to whimpers.

  A disciple blurs into view, reaching down to haul the man up by his robes before jogging away.

  “Now you,” I straighten as he speaks to me.

  “You were wronged, but do not make a habit of aiming to kill your fellow disciples,” he says simply and before I can respond he vanishes, the only indication of him leaving is the small cloud of dust from where he stood.

  I shut my jaw and studiously ignore the gazes sent my way as I gingerly shake my spear to get the worst of it off but don’t slip it back on, far too much gore on it for me to stomach.

  My legs tremble as the battle-fugue drains and the hit I took makes itself known, but I don’t stop moving as I clutch it with a wince.

  I am not coming back here. Ever.

  ---

  “Stop pouting.”

  “I’m not pouting!” I say adamantly as I stay slumped sitting on a bench in our courtyard.

  Yue doesn’t look convinced as she turns back to reading the letters she received from her family whilst sitting beside me, apparently making sure I ‘don’t get up to no good again’.

  Mei Ruyin’s words, not mine.

  After the hit, I went straight to the apothecary to buy something to heal the ugly purple bruise that soon formed on my upper arm. Of course, with there being a pill for everything, I was able to buy a cheap, low-quality pill meant for healing bruises that the sect make in bulk due to the copious amounts of fights that occur in and out of the sect.

  It made me deal with the bruise for another day as it slowly faded, but it was better than paying a small fortune for a higher quality pill that could have healed the bruise in minutes.

  A bruise is not worth that much coin.

  It finished healing this morning, but I got ambushed just as I was leaving my room to train by Tie Feng, the boy somehow learning about the little incident at the sparring grounds and rushed over to see if I was fine.

  Touched by his worry, I assured him I was fine, right up until he punched my arm and a flash of pain shot through it.

  Then I had to deal with him berating me, voice edged with frosty anger, about forgetting to check if the hit from a Mortal technique may have cracked bone. Which, by the way, how much are they extorting from disciples if even their lackeys can afford Mortal techniques!?

  Lan Yue also came around and also somehow heard about the fight. Tie Feng then decided to snitch so I also had to deal with her berating me.

  Lan Yue’s temper flares hotter than Tie Feng’s. She calls me stupid a lot more when she’s mad.

  So here I am, arm bandaged with a paste Tie Feng made with Chen Yun to help my arm heal faster as I depressingly read through a scroll Tie Feng lent me about tracking.

  It was fine relaxing a bit and reading on something interesting, up until Xue Xu and Mei Ruyin come by and I have to shut up and seethe as Xue Xu mocked me for getting injured again before dragging Tie Feng into a spar.

  It’s not until Wang Xie asks about who exactly I faced that I finally remember what I thought of during the fight.

  “Biu? Never heard of him,” Wang Xie says before going back to his book, curiosity sated.

  Looking at the others, bar Xue Xu who’s occupied by bullying Tie Feng, they all shake their head.

  “From what I know they’ve only target commoners, so I guess they’ve made sure to hide away from anyone remotely influential,” I convey as I think back to what that boy in my class mentioned.

  “Well, it is obvious that they haven’t forgotten about your rejection, likely never will after what you did to one of Biu’s underlings,” Chen Yun says and that makes me wince.

  “People like this only learn with force, perhaps-”

  “Ooh ooh! Are we gonna go beat some bad guys up!”

  Lan Yue’s thought gets cut off as Xue Xu appears by us, leaving Tie Feng to drop to the ground gasping in relief.

  “No Xuxu we aren’t,” Mei Ruylin’s words make her deflate instantly.

  “Aww.”

  “Ruyin’s right, if we interfere in matters ‘beneath’ ourselves then we would lose standing within the sect as they technically have not done anything to besmirch us, our friendship is not exactly public,” Chen Yun reasons.

  “But-”

  “Do you really want to hear the lecture your uncle will give you if you go around beating up random disciple for no apparent reason Xuxu?” Mei Ruyin’s words are enough to make Xue Xu shudder and shut her mouth.

  “If not you, then at the very least Zhan and I can handle those thugs,” Lan Yue says determinedly, “no offence to you Feng.”

  “None taken,” the boy groans out from where he still lays after the beating Xue Xu dolled out on him.

  “I appreciate it Yue, but they outnumber us, Biu has a decent number of people under him at the seventh stage, and he and two of his closest friends are at the eighth, we would be crippled,” I try to talk her down, something that doesn’t really work as she sends me a sharp glance.

  “Even if they wish to do anything, they can’t. I only train here and some of you are always here so they wouldn’t risk it. Nor would they try attacking me outside sparring grounds, which I’m never going back to, otherwise any passing elder would stop them right then and there if they attack me together. Sabotage is the only angle they have left and that’s manageable. Honestly, the mission they forced on me almost did kill me, but it also gave me a massive edge with its rewards.”

  I can tell that my reasoning just barely consoles Lan Yue to not go on a beat down spree, but Mei Ruyin whispering something to her I can’t pickup with my enhanced senses finally gets her to simmer down.

  I didn’t think it would take that much to soothe her and reassure I’d be fine.

  “Forgetting about the wastes of space, how are you four feeling about the promotional tournament?” I ask, and Xue Xu takes the chance to start blabbering about everything she’s been doing to prepare.

  Every six months, the sect holds a tournament, a chance for disciples to prove themselves before the elders, a chance to become their disciples. At the end of the tournament, outer disciples at the ninth stage are given a chance with the help of the elders to break through to Meridian Creation.

  How they help? By injecting their qi into their body to help influence the movement of a disciple’s stagnant inner qi. Their bodies now strong enough to withstand the effects of being injected with a minute amount of foreign qi to support the creation of their first meridian.

  Luckily my four seniors reached the ninth stage, Wang Xie and Mei Ruyin reaching it two and three months ago respectively, so we all expect the four to ascend to the inner sect. Of course, Chen Yun is aiming to impress his grandfather enough to take him on as a disciple, while the other three are aiming for the very best they can.

  I give Xue Xu the best chance at becoming a personal disciple, maybe to even a core elder given her age.

  Chen Yun says this is how the sect filters out those who won’t progress past Body Tempering. Slow advancement or poor performance gets you pushed toward the army’s bootcamp early. It’s also the deadline for those who’ve already failed three attempts at forming their meridian, if they still can’t after the fourth try, or within two years, it proves they lack the talent to use qi at all, and they’re expelled to the army.

  And I’m going to be participating in it for the experience and exposure to the sect. Well, Lan Yue and I, Tie Feng got an exception as he’s dedicated himself to become a scholar over a cultivator.

  Hold on. Biu’s been here for years… which means he’s on the brink of being kicked out.

  …

  I have an idea~