The high of his breakthrough lasted for a full day before the cold, hard reality of his empty pockets set in. He was a powerhouse at the peak of the eighth level of Body Strengthening, a level of physical refinement most mercenaries would never reach. He was also a pauper with less than two gold coins to his name, a fact that was far more pressing. The furnace inside him was roaring, a star of condensed power, but the fuel was gone.
He returned to the Mercenary Pavilion, the only place he knew where strength could be directly converted into capital. The moment he stepped inside, however, he knew something was different. The usual chaotic, brawling atmosphere was replaced by a tense, electric excitement. Mercenaries were gathered in tight knots, their voices a low, urgent murmur. The air, usually thick with the smell of cheap ale, was charged with ambition.
Curious, Lei Man squeezed his way through the crowd of hardened bodies and worn leather. At the center of the main bounty board, drawing every eye, was a notice on a sheet of fine, crimson-red paper that made all the other grubby quests look like trash. The insignia at the top was a stylized, swirling cloud—the unmistakable mark of the Red Cloud Sect.
He scanned the elegant, powerful calligraphy, each character seeming to pulse with a faint energy.
A SUMMONS TO THE TALENTED YOUTH OF THE FENG EMPIRE
The triennial Youth Genius Competition for the Red Cloud Sect will commence in Verd
ant Creek City in seven days' time.
All cultivators below the age of seventeen who have achieved the first level of the Qi Gathering realm are invited to participate.
The top ten victors will be granted the honor of joining the Red Cloud Sect as outer court disciples.
The words sent a jolt through Lei Man, a shock of pure, unadulterated opportunity. The Red Cloud Sect was a name whispered with awe, one of the major ruling powers of the region. Joining them meant access to resources, techniques, and a path to power that mercenaries and nobles could only dream of. It was a golden ticket out of the grubby, blood-soaked cycle of the mercenary life, a leap into a higher world.
But it was the requirement that was a wall of ice in his path: Qi Gathering realm.
He was strong, immensely so, but he was still just a mortal vessel, perfectly polished and refined. He was the furnace. Qi Gathering cultivators were the ones who could open a flue to the heavens and the earth, drawing in the endless spiritual energy of the world to use as their own.
A burly, bear-like mercenary he vaguely recognized clapped him on the shoulder, his friendly face flushed with excitement. "Thinking of trying your luck, kid?" the man asked, his voice a jovial rumble. "The whole city's going crazy for it. My nephew is at the ninth level, been stuck there for a year, thinks this might be the kick he needs."
"I'm considering it," Lei Man said carefully. "What's the difference between Body Strengthening and Qi Gathering?"
The man laughed. "It's the difference between a strong man and a real cultivator, kid. A Body Strengthener hits hard. A Qi Gatherer can project their Qi, coat their weapon in it, power a low-level artifact. It's a whole different league." He saw the look in Lei Man's eye, a familiar, dangerous glint of ambition that was all too common in this line of work, and his expression sobered instantly.
"Whoa there, kid," the man warned, his voice dropping to a serious, sincere tone. "Don't get any crazy ideas. I can see the gears turning in your head. Trying to rush a breakthrough to Qi Gathering in just a week? That's not just ambitious, it's suicide. You'll bust your cultivation for good. Shatter your meridians, suffer a Qi deviation that'll turn you into a drooling fool... if you're lucky. That leap takes years of careful preparation and a mountain of resources, not days."
Lei Man thanked the man for the sincere warning and backed away from the crowded board, his mind racing.
He knew the man was right. For any sane, normal cultivator, his advice was gold.
But Lei Man wasn't a normal cultivator.
His path wasn't about years of careful preparation. It was about moments of intense, reality-shattering overload. He didn't need to meditate for years to comprehend the Dao; he needed to get so high that the universe showed him a shortcut. The Sun Dew Orchid, a five-gold treasure, had rocketed him through two entire levels of Body Strengthening. A breakthrough to a completely new realm, the construction of a spiritual foundation from scratch... that would require something exponentially more potent, exponentially more expensive.
He thought of the single gold coin and eighty-some silver pieces rattling in his spatial ring. It was a pittance. He couldn't even afford the down payment on a trip of that magnitude.
The problem wasn't that it was impossible. He knew, with an absolute, insane certainty born of his unique experiences, that he could do it. His unique cultivation method was a cheat code, a monstrously effective furnace that could burn through any obstacle, provided he could supply it with enough high-grade fuel. The challenge wasn't talent. It wasn't comprehension. It wasn't even time.
It was capital.
He had the means, but not the resources.
He walked out of the pavilion, the excited buzz of the crowd fading behind him into the mundane sounds of the city. A slow, cold, and utterly determined smile spread across his face. He wasn't going to spend his last gold coin on a desperate gamble of buying a few cheap herbs. He was going to invest it. He was going to gear up, and he was going to work. He was going to hunt.
He had seven days. The path to the Red Cloud Sect wasn't paved with meditation and enlightenment. For him, it was paved with the gold earned from the blood and cores of vicious beasts.
He turned and walked back into the Mercenary Pavilion, his demeanor completely changed. He was no longer a curious youth. His eyes scanned the bounty board not with hope, but with the sharp, calculating gaze of a man who had a very expensive shopping list, a very tight deadline, and a complete disregard for the risks involved.
Lei Man's plan was simple: hunt, sell, repeat. With a week to go, he needed to be a machine of brutal efficiency. He pushed deep into the rugged wilderness of the Red Mountains, a place where even seasoned mercenary teams tread with caution. His target was the Violent Red Mountain Elk.
He found a herd and flowed among them like a phantom, a butterfly in a stampede. The Flowing Butterfly Art was a whirlwind of evasive grace and stinging, precise attacks. A drift, a pivot, a two-fingered strike to the weak point behind the skull. In less than an hour, ten of the formidable creatures lay dead. He walked from one massive carcass to the next, placing a hand on each. With a subtle pulse of Qi, each two-ton elk vanished into his spatial ring.
It was as he was storing the last one that he felt it—a pair of eyes on him, burning with an unnerving, hungry intensity.
He turned slowly. A man emerged from the treeline, lean and wiry, with greasy hair and the desperate, hollowed-out look of someone who had been stuck at a bottleneck for too long. He wore patched leather armor, and his Qi was a chaotic, ragged thing, but it was dense. The man was at the peak of the ninth level of Body Strengthening.
"That's a fine ring you have there, boy," the man said, his voice a dry rasp, gesturing with his own ringed hand. "Must have a lot of space to swallow ten of those beasts whole."
Lei Man's body tensed. "What do you want?"
The man's lips peeled back in a predatory grin. "It's not your ring I want. A good spatial ring is a treasure, yes, but I've heard rumors of a greater one." He took another step, his gaze now locking onto Lei Man with a feverish greed. "I want the treasure that lets you eat spiritual herbs like they're candy. The one that turns them straight into cultivation."
Lei Man's blood ran cold. How could he know?
"Don't play the fool with me," the man sneered. "Young Master Lei Jiao told me everything! He said you were a worthless piece of trash who stumbled upon some heaven-defying treasure. He promised me a fortune to take it from you and cripple you for good!"
So that was it. Jiao was too terrified to face him directly, so he had hired this desperate, hungry ghost.
"Lei Jiao is a fool," Lei Man said, his voice turning to ice.
"He's a fool who pays well!" the man snarled, and then he attacked. He was incredibly fast, his hands armed with a pair of worn, three-pronged iron claws, swiping with a strength that was clearly a full level above Lei Man's.
Lei Man flowed backwards, the claws missing his chest by a hair's breadth. His only advantage was the profound sophistication of his technique.
"Stop flitting around like an insect!" the man roared, his attacks becoming a frantic storm of steel. Frustrated, he finally overcommitted, lunging forward in a powerful stab with both claws, leaving his entire right side exposed.
It was the opening Lei Man needed. He moved in, a blur of motion that slipped inside the man's reach. As the iron claws whistled past his head, he executed the Butterfly's Sting, focusing all his Qi into a single, sharp, open-palmed strike to the man's temple.
The sound was a dull, sickening thud.
The man's eyes went wide with a final, blank surprise. The light in them vanished, and he crumpled to the ground, dead before he even hit the grass.
Lei Man stood over the body, his hand trembling slightly. This was a conscious, deliberate execution. He felt no remorse, only a cold, chilling clarity. Leaving this man alive would only spread the dangerous rumor.
He searched the body, driven by the pragmatic need to leave no stone unturned. His gaze fell upon the man's hand. It was a simple iron ring, much like his own, but the fact that this destitute-looking man possessed one was a surprise. He slipped it off the man's finger and sent a wisp of his Qi inside.
His eyes widened. The ring wasn't filled with beast parts or spare coins. It was packed to the brim with spiritual herbs. Jade Sprouts, Sun-Kissed Petals, a half-dozen Crimson Heart Tubers... it was a veritable pharmacy of breakthrough aids, a collection worth several gold pieces.
The stunning, ironic truth hit him. The man hadn't just been planning to win; he had already invested in his own victory. He'd been so certain he would possess Lei Man's "treasure" that he had spent every last coin he had—likely including Jiao's down payment—on the very herbs he would need for his own imminent breakthrough to the Qi Gathering realm. He had counted his chickens before they hatched.
And now, Lei Man was collecting the eggs.
A slow, grim smile touched his lips. He slipped the new ring onto his other hand. His enemy's hubris had just provided a massive shortcut on his own journey. He left the body for the scavengers, his demeanor colder and harder than before. The path to the Red Cloud Sect was going to be bloody, but with every enemy that fell, it seemed, the path also became a little smoother.