Most cultivators believed it to be an absolute rule that qi could not be harnessed in techniques before reaching the Qi Condensing realm, but the Mu Clan knew that anything was possible if one simply did the calculations.

  Thick, oppressive mists filled Flint Oak Park, as though the high mountain clouds had descended to obscure the cultivator brawl. For a group of Body Tempering cultivators, it was a remarkable working of qi. They were led in the effort by their 2nd Stage Qi Condensing leader, who utilized a secret method of the Mu Clan. With their movements concealed, they unsheathed their sharp daggers and poisoned darts.

  Each of them knew their role in the hunt, and no communication was necessary, which was why they were shocked to hear a voice speak clearly through the mists.

  “Thank you for revealing yourselves.”

  They felt him coming towards them through the mists. His movements unerring, his stride purposeful. They dodged back, but he turned to face them. There was no blind swinging; he simply stalked towards them.

  Two of the Mu Clan held blowguns with razor-sharp darts coated in poison. They shot darts toward their opponent, but his blade dodged them with almost lazy precision. He wasn’t moving fast, and they could feel that his power was only in the middle of the Body Tempering realm.

  Their leader signaled, and they struck simultaneously. A ring of silent daggers closed around the swordsman like the maw of some foul wyrm. They had caught him unaware.

  The swordsman swung his blade in an arc and severed their throats. Only the leader in the Qi Condensing realm managed to dodge back at the last section.

  He stumbled away, blood spilling between his fingers as he clutched the shallow wound at his neck. The mist shrank and vanished as his clan members died on the grass, and from the cold vapors emerged the swordsman.

  “It seems you miscalculated,” he said as he strode toward the Mu Clan leader.

  The Mu Clan leader glared, but he couldn’t speak with the injury to his neck. His blood flowed down his arm and stained the grass at his feet. He turned and ran, abandoning the fight and the corpses of his clan members.

  After three dozen paces, the blood loss was too much, and he fell to his knees. He slumped to the ground, bleeding, waiting for the swordsman to come and finish him off. But his eyes closed, and the darkness took him, without any need for the swordsman to strike again.

  With a final, bloodstained sigh, the Mu Clan team leader died to the perfectly calculated slice.

  ###

  It was clear nobody in this brawl was in the Foundation Establishment realm. Even though I couldn’t sense qi, having fought the Flawless Blade at the height of his powers gave me a good feeling for the levels of speed.

  The yellow-robed cultivator was proving tough to fight. His strength felt like Jiang Jian’s, but his skills were on a whole other level.

  Every time I tried to disengage and head towards the watching Celebration Flame Sect cultivators, he would charge and intercept me. His speed was truly astonishing. Even though he hadn’t used that thunder clap transportation technique since I’d thrown away his spear, he could still move with more speed and grace than I would have thought possible.

  Flames burned up my arms thanks to the qi I’d stolen from Jiang Jian. I could feel their fuel dwindling with every second. It wasn’t the same as when my flesh pool drained to regenerate my flesh. This was a separate reservoir in my soul. I wasn’t sure if it had opened due to eating Jiang Jian, or if it had always been open and was simply waiting for flesh with enough qi.

  That was a matter for another time; I needed to rescue Cabbagy. If only this wild-eyed prick would get out of the way!

  Lightning snaked between his hands as he dodged my punches and kicks. Before I could wind up for another attack, the electricity struck me in the chest, and my whole body shuddered. It was only half a second, but he took advantage of the opening to deliver a kick to my sternum that sent me tumbling backward.

  I couldn’t use the Mustard Oil Bomb technique when he zapped me like that. It was similar to damage to my brain or spine, disabling my manipulation just long enough to render me incapacitated.

  It was frankly shocking -- heh -- how this man had figured out how to fight me so quickly.

  In the distance, Chen Ai continued fighting the ice-wielding cultivators. Further away, my disciple stepped out of the fading mists that had filled part of the open grass. It seemed that he had defeated his opponents.

  At least one of us was having some luck.

  The yellow-robed cultivator hopped from foot to foot as I climbed to my feet. Though we were only twenty-odd paces away from the Celebration Flame Sect, he stood in the way.

  I really didn’t know how I would get past him.

  “Come on,” he said. “I know you’ve got more fight in you.”

  I climbed to my feet and forced my sternum to remain broken. Fixing it now would be a waste of my regeneration.

  “You’re enjoying this too much,” I said.

  “What’s not to enjoy?”

  “I’m trying to rescue my friend.”

  He wrinkled his nose in displeasure.

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  “Come, now, don’t spoil a good fight with reasons and righteousness.”

  “You’re the one who’s fighting for money.”

  “Bah, the money is just an excuse. Now, stop holding back.”

  His attitude was rubbing me the wrong way.

  “You want more?”

  “Yes!”

  I tapped both reservoirs.

  The flames rose up my arms and burned across my skin. This was beyond the scope of the technique I stole, and I could feel the qi rapidly dwindling. My flesh burned and scorched, but I fed blood straight into the injuries, keeping myself intact enough.

  The yellow-robed cultivator grinned.

  “That’s actually fucking terrifying,” he said. “I am Song Shuai! It’s a pleasure to fight someone like you! Tell me, what is your name?”

  In answer, I charged.

  His grin widened as he dashed forward to meet me. My fist sailed through the air toward his head, and he dodged it easily. His own lightning-coated strike hit me directly in the chest. My already broken sternum caved under his blow and smashed into my torso.

  I quickly grabbed his arm with both hands and pinned him in place.

  “What!?” he shouted.

  “Now, disciple!”

  My disciple dashed up from behind, his sword singing toward Song Shuai’s throat. I grinned as Song Shuia’s eyes widened in panic.

  Got him.

  Thunder clapped.

  My disciple's sword cut through empty air as Song Shuia vanished from within my grasp. His reflexes were faster than mine, as he stopped the blade an inch from my face. The jian hummed, and I could feel the radiant sharpness upon my skin, but he quickly sheathed the sword.

  “I’m sorry, master,” he said with an apologetic bow. “I wasn’t fast enough.”

  Blood poured from the now unplugged wound in my chest, but I quickly stopped it with my manipulation. The total body flames were eating into my reservoirs too quickly, so I let them withdraw back to my arms.

  “It’s not your fault,” I said as I looked around. “I thought the bastard couldn’t do that without his spear.”

  It took me a moment to spot him, but he stood back in the ring of watching cultivators. Blood dripped from his mouth, and errant sparks of electricity twitched down his body. He was supported by two annoyed-looking cultiavtors in matching yellow robes.

  “Well fought!” he called out, before coughing up blood. “I’ll get you next time, Mr. Nameless!”

  I frowned.

  “There won’t be a next time!”

  He only grinned as the two yellow cultivators dragged him away into the park.

  My disciple gripped his jian.

  “Should I chase him down and cut off his head?”

  “No,” I said. “Help Chen Ai.”

  “Understood.”

  He dashed off toward the literal blizzard that had sprung up around Chen Ai, while I turned to face the Celebration Flame Sect cultivators. Those three held their weapons at the ready.

  “Nobody to stop me now,” I whispered.

  ###

  Dai Heng watched as his plan fell apart. His martial brother and sister stood on either side of him, their weapons clutched in white knuckled hands as the flame-wreathed deceiver marched towards them.

  He wanted to shout out to the watching cultivators that he would pay double, triple what he’d offered before, but his mouth was dry, and his tongue was still.

  “What now, Dai Heng?” He Yan asked.

  Bastard! Why was it all up to him?

  The ice maidens of the Winter’s Heart Sect were caught up fighting the swordsman and the horned woman who had accompanied the deceiver. Even with their numbers and wintery techniques, it seemed they were unable to interfere on Dai Heng’s behalf.

  He sighed.

  It wasn’t honorable, but there was still one path that he could take to salvage this situation.

  ###

  I charged toward the red and gold-robed cultivators. They had started this in the alley, and I would finish it here. They clutched their spear, club, and sword, but none of that mattered. The fire running up my arms was no match for the flames in my heart.

  I neared them, and the man wearing the red hat panicked. I couldn’t help but grin at the expression of terror on his face.

  He deserved every ounce of fear for what he had put Cabbagy through.

  The sword-wielding woman and the club-wielding man stepped forward to face me, and I prepared myself to use Cabbagy’s Style against them.

  We engaged, their weapons swinging towards me, and I took the blows on my flaming arms. They pinned me, and I twisted, ready for the spear to jab into an opening, but, at the last moment, the man in the red hat turned and fled. Flames burst from his feet as he propelled himself away as fast as possible.

  “Dai Heng!” shouted the man. “Where are you going?”

  Flaming blood blasted out of my sword wound as I activated the Mustard Oil Bomb technique. The woman rolled away and came up with her hands outstretched.

  “Wait!” she cried out in a soft voice. “Please, we will give back what we stole if you spare our lives.”

  I stopped. Flames flickered on my arms, but I fought back the urge to keep attacking.

  “He Yan!” said the man. “That is not honorable!”

  She shook her head.

  “Nothing we have done today is honorable, Ye Bin. We have ambushed, stolen, run away, and even now our martial brother abandons us.”

  Ye Bin had nothing to say to this, and his club sagged to the ground. He stared at me with dull eyes as his anger faded. Both he and the woman, He Yan, looked to be close to collapsing.

  “Is it true that Jiang Jian is dead?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “He fought well,” I said, figuring that was the kind of thing these people would want to hear. “He did everything in his power to stop me coming after you.”

  They both nodded, but if they were comforted by my words, I couldn’t tell. Behind me, the sound of fighting stopped.

  Three of the ice maidens were on the ground bleeding, but they didn’t appear dead. A dome of ice covered them like a shield, and the two upright cultivators in blue and white robes clutched at broken limbs.

  “Where is Dai Heng?” called out the leader in a voice as fierce as a winter gale. “Are we not even to be paid after all this?”

  He Yan bowed.

  “He has fled,” she said with a voice full of regret.

  “Tch,” the woman said. “Perhaps he will return if we take hostages?”

  With a leap as light as dancing snow, she sailed across the grass and landed beside Ye Bin. Her uninjured arm gripped him by the throat.

  “My sisters were injured fighting for your sect, and we demand reparations!”

  “I don’t know where he is,” squeaked out Ye Bin.

  “Oh, really?” asked the ice maiden as she applied more pressure.

  “Please!” cried He Yan. “You can’t make us dishonor our sect brother, even though he dishonors us!"

  Even with her broken arm dangling at her side, the Winter’s Heart Sect cultivator carried herself with a regal air. She raised an eyebrow and glanced my way.

  “Why are you naked?” she asked.

  I looked down.

  Again?

  Seriously?

  The flames that engulfed my body had also engulfed my robes.

  “Battle,” I said distractedly as I covered myself with my hands. “Can you give me his robes?”

  She scoffed.

  “Take them yourself.”

  I hurried over and stripped the robes off the cultivator she held in her grip as his face slowly went purple. Part of me expected her to attack me, but it seemed that with the surrender of the Celebration Flame Sect, she was more concerned about getting her money.

  “Please, let him go,” He Yan said to the icy maiden.

  “I’ll let him go when you tell me where Dai Heng went!”

  While they argued, I snuck over to the red and gold tents of the Celebration Flame Sect.

  “Kid! Over here!”

  I hurried over to a familiar-smelling sack and scooped it off the ground. My heart pounded with worry in my chest.

  “Cabbagy! Are you alright?”

  I quickly opened up the sack.

  “Heh, good thing you showed up,” he said as I pulled him out. “Otherwise I would have had to show these kinds what’s what!”

  We both chuckled, and I decided that now was as good a time as any to get out of here. He appeared uninjured, but he was definitely falling apart. Those sect bastards hadn’t been careful with him. It was more important than ever that I get him back to Doctor Wu.

  Chen Ai and my disciple were still wary of any fighting that might break out. I made eye contact and signaled we should run. They nodded, and together we snuck away from the arguing sect cultivators.

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