— The Emperor’s Imperial Record, Entry No. 27 —

  Not even thirty minutes had passed since I’d paid for the house, but I didn’t want to stay in the apothecary any longer. Lying there and soaking in the fumes of herbs and medicine wasn’t helping me do anything.

  I left to the sound of ranting and chiding from Healer Po. Was I fully healed? I didn’t care. Staying still felt wrong, as if something was going to appear from the darkness and harm me. Punish me.

  As far as I was concerned, I felt fine, and I didn’t want to waste too much time having Huo Qianlei and his daughters in the current house.

  Who knew what would happen to them?

  Yao Po wanted to call the seller, but I refused to use his name.

  She wanted to ask him to guide me to the house, but Yao Po knew where it was. I’d much rather have her speaking to me than that bag of dirt and nostrils.

  In my state, if I were all alone with him as he guided me to the house, he might just rob me of whatever silver I had left.

  I walked through the Mudfoot district, doing my best not to stare at the scenery before me.

  The houses got less and less shoddy as I got farther from the entrance of the Mudfoot district, where Huo Qianlei and I stayed, to the edge of it, next to the silver scale district.

  The longer I walked, the bigger the houses around me got. Square, red stones started to replace mud and straw to make up for the walls.

  Wooden shingles made up their roofs instead of thatch. They looked like they could survive a heavy storm.

  I had never seen homes like this in my life. I walked on till I saw the house I was looking for.

  It was glorious. ‘Was this what money could get you? Then, how did those in the Silverscale district live?’

  When I walked up, I knocked, but no one answered, and for a few more minutes, I kept on knocking, before I realised— ‘This is my house!’

  I stuck the key in the lock. An actual lock, not some wooden bar in a latch, then I twisted the simple metal key, and it actually opened, the door pushed open like a small flower blown by a soft breeze over water.

  I stepped in quickly, scared someone would see the interior, forgetting that everyone around me either had a similar home or better.

  The interior looked like what I expected a rich merchant to live in, but they didn’t live here, they lived in the Silverscale district.

  The walls were completely white. I scratched at the wall with my fingers, it was flaky and came apart without too much force. Underneath, I could see the red stones that were common in the walls around here.

  Even the floors were different, instead of packed, pressed-down earth, I had wooden planks, arranged like tiles on the floor.

  Winter was coming, but everywhere, you could feel the chill in the air.

  Inside was warm, though.

  There were sturdy oak tables and chairs in the center of the home, just in front of the chimney.

  Did I get the furnishings along with the home itself?

  Maybe that bastard hadn’t ripped me off?

  No, he definitely took advantage of me

  I quickly went to Huo Qianlei to bring him over.

  He couldn’t believe it at first. It was so far above what he had experienced before that he almost shed a tear.

  I was glad I had seen it first. I didn’t want to look too much like a village boy. The first time I came here, it was Huo Qianlei who showed me around and took me in. To be able to do this for him felt good.

  The girls ran around the home, exploring everywhere they could. I made sure to put the cow, Bai, at the back of the house. It had far more space than the old one. It even had some grass already growing.

  Maybe it wasn’t all so bad? It was nice being able to look after people like this. I looked at my money pouch. I had silver left, but barely. It would be just enough to take care of us for a few days— a week at most.

  I hated the feeling.

  ###

  Elsewhere, Huo Feng ran like the wind. Like his life depended on it.

  It did.

  He was still being chased. The assassins had caught up to him, and they were close behind on his heels.

  Huo Feng had the beast core and the treasure sword right in front of him. Making sure he hid it from the sight of his pursuers behind him.

  He had to get to the sect fast.

  The Awoken Moon Sect had a rule. Disciples could not kill other disciples while in the sect, at least not in the open.

  He had to get there so that he could at least get them off his back. Maybe he would find something in the sword he could use.

  But, he still couldn’t believe it. ‘A treasure! A real one!’

  If anyone else found it, he was sure he'd be dead. Matter of fact, he’d be dead long before he could even unwrap the sword.

  The one thing cultivators cared more about than themselves was power—qi.

  And something like this could be the key to getting them more. He ran faster. His wounds were tearing and wailing at him, but he could not stop.

  He hadn’t survived a spirit beast, run through the entirety of the forest as a sham quest, only to die to a bunch of sellswords.

  Huo Feng thought back to the men who had taken his mother from him. They were still alive. Every time he saw the city lord walk around in the city, he hid himself.

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  Cursing every moment, he had to shy away like a coward. The tears of his mother accused him.

  He would hide in the shadows, ignoring everything else he had to do, and follow the city lord as far as he could. He had been reprimanded once for neglecting his duties as a guard, but they thought he was just off drinking or visiting the local girls.

  He had imagined the moment he would soak his blood in the city lord’s blood, and even the cultivator's. That old pervert.

  He would get his revenge even if it cost him his cultivation!

  An arrow sang a high-pitched whistle as it rang through the air, and it lodged in his back. Only a few inches away from his neck.

  Damn it!

  He had to hurry up! He ripped apart a talisman and tossed it back, it exploded in red smoke, but they dodged it, laughing.

  “Don’t run…we’ll make this quicker for you.”

  The rest of the assassins snickered.

  Huo Feng ignored them, and the arrow in his shoulder, trying not to stumble, his eyes were turning bleary,and he was seeing in doubles now.

  He was out of tricks.

  But then the assassins behind him started to cough. It was working! The talisman—the red smoke- was a distraction. What really mattered was the gas hidden in the smoke. Hopefully, it would slow them down enough that they wouldn’t be able to catch up.

  He looked back. The leader was in the best shape, with the rest struggling to keep up.

  But not by much.

  Huo Feng tried to run quicker, and blood immediately spurted from his wounds. What was he to do?

  He looked around. ‘Something, anything. Please.’

  This couldn’t be the end. Not for him. Not while he hadn’t yet gotten his revenge

  Huo Feng coughed, choking momentarily on his own blood. His body was starting to betray him.

  The Awoken Moon Sect was only a minute away at the speed he was going, he had to make it. He looked down at the spirit beast core in his hands.

  He didn't want to have to do this. He tossed it into his mouth. Swallowing it dry, the miniature fist-sized oval struggled down to go down his throat.

  Now, he was struggling to breathe.

  His body begged for oxygen. He wasn’t yet at the point where qi was enough to sustain him.

  His lungs burned. Like fire. Actual fire.

  His muscles felt cold as ice despite the warmth of the blood pumping through them. The spirit core was coming up.

  No!

  He circulated his qi. Making him slow down. The assassins were catching up.

  Quick

  He had to do this, he used more of his qi. Slowing him down more, and now they were basically behind him, they only had to reach out their weapons to touch him. With their leader in front.

  The core slid back, and Huo Feng forced it down his throat with his hands, just in time.

  The assassins were upon him.

  The leader kicked him down. Hitting his back and forcing Huo Feng to the ground. But Huo Feng stayed on his stomach, hiding the sword. If they saw it, he would be as good as dead. It was more important than his life!

  “We told you not to run.” The leader said, his posse now behind him. Panting, with boils all over their skin.

  “Give me your blade,” the leader said to the one on the left. The man obliged.

  The leader brought the blade up to his forehead, aiming for the back of Huo Feng’s neck, “Any last words?”

  Huo Feng smiled, out of view of the man; these fools had given him enough time to start absorbing the core.

  The qi, slow at first, but rapid the moment he managed to rip it from the core. Rushed through his body, like a torrent.

  Hahahahah

  The assassin who had given the leader the blade asked, “Is this guy insane?”

  Another assassin spoke up, “People turn deranged when they know they are about to die.”

  The leader brought the blade down…

  It touched nothing.

  Huo Feng was up.

  “What?”

  “How?”

  “Tricks… It's a trick of the eye.”

  Huo Feng had managed to keep the sword hidden in the wraps, but the form of it was still visible. The assassins didn’t think too much of it.

  If it was such a good sword, why hadn’t he used it earlier?

  They weren’t concerned.

  Huo Feng wanted to fight. But he was not stupid. To fully absorb a beast's core, you needed a quiet, stable place. The beast's core was inherently violent. He had to wrestle the qi from it as he struggled.

  If he focused and tried to take up as much qi as possible, he'd just risk qi deviation. Or worse, qi regurgitation.

  His qi would flow backwards. That would be much worse than the worst kinds of torture.

  He did the only thing he could think of.

  Grabbed sand and the spirit beast, then flung them at the pursuers who were cornering him.

  The beast core and the sword were what mattered most.

  For his last trick, he did one thing the guards used to do when they worked with someone they had to get away from but couldn’t hurt.

  He looked behind them, and said “BEASSSSSTTTT”

  And when some of them, foolishly, looked back, he tossed a ball of glowing qi at them.

  They tried to dodge, but that wasn’t necessary. It exploded into a ball of light that did nothing but make them feel like they had lost face.

  “Damn it! Chase that bastard.”

  But Huo Feng was already gone. Running like a madman with a drinking problem.

  He had a five-second head start, but that was enough. He could make it.

  Not even 20 seconds later, he saw the sect. He shouted, “Help, Help.” But the cultivators standing guard only looked at him.

  He didn't look important to them, and furthermore, they were stuck on this duty, what more could they ask for in entertainment? They looked on in glee.

  Huo Feng ran all the more, pushing more qi to his legs, becoming more lightheaded.

  The assassins could be seen now. The guards perked up. Would they see a fight? They were outside the sect, so this didn't count, right?

  They started placing bets.

  Huo Feng looked back. The assassins were right on his heels, he had to make these last few seconds count.

  He was almost there.

  Huo Feng did one thing. He had only heard of it in folk tales; he shoved every drop of qi he had been able to take from the core into his legs…

  In the stories, this was the only way low-level cultivators could achieve something like flight.

  If it didn’t work, then he would die.

  His toes burst through his sandals and gripped the dirt beneath them, the muscles in his calves tightened, then expanded.

  “Stop him,” the assassin boss shouted.

  But it was too late, Huo Feng leaped.

  It worked!

  He was flying. Fast.

  The wind tore past his face like blades.

  But low-level cultivators couldn’t fly.

  The only problem was that he couldn't maneuver in the air.

  Couldn’t dodge.

  The assassins shot their arrows and spears at him, hoping to murder him in mid-air.

  Only two shots missed, the rest all landed, but he couldn't care about that.

  He was falling now. Rapidly.

  Towards the gates of the sect.

  The ground soared up to him, and He hit the earth with a small bang, rupturing into a cloud of earth and rocks.

  The guards muttered in annoyance, wanting to see a show.

  But anyhow, he was so riddled with weapons and wounds, he wouldn’t live long. Even with elixirs.

  Huo Feng wanted to jump for joy, but he was only taking off enough to heal himself and made a silent promise to take care of any orphan he came across the rest of his life.

  But there was one thing he had forgotten. One crucial thing.

  The sword.

  He was showing the sword. Only the hilt. But that was enough for anyone with enough knowledge to recognise what it was, just from the patterns. They might even know the ancient cultivator it once belonged to.

  He quickly hid it back in the wrapping, taking off more of his clothing to hide it.

  He looked weird, but he didn't mind. No one had seen, not even the guards, thank the skies!

  He looked up from the position he was in, only his underwear covering him, a smirk on his face, but there was the leader of the assassins.

  Many metres behind, but he stood there. Shock and awe on his face.

  The smirk on Huo Feng's face disappeared like an apparition.

  The man had seen

  …and recognized it.