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Still, I’d gotten enough unwanted attention in the ring already today.

The last thing I needed was more.

Maybe that was something I’d have to save for practice out in the field.

“That was an amazing fight, Brother Max!” Gui Zu greeted me in the locker room with a huge jacked-up smile, handing me my normal robes to get dressed. “Congratulations!”

“Thanks, Gui Zu,” I said, throwing on my jacket.

My Fire Bird robes were toast, but I couldn’t give a crap about them. I was far more established as the Iron Bull in the arena now, thanks to that fight. My sect affiliation was now secondary, a bureaucratic annotation at best, which meant I wouldn’t be wearing them inside the ring again. Still, the Furious Lightning Sect had granted me my shot at the Iron Bracket and now I’d have to see the rest of it through on my own terms.

“Still a lot of people hoping to catch a glimpse of who you truly are,” Gui Zu said. “But the next match is starting soon. It would be a good time to leave then.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Speaking of plan, we should celebrate your victory, Brother Max. It’s not every day one accomplishes what you have tonight.”

It still didn’t feel like well-fought victory to me. I only won because I was able to shock her through happenstance with the [Faux Lightning] technique. It was a reminder that the parlor trick technique could only take me so far. I needed my own means of creating lightning to truly be competitive in the ring.

“I dunno,” I said. “Maybe some other time.”

Gui Zu looked disappointed. “Are you certain? I’m sure Yu Li and Su Ling would love a chance to see you too.”

“Yu Li?” I said. “I can’t tell her about any of this stuff, man.”

“Oh yes, I know,” he said. “But we don’t have to tell her the exact reason we are celebrating, do we?”

He gave me another jacked-up grin and I couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, ok maybe.”

It probably would be good to see Yu Li again and let her know everything was fine. I hadn’t seen her and Su Ling in nearly four days now after all.

“Oh, by the way,” Gui Zu said. “There is one person you should go and see before we leave. Official Bo Ren has asked for you.”

“Bo Ren?”

“Yes,” Gui Zu said. “And he said it was very important.”

* * *

I left Gui Zu in the locker room and headed upstairs to the administration area, apprehension building within me as I moved towards the counter where Bo Ren was serving a fellow competitor. I didn’t know what kind of ‘trouble’ I might have gotten myself into with that fight, violating some code or what not, but I prepared myself for the worst. I waited for him to finish serving the cultivator before approaching the counter alone.

“You wanted to see me, Official Bo Ren?”

“Ah!” he said with a smile and then looked over his shoulder as if to make sure no one else was nearby. He then gave me an overly prestigious bow. “Just wanted to pay my respects to the legend himself! The Iron Bull!”

He laughed then, and I realized it was all a joke.

“Thanks,” I said, laughing with him. “I thought I was in trouble or something.”

“Trouble? Only the good kind perhaps. You made yourself quite the name tonight,” he said. “A single-hit win. Not common, especially for a match lasting that long.”

I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. “Yeah…it was actually two hits, you know? I used my lightni—”

“Ah, it doesn’t matter now,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “The officials saw what they saw, but more importantly…so did the bookies.”

He grinned at me while waggling his eyebrows and I raised a single eyebrow in response. He then tossed a small pouch on to the counter towards me. “I thought it only fair that you get a cut, seeing as you made it all happen.”

“A cut?” I took the pouch and cautiously examined what was inside.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw it was filled with glowing blue stones, opaque like opals. “Holy crap…there are six spirit stones in here!”

“I was always planning to bet on you, kid,” Bo Ren said. “I know talent when I see it. But nine hells, never did I think the odds would shoot as high as they did. And then for you to pull it all off like that at the last minute? Priceless!”

“How much did you make?” I asked. “This is more money than I’ve ever had in my entire life!”

“Well, the odds went 20 to 1 and I dropped three of those rocks on the match, so… you can do the math from there. I figured 10% for the man that made it all possible was only fair.”

“Holy shit! Way more than fair! Thank you, Bo Ren! Thank you!”

He grinned. “Don’t expect another payday like that again though. After this, your numbers will be skewed to the other side. You’ll be the one with the high odds not low.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re already up to 28th rank.”

I couldn’t believe it. “What? How?”

“A couple of people ahead of you saw your fight tonight and shit their pants. They withdrew immediately.”

Damn, I thought. I guess notoriety did have some advantages to be had.

“So when’s my next fight?” I asked. “And with who?”

Bo Ren looked to the board behind him. “You’re not up for your next one for a couple of days yet. But we’ll have to see how things pan out in those matches before you get your pick. I can tell you this though. You’d be looking at going up against another 2nd or 3rd-Tier Core Realm cultivator. All the 1st-tiers are eliminated or dropped out now.”

“Damn, guess I’m in the big leagues now,” I said and Bo Ren gave another laugh.

I looked at the spirit stones again in amazement. Each one was worth 10 Taels of silver. I was nervous just holding this much money.

“Don’t spend it all on women and booze,” Bo Ren said, catching me staring at the stones. “You should probably use them to cultivate. Your next matches won’t be easy.”

If only I could, I thought. But there was one other investment I could make with this much money. And one that would keep me from spending it all, or having it get stolen back at the Fire Birds’ nest.

“Bo Ren, do you have an application form for creating a non-martial sect?”

He eyed me strangely. “You want to create a sect?”

“It costs 50 Taels right?”

“Don’t tell me that’s what you want to spend your money on. I have the urge to snatch it right back from you, if you do.”

I laughed as he smiled but let him know I was dead serious with [Struggler’s Resolve]. “I don’t have the B-class citizenship to apply for it officially as yet, but if you help me start the application and pay the fee now, I’d appreciate it. I just don’t trust myself with this much money.”

Bo Ren paused for a moment, looking at me with oddly, but eventually he just shrugged. “Okay then. Give me five of them stones back and I’ll get you the form.”

It took me all of about a minute to fill it out. Or as much as I could fill out anyway. I then handed it to Bo Ren who initialed the payment and then turned it around for me to see.

New Sect Application Form (Non Martial)

Name Sect:

Terran Sect

Chapter No.

00001

Location:

Jurin, Terra

Sect Type(s):

Social

Cultural

Artisan

Sect Size:

Small (1000 member limit)

Establishment Fee

50 Taels (Paid) 任波

Founder:

Max Chun

Citizen ID

Signature

Leader:

Max Chun

Citizen ID:

Warden:

Max Chun

Citizen ID:

Sect

Furious Lightning

“As soon as you qualify, I can slip in your new ID and then it will be official,” Bo Ren said as he placed the form in an envelope before passing it back to me. “You’ve an odd way to spend money, but I respect a man who doesn’t throw it away immediately. Curious though. What made you want to create a sect?”

I shrugged with a smile. “Even underdogs need a home, I guess.”

Bo Ren burst out laughing at that. “A good answer. See you in a few days then, Bull Man.”

* * *

I cashed in the spirit stone for silver Taels at the money lenders and then headed to the restaurant district with Gui Zu. I bought a veritable feast of Yu Li’s favorites and Gui Zu carried the baskets of steaming noodles and shrimp dumplings on his massive shoulder like it barely weighed anything at all.

I had to admit it felt good to blow off heading to the sect, and instead spend a few hours at home with Yu Li and Su Ling. I’d return to the sect later, when the likes of Shen Ju and Hong Feng were asleep and then just focus on honing my External Manifestation techniques some more.

From my use of [Mark of the Giant] I was sure it was something I could use to heal my body instantly, but it took massive amounts of Frenzy to do so. And the amount I grew seemed linked to the amount of Frenzy as well. Thus far, the only two times I had actually transformed was when I was in the heat of combat in a life-or-death situation with tons of Frenzy streaming from my Flame.

It made me think of Threja again. Her frenzied core must have been immensely dense to have transformed and even manifested that inner world as she did. Especially as there was no way those Fire Birds were enough of a threat to her to trigger much Frenzy generation of its own.

I recalled how annoying it’d been for her to fight them as well, the Fire Birds kiting her around like these cultivators were doing to me. Perhaps that was one of the major drawbacks of the Berserker’s arsenal. Even at her level of advancement she was confined to melee attacks.

Perhaps my quest to harness lightning from Frenzy was somewhat heretical in a way, but the Flame hadn’t complained thus far, so I must be on the right track.

“Brother Max,” Gui Zu said after a while. “I must ask you a question.”

“What’s that?”

“How is it that you and Yu Li are related exactly?”

I chuckled. “Why? You don’t see the family resemblance?”

The big man blushed a little. “Sorry. I do not mean to be disrespectful.”

I slugged him on the shoulder. “I’m just kidding. We’re not related by blood. I guess none of us really are…anymore.” The thought made me think of my real sister for a second. Shit, I could barely remember what her face looked like. My Flame stirred as the Struggler took control, the root of my pain filtering to the surface.

“I’m sorry. I did not mean to bring up a sore subject.”

“Nah, it’s okay,” I said. “Yu Li and I just go way back to when we were kids. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned is that you don’t necessarily need to be blood to be kin.”

“I suppose that is true,” Gui Zu said and then paused a moment. “And Su Ling…she is the daughter of—?”

“If you’re asking who her dad is, you’re going to have to ask Yu Li that. But I wouldn’t go broaching the topic lightly. It’s a sore spot for her, as you say.”

“Oh, I already know who her father is. Yu Li told me that it’s master Hein.”

“Wait, what?” I stopped dead in my tracks. “She told you that?”

“Yes.”

“Already?”

Gui Zu shrugged. “Yu Li and I have a great many conversations.”

I was flabbergasted. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

“What I was going to ask, was if you think Su Ling should be raised a commoner or not.”

I raised a brow at that. “What do you mean?”

“Well, whether Master Hein chooses to acknowledge it or not, she still has royal blood in their veins. That means something.”

I shrugged. “This sounds like a conversation you should probably be having with Yu Li.”

“Oh, I have had it,” he said. “But she’s conflicted. For obvious reasons.”

“It doesn’t really matter, does it? Yu Li is a mortal, Terran. The empire wouldn’t recognize Su Ling as any more than that, no matter who her father is, right?”

“Oh Sorry, perhaps you misunderstand me, Brother Max. When I said she has royal blood in her veins, I meant that literally. I did not mean inheritance or status.”

I glanced at him questioningly again.

“What I mean is, royal families keep their bloodlines very strong through selective marriage. Most times just to win the honor of marriage, a suitor must defeat his would-be bride in combat to prove his worthiness to father her children. That way anyone within a royal family is normally many tiers more advanced in their cultivation potential. So, while her mother may have been a mortal, there is a very good chance that Su Ling may prove to be a prodigy.”

There was that damn word again.

“So…how would that make any difference in how she’s raised though? She’d still be a commoner under the law, right?”

“If she’s educated under the normal imperial government, yes,” Gui Zu said. “But if she has true talent, she could be inducted into a sect as early as two years old and receive the same training and education as a royal would.”

“Two years old?” I couldn’t imagine Yu Li doing something like that. “What mother would turn her child over to a sect at that age?”

“Are you kidding? Most mothers would give away half their children for just one to have such a chance.”

“I dunno, man,” I said, shaking my head. “Trusting a sect to raise your kid at that age? They wouldn’t even remember you. It’d be like giving them up for adoption.”

Gui Zu shrugged. “As a mortal, it’s a better life than most have. For a mortal child to be inducted into a sect is a great honor.”

“Still sounds pretty iffy to me.”

Gui Zu chuckled. “Yu Li had much the same reaction. Perhaps it is still very much a foreign concept to you as a Terran. But for me, I would have much rather been raised in a sect than the orphanage.”

I glanced at the big man again and realized that he perhaps had had as hard a life as we all did.

“Man, those dumplings smell good,” I said, eager to change the topic of conversation. “I can’t wait to dig into them.”

“You and me both!” Gui Zu said with a laugh, his mirth returning.

We continued chatting on much lighter topics on the way to the square. Still, I thought about what he’d said some. I couldn’t imagine little Su Ling growing up in the harsh environment that I was now subjected to in the Fire Bird Sect. What kind of person would she grow up being then? An entitled brat like Green Bird Girl, or even worse, like that evil bitch, Blue Mantis? It made me realize all the more just how important creating this Terran sect was.

We needed a means to preserve our own heritage and identity. A sanctuary to carve out our own destiny within the empire, just like Master Edrik and Lysa did. The 50 Taels to do that just that had been well spent indeed. Now I just needed to reach the top 20 bracket and earn my B-class citizenship to make it all a reali—.

I bumped into something. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t notice Gui Zu had come to a halt in front of me.

“What’s up?” I said.

The square was just ahead of us and before Gui Zu even pointed I could hear the commotion of a crowd. We dashed forward together, and the scene slowly began to take shape. Food and debris from broken tables was scattered all over the place and shop windows busted just like before. The entire neighborhood was there, worked up in a frenzy. An angry mob being led by none other than Jian Yi.

“This way!” she cried. “No! This way! Follow me!”

The crowd surged back and forth like a school of fish, moving in one direction and then the other and after a few seconds I saw why. There, running for her life with little Su Ling cradled in her arms, was Yu Li.