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I sensed the attack before I even saw it.

Three jian blades stabbing the air.

I shifted and parried all three attacks with my axe.

I still hadn’t seen Fia yet, but I started swinging my glaive already, twisting at the hips. By mid-swing I finally saw her, circling to my rear as expected to follow up on her initial attack. I hopped backwards to reposition myself while still swinging and then brought the blade crashing down a half foot in front of her, spraying her with beach sand.

She coughed and sputtered, shielded her face from the debris. “Nine hells! How are you so accurate with that big clumsy thing?”

I grinned as I hefted the Phalanx Glaive back onto my shoulder, feeling like Iron Pot Wong atop the practice wheel with Fia turning the crank.

“Practice,” I told her. “Lots of practice.”

I’d had over three months of it now, visiting Wong on a regular basis and not to mention practicing with Venja each day. It had not really hit until now, but I supposed I’d essentially been trained by both Wong and Threja herself. My progress had allowed me to not only master the Phalanx Glaive but to advance to the point of combining it with my axe techniques, making me able to use them in a series of different combos that mixed the quick attacks with the slow.

The frustration on Fia’s face was confirmation that it was working.

She glared at me for what had to be the tenth time today. “I’m not liking this new style of yours. We still have six months to prepare for our duel and I fear you might be good enough to best me already.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

She harrumphed playfully. “Not for my ego. How are you mastering these things so quickly? Do you train with someone else when you go on these breaks of yours? It’d better not be with one of my cousins!”

I laughed.

“Only Wong and a big sword, I promise,” I told her truthfully.

It’d been two months since I discovered Venja and I took every opportunity to spar with her in the spiritual realm when I made my week-long visits to the wild. Within the extended time of that place, I had perhaps put in nearly a year’s worth of training. Even when back home in the city I utilized my meditation technique to increase the number of hours in a day. I practiced my forms solo, read, contemplated, even developed mastery of new techniques like [Steel Skin] and [Steel Core].

And in time, I found it did indeed all transfer to reality.

My progression to being able to best Fia today was proof of that.

But even though I felt as if nearly a year had passed inside my own head, there was still something lacking.

“Hit me with it, Fia,” I said. “I need to test it one last time.”

“Are you certain? Your opening Gold Bracket match is tonight, isn’t it? Do you really want to risk it?”

“That’s why I need to,” I said. “Just to be sure I know where I stand.”

“I’ll go easy then,” she said, lifting into the air as she readied her technique.

Rusted leaves and light snow swirled as she gathered her Qi with her three jian blades forming a triangle behind her back. She thrusted both palms in front of her, one on top of the other, and a brilliant white light streamed from between her fingers.

“[Eighth Heaven! Radiant Soul Strike]!”

I braced myself as the light hit my body, and I triggered the [Soul Shield] technique in defense. The light penetrated straight through to my Flame and the brief flicker of the [Soul Shield] technique repelled it for a moment.

Come on! I urged as I pushed with more Frenzy, bolstering the technique.

It held firm, a small octagonal frame illuminating itself as Fia’s technique pushed back against it.

And then suddenly it flickered and was gone.

Damn it!

Pain ripped through my soul as the light shot through my Flame, zapping my strength as my inner blaze was nearly snuffed out. I fell to my knees and Fia stopped the attack immediately, rushing to my side.

“Max! Are you alright? How bad did I hurt you?”

“Bad enough,” I wheezed as my Flame slowly recovered. “Still can’t defend myself…”

She frowned at me sympathetically. “Perhaps you need not worry so much. Employing disruptive techniques is not a common strategy for most cultivators, especially in tournament matches. The matching is so close, people are just as likely to be able to defend against such an attack, which could leave you vulnerable. It’s something most would only do when they are certain they are much stronger than their opponent.”

I huffed out a sigh. “Yeah exactly. Like that damn Hin Wu.”

Fia frowned again. “You perhaps worry about her too much also. My shadows haven’t even seen her for weeks now.”

“What?”

“Perhaps she has gone back to where she came from. It would make sense actually, considering they are going to lose to us in court in a few days.”

“Lose to you in court?”

“Some sect rivalry matters,” she said. “I realize being within the Furious Lightning Sect, you are technically still a part of the Fire Birds so I didn’t want to bring it up.”

I chuckled. “Trust me. I don’t identify with them beyond the paperwork.”

“That’s good to know.” Fia then shook her head as she let out a scoff. “The Fire Birds are forever attacking my family because of my father’s position as Vice Warden. It’s one of the reasons I’d love to leave all this behind and run away with you, Max. So much trivial conflict all the time.”

I pondered on what she said and saw another glimpse into her world.

A world where one would be constantly under attack from rivals, not just physically but politically. And Fia clearly had no interest in any of it. If I wanted her to join my family, then I’d have to not just have the strength but also the status to protect her.

And being a Fire Bird was a big complication to that.

“I’d love to run away with you as well,” I said truthfully. “But you know I can’t do that, right?”

“I know,” she said with a sigh. “So you’ve said.”

“But I will do something.”

She looked up at me quizzically.

“I will protect you when the time comes. When I make you my wife, no one will dare challenge us as a family. I promise you this.”

“But how? You’re still a Fire Bird. I don’t even know what that would mean to our clans.”

“I know,” I said. “But winning this fight tonight will be the start of it. I’ll climb the ranks as high as I need to, to protect my true sect and you. I’ll start my own martial sect if I have to.”

Fia laughed. “That’s impossible, Max.”

I shrugged. “Some would perhaps say the same for a dumbass Terran like me ending up with a Silver Leaf Lady like you. Yet…here we are.”

I grinned and she swatted at me playfully. “Nothing truly bothers you when it comes to all this, does it? It’s like the rules of society mean nothing to you.”

“I guess when you’ve seen the rules of one society shredded by another, they just don’t mean as much anymore. Rules can change. It all just depends on who is in charge.”

Fia looked downward sheepishly, no doubt drawing the connection to my own world being conquered by the Yee. It wasn’t her fault though. I decided to change the subject and walked over to the pack I had brought.

“Enough depression for today,” I said. “My sister made us lunch.”

“Your sister?” Fia said. “You have told her about us?”

I nearly put my foot in my mouth. “Ah… not exactly. I told her I’d needed to eat for two today to keep up my strength for the fight tonight.”

Fia smiled. “I would like to meet your family one day.”

“You will,” I said as I measured out two bowls of the same crab roe noodles Yu Li had cooked for me before. “Although it might be a bit awkward. Your brother knows my sister quite well, after all.”

Fia laughed and then let out a sigh. “Heavens, how could I have forgotten. There are so many obstacles between us, Max. How do we overcome this?”

I took a slurp of the noodles and already felt my Flame feeling better. “Just take them on one at a time. It won’t be easy, but we’ll overcome them.” I then smiled at her as I caressed her hand. “The prize at the end will be worth it to me.”

Fia blushed deeply and then hid it by burying her face in the bowl of noodles.

After a few slurps her eyes went wide. “Your sister is an incredible cook. Are these noodles infused with Qi?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“They are amazing. It is perhaps no wonder my brother was after her.”

I grinned. “Yeah, I don’t think he was after her for her noodles, if you know what I mean.”

Fia laughed again.

“Actually, where is Hein? I haven’t seen or heard from him at all. Although he still sends Yu Li her money every month without fail.”

“Oh!” Fia said, as if suddenly remembering he was locked in the car or something. “My father sent him off planet. To a military academy. He said he was too pampered and needed to learn how to become a real man.”

“Wow, no shit?” I laughed visualizing the great Young Master Hein reduced to a lowly grunt. “It wasn’t the Legionnaires Academy, was it?”

“Don’t be mad. He wouldn’t even qualify for that much less survive.”

“Yeah, probably not,” I said, downing another slurp of noodles. But perhaps to reach my true goals, surviving that academy might be something I would need to face eventually. A status like that would trump everything.

Even a warden.

We enjoyed the rest of the meal with lighter talk—dreams of being able to live peaceably together, to be with one another in the open and not in secret. All of it only reinforced the difficult path that lay ahead if I wanted to truly have a future with Fia.

No, not have.

Make.

If I wanted to provide Fia the future she deserved as well as fulfil my own path, I would need to put in the work to do it. And that meant forging my own path to prestige and success in a society that would despise us from the start.

“Good luck tonight,” Fia said as she gave me a kiss. “When you win this match, you’ll officially be ahead of me in advancement. I’m still yet to enter the Gold Bracket.”

“And you’ll never have to,” I said, brushing her cheek. “Not while I’m around.”

The cultivator in her squinted in offense, but the woman in her swooned with lemonade. “I’m not some defenseless maiden, you know.”

I bopped her on the nose. “I said ‘have to’ not ‘want to’. If you ‘want to’, that’s a different conversation entirely.”

She laughed then and embraced me in a warm hug. “I love you, Max. Please marry me soon.”

I squeezed her tightly.

“I’m working on it. Trust me.”

* * *

I stopped by the square on my way to the arena to have a last-minute check in with Jian Yi and Gui Zu. The apartment block was nearly completed now thanks to all the silver I was bringing in from slaying monsters and gathering their cores from out in the wild.

Artisans from the Loyal Prosperity Sect were now putting the finishing touches on the building, installing roof slates and adding decorative dragons on the awnings. Jian Yi pointed out these details to me as we stood together in the main courtyard where the tent city was now slowly being dismantled as families moved inside.

“The Loyal Prosperity sect have lived up to their contract,” Jian Yi said. “Only problem now is that all the other buildings want to get upgraded the same.”

I chuckled. “No doubt.”

“It can be a reality,” Jian Yi said. “You’ve brought in so much money from the cores as well as from attracting more sect members due to you winning the Iron Bracket Tournament that building even three or four new buildings is possible.”

Jian Yi showed me her ledger with the latest figures.

Sect Finances

(In Taels of Silver)

Intake

Less Imperial Fee

Total

1.25

1

Members

12432

15540

(12432)

3108

Taels

Core Sales

4543

Taels

Building Costs

-1500

Taels

Balance

6151

Taels

D Block Rents

Monthly Rent

Maintenance & Admin

Apartments Filled

97

0.5

(0.1)

38.8

Apartments Vacant

3

(0.1)

-0.3

38.5

Taels per month

“Holy crap,” I said. “Over 6000 Taels in cash? Maybe we should look at revitalizing the rest of the Native Housing District with this.”

“We’d need ownership first,” Jian Yi said. “With your permission I could look into contacting the adjacent landowners to see if they are interested in selling.”

“I doubt it,” I said. “Remember I had to literally beat Li Fet into submission to hand over the ownership of D Block.”

Looking again at the figures I spied the huge amount we were paying in imperial taxes. Over 12000 Taels and that was over and above the additional fees we had to pay to expand the clan limit past 1000. Just like the stories from my history books, it was a reminder that our imperial oppression was economic as well as social and physical.

Jian Yi shrugged. “You might be surprised. Our success is an affront to many of our neighbors, but your notoriety keeps them from lashing out directly. Offering a good price might be just the out clause they’re looking for to be away from us ‘troublesome’ Terrans.”

I chuckled. “I like how you think, barrister.”

Jian Yi smiled at her official title. Since graduating with her license a month ago, she had begun wearing a small rectangular hat now along with a purple-trimmed robe to signify her new designation. Like Yu Li, she had been diligently practicing her craft and her ability to lead the sect in my absence had proven her competence over and over again.

“You’ve done well, Jian Yi. Thank you for all of this. The building especially.”

She nodded. “No problem. It’ll be done just in time for winter too.”

My heart grew suddenly heavy. “I wish I could say the same for the bunker out in the wild.”

Jian Yi raised a brow. “Oh? Things not going well there?”

“Not well enough, I’d say.”

I’d been killing monsters non-stop for the last three months and had increased Venja’s barrier by nearly a mile. But it still couldn’t penetrate to the last two floors of the complex yet.

“Winter’s rolling in and they still don’t have a proper shelter,” I said.

“Perhaps they need to come here.”

I sighed. “We’d need to build another building for them for sure then. But honestly, we’re still not strong enough as a sect for that yet. They’ve only just begun learning Yee. They wouldn’t be able to integrate. My only hope now might be to destroy the gate sooner than later.”

“What gate?”

I hadn’t burdened Jian Yi and the rest of the team with the intricacies of the Bloodmoon and I’xol’ukz. They had enough to worry about running the sect without knowing there was a cosmic force known as Dark Frenzy that was looking to take over the entire planet.

“It’s where we think the demons are coming from,” I said, keeping it simple. “I had blocked the path they were using to enter the bunker, but they broke through it about a month ago. Now the bottom two floors are flooded with demons.”

“That sounds bad.”

“It is.”

My last conversation with Kelsey and Jim was a desperate one.

“It’ll be a couple of weeks tops before people start freezing out here,” Jim had said. “With those things broken through to the basement, we can’t trust being able to survive the winter being locked in there with them.”

After that I spoke with Venja to see what we could do. I tried moving her to the middle of the bunker and while that did work to drive the demons on the lower floors temporarily back into the tunnel, it left the surface without any protection at all. That would mean the loss of the fields, the wall, and everything we’d built thus far. Not to mention the demons could then start hammering away from the top side as well as the bottom, eventually sandwiching the community inside the bunker and turning it into a tomb.

“A last resort at best,” Jim said. “You promised by winter, Max. We need a solution.”

Those words stuck with me and still haunted me now.

“I really need to master this [Soul Shield] technique,” I said to Jian Yi. “So much is counting on it now, it’s not funny.”

“I have faith in you, brother,” a voice suddenly said from behind, and I looked over my shoulder to see Gui Zu along with Yu Li and Zu Tien. They all greeted me with short bows and I returned them with a smile, especially when I saw little Su Ling stumbling along behind them on shaky little legs.

“Thanks, Gui Zu,” I said. “I’m hoping for a breakthrough in more ways than one right now.”

“It will come, master,” Zu Tien said. “Your progression has inspired us all. If anyone can reach a new height of advancement, it’s you.”

I smiled at her as Yu Li gave me a nod.

“I’ll keep feeding you my special meals until it happens,” she said. “Now stop focusing on what you haven’t achieved yet and focus on what you can achieve. Go get ready for your Gold Bracket match. We couldn’t all afford tickets, but we’ll be with you in spirit.”

I huffed out a laugh. “What? That big bank account and none of you are coming?”

“We already know what’s going to happen,” Gui Zu said. “When you come back a winner, we’ll celebrate again.”

I laughed at that as they all wished me good luck.

An hour later, after gearing up, I set off for the arena as the sun was setting low.

It was time to enter the Gold Bracket League, but despite all the well wishes and votes of confidence, I knew there was far more than simply winning a tournament match at stake now.

My future with Fia depended on it.

As did the lives of everyone left out in the wild.

Me failing tonight would mean failure for them all.

Three months of preparation, I thought. No… four times that considering my time spent with Venja.

I had a year’s worth of growth to put to the test tonight and would be up against stiff competition to do so.

Tonight, it was time to succeed and shine.