Chapter 10

I stayed up half the night reading and then resumed as soon as I woke again the next morning. By noon I had consumed at least half the scriptures while scanning lightly over the rest. By that time my brain felt fried, but after having reached the 6th Tier of Body Refinement and Focusing of the Mind, I thought I had committed a fair potion of it to memory as well.The introduction spoke to me especially, reminiscent of my first conversation with Threja.

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…” -Unknown

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I noted that the Yee word for Berserker was made of two separate characters. The word for demon combined with the word struggle. The demon that struggles, literally. The first few passages or Shuras were close to what Threja had explained to me already, warning of the dangers of becoming addicted to Frenzy and going full Demon. But the pendulum swung the other way as well. Too much failure, defeat, and hardship without the fury of the Demon and you became what was known as a Waning Ember and if that continued you could extinguish your Flame completely, becoming unkindled yet again. I feared what hardships you’d have to go through to reach that phase of demoralization.

Once I’d read enough of the philosophy, I had moved onto the parts I more eagerly wanted to know. Practical application. There were three distinct forms of energy that I could detect at my level as a 1st Tier Foundation-level cultivator. Pain, Fear, and Rage. I could also begin gathering them and convert them into Frenzy. At the next Tier up I’d be able to channel it efficiently to all parts of my body and at the 3rd Tier I would be able to start using Frenzy to strengthen my body.

That became the goal for me.

I needed to reach 3rd Tier as quickly as possible if I wanted to stand up to the likes of Hein, or any true cultivator for that matter. And the more Frenzy I could gather the faster I could reach that breakthrough. But the key to gathering Frenzy lay in the techniques.

There were a multitude of techniques listed under each tier, broken up into stances and actions. After a brief summary, which described the technique and its purpose, the manual then used a series of diagrams to show exact body positioning and movements to perform the technique correctly. Scanning through the list of basic techniques under Foundation Establishment, I found a few that caught my eye.

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[Frenzied Flame] –

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[Fear the Flame] –

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[Mask of the Despised] –

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[Lust for Battle] –

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[Struggler’s Resolve] –

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[Indifference] –

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This all sounded cool as shit. It was like reading an instruction manual on how to be an absolute badass. As I read through the details of each technique, I found the most subtle actions were involved. A well-timed turn of the head or even where and how you held your hands all mattered. Thinking back to Threja, everything she did was perhaps a different kind of stance or technique, even the way she walked. I understood also why she had used that poem on me now. She had used the [Frenzied Flame] technique to help ignite my Flame and thinking back I did kind of feel something ‘open up’ inside of me when she did that.

Under the 17th Shura, I found something else of interest.

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Below it were listed three techniques that all had similar functions and names. [Your Pain is my Strength], [Your Fear is my Strength] and [Your Rage is my Strength]. By focusing on certain meridian alinement sequences, I could actually absorb the Pain, Fear, and Rage energy of others and refine it into Frenzy of my own. There was one catch though. I couldn’t just suck up random emotions, if that’s what they really were. The trigger had to be me.

I was beginning to understand the limitations of the Dao route now. Qi cultivators could just meditate and suck up energy willy-nilly. I, on the other hand had to work for it. There were other limitations too, a few listed in the 3rd Shura which outlined the philosophy of the Frenzied Flame.

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That sounded a bit hardcore. And maybe the first verses about these revelations coming from the Flame itself were right too. I didn’t need to read any of that to already feel that same way in my soul. The same way how I didn’t even think to back down from challenging Hein in the square no matter the cost. But I don’t think I would have reacted the same way if I hadn’t already ignited my Frenzied Flame. But just below the text there was a technique that seemed tailor made to deal with not backing down from a fight.

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[Odds Against Me] – .

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That sounded like some kind of cultivation hack. I made a note of it to study it fully later. I then saw another technique that looked a bit familiar.

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[My Turn] – .

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The image of that savage headbutt Threja unleashed on that cultivator flashed through my mind. I wondered if she had used [Indifference] before it, taking that claw technique right to the face. Probably. She didn’t even try to block it. I wondered also why she’d spoken the phrase as I didn’t see it as a requirement within the instructions of the technique itself. After a bit more searching, I found the answer under the 76th Shura.

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, I thought. I always found it somewhat stupid to tell your enemy exactly what you were planning to do next, but I guess it made sense within this context. Who cared if the guy you were attacking knew you were going to pummel him with “Flaming Qi Fist” or whatever if you stood a better chance of killing him with it?

When I got towards the end of the manual, I found an entire section devoted to the [Death Mastery] technique.

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[Death Mastery] –

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It seemed [Death Mastery] was a core passive ability just like Threja had said. I confirmed the higher forms of [Death Mastery] existed in the manual also: [Mastery of the Fear of Certain Death], [Fear no Death] and [Death Wish]. The instruction of how to achieve each one was vague, but I probably wouldn’t have to worry about obtaining them to break through to the next cultivation realm any time soon.

My curiosity got me and I began skimming ahead through the manual for the [Furnace of the Frenzied Flame] Technique I saw Threja use to transform into her spectral form, but I didn’t see it. Perhaps the manual didn’t teach up to a level like that or maybe as the introduction said, there were some things that came as a revelation of the Flame all by themselves. As I flipped back to start reading through again, I contrastingly found a technique that I could perhaps take advantage of right away.

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[Pain soothes the Frenzied Flame] –

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Now that sounded useful, especially in my current state. I spent the next two hours focusing only on that, practicing the meridian opening techniques as I sat in lotus position on my cot. After a while, I was finally able to feel the Pain in my arm convert into Frenzy within my Dantian. Following the next instructions of the technique, I then used that Frenzy to focus on mending my arm. I couldn’t tell if it was working completely or not, but just as I was starting to hone my focus a knock came at my door.

Releasing a huff of irritation, I quickly stashed the orb then glanced between my bamboo shades to see who it was. Yu Li was standing outside.

“What’s up?” I greeted her casually as I opened the door.

She smiled as she looked up at me, Su Ling on her hip. “I’m ah… doing the wash. Was wondering if you needed anything done.”

I chuckled inwardly. This was typical Yu Li. She was nothing if not proud—her inability to ask Hein for money perhaps the most bone-headed example of that. But I knew her love language. Her offering to do my laundry was her way of saying sorry. It was probably the closest I’d get to a real apology, so I accepted it and gave her a pile of my soiled clothes.

“You need anything else?” she asked, peeking into my hovel of a room.

“No, I’m good.” Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NøvᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

She nodded and turned to leave, but then paused at the doorway. “Hey… thanks by the way,” she said. “For what you did last night. I know you were only trying to help. And I know Hein can be a little over the top too sometimes, but….”

She didn’t finish her sentence.

I couldn’t believe it. Even after nearly striking her she was still in love with that clown.

“You know you can do a lot better than him. You deserve better. Su Ling too.”

Yu Li huffed out a sad little laugh. “What? Better than a young master? If only.”

I felt a sudden pain growing inside of her and I realized then that it wasn’t love she was feeling towards Hein, but desperation. When she finally left, I returned to my cot with more on my mind than just cultivation.

The rules of this world had warped her thinking. Perhaps everyone’s thinking. She and everyone else just didn’t see a way out. That’s why they feared so much and did the nonsensical things that they did. Frenzy built within me as I curled my hand into a fist. The only rule the cultivators truly respected was the rule of might. To give Yu Li even the hope of a better life, I had to show her that one was possible by growing more powerful than the ones who oppressed us, starting with our fat landlord and going right up to the damn princess if I had to.

But I had to be smart about it too.

The world was fixed within a giant pecking order now and I was on the bottom rung.

Pick the wrong fight too soon and someone much higher on the food chain could easily swoop down to snuff me out. Not that I cared about dying anymore. But Yu Li and Su Ling, hell even Mu Lin and Lee—they all deserved a better life than what they knew was even possible.

And I’d have to show them that possibility.

But to do so, I’d needed to become strong, both quickly and quietly.

I used the Frenzy building in my gut to speed the healing of my arm while I contemplated my options. There was a lot to think about. But one thing was certain. It wouldn’t be enough to merely overpower the...