"Who is this young miss, huh?"

  My slap landed cleanly, the crack echoing louder than I'd expected. His head snapped to the side, beard twitching as he blinked back shock and pain.

  I didn't give him a chance to recover. Grabbed the back of his head and shoved it straight into the wash bucket. Water splashed everywhere—across the table, the walls, my sleeves. He kicked and flailed like a drowning chicken.

  "How the hell did I offend her?" I barked, yanking him back up. His face was soaked and red, hair plastered to his cheeks like seaweed. "Who's working for her? Huh?"

  Before he could sputter out a single syllable, I jabbed a stick into his gut. Not too hard—just enough to fold him into a half-squat and make him reconsider his life choices.

  "You got money stashed here? Hiding food? Don't lie to me."

  "Focus, please," Qiu cut in, dry as desert stone. "Also, I'm fairly certain he can't answer while sobbing."

  I glanced down.

  Yu was curled on the floor like a broken sack of rice, crying so hard it was almost impressive. Fat, ugly sobs that echoed in the rafters. "Woo... woo..."

  "Woops," I muttered, scratching my cheek. Ah, got too into it.

  I crouched beside him, tapping the stick gently against the side of his head. "C'mon now, Old Man. Man up a little. We're not even at the bad part yet."

  He whimpered. I pulled out a small knife and spun it between my fingers, the blade catching the light just right. His eyes followed it like prey watching a predator's claws. I didn't need to say anything.

  "Don't kill me!" he shrieked, scrabbling backward until he hit the wall. "I'll talk, I'll talk, I swear!"

  His hand trembled as he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a scroll, crumpled at the corners. He shoved it at me like it was cursed.

  "This came just recently!" he stammered. "Sent around to all merchants in Red Cloud Town. Orders from above—your family's blacklisted! No buying, no selling, nothing!"

  I caught the scroll with two fingers, flipping it open. Looked official enough. The kind of 'official' made with a big enough ego.

  Without missing a beat, I flicked the knife forward.

  Thunk.

  Right between his legs. Didn't touch him, just enough to bury in the floorboards and make a statement. Yu let out a squeak that belonged more to rodents than man.

  "Who the hell's got the guts to pull a move like this?" I asked, not even mad—more impressed. Red Cloud Town wasn't under sect control, not directly. Pulling something this brazen could blow up real bad if the officials raised a stink about it.

  Yu was practically groveling now. "It's Xia Song! Lady Ash's majordomo! Everyone knows he only moves with her approval!"

  I narrowed my eyes.

  "He's her right hand!" Yu shouted, voice cracking. "And the young miss—everyone knows she pines for the Jia Clan Young Master! She's notorious for being unruly!"

  "You sure about that?" I asked, casually grabbing an axe from the woodpile nearby. Took a few practice swings through the air. Nothing threatening, just... setting the mood.

  Yu shrieked again, voice pitching higher than should be possible for a man his age. "YES! YES! I SWEAR! She's crazy about that Jia brat!"

  I clicked my tongue, setting the axe aside for now. "Damn. That actually makes sense."

  "You know who this is?" Qiu asked, low in my mind.

  I turned slightly. Then brought the stick down hard on the back of Yu's neck. He slumped forward with a grunt, completely out.

  I stood up, brushing my hands off.

  "Nope," I said casually. "But remember Mayor Zhao's daughter? She's the one getting married to that Jia guy. Causation's pretty obvious."

  Qiu was silent for a beat.

  "...Ah. Cultivator pettiness."

  "Told you. It'd take less than a week."

  I moved with a smug grin, sweeping through the shop like a one-man locust swarm. Anything not nailed down—and a few things that were—ended up in my arms.

  Dried meats, bundles of firewood, sheaves of paper, sacks of grain. Found some coins hidden under a loose floorboard. Even snagged a few half-empty jars of spices. Food was food.

  "Are you truly planning to loot everything?" Qiu asked, somewhere between judgment and reluctant fascination.

  "I'm not looting," I said, stuffing another pouch into my sleeve. "I'm redistributing assets. Totally different."

  "You tortured a man and are now robbing him."

  "Eh, he tried stealing from me first," I waved him off. "Besides, I can't kill him. Apparently, his second cousin's a constable or something. Safer this way."

  Qiu didn't answer immediately. Then shifted topics.

  "What of the Northsea Sect's Young Miss targeting you?"

  I paused, balancing a sack of rice on my shoulder, and thought about it.

  "The Northsea Sect's got a name, sure," I said, adjusting the sack so it wouldn't topple. "Formed from two families—the Ash family from way up north and the Jia family down south."

  I kicked open a cabinet. Just cracked bowls inside. Worthless.

  "There's some old legend about 'Frozen Flame Cultivation' or whatever," I added, snatching a half-full jar of ink. "But from what Dad said... they're small beans."

  "Small beans?" Qiu repeated.

  "Yeah. They're big fish here in the Valley, sure. But out there? In the real world? Thunder Fiend Valley's the boonies. No real sect gives a damn what happens here unless something really funny goes down."

  I tucked the jar under my arm with a grunt and scanned the shop one last time. Good haul.

  "Are we leaving town then?" Qiu asked.

  "Of course not," I said, a little too cheerfully.

  Another beat of silence.

  "You intend to settle your debts?"

  I grinned, arms now overloaded with bags, coins, a sack of questionable flour, and two clinking jars. "Exactly. Starting with this one."

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  "You are carrying half the shop, User."

  "Eh. It's only fair," I said, striding toward the door. "Payment for emotional damages."

  I kicked the door open with my foot, stepping out into the sun with my arms overflowing. Coins jingled somewhere under the pile. Flour puffed into the wind in lazy little clouds.

  Debt very much settled.

  —

  I sat cross-legged in the corner of an abandoned hovel, deep in the poor district of Red Cloud Town.

  It was quiet out here. Only a handful of vagrants squatted in this part of town, and nobody bothered each other. Cultivators wouldn't be caught dead in a dump like this, which made it perfect.

  Felt like home, honestly. That was a bonus.

  The fire crackled low as I worked through the small feast I'd thrown together—everything I'd stolen from Old Man Yu plus the last scraps of Thunder Boar meat. A little mishmash of survival cooking. Some noodle slop here, a half-burned stir fry there, roast pork slapped onto bowls of rice.

  All of it smelled amazing.

  "True cultivator cuisine," I said proudly, cramming a mouthful of oily noodles into my mouth. I barely chewed before shoveling in more.

  Thanks to Asura's Craving, I could pack away food like a starving demon and never stay full for long. Apparently something about how my body tried to fuel the transformation aspect of the technique. Endless pit, endless hunger. Real charming.

  Qiu's voice floated from the air. "With this much food and Qi, you should have enough energy to break through to the second level of Qi Refining."

  I swallowed a huge mouthful of pork and rice and thumped my chest once. "Welp, that's perfect then! Truly talented, that's me."

  Qiu snorted. A very dignified, high-dimensional snort, but a snort nonetheless. "Your body has terrible natural aptitude without my assistance."

  I grinned, grabbing another handful of stir-fry. "But you're in me, so what's yours is mine, and what's mine is also mine. That's just common sense."

  There was a pause. Then Qiu sighed like a man accepting his fate. "Very well. Regardless, while you can advance Asura's Craving to the second level, I suggest you learn some other techniques as well."

  I raised an eyebrow, shoveling more food into my mouth. "Other techniques, huh?"

  "You will be limited in how often you can use Asura's Craving safely," Qiu continued. "I don't need to explain how bad it would be to use an obviously demonic technique. As long as you avoid fully manifesting the Asura aura, small bursts should be manageable. But you still need more than that if we fight real cultivators."

  I nodded, finishing off the last of the roast pork with a satisfied grunt.

  Qiu pressed on, practical as ever. "With my assistance, you leave minimal Qi traces behind. Still, discretion is advisable."

  I wiped my hands on my pants and leaned back. "Alright. I'll learn some of the Steel Bear Body Technique then. It came with some martial arts alongside the body refining method anyway."

  Seemed like a solid choice. Body techniques were sturdy, and anything that helped me not explode was a bonus.

  I dusted off the last crumbs and stood up. "So what now?"

  "Begin practicing the martial forms," Qiu instructed. "You will benefit from the Qi flow generated through correct execution."

  "Got it."

  "And leave the breakthrough to me," Qiu added, like a teacher dealing with a particularly thick-headed student.

  I snorted. "Please. I could totally handle it myself!"

  There was a brief pause. Then Qiu released control, just for a second.

  A sharp jolt ripped through my muscles, like every tendon in my body tried to yank itself out at once. I staggered and fell on my ass.

  "Really?" Qiu asked dryly.

  "Okay. Point taken."

  I rolled my shoulders and shook out the lingering cramp, then took a steady breath and moved into the first stance from the manual.

  Steel Bear Claw Technique.

  I started slow, focusing on the motions. Wide, heavy swings. Clawing arcs that tore through the air. Even without Qi reinforcement, each swipe felt heavy.

  As I worked, I could feel it. A faint heat was building inside my chest. The energy stirred with every movement, every breath, curling tighter with each claw swipe.

  A faint crimson sheen began to shimmer across my skin.

  I pushed harder. Swiped again. The heat inside me roared, pressing against my ribs, my spine, my bones. The claw movements grew wilder, heavier. More savage.

  Then it happened.

  An extra pair of arms burst into existence behind me, trailing my moves perfectly. They weren't solid flesh, merely Qi constructs, but they moved with real force.

  I swung both arms wide.

  The ghost arms followed—and the air cracked with the pressure. Dust exploded off the ground in a low ripple.

  I whistled, staring at the faint grooves carved into the dirt. That swipe could've smashed through steel if it had connected with anything.

  I stood there for a moment, breathing in deep, feeling it—more. That addictive sense of strength bubbling up from deep inside my core.

  "Congratulations, User. You have achieved the second stage of Qi Refining,"

  I clenched my fist and could feel the air shiver slightly around my knuckles. No wonder cultivators obsessed over this stuff. This feeling of growth, of more—it was intoxicating. And this was barely scratching the surface.

  "Good," I said, stretching my arms out until my shoulders popped.

  "You should meditate to stabilize your cultivation," Qiu advised. "Afterward, we should discuss your next steps."

  I grinned wider.

  "Simple. What any rational cultivator character would do!"

  I jabbed a thumb over my shoulder dramatically.

  "Arson!"

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