Lei gently opened the door and quietly walked in, careful not to wake Xin up.

"I am awake," Xin muttered, his voice devoid of any emotion.

"Good. Heard you got a new outfit, show me."

"It's there, in the chest. The glaive is under the bed." Xin sounded very monotonous.

"So, whatcha been doing?"

"Recuperating. Meditating, learning to control my qi. Metal yesterday, wood today. Can you do this sort of stuff, by the way?"

"A bit. You saw me use some in combat, but healing? Seems too complex for now. You'll teach me some time, eh?"

"Where were you? I am bored to death here." Xin ignored his question.

"Am I supposed to babysit you? I've been working. Look, if we are getting inquisitive, where did you get the money to buy this shit? Aren't you a bit broke?"

"What made you think this way? I sold my game. I had some savings, too. Alright, I'll be honest with you." Xin sighed. "Remember the yaoguai? I looted his... organs and sold them to that grandpa in the homestead. Bought some cultivation materials and also got this used armour and polearm. The deal was a bargain. That alright with you?"

"Shit, mate, I don't know. I am not sure I'd ever think of looting the organs, to be honest. That sounds a bit fucked up. But you hid it from me, that's... not nice."

"I wasn't sure if I could trust you back then. Sorry. But I told you now. Let's try and be more open with each other in the future."

Lei furrowed his eyebrows. He spun Xin's helmet on his finger, put it down, and exhaled.

"Listen. No one else knows. I went on an unsanctioned run."

"What's that?"

"Run. Like, a gig. Robbed an alchemist's shop, without getting the higher ups' approval. It was pretty brutal."

"You... killed someone?" Xin stood up and was now sitting on his bed.

"I... It was a big operation. Very masterfully executed. Had to defeat two Foundation stage cultivators. No corpses, but left one of them tied and drugged. And burnt her nostrils."

"For fuck's sake, what?" Xin put his legs on the floor and faced Lei.

"There was a chance she could remember my smell. Had to cut that loose end."

"She..." Xin was repulsed. His friend was a thief, that he knew. He did "jobs" and picked locks, but to beat up a woman and burn her nostrils? Unacceptable.

"I... still need a new arm. That woman, she is pure evil. Bullies little children. Sells narcotics from time to time... Scams her clients, half of the shit she sells is fake. She... deserved it." Under Xin's gaze, Lei's felt his excuses crumble before he even finished them. What was that? An unusual event, why did his conscience decide to wake up?

"Can you hear yourself speak? You maimed and robbed a person who did nothing to you, and are now trying to justify it? Fucking loser."

"Don't patronise me, man! I did what I had to do. They were an easy target, their 'roof' is a small gang that won't ever figure out that it was me. I need my arm back and I need to grow stronger. I can't always live like this, and I need money and resources to progress in the sect. I doubt I'll be able to go on runs as a sect member, I need to earn while I can. How much money do YOU have left, by the way?"

"Listen," Xin pointed a finger at him. "I find what you did disgusting, but I can understand your reasons. I hope you change your ways. My problem with this is how you are trying to justify it with 'she was evil anyway', 'she was bullying kids', all that bullshit! Just say it like it is: I wanted and needed what they had, and I took it, and I am a criminal. No excuses, take this blow and move on, don't build a house of lies! Excuses corrode your spirit."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"I see. You are one twisted man yourself. An honest criminal is better than the one making excuses? You still haven't answered my question." Lei rubbed his middle finger and thumb together, a gesture that meant "money".

"That's not what I meant. I was saying that you are harming yourself long-term by this lying, and..."

Lei interrupted him with a laugh.

"Have you run out of money?" Lei smirked at him.

"Yes. But I'll find work."

"No, you won't."

"You think I can't make it in this city? I am durable. I can go and work somewhere. I even have the endurance bracer."

"You don't get it. You absolutely CAN make it in this city, but I don't want you to."

"What?" Xin made a confused expression.

"You don't deserve this. Gang fights, evil masters squeezing every drop of sweat out of you. Corruption, guard checks, street scammers, pickpockets. You are built differently. Noble, in your own way. I am not letting this happen to you. You wasted all of your money because you are still naive. I suspect that the armour deal you got was far from a bargain, frankly."

Xin was embarrassed and started doubting his choice. Lei continued:

"I'll pay for your food and living. It's not much, and I just earned a lot. To save you face, let's say that I am paying you to be my training partner. You live here, eat well, train diligently, then we go to the tryouts. In the sect, you'll have my back, and I'll have yours. I want nothing in return."

"Jia Li said you like giving your money away. Stop being so wasteful. I can take care of myself. And, your money? You know..." Xin didn't want to insult his generosity, but was hesitant to accept such help.

"Blood money? Look. The place you live in, the food you eat. It's all blood money, to some degree, and you've already taken it. And there was no other way to do things differently. If we worked legally and openly, we'd be squashed and exploited. Such is the life of a small fish in a big pond, you've got to make your teeth sharper. I am hiring you to be a training partner. Two weeks. It's a job. Take it. I've noticed your tendency to run and push people away, if you want to repeat this vicious cycle, so be it."

Xin was overwhelmed by this barrage of arguments. He was amazed at how well Lei understood him, using logical arguments but also hitting at his insecurities. Still, he found it hard to deny that his words made a lot of sense.

"Fine. And in the sect, I'll have your back. You don't have to pay me for that. Friends, right?"

"Yeah, whatever the fuck that means."

***

And so they trained.

Stretching, running, climbing, lifting weights and working with their own weight. They refined their martial arts as well, mostly focusing on fixing the flaws in their technique, not learning new stuff.

The pair also trained with the fighters from the guild, who assisted them with combat advice. Cha Dai was a great striker, equal to Wu Lei, but had no qi powers. His input was still invaluable. His stoic friend, Peng Shan, was a great wrestler, naturally leaning into this style because of his strong build.

When it came to Lei, he left himself exposed too often, especially his chin (which Xin almost managed to abuse in their fight), and was too defensive in grappling (his lack of technique and knowledge of how to execute joint locks and suppressions made him subconsciously lean towards being reactive rather than proactive, which Peng Shan rightly concluded would prevent him from improving).

Overall, he was a good fighter, but very uneven in his development and relied too much on gimmicky tricks to take an opponent off-guard. Xin realised that his fight with Lei was much more winnable than it seemed, yet it was too late.

With Xin, Lei has pinpointed the problem already. He acts as if he has Resonance Palms on even if he doesn't, overestimating the stopping power of his hits. Sounds like an easy mistake to avoid, but harmful habits are hard to fix, and require conscious effort. His legwork was stiff, and in the attacking aspect, he sometimes made the mistake of throwing subpar punches that won't harm or unbalance his opponent, opening himself to being counter-attacked. Only now had Xin realised that punishing this habit was Lei's main attacking method in their fight.

To spice things up, they also trained in arms. Lei carried a long saber with a handguard, while Xin was making progress with his guandao glaive and trained to fight in his armour, which took some time to get used to. Still, both fighters were yet to reach their full potential. Lei's obvious hindrance was his wooden arm, while Xin was still not used to the four different methods of attack his glaive employed. Both young men were strong enough to beat up a trained militiaman, but would struggle against a serious martial artist in the contest of arms.

In the evenings, they recuperated their stamina and trained their qi. Xin gave Lei some hints about qi control, but was sad to discover that Lei didn't understand the alchemy at all; even his understanding of Wuxing's five elements was basic.

He'll have a lot to learn before he can become a xiandao master, concluded the hunter. Still, to learn a two-element technique of lava spit without a master, just with dedication and a manual, showed that Lei was quite a talent.

As these two weeks concluded, the pair felt as if they were born anew. So much pain, so much hardship — but it bore fruit! Xin felt like he could wipe the floor with his past month's self now. I am back to my full sharpness, just like a few years ago, when I competed in tournaments!

Pushing your limits and going beyond. Breaking yourself down. Overcoming your yesterday's self. These sensations were addicting for a martial artist!

But Xin knew that true greatness required unwavering perseverance over time. The initial steadfast progress would slow down, bringing less and less fruit with each day, and there would be more and more frustration each day. The road to martial greatness was nothing but a slow grind.

Now, for the tryouts.