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“I-I’m sorry, Father,” Hein said, pressing his forehead to the ground, his robes a mess, his body covered in wounds. “That oaf was much stronger than he seemed. I don’t know how he----—”

“Silence!” Hei Dong shouted. “Don’t you speak! Don’t you speak, you insufferable little brat!”

Quickened footfalls came down the hallway from behind him as his wife appeared.

“Hein?!” she cried, alarmed. “Hein, what’s happened?”

The boy ran to his mother’s arms like the child he was, heightening the anger within Hei Dong’s soul. He looked to the girl Zu Tien who remained kneeled before him. She had neither moved nor spoken since arriving with Hein, and kept her forehead pressed firmly to the floor.

Perhaps he’d get the truth of what had occurred out of her.

But at the moment he couldn’t care.

The precious Luminous Silver Tear Fang now lay shattered along with his soul.

“Three centuries,” he muttered. “Three centuries this blade had withstood the test of time. Withstood countless battles beyond the stars! And only a month ago, I poured my very soul into it to as a gift to you! A blade like none other.” Hei Dong turned his baleful eyes to Hein. “And this is what you do with it?”

Hein’s eyes quivered as he continued to sob.

“What did you do, Hein?” his wife, Rhi Dong asked, a bit of grace dropping from her tone. “What did you do to destroy that blade?”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Hein said. “It was him.”

“Him who?” she said.

Hein didn’t answer right away, shame clearly in his vacant stare. “He’s… just a Terran. He was mortal not long ago. I don’t understand it. He must be a cheat somehow!”

“Who, Hein!?” Rhi Dong shouted again.

“They call him Chun. Or Chun.”

Hei Dong eyed him with fury. “What?”

Hein went on to babble about the fight he’d had and lost. The strange techniques his opponent had used. But Hei Dong could barely focus on it, his attention drawn back to the three fragments of Aurorean silver laid on the tiled floor. It would take a fortune to repair it, if such a thing could even be done, but even if so, it would never be the same.

“I wish he had killed you,” Hei Dong said coldly. “How are we to save face from a disgrace such as this!”

His shout echoed throughout the foyer, causing the servants who had gathered to cringe away from him.

“This Chun, or Chun or whoever he is, he is clearly a fighter,” Rhi Dong said with an all too familiar look of bloodlust in her eyes. “I will face him. The Lady Silver Moon will not stand by while her royal house is disrespected so. This Chun will pay for wounding my son!”

“Your son?” Hei Dong said with disgust. “Look at my blade!”

“Yes, dear,” Rhi Dong said, barely acknowledging him. “He will pay for that too. With his very life.”

“Wait,” Hein said. “It’s not so simple. He is a sect leader now too. There was a magistrate there and everything.”

“What?!” Hei Dong screamed. “A magistrate?”

He wanted to kill the boy himself.

Hein turned his head into Rhi Dong’s bosom and his wife sickeningly continued to coddle the boy, wiping his tears and reassuring him of vengeance.

Anger welled within Hei Dong.

This would not do.

“No,” Hei Dong said firmly. “If a magistrate has been involved, we cannot send you to address the matter. It will draw too much attention in the courts. Our shame will become an open embarrassment that we will never recover from. I could even lose my position over it.”

For the first time, Rhi Dong seemed to have actual concern in her eyes.

“But we need to do something,” she said. “Not responding would elicit an even greater shame.”

“We’re not doing nothing,” Hei Dong said and then turning to one of the servants he snapped his fingers. “Fetch my daughter from her residence. Tell her she must come to the family estate as a matter of urgency.”

The servant bowed. “Yes, at once, my lord.”

He then ran off.

Rhi Dong smiled. “Forever so wise, Hei Dong. It is a wonder how I ever would have survived had I not married you. Your wisdom is infinite.”

“I wish I could say the same for This One,” Hei Dong said, glaring at his son. “Hein, you have embarrassed this family with your failures for the last time. I warned you more than once about dabbling with the damn Terrans and now one of them has handed your own ass to you!”

The boy flinched, sobbing again.

“Your sister will be your advocate to face this Chun person.”

“My sister?” Hein looked like he would rather die. “No please! Let Mother go. I don’t wish her to even know about this!”

“It is done. Your mother is too high of status to deal with this mess you’ve caused. Your sister is of Gold Ranking. She is low enough to get away with dealing with it.” He then frowned at the boy. “It’s quite apparent you cannot.”

Hein finally shut up, looking mournful.

Hei Dong looked down at the blade again, his heart aching.

“This horrendous sin will be paid for in blood,” he said. “Our Fia, the great Silver Light, and her enclave of Silver Shadows will make right this grave injustice against our family name.”

* * *

A mild sense of anxiety filled me as I approached the handler’s camp.

It had been a couple days since I’d been here last, that fateful evening when I’d returned from the wild and exacted justice and vengeance on Sumatra. I almost expected the place to be crawling with enforcers investigating the mess I’d left behind, but by the looks of things it was business as usual. Maybe there was just too much money to be made for the likes of a murdered supervisor to stand in the way of progress.

And knowing the empire, that was likely what was going on here.

But I honestly couldn’t care less about Sumatra.

I’d returned for a greater purpose today.

I’d dressed in my finest robes and found a rare blue persimmon in the artisan’s market to bring as an offering.

It was time for me to pay my final respects to Mu Lin.

As I entered the camp grounds, I got a few stares from some handlers I’d only seen once or twice before. But then the shout of a familiar voice caught my ear.

“Holy shit! Chun?! Is that you?”

I looked about to see Lee stumbling towards me, tripping over a bunch of backpacks on the ground. Ren, Rho, and Yi Fu were close behind him, their faces alight with wide smiles. I couldn’t contain my own smile at seeing them all. Friendly faces in a sad time.

Lee immediately pulled me into a bro hug, slapping my back.

“Man, it’s so good to see you, bro!” he said with a laugh. “I thought you were dead, dude!”

I laughed with him. “Sometimes I felt like I might have been dead, trust me.”

I laughed inwardly at my own private joke.

[Death’s Door] had become a bit of a turnstile for me of late.

“Where have you been, Brother Chun?” Yi Fu asked, embracing me as well. “And how have you gotten so big?”

I wasn’t sure if it was just my normal cultivation, or using [Mark of the Giant] so often, but I had definitely put on an extra permanent inch or two. Maybe that was why Threja was a giant compared to even Sumatra.

“Healthy diet,” I said with a smile as Ren and Rho mobbed me as well, giving me bro hugs and handshakes.

“It’s great to see you, elder brother!” Rho said, “But honestly where have you been?”

“To hell and back would probably be an understatement,” I said. “But let’s just say I’m glad to see all of you.”

At the mention of that, Lee’s countenance suddenly fell.

“Hey… have you heard? About Mu Lin?”

I only nodded.

“Why I’m here actually. I heard you guys had made a shrine for her.”

Lee nodded as the sadness returned to his eyes. “Still can’t believe it, honestly. But then a couple days ago Sumatra goes missing as well. They found a whole pile of blood but no body. I think something really bad is going on, man, but I’m not sure what.”

I feigned ignorance. “What? Sumatra too?”

“Yeah,” Lee said. “But I don’t think people care too much. The guy was an asshole, right? They gave me his position the next day and told me to keep the customers rolling.”

“Whoa, no shit?” I said. “You’re the boss now?”

Lee laughed. “Can you believe that? Me, the slacker of all slackers. Should really have been her though, man.” Lee then gestured to Mu Lin’s picture at the side of the handler’s hut and we all approached it somberly.

I looked at Mu Lin, her smiling face.

And my soul grieved.

“I’m going to miss you,” I said, kneeling down to her picture. “Thank you for everything you taught me.”

“She taught us all a lot,” a voice said from behind me.

I turned about to see Xi Xha, dressed in a pristine white robe and a veil—the colors of death and mourning.

I smiled at her sadly as I rose to my feet. “You got my message.”

She nodded. “Thank you for telling me and inviting me.”

I nodded. “I thought it would only be right that you knew what happened to her. You put so much of yourself into Mu Lin. She would have wanted you to be here.”

“Thank you,” Xi Xha said and gave me a warm embrace. “Mu Lin thought the world of you too, you know?” She then leaned back, giving me a sad smile. “Which is why, I think you deserve to know the truth of what really happened to her as well.”

“What?”

Before my mind could even put two and two together, a small figure stepped out from behind the back wall of the hut, dark eyes twinkling with mischief.

My heart hit the ceiling as my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

“Mu Lin!!”

I screamed her name as I jumped across the distance to her, snatching her up in my arms as tears flowed freely from my eyes. My soul overflowed with joy, my heart nearly bursting with elation and gratitude to the fates for sparing her somehow.

“I can’t believe it!” I said still in shock. “You’re alive! You’re alive!”

Mu Lin laughed and giggled as I spun her in the air.

“Yes!” she said. “For the moment. Now put me down before you actually kill me!”

I did so with another laugh and allowed her to share embraces with Lee and the others.

“Damn,” she said. “You all couldn’t find a better picture of me than that?”

That got us all laughing and the whole handler camp joined in. It was amazing to see just how loved and missed she was. I stepped back still in amazement, beside myself as I stood off to the side next to Xi Xha.

“Wow,” I said. “You really know how to throw a surprise, Xi Xha. I’m assuming she came to find you?”

“Almost a week ago now,” Xi Xha said, folding her slender arms with a smile as she looked on at Mu Lin reuniting with her co-workers. “She thought you might have been dead too for some reason.”

“Why? What did she tell you?”

“Not much,” Xi Xha said. “Only that she had to stay with me for a while. I knew something bad must have happened when she said you could be dead. But she swore for me to keep quiet about everything.”

I smiled inwardly. She’d listened. But for how she got out of that tunnel I still didn’t know.

“When I showed her your message, you should have seen her.” Xi Xha let out a laugh. “She cried for like an hour, she was so happy. She said whatever it was, it had to be all over now that you’d made contact. That’s how much faith she had in you.” She then paused and gave me another smile. “And for the record, it was her idea to surprise you like this. Not mine. She’s got a wicked sense of humor, that one.”

I laughed. “Indeed she does. Thank you, Xi Xha. For everything.”

She raised a brow at me. “So are you going to tell me what this was all about?”

“Best you not know,” I said. “The Jianghu

is best left with its secrets, yeah?”

She nodded and left it at that, quick to take the hint.

Mu Lin finally rejoined us again, free from everyone hugging her.

Xi Xha smiled. “I’ll leave you two ‘dead people’ to catch up with one another.”

We both couldn’t help but laugh at that.

Mu Lin jumped into my arms again, squeezing me hard.

“Oh man, Chun,” she said with a sob. “I really thought you were dead. I’m so sorry I told them everything.”

“Don’t worry about all that,” I said, squeezing her back just as hard. “I’m just so happy that you’re alive. How are you alive?”

“You first,” she said.

I gave her a smile and cycled my Frenzy, accenting it with my sliver of lightning core.

Her eyes grew wide as she sensed the sudden power of my Qi.

“Holy shit!” she said. “You ascended into the Core Realm?”

“That I did,” I said. “And I trust you can keep this next part hush-hush, for both our sakes. But you need not worry about Sumatra or those Fire Birds ever again.”

It took her half a second to realize what I was saying, but after a brief look of shock, her eyes melted into tears again.

“Thank you, Chun,” she said, giving me another hug. “Thank you for everything.”

“Now, your turn,” I said. “How did you survive that tunnel?”

She laughed a nervous laugh. “Wasn’t easy, but I found a crack in the wall that led to this underground area and hid.”

As soon as she said it, I thought about the area I’d fought Hong Feng and that monster in.

Clearly, she must have found a way inside there as well, or someplace like it.

“I hid in there all night,” she said. “I kept one step ahead of them by sensing their Qi from afar and expending all of my own so they couldn’t detect me. It took them a while to give up. I guess they figured I had made it to the wild and just died out there.”

I laughed. “They actually lied. They told Hong Feng that they killed you.”

“What?” she said. “Even better then. I guess they needed to save face for their failure. Anyway, I managed to get back to the wild early the next morning and snuck back into the city and found Xi Xha. I did everything you told me to. I said nothing. I honestly didn’t think you were still alive though. I was so happy when Xi Xha got your message. I knew everything had to be ok then.”

I chuckled as Mu Lin hugged me again. “Yeah, Xi Xha told me.”

“So what now?” she asked. “Is everything really okay?”

“More than okay,” I said. “Lee is in charge of this place, so you need not hurry back. You should get yourself off to school.”

“Yeah, Xi Xha has that already arranged. But what about you?”

“Me?” I gave her a grin. “I got a new job myself. A few actually.”

She furrowed her brow, her glasses sliding down her nose. “What do you mean?”

“After work you all need to come by D block. There’s some paperwork you all need to fill out.”

“Paperwork? For what?”

“You’ll see when you get there,” I said. “Oh! And before I forget. I brought this for you.”

Her eyes lit up as I handed her the blue persimmon that I was planning to place on her shrine and was grateful I had the privilege of seeing her enjoy it in the flesh. Her eyes lit up for a second as she sunk her teeth into the meaty fruit, staining them blue as she gave me a grin.

As I took in the moment, a relief and calm filled my soul.

I finally had my answer.

About whether I could both protect and avenge.

Seeing Mu Lin alive again proved I could do both.

And I would do both.

But not alone.

My friends and family were here to help me along my path.

While I took revenge for the Earth, I would both protect and cultivate my people and turn them into a force to topple the empire. It would take perhaps years, decades, or even centuries, but I didn’t care.

My Flame was immortal and one day, so would I be.

The thought stirred my conviction and strengthened my resolve.

I’d taken my first step along the path to both freeing the Earth and achieving immortality. And there was no looking back now. Whatever lay ahead of me I would push forth without fear or hesitation. I would follow the Frenzied Flame as it guided my path.

The path of the Berserker.