Four days ago.

  I had been buried deep in books, chasing a curiosity I couldn’t shake… It was about the Meteor Child. Considering the kind of “quest” I’d been dragged into, it was only natural to want answers. Unfortunately, the records were about as helpful as a broken minimap. All I could find were vague allusions: omen, calamity, era-shifting existence. The kind of language people used when they didn’t actually know anything but wanted to sound like they did.

  Somewhere along the way, I lost track of time.

  When I finally leaned back and rubbed my eyes, the windows had already begun to pale with dawn. I yawned, bones aching. Lately, my routine had been ridiculous from nighttime beatdowns, daytime hiding, and whatever scraps of rest I could steal in between. I was running on fumes and adrenaline.

  Of course, there was also the addiction of seeing your numbers go up.

  That was when I noticed her.

  A small face peeked out from between two towering bookshelves.

  I blinked. “Huh?”

  It was the little girl. Xue Hai, the quiet one from the escort mission.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, lowering my voice. “Where’s your mom?”

  Her eyes widened. For a split second, she looked startled, and then she turned and ran.

  “Hey, wait!”

  I stood up and followed, but the moment I rounded the shelf, she was gone.

  And right on cue, my system decided to be dramatic.

  [Milestone Achieved!]

  [You’ve encountered the Meteor Child.]

  I stared at the floating text.

  “…You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

  Back to the present.

  I was crouched low on a rooftop, dressed in a different set of martial robes and wearing a fox mask with different contours and designs. I’d made a habit of switching appearances with different masks, clothes, and silhouettes. If they were going to hunt a ghost, I’d make damn sure they never agreed on what it looked like.

  Tonight, though, was going to be different.

  Tonight, they were going to learn fear.

  Still, my thoughts drifted back to Xue Hai. The way the system reacted to her. When I’d told Meng Rong about it, she’d dismissed it at first, insisting the library had been thoroughly sealed. Which only made things more unsettling.

  Whatever.

  Focus.

  I sprang lightly to the next rooftop, landing in a crouch and moving without sound. Below me stood one of the inns the sect disciples had been forced into. I approached an open window, using Double Jump to soften my landing on the sill.

  Too easy.

  I peered inside.

  A cultivator sat cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed, calmly absorbing moonlight. Blue and white robes.

  Phantasm Star Sect.

  I grinned behind the mask.

  The next phase of the plan was brutally simple: harass them where they thought they were safe—their resting places—and farm EXP while I was at it. Sure, it was risky. Sect representatives who were real monsters above Level 200 would definitely be nearby.

  But the payoff?

  Worth it.

  I slipped inside and squatted right in front of a cultivator. Slowly, deliberately, I reached out and poked his knee.

  “…?”

  His eyes fluttered open.

  I leaned in. “BOO.”

  Rock Smash!

  My fist connected with his chest, the shockwave blasting him clean off the bed and into the far wall. He slid down in a limp heap, unconscious before he even hit the floor.

  “Ha ha ha ha ha~!” I laughed quietly. “Fools! All of you shall now become my source of strength!”

  It helped that each of them had insisted on private, luxurious rooms. One by one, I moved through the inn like a nightmare.

  A cultivator sleeping—Rock Smash!

  Another meditating—Rock Smash!

  One half-awake, reaching for his weapon—Rock Smash!

  They cursed me in every colorful way imaginable.

  “Bastard—!”

  “Who the hell are you?!”

  “Demonic scum—!”

  None of it mattered. Fists flew. Bodies fell.

  By the time alarms began to ring and footsteps thundered through the corridors, I was already gone, leaping back into the night, laughter swallowed by the wind, leaving behind nothing but bruises, broken pride, and a growing sense of terror.

  I didn’t even need to draw my blunt sword.

  That realization struck me somewhere between the second and third unconscious body of the night. I paused on a rooftop, flexed my fingers, and let out a quiet breath. When had this become so… easy?

  I’d grown a lot. With the advantage of darkness, positioning, and a complete lack of shame, I could take them down cleanly with sneak attacks before they even understood what was happening.

  Pride warmed my chest.

  “Hah… not bad, not bad at all.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  I slipped away from the inn I’d just terrorized and headed for the next one. Different banner. Different sect. Same results.

  The Boulder Path Sect was first.

  They were sturdy, but that only made it more satisfying. I crept up behind one standing guard, let my qi surge, and unleashed Dragon Rend. A spectral, dragon-like claw tore through the air, raking across his back.

  “Aaargh—!”

  He flew forward, crashing through a wooden railing and disappearing from sight.

  “Oops,” I muttered, already moving.

  The Dragon Heart Sect came next. Flashier techniques, sharper senses, but they relied too much on righteous posturing. When one of them turned just a fraction too late, I flicked my fingers and released Starlight Threads. Thin, shimmering strands wrapped around his limbs, binding him mid-step.

  “What is this—?!”

  I stepped in and knocked him out cold with a simple strike to the neck.

  “Good night.”

  By design, we made them scatter. One inn became two. Two became four. No single place felt safe anymore. The more they spread out, the easier they were to isolate, confuse, and pick apart.

  Of course, they weren’t idiots.

  By the second night, they started grouping up. By the third, they assigned guard duty. By the fourth, they tried to surround me with coordinated signals, overlapping patrols, and even bait.

  “Cute.”

  Unfortunately for them, the constables were on my side, and I was slippery enough that if I truly committed to escape, they wouldn’t even catch my shadow. Rooftops, alleys, crowd cover… I flowed through Xincheng like water.

  Night after night, I repeated the routine.

  Harass. Disrupt. Vanish.

  Bullying them until they hated the city itself.

  I stared at my system interface, the familiar translucent panel hovering before my eyes like a bad habit I couldn’t quit.

  [NAME: YAKUZA MAN]

  [LEVEL: 195]

  Health: 100%

  Energy: 100%

  Awesomeness: 58 + 21 (-30)

  Swiftness: 42 + 10

  Toughness: 42 + 10

  Life Token: 2 / 3

  My Awesomeness had taken a noticeable hit. Learning techniques from other sects came with a cost, and the system was cruelly honest about it. Still, it was worth it. Almost worth it.

  I had been thinking it was about time to challenge Dong Li.

  Everything was lining up from the chaos in Xincheng, the sects being bled dry, and Meng Rong waiting for me to finish my end of the bargain. If I wrapped things up quickly, I could fight Dong Li sooner than planned and move on to the next phase.

  That was when the air changed.

  The hairs on my neck stood on end. The Yakuza Man within me screamed a single, simple warning.

  “Danger.”

  I ducked without thinking.

  A starlit sword slash screamed past my head, carving cleanly through stone and leaving a glowing scar in the wall behind me. The cut was so precise it looked unreal, as if the night itself had been sliced open.

  A name burned itself into my awareness.

  [Yao Yazhu][Level 240]

  Shit.

  I kicked off the ground and activated Double Jump, throwing myself backward just as another slash tore through where my chest had been. Yao Yazhu chased me relentlessly, his killing intent sharp enough to make my skin crawl. He drew his sword fully now, veins bulging on his forehead, his expression twisted with pure, unrestrained anger.

  “You’ve caused me enough headache!” he roared.

  He wasn’t wrong.

  At Level 195, I was strong, stronger than most people in this city. But compared to him? I was still unfinished. Still raw.

  I drew my blunt sword and met his blade head-on.

  The impact rattled my arms to the bone. Sparks and starlight exploded between us. I was thrown backward, but the system dampened the worst of it with the perfect guard, just as planned. My feet skidded across the rooftop, tiles shattering beneath me.

  No more holding back.

  I lunged forward and unleashed Rock Smash with a kick, channeling everything into that single strike… and hit nothing.

  An afterimage!

  Yao Yazhu’s voice came from my side, cold and sharp. “You even know the Rock Smash of the Boulder Path Sect. And judging by your energy flow, you’ve mastered it to an absurd degree.”

  His sword swept out in a wide arc, starlight blooming like a crescent moon.

  “Let me see if you are an impostor,” he continued, “or merely a Boulder Path disciple playing tricks—”

  I gritted my teeth and answered with Starlight Thread, forcing my power into a technique that wasn’t truly mine. The two techniques collided, light screaming against light. Pain tore through my arms as the backlash hit me, but I used it, twisting with the force, letting it throw me backward instead of crushing me outright.

  Distance. I needed distance.

  I landed hard, boots scraping, lungs burning.

  Yao Yazhu scoffed, eyes blazing. “So you even know my sect’s techniques. Who are you?”

  I didn’t answer.

  I shifted my stance and hurled a consumable smoke bomb at the ground. Thick smoke exploded outward, swallowing the rooftop. I turned to flee…

  But, my instincts detonated again.

  I rolled forward just as a starlit thrust pierced the smoke behind me, the blade missing my spine by a hair’s breadth. I came up into a sprint, then jumped once, barely dodging a sweeping slash that tore through the haze like a guillotine.

  It was too fast.

  His sword was already moving again, chaining into a second strike before the first had fully ended. I triggered Double Jump, forcing myself higher, the night wind slamming into my face.

  “Incredible,” Yao Yazhu said, his voice carrying effortlessly. “But you’ve got nowhere to go.”

  He sheathed his sword.

  Mysterious power gathered around him, compressing, sharpening, bending the air itself. A special move, one meant to end things. I crossed my arms and sword and braced, dumping everything into my guard.

  The world exploded upward.

  His sword burst from its sheath in a devastating rising swing, starlight tearing skyward. The impact hurled me into the air like a rag doll, but I clung to the momentum, riding it higher instead of being smashed apart.

  Pain screamed through my body.

  But I was still conscious.

  From above, I twisted my body and brought my blunt sword down, channeling everything into one brutal arc.

  Dragon Rend.

  The strike descended like a dragon’s claw, roaring as it tore through the air.

  Yao Yazhu met it perfectly.

  His guard didn’t break. His feet didn’t even shift. He looked up at me, eyes sharp, furious, and burning with something else.

  “You even know the Dragon Heart Sect’s technique,” he said slowly. “Just who are you?”

  I had thought I’d stopped underestimating cultivators.

  Clearly, that was a lie I told myself to sleep better at night.

  Facing Yao Yazhu head-on made one thing painfully clear. I still needed to level up. Just a little more. Not much. A few more steps, a few more risks. We were already at the end of the tunnel anyway.

  If that was the case, then it wouldn’t hurt to start revealing myself.

  Even if it meant gambling with my life.

  What mattered was seeing this deal through. Once I crossed that line, Meng Rong would be obligated to reciprocate. That alone made the risk worth taking.

  The system chimed, cold and merciless.

  [+10 Awesomeness]

  [+10 Awesomeness]

  [+10 Awesomeness]

  I’ve given up my newly learned techniques from the three sects, courtesy of a consumable. The borrowed knowledge burned away from my mind. The Dragon Heart flows, the Boulder Path force cycles, the Phantasm Star patterns… all gone, and cleanly erased.

  My body felt lighter.

  [NAME: YAKUZA MAN]

  [LEVEL: 195]

  Health: 100%

  Energy: 100%

  Awesomeness: 79

  Swiftness: 52

  Toughness: 52

  Life Token: 2 / 3

  These were my real stats.

  My foundation.

  Yao Yazhu didn’t give me time to savor it.

  He followed through immediately, sword blazing as starlight erupted from his blade. This time, the light didn’t form a single arc. Instead, it split, unraveling into countless radiant filaments that twisted and spiraled around him like a living constellation.

  “Let me show you the true Starlight Threads,” he snarled, fury shaking his voice. “You arrogant outsider! How dare you steal my sect’s techniques!”

  The threads orbited him, humming with lethal precision. Then he vanished with incredible speed. The distance between us collapsed in an instant. The starlight threads lashed out from every angle, too dense, too fast, and too perfect to parry individually. I knew it the moment I saw them.

  I couldn’t deflect this.

  So I endured.

  I crossed my arms and sword, locked my stance, and took it head-on.

  The impact was hell.

  Starlight tore into me, ripping across my guard, chewing through my defenses. Pain exploded through my arms, my ribs, and my spine. My feet dug furrows into the stone as I was driven backward, every nerve screaming… but I held.

  The instant the storm passed, I stepped forward instead of back.

  Energy surged.

  I charged a basic attack, muscles screaming as power condensed into my limbs.

  “Oraaa~!”

  I roared and lunged.

  Yao Yazhu’s eyes widened. He raised his sword to parry. However, it was exactly as I expected.

  I canceled the charged attack at the last possible moment.

  Before he could react, I twisted my movement inward and unleashed Heavenly Punishment.

  The impact was subtle, but devastating.

  A shock rippled through him, disrupting his flow, stunning him just long enough for his breathing to hitch and his stance to falter.

  I felt the opening.

  I was so tempted to press the attack and go all in.

  But the memory of dying once already burned bright in my mind.

  Not yet.

  I flicked my wrist and activated Heaven-Silk Art.

  Silk-like strands of energy snapped around his feet, binding them to the rooftop for just a heartbeat.

  That was all I needed.

  I turned and ran.

  I jumped, kicked off the edge, and vanished into the night, my heart pounding like a war drum as rooftops blurred beneath me.

  Behind me, I heard his furious roar tear through the darkness.

  But he didn’t catch me.

  Not tonight.

  I grinned under the mask as the wind rushed past my ears.

  Just a few more levels.

  Then I’d come back, more prepared.