I kept my face carefully blank as Duyi's smirk widened. From the corner of my eye, I caught Ghost Fist shifting his weight, preparing to approach but gave him a small shake of my head. This was my problem, not his.

  "Nothing to say, dock rat?" Jin Duyi fluttered his fan dramatically. "Where's that fire from our first meeting? Or did the Navy's pet lieutenant scare it out of you?"

  I remained silent, eyeing the distance to the door. But Duyi's men had spread out, effectively blocking my exit.

  After a moment of tense silence, I sighed. "What do you want, Duyi?"

  "Want?" He looked around in mock confusion. "I think you know don't you? I want compensation for my ruined clothes. Embroidered brocade. Imported from the Eastern Archipelago."

  A laugh nearly escaped my throat. The irony was delicious. If he wanted payment then I would use the money I had stolen from him.

  "How much?" I hid my amusement and kept my voice flat.

  Duyi's face contorted in faux offense. "Money? You think mere coins can settle this insult? We're well past that stage." He snapped his fan closed. "Some debts can't be paid in silver."

  "Then how do you propose I settle it?" I asked. I already knew the answer, this was only ever going to end one way.

  Duyi's gold tooth gleamed as his smile turned predatory. "In blood."

  "Enough," Yulian's voice cracked across the training floor. She appeared between us, her cane tapping against the wooden planks. "I can't allow a fight between a cultivator and a mortal here. If it happened, Lord Shuilin's people would hunt down everyone involved and punish us all. That includes me and you, First Mate Jin."

  Duyi's face flushed with genuine offense, his rings clinking as he clenched his fist. "You think I would sully my honor by fighting a mortal?" He spat on the ground. "I wouldn't waste my ki on this trash."

  He gestured toward Shengli with his fan. "My man will fight for my honor instead."

  Shengli strutted forward, rolling his shoulders as he looked me up and down with a sneer.

  "This is what offended you, First Mate?" Shengli laughed. "Looks like the tide washed up something even the fish wouldn't eat."

  Duyi's gold tooth caught the light as his lips curled. "Well, dock rat? Are you man enough to fight him? Of course, I understand if you're too frightened." He pretended to think, then lifted a muddy boot onto a chair. "If you kneel at my feet and lick my boots clean then maybe I'll see my way to letting you off.

  The pirates all exploded with laughter and I took the opportunity to take another look at Shengli. As Ghost Fist had pointed out, in raw power Shengli was far stronger and faster than even he was. His movements betrayed the telltale signs of someone about to push into Initiate Stage. The ki that had accumulated in his body was wild and untamed, but potent.

  A cold smile spread across my face. This was exactly the sort of training I had hoped for when I came here. Fighting Ghost Fist had helped me gauge my abilities a week ago, but Shengli would show me where I had got to, and push me further. Each blow from him would force me to adapt or break.

  I turned to Duyi and gave him a slight bow. "It would be a pleasure to fight Wu Shengli."

  The training floor cleared in moments as the fighters formed a rough circle around us. Shengli's serpent tattoo seeming to writhe as he walked into the center.

  "To knockout or submission," Duyi announced, flicking his fan open. "No other rules."

  Ghost Fist stepped forward, arms crossed over his massive chest. "No eye gouging. No broken bones. No permanent injuries."

  Duyi laughed, waving him away like an annoying insect. "Your concern is touching but unnecessary." He produced an ornate flask from his robes, placing it on a nearby table with theatrical precision. "Redroot Tonic. Heals cuts, bruises, and even broken bones if you're patient enough." His gold tooth caught the light as he smiled at me. "You're not worried about a little pain, are you, dock rat? The tonic will heal everything...eventually."

  I met his gaze. "I'm fine with your rules, Duyi. This ends with knockout or submission. Everything else is fair game. Everything."

  Yulian stepped into the circle, her cane tapping the floor for attention. "I'll referee, I'll call it when the fight is done." She gave Shengli a hard look. "And when I say stop, you stop. Begin when ready."

  Shengli didn't wait. He launched forward with surprising speed, his fist thundering into my jaw before I had fully settled into my stance. My vision fractured, and pain seared across my face as I stumbled, the taste of blood in my mouth.

  Another blow caught me in the ribs, then a kick swept my legs. I rolled with the momentum, barely avoiding his follow-up stomp. A flicker of doubt went through me. This might be too much too soon. Against my expectations, Shengli was even faster and stronger than I had thought. It appeared that he had actually been holding back somewhat when he was sparring with the others.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  The ki circulating through my meridians strained to reinforce my muscles to absorb some impact, but not enough. Pain bloomed as each hit reverberated through my body. Yes, this was definitely going to hurt.

  Drawing on my experience and grit, I sank into Waves Take Down a Cliff, and pulled in ambient ki even as I defended against Shengli's relentless assault. Each circuit of the ki moved around my body strengthening and healing it.

  Raging Tide remained my ace, but I wouldn't use it yet. In fact I would count it a failure if I had to use it at all. I wasn't the same fighter who had faced Ghost Fist that first night. Victory would come from my skill and discipline, not raw power.

  Shengli pressed forward, his confidence growing with each successful strike. "Don't worry," he said, even as he launched a vicious combination, "this'll all be over soon."

  I took it all, feeling my meridians stretch and widen under the pressure to keeping up. This was what I wanted as each blow forced my body to adapt. The pain didn't matter compared to the progress.

  "He's too scared to even throw a punch!" Duyi shouted, his voice cutting through the growing noise. "Finish him, Shengli!"

  The pirates stomped and jeered, drowning out Ghost Fist who had begun rallying the Thousand Blows fighters to support me.

  "Coinflip! Show him what you've got." Ghost Fist's deep voice carried over the chaos.

  Shengli came at me again, his face twisted with contempt. This was going to hurt, but the pain would be worth it.

  In less time than I had expected, a subtle shift occurred. Shengli's punches, once concussive, now landed with a duller thud, his footwork lost its crispness, and his breath started to come in ragged rasps. I grinned through my bloodied teeth. I had weathered the storm and emerged stronger. From here the fight was mine.

  His eyes narrowed as I refused to fall. "What are you smiling about?" His face was contorted into a snarl as he launched a flurry of blows that lacked their earlier ferocity

  There it was. The arrogance was starting to be replaced with doubt. He had thrown everything he had at me. Yet I had taken it, and I was still standing.

  I needed to fight people stronger than me who wanted to kill me. Wu Shengli was exactly that.

  Shengli's expression darkened. He feinted high, then drove his knee toward my groin. I pivoted, his knee missing me by inches. When he followed with an elbow aimed at my throat, I slipped under it with ease.

  Naughty boy. Did he really think that I would fall for dirty tricks like that? If he wasn't going to be a useful training tool then it would seem that it was time for me to begin the lesson.

  Taking two measured steps back, I straightened my posture and shook out my hands. My body ached, but the meridians in my Tidesworn Pillars hummed with energy. The countless hours in my cellar had transformed this body. Even if it didn't show up in my attributes, this body was not as it was when I had first inhabited it. It was time to test it.

  He charged again, throwing a flurry of punches. I weaved between them, not even bothering to raise my hands in a guard. The air brushed my face as his fists passed harmlessly by, and his movements grew increasingly desperate as he sensed I was toying with him.

  "Stop dancing and fight like a man!" Duyi's voice cut through the noise, his fan snapping open with frustration.

  I glanced toward him, even as I sidestepped another of Shengli's lunges. "What? Like this?"

  In a fluid motion, I changed tack. My fist connected with Shengli's ribs, not hard enough to break them, but still with enough force to drive the air from his lungs. Before he could recover, my elbow struck his shoulder, numbing his arm.

  I became the tide, flowing around his attacks. My blows were not about brute force, but ruthless precision. Each blow targeted specific muscle groups, nerve clusters, joints, places that sapped his strength and hurt him without causing him to fall.

  The pirates fell silent, their earlier jeers dead in their throats. Duyi's face had twisted with rage and his knuckles were white around his fan. In contrast, Ghost Fist and the Thousand Blows fighters roared their approval and started to laugh at Shengli's incompetence.

  Shengli swung wildly, his movements increasingly desperate. I slipped past his guard and delivered three rapid strikes to his torso. He staggered, his breathing ragged, and his once-proud stance reduced to a shambling lurch.

  His eyes met mine, filled with confusion and growing fear. He had never faced an opponent who absorbed everything he could give, then dismantled him so methodically. Put another way, he had never faced me.

  Eventually Shengli just stopped in the middle of the hall, chest heaving. His serpent tattoo rippled with each labored breath and glistened in the sweat that poured down his torso.

  I paused as well, lowering my hands. "Ready to submit?"

  The room fell silent as every eye locked on Shengli as he swayed on his feet, taking in deep lungsful of air. For a moment, I thought he might collapse. That would also work.

  Instead, he drew himself up, wincing as the movement pulled at his injuries. Bruises bloomed across his body mapping every place I had struck him.

  He spat out a mouthful of blood and saliva. "I will never surrender to trash like you."

  How sweet.

  With a roar that came up from the depths of his soul, Shengli charged, arms outstretched like he meant to tear me apart with his bare hands.

  I swayed to one side, only moving the minimum necessary. Shengli thundered past, his momentum carrying him several steps before he could stop himself.

  I looked over at Duyi, whose face had hardened into a mask of fury. "I gave him a chance to walk away," I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "What happens now is on him."

  Shengli spun around, eyes wild with rage and humiliation. He charged again, his roar now hopeless and broken as he put everything he had into this final assault.

  This time, I stood motionless as he approached, dissecting his failing form.

  Three steps away. Two. One.

  Then I moved.

  My first kick connected with Shengli's knee. The joint shattered with a crack as it bent in a direction that nature never intended. Before he could process the pain, I slammed into his ribs with my second kick. The snap echoed through the hall.

  Shengli began to fall his mouth open about to scream. I didn't let him. My uppercut connected with his jaw, the bone giving way as the head whipped back. The hook that followed smashed into his cheekbone with a sickening crunch. Sickening for him, not me. The final blow I held back just enough to keep him alive.

  Shengli crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

  The hall went deathly quiet. No one moved.

  I looked down at Shengli's crumpled form, then up at Duyi.

  "Well, First Mate Jin Duyi. Was that manly enough for you?"

  the Patreon is 12 chapters ahead.