Striving to Catch Up

By the time Shen Fei climbed over the back courtyard wall and returned to the Sacred Family estate, dawn was already beginning to break.

The guards in the front courtyard were still at their posts, their eyes bloodshot from staying up all night, yet none dared move without orders. The lights in the front hall were still burning. Shen Hong and the elders were probably still discussing matters.

No one noticed that he had gone out and returned. Shen Fei slipped quietly back to his courtyard, closed the door, and slid the bolt into place.

He took off his bloodstained outer robe and tossed it into a wooden basin, then fetched a basin of cold water and splashed his face.

The icy water ran down his cheeks, thoroughly washing away the fatigue of a sleepless night and battle. He sat down at the table and looked at himself in the bronze mirror.

His eyes still held the sharp edge of battle, but a barely perceptible trace of relief lay hidden deep within them.

After sitting there for a long while, he suddenly gave a quiet laugh. It was not self-mockery. He truly felt a weight lift from his shoulders.

Things were different now. Nie Li had brought out the Ten Thousand Demons and Spirits Array, and he could even use a small array to slay a Black Gold Rank Abyssal Troll.

With someone like that holding the line ahead of them, they would not go astray in the larger scheme of things. Glory City could be defended.

That realization gave him more peace of mind than any breakthrough in cultivation. As for the gap between him and Nie Li... Shen Fei picked up the pitcher on the table, poured himself a cup of cold water, and drank it slowly.

So what if the gap was enormous? Everyone had different opportunities and different starting points. There was nothing to compare.

He did not need to become the strongest, nor did he need to surpass anyone. He only needed to do what he could and contribute his share.

He spread the Defense Map he had found on the black-robed man across the table and studied it carefully in the morning light filtering through the window. The circled locations were all key storehouses where the City Lord's Mansion kept supplies and ancient texts.

For the Dark Guild to obtain such a detailed Defense Map, there had to be a mole among the Inner City guards.

He could not hand this map over directly; that would expose him. After some thought, Shen Fei found a blank sheet of hemp paper and copied the markings exactly, leaving no writing.

In a couple of days, he could find an opportunity to leave it anonymously outside the gates of the City Lord's Mansion's guard barracks.

As for the Dark Guild's Deacon Token, he tucked it into the hidden compartment beneath his bed. It might come in handy someday. Once he had dealt with everything, he took out his cultivation plan and laid it on the table for another look.

His previous goal had been to reach gold rank 2-star within six months. Now, that seemed far too slow. He picked up his brush and made a few changes. He increased his daily dose of Soul-Gathering Pills from one to two.

He increased his practice sessions summoning and coordinating with the Shadow Mantis from twice a day to three times.

He would also set aside two hours each day specifically to study texts on basic inscriptions and arrays. He did not expect to set up arrays independently, but he at least needed to understand their patterns and the basic principles behind how they worked.

Arrays would surely be a central part of their fighting strength when defending the city. The more he understood, the more help he could offer when the time came.

He dug out the dusty basic inscription texts from the bottom shelf and placed them in the most conspicuous spot on his table. After daybreak, Shen Fei went to the front courtyard study to sort through the accounts as usual.

The steward had yet to recover from his illness, so all purchasing accounts and correspondence passed through Shen Fei's hands.

He examined them closely, committing several suspicious new expenditures to memory and matching them against the Dark Guild's recently changed supply routes.

When Shen Hong came by to inspect his work, he saw that Shen Fei remained dependable and had made no mistakes. He nodded in satisfaction.

"There was trouble at the City Lord's Mansion last night. You didn't go running around outside, did you?" Shen Hong asked casually.

"I went to bed early and didn't hear anything," Shen Fei replied evenly without looking up. "I only heard about it from the servants this morning." Shen Hong grunted in acknowledgment and asked nothing more.

He had never expected this eldest son of his to accomplish anything anyway. Staying out of trouble was enough.

When Shen Yue heard about the great battle at the City Lord's Mansion the previous night, he was beside himself with excitement and rushed out early in the morning to gather news. After returning, he went around telling everyone how Nie Li had slain the troll, though his face betrayed his resentment.

When he spotted Shen Fei, he came over and said that Nie Li had only killed a Black Gold Rank Demon Beast by relying on an array. Without it, he would never have been a match for the beast.

Shen Fei gave a noncommittal grunt and said nothing more. Whether Nie Li had relied on an array did not matter. Killing a Black Gold Rank Demon Beast was an accomplishment in itself. If Shen Yue had been sent up against it, even ten arrays would have been useless.

Shen Yue talked for ages, then curled his lip and ran off when he saw that Shen Fei had no interest. The days passed, one after another.

On the surface, Shen Fei seemed no different from before. He handled family affairs during the day and attended classes at the Holy Orchid Institute, speaking little and causing no trouble.

Only he knew that the intensity of his nightly cultivation had doubled. Every night, once everyone in the estate was sound asleep, he shut his door and cultivated the Dark Prison Reincarnation Art.

His spiritual power circulated through one full cycle after another. He did not stop until his Dantian felt swollen and his soul force was exhausted.

Once he recovered, he summoned the Shadow Mantis to practice coordinating with it, continuing until he could no longer sustain the Demon Spirit and it dispersed.

After practicing his cultivation art and training with his Demon Spirit, he sat beneath the lamp to study inscription texts, sketching patterns on scrap paper as he read. He cut his sleep down to six hours a day.

His progress was visible to the naked eye. In less than a month, he reached the threshold of gold rank 3-star. The time he could keep the Shadow Mantis summoned at full strength increased from two incense sticks' worth to three.

He also came to understand a good deal of the basic inscriptions. He could now recognize seventy to eighty percent of the patterns in simple defensive arrays.

That night, Shen Fei finished practicing his final inscription and set down his engraving knife. He went out into the courtyard for some air.

The night breeze carried the coolness of a summer evening. Looking up, he could see toward the City Lord's Mansion. The night sky was peaceful, with neither firelight nor the sounds of battle.

The Ten Thousand Demons and Spirits Array should have been nearly complete by now. The Dark Guild would no longer dare launch surprise attacks so readily.

Shen Fei stood there for a while, then withdrew his gaze. He knew Nie Li was still moving forward. His arrays would become ever more refined, and his strength would continue to grow.

That man's pace was swift-so swift that others could only gaze at the dust he left behind. But so what? A gulf might be as vast as a heavenly chasm, but he still had to walk his own road, step by step.

It did not matter if he could not catch up. As long as he kept moving forward, that was enough. He turned and went back inside. The inscription text still lay open on the table, with a sharpened engraving knife and blank Talisman Paper beside it.

Just then, a grave question suddenly occurred to him. Nie Li was clearly already so powerful, so why had he been reborn?

The thought sent a chill through him. Judging by the strength Nie Li had displayed so far, he might have surpassed Legend Rank in his previous life, perhaps reaching even greater heights. Who, then, could have defeated Nie Li in his previous life?

It seemed he could not let his guard down simply because Nie Li was there to help. He had to improve his own strength as quickly as possible, or he might follow the same disastrous tracks all over again.

Starting tomorrow, I could try engraving my first basic inscription.

The lamplight shone on his face. His eyes were steady and bright. The road was still long; there was no need to rush. He only had to keep walking, one step at a time.