Rick Scott
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Path of the Berserker 5 - Chapter 37
🕑 Added 2025-07-20 10:30:21 +0000 UTCThe stroll through the city with an entourage of fifty plus Fire Bird members was an interesting one. People gave us a wide birth and true to what Zin Tai had said, all manners of people were bowing to Patriarch Wing Lang like he was a prince or something.
I left my own entourage behind at the insistence of Wing Lang as well.
Where we were headed was clan business only, he’d warned.
Which made it all the more irritating for me, considering Zin Tai was granted an exception to ‘join’ us.
We walked a half-step behind Wing Lang, with me shoulder to shoulder with Pak Song. The Senior Second Elder hadn’t said a word to me since he’d picked himself up off the ground and rallied his men back into formation.
His men however had a whole lot to say to me.
More than a few of them came kowtowing to me with hushed whispers, begging for me to accept them into my branch rather than Pak Song’s, some of them even offering to pay me what meager earnings they had. It was bizarre, but par for the course for clan politics I guessed.
A couple of them ran ahead on the order of the Patriarch, to prepare for our arrival. By the time we reached the Martial District, I knew I was going to be in for some more bullshit indeed. The topography of the Golden city was mostly flat, so as we approached, I noticed massive walls starting to play backdrop to the towering buildings of the city. After a while the buildings dropped off completely and there was just a massive red wall that was about fifty feet high, spanning left and right as far as I could see.
It wasn’t just a wall either. It was as thick as it was tall, and was more like one long building, with people living and working inside of it. What looked like apartments and living quarters were at the top, with shops and businesses below and spanning all around them were markets full of merchants and peddlers. From what I could see, most of the wares for sale were weapons and cultivation resources, which made sense when I also saw most of the clientele were cultivators from various different sects.
Patriarch Wing Lang led us through one of the massive gates in the wall and then invited me for a view from above, ascending a staircase alongside the gate. When we reached the top, I got a true appreciation of the full size of the Martial District.
The wall formed a ring that encompassed what had to be 50 city blocks or more. Inside it were interior walls which segmented the blocks along diagonals to form an easily recognizable elemental wheel, differentiated by the color of the building roofs. Green for wood, brown for Earth, blue for Water, red for Fire and grey for Metal. Within each section were even smaller walled off blocks containing individual buildings and courtyards.
“The home of all Martial Sects at a glance,” Wing Lang said, casting his arm over the interior of the circle. “Every officiated Martial Sect holds its headquarters here, the home of the Grand Patriarchs. You should feel very honored to reach here as a native outworlder. Many spend their entire lives training and cultivating to reach this place and some only get as far as the peddlers beyond the wall.”
“This is what I have been telling him, your eminence,” Zin Tai said with a smile. “He should have been rushing to come here.”
I glared at the guy and felt like punching him again.
Damn ass kisser, I thought.
But I owed him for finding my planet, so I just kept my mouth shut and cultivated my anger inside. Wing Lang then pointed out how much of the area was devoted to the Greater Fire Bird clan which, not surprisingly, was most of the red segment.
“The outer rings denote the status and acumen of our disciples,” he said. “From third to first. Within them you will find the various subsects as well. I’m sure you would very much like to meet the High Elder of your own subsect. Lightning, was it?”
“Furious lightning,” I corrected. “It’s my own thing.”
His eyebrows lifted with interest. “Oh? Is that so? This shall be an interesting demonstration indeed.”
We continued on and as we entered the main gates of the Fire Bird clan, all manner of initiates and disciples bowed to greet us. Once we’d gotten through the 3rd Inner Circle, I got an idea of the rank Pak Song truly held. He’d made himself sound important, but from what I could tell, the Third Inner Circle was the lowest rung of the entire establishment. Which made him a lick above shit really as a Second Elder. Which made sense why he was given the errant task of waiting for me to show up for months. Which also probably made it all the more infuriating for him that I, as an outsider, had surpassed him already.
Once again, I could almost feel bad for the guy.
But he was a Fire Bird, so screw him.
We stopped at a building that looked to be outfitted like a quartermasters, where I was given a fresh set of Fire Bird robes to wear. I settled on red and blue, which denoted me as a Lightning Master. We then continued on to a central courtyard, which had to be the size of an entire city block on its own.
A mass of red and orange robes filled the enormous space to the brim. There had to be well over 200,000 people gathered, like a stadium crowd the size of a small country waiting for an arena match to start. But all of them were martial cultivators, standing as disciplined as any army in neat rank and file. It was imposing to see and the thought that I was the purpose for their gathering caused a mild sense of panic to fill me.
This wasn’t the same bunch of smalltime dumbasses I had found back on Earth. This was a massive organization and the thought that I would now have to impress them or something, brought on a sense of performance anxiety. Not that I should really care, but being under scrutiny like this was what I had been trying to avoid the entire time.
Just get it over with, I thought, recalling Ling Wei’s advice to me.
Pak Song parted ways with us and joined a group of perhaps a thousand people who all seemed to wear the markings of elders of various rankings. Wing Lang, Zin Tai and I continued on towards a central stage, setup in the middle of the courtyard. There were three stools on the stage, two of them occupied by white bearded men who looked as ancient as Wing Lang was, and by the similar robes I guess the empty third stool was for Wing Lang himself.
“I will introduce you to the other Patriarchs and then to the clan at large,” Wing Lang said. “As Patriarch of the Third Inner Ring, your station as a fringe offworlder falls under my remit. But do not let that shame define you here. Your status as an Imperial Marshal shall set you apart. You only need fortify that by the demonstration of your techniques.”
Shame?
It was a badge of honor in my book, but I got the message loud and clear. From the lower disciples in the crowd I saw looks of curiosity and even some hints of lemonade. But from the mass of elders, I got the same seething glares that had come from Pak Song. I was stepping on a lot of toes by being pulled up on this stage.
“You represent me now,” Wing Lang said and then he added in a lowered tone. “Please do not embarrass me.”
The full picture came into view as I was paraded onto the stage like a circus freak. I was an anomaly born within the lowest rank and order of the clan who had somehow reached greatness surpassing all others, and Wing Lang was hoping to use me to impress his betters.
I could nearly laugh.
Good old cultivator bullshit at its best.
This wasn’t really about me.
It was all about him.
I relaxed a little, knowing exactly what this was all about now.
A pissing contest between Patriarchs.
“Brother Tian Ming, Brother Xi fu,” Wing Lang said, bowing to each of his peers in turn. “I present to you Max Chun, Elder of the Furious Lightning Sect and Iron Marshal of the Empire. While it has taken some time to locate him, I assure you, his demonstration of talent will be well worth the wait.”
The two old men looked at me nonplussed, nothing but stone in their souls. If they were Berserkers I would have given them an A-plus for their [Indifference] technique. Wing Chun then gestured for me to bow and I put on my own mask of [Indifference] to hide my loathing as I performed a groveling kowtow before the two patriarchs.
“This had indeed better be worth the time, Wing Lang,” Tian Ming said. He then looked to me. “We are waiting, Max Chun. Show us what it means to be an Imperial Marshal.”
The Patriarch named Xi Fu merely smiled but nodded for me to commence.
I turned about to face the assembly of Fire Birds.
This was perhaps the largest crowd I’d ever fought before.
But there was no fighting to be had here.
Were it so, it might have been easier.
What the hell could I do to impress them?
The demon in the back of my mind whispered for me to pull out [Furnace of the Frenzied Flame] and show them the Cauldron of my Inner World. That’d show them firsthand what it meant to become an Imperial Marshal.
But that’d be a step way to on the nose in front of this crowd.
They could all be I’xol’ukz worshipers for all I knew.
And Zin Tai was looking on eagerly as well.
I needed something showy but mundane.
I mentally went through my repertoire of techniques, desperately trying to think of something that would fit the bill, as Wing Lang took to the center of the stage to introduce me.
“Honored brethren,” Wing Lang shouted, his voice echoing with power. “We have before us a disciple who has reached an unprecedented ranking within the empire. It is with pride that I introduce one of my prized pupils of the Third Inner Ring, the Imperial Marshal known as Max Chun. Let us honor him for his great achievement within society.”
Wing Lang started of a clap and the congregation followed.
An outpouring of genuine lemonade came with the thunderous sound and I couldn’t help but feel a little humbled by it all. Still, this was still all a damn farce at its core. If they ever knew what was really inside of me, I’d be a dead man. I cultivated their applause and used it to fill me for what had to come next.
A demonstration of power.
“Max Chun has derived his own school of martial arts, known as the Path of Furious Lightning,” Wing Lang said. “I’m sure our Lightning Masters will be keenly interested to see what techniques this path holds. Max Chun, please demonstrate for your brethren your Furious Lightning Technique.”
Moment of truth, I thought.
Something flashy.
“I may need some room for this,” I said.
I took to the air with [Ride the Lightning] shooting into the sky like a rocket.
The thunder I left behind shook the courtyard and blew past me in a shockwave as I stopped on a dime, midair a hundred feet above the ground. Cycling my Frenzy, I tapped into my meridians and unleased with a massive burst of [Frenzied Lightning].
“[Wrath of a Million Slain Souls]!”
Lightning half a mile wide, filled the sky as I triggered the technique, dumping massive amounts of Frenzy from my core. When I stopped, the sweet smell of O-zone filled the air, joining the lemonade wafting up from the crowd.
I’d gotten their attention, but still not enough to fully wow them, it seemed.
I needed something a little closer to home.
And I had just the technique for it.
I ran the meridian sequence for [Wrath of a Million Slain Souls] again, but this time focused the technique on the center of my palm. I unleashed it, but had the bolts shooting inwards instead of outwards, trapping them in a sphere that was roughly ten feet wide. I poured on the Frenzy just like before and the air within the bubble quickly superheated and began to glow like a fallen star.
The power grew and grew, the more I focused the hotter it became.
I sensed [Fear] from below and knew I was on the right track now.
Normally I used this technique with the power of [Wrath of a Thousand Slain Souls], but I had pulled out all the stops now, amping it up to a [Million]. I armored myself with [Diamond Skin] as the technique began to collapse under its own weight, my focus barely able to contain it anymore.
I finally released the new technique with an annunciating shout.
“[Lightning Kiln of Fury]!”
The sphere exploded in a massive fire ball that expanded outward at the speed of sound. I was blown back a thousand feet or more as the air literally caught on fire in a massive chain reaction that filled the courtyard.
Oh shit!
Then as quickly as it expanded, the fireball shrank back again, having used up all the oxygen in the air. The result was a vacuum that sucked the air straight out of my lungs as the air around me rushed to fill the vacuum collapsing back down to a pinpoint again.
The center exploded a second time with a tiny flash of heat and lightning as the planet’s atmosphere closed in on itself, sparking a second violent explosion of thunder that shook the courtyard with a massive shockwave. It radiated outward like a hurricane, knocking everyone to the ground and crashing into the surrounding buildings, shattering windows and destroying others completely.
It all happened in less than a second and as I stood there witnessing the power of my own devastation, a numbness filled me. In the aftermath, Fire Birds mewled in pain as they writhed on the ground. Most were holding their ears, blood streaming from between their fingers. Others were burned with their robes hanging in charred tatters off of them.
Others still, didn’t move at all.
Shit…
I didn’t mean to kill anybody.
But I had barely used the [Lightning Kiln] technique before, much less modified, as I’d done just now. A sense of dread filled me as I looked back down to the stage of Patriarchs expecting them to issue the order to slay me for killing my own brethren.
Instead, I saw the Patriarch Xi Fu with his arms raised, supporting a protective barrier that shielded Zin Tai and the entire stage, while Wing Lang and Tian Ming garnered me with applause.
Wing Lang beckoned me to come back down and as I did so slowly, a strange sense of disconcertion filled me as I landed on the stage. Suddenly the entire assembly was joining in with the applause. While burned bodies were being quickly shuffled off the courtyard, fear and lemonade poured from the crowd.
It was surreal.
Not a hint of anger or retribution from anyone.
Even after killing some of them, I’d done good in their eyes.
It was the cultivator’s mindset at its best.
Might equals right.
“Well done!” Wing Lang said excitedly, while still clapping. “Well done! Let us praise our brother Max Chun for his impressive display. As only a Sacred Soul Realm Cultivator, I can only imagine the power of this technique once he breaks through to the Lesser Deity Realm.”
Yeah, no shit, I thought with chagrin.
I couldn’t imagine it either.
I was literally scaring myself now.
As the applause went on, I shamefully cultivated it all so that it wouldn’t go to waste, but inwardly I thanked the heavens that I hadn’t brought my friends along. I would have killed, Xi Xha, Mu Lin and Ling Wei instantly with a technique like that, maybe even Mal’Kira too.
“Now I believe Brother Max has earned himself a new ranking within this fold as well,” Wing Lang said. “Having already bested Senior Second Elder Pak Song in combat, I propose the new ranking of Senior First Elder and Founder of the Furious Lightning Subsect. Are there any that oppose or which to challenge this appointment?”
A silence fell, in stark contrast to the thunderous applause from before.
Wing Lang looked out amongst the crowd of elders.
“No one?” he said. “Senior First Elder Fu Den? No concern with the establishment of a rival to the Lightning Sect?”
I sensed a spike of fear from a tall, bearded man in the crowd, who simply shook his head.
Wing Lang smiled. “Then it is decided, Brother Max Chun will be elevated to—”
“I have an objection!”
As the voice rang out from the crowd, all eyes turned as a form leapt onto the stage. A woman with long, flowing red hair, performed a perfect somersault from out of the crowd, landing in a crouch. As she rose, a set of crimson eyes met mine in a glare of unabashed contempt. In her hand was a familiar, conical shaped object and when she placed it on her head, I immediately recognized it for what it was.
A douli…
“You, Third Elder?” Wing Lang said, looking at the woman incredulously.
“Yes, your eminence,” the woman said, as she dropped into a martial stance. “I Hun Wu of the Rising Phoenix Sect, do challenge the position of Max Chun.” She then stared at me as anger and hatred filled her soul. “I have a blood feud to settle. I have reason to believe that this man killed my sister.”
Comments
Rick Scott
Pray it be so Wil!!! xD Then i can retire and write full time!
Wil_v22
Played 18 holes of golf today and then had the opportunity to enjoy the new chapter. It was a good day. 😁. Hope you get an Anime deal, Rick. This really is a bad ass series. Just loads of fun!
evan maples
If max can master that [lightning kiln] technique he could quite literally throw mini lightning nukes at people and if hin wus sister is here then that raises the “all the fire birds are demon worshippers” alarm in my head
Lorenz
Max’s display in the sky was incredible. Can’t wait to see him battle Hun Wu.
Rick Scott
She is from book 2. Hin Wu. The fiery red head who offered to marry him and form their own sect together.
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I’m drawing a blank on the sister. Was she killed during his torching of the earth based branch?
Meir Banon
Tftc
