The night market of Iron-Willow City was a sensory overload that made the daytime bustle seem like a quiet meditation. Thousands of red paper lanterns strung overhead turned the streets into tunnels of warm, flickering light. The air was thick with smoke from charcoal grills, the sweet scent of caramelized sugar and the pungent aroma of fermented tofu.

  Li Yu was flanked by Si Luo and Bai Ruo and the group was navigating the sea of humanity like a seasoned captain navigating a reef.

  "There," Li Yu pointed. His eyes quickly locked onto a stall decorated with jagged, blue-painted signs that crackled with minor illusory lightning.

  A burly vendor with singed eyebrows was shouting over the crowd. "Thunder-Eel skewers! Fresh from the stormy reaches of the river! Get a shock to your system! Guaranteed to wake you up or your money back!"

  They approached the stall. On the grill, thin, dark strips of eel meat sizzled. Every few seconds, a tiny blue spark would jump from the meat to the metal grill with a loud pop.

  "Three sticks, boss," Li Yu ordered. He tossed a few coins onto the counter to pay for the food and covered the tip.

  The vendor grinned at the sight of a generous patron. His teeth were surprisingly white against his soot-stained face. "Coming right up, young master! Careful, these ones are feisty tonight!"

  He handed over three skewers using wooden tongs. Li Yu took one and passed the others to his companions.

  "Isn't eating something like this inadvisable for the digestive tract?" Si Luo asked. She eyed the sparking meat with deep suspicion.

  "It's residual bio-electricity," Li Yu explained cheerfully. He was completely making things up on the spot and had no idea at all. He went on to say the only thing he knew for sure. "Thunder-Eels are only Rank One beasts. By the time they're skinned and grilled, it's just a tingle."

  "The conductivity of the marinade likely acts as a dampener," Bai Ruo noted. She inspected the skewer with scholarly curiosity. "Though the reaction on the epidermis suggests a delightful crunch."

  "For thunder. And flavor," Li Yu declared.

  He took a bite.

  ZAP.

  His tongue went numb instantly. A vibration buzzed through his jaw, making his teeth chatter for a second. Then, the numbness faded and was replaced by the rich, savory taste of the eel meat. He found out that the eel was marinated in soy, other herbs and ginger.

  "Hoo," Li Yu exhaled a puff of smoke. "That wakes you up."

  Si Luo watched him survive, then gingerly took a tiny nibble of hers. Si Luo and Bai Ruo were following in Li Yu’s example and had suppressed their cultivation as they were enjoying their time around the town.

  Her eyes widened as she bit into the food. Her elegant posture stiffened as the shock hit her. She managed to swallow without flinching, though her left eye twitched uncontrollably for a moment.

  "It is... stimulating," she managed to say.

  Bai Ruo ate hers thoughtfully and carefully. She seemed to analyze the flavor profile with every chew. "The voltage adds a unique metallic aftertaste that complements the spice," she concluded.

  As they stood there enjoying the culinary masochism, a group of rough-looking men wearing mismatched leather armor pushed past them to get to the neighboring stall selling cheap rice wine. They were loud, smelling of stale sweat and cheap booze. They were low-level mercenaries, probably in the Qi Condensation realm at best.

  "...so I told him," one loudmouth with a scar across his nose bragged, "if you don't have the spirit stones by tomorrow, the Black Scale Brothers are gonna take a finger for every hundred you owe."

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  "He's just a kid," another mercenary laughed. "Granny Wang’s grandson, right? Little Stone? Poor thing. What was he thinking about trying to play dice with Iron-Head Liu?"

  "He wanted quick coins to buy gear," the scarred man shrugged. "Thought he could join a real mercenary band and get rich fighting beasts in war and recovery efforts. Idiots always think war is a get-rich-quick scheme. Maybe for those in power maybe. Not for the ones that have to fight."

  Li Yu stopped chewing as he heard what the man said. The buzzing in his tongue suddenly felt less fun.

  "Granny Wang’s grandson…" Li Yu repeated quietly. He remembered that she had mentioned that her grandson had left to join some group. To make a name for himself and get a better life.

  He looked at Si Luo and Bai Ruo. "I need to look into this." Si Luo and Bai Ruo knew what he was going to do. They realized that Li Yu didn’t always go out of his way to help others but if it dropped right in front of him, action would be taken.

  Ten minutes later, Li Yu was standing outside a dilapidated building in the seediest part of Iron-Willow City. The sign above the door featured a crudely painted toad sitting on a pile of gold coins: The Gilded Toad Gambling Den.

  Two bouncers blocked the entrance. They were two men that were hulking in size but their cultivation was low. Just at the Qi Condensation. They had arms the size of tree trunks.

  "Members only, ugly boy," one growled at him while looking him up and down.

  Li Yu didn't slow down or acknowledge him at all. He didn't flare his aura. He just kept walking. When he reached the bouncers he stepped between them. It was a subtle movement, a slight shift of his shoulders but the bouncers found themselves pushed aside by an irresistible, yet gentle force. They stumbled and crashed into each other like drunken bears. By the time they untangled themselves, Li Yu was already inside.

  The interior was smoky, loud and smelled of desperation. Dozens of tables were packed with people shouting over dice and cards. In the back corner, Li Yu saw what he was looking for.

  A skinny kid, maybe sixteen years old. He had flour dusting his tunic, most likely he had come straight from helping his grandmother. He was cowering in a chair. He was surrounded by four thugs. The leader, a bald man whose head actually looked like iron was leaning over him and tapping a wicked-looking dagger on the table.

  "...I swear, Brother Liu, I'll have it!" the kid, Little Stone, stammered. "Just give me two more days! My grandma makes good money, she can—"

  "Leave Granny out of it," Li Yu’s voice cut through the noise of the den.

  The noise at the surrounding tables died down. Iron-Head Liu stood up slowly, turning to face the intruder. Liu was a large man. A peak mortal martial artist who had probably killed a fair share of people in back alleys.

  "Who are you?" Liu demanded while hefting the dagger. "This is Black Scale business. Get lost, kid, before you get hurt."

  Li Yu walked up to the table and was ignoring the dagger completely. He looked at Little Stone and was disappointed in his conduct. However, he didn’t fully judge him for it. Circumstances and environment make a person and he didn’t know how the young man in front of him got here. The kid looked terrifyingly like his grandmother around the eyes.

  "You borrowed money to buy gear?" Li Yu asked the kid. It was strange because Li Yu wasn’t much older than this person yet it felt like an elder asking a young child.

  Little Stone nodded tearfully. "They said... they said the war was easy money. I wanted to help my family. Let granny finally retire."

  Li Yu sighed at his words. "The war is over. And it wasn't easy. Many much more powerful than you died in it."

  He turned to Iron-Head Liu. "How much does he owe?"

  Liu narrowed his eyes and was calculating. Not only was he calculating the amount owed, he was calculating if Li Yu was a person he could handle. "Five hundred low-grade spirit stones. Principal plus interest."

  It was an absurd amount for a mortal, a predatory loan designed to enslave someone. It was a nearly impossible amount for someone like Little Stone to get through normal means. Even asking Granny wouldn’t allow him to get that amount anytime soon.

  Li Yu didn't argue with the man though. He took out five mid-grade spirit stones from the storage ring on his finger. It was glowing with a soft, pure blue light that instantly cut through the smoky haze of the den. The ambient Qi in the room rose from it being here.

  Iron-Head Liu’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull. That was the correct ratio but very rarely would a cultivator exchange a higher grade spirit stone for lower grade ones. The efficiency for absorbing Qi from higher grade stones was much better. Liu was getting a deal and he knew it. Li Yu tossed five stones onto the table. It clattered loudly in the sudden silence.

  "Do not bother this kid about this debt again. If you do, you’ll end up in the ground." Li Yu said.

  Iron-Head Liu snatched up the stones with his hands. He was joyous and then trembled at Li Yu’s words towards the end. He looked from the stones to Li Yu, suddenly realizing that this "scholar" was not a mortal. A casual toss of five mid-grade stones? This was a high-level cultivator. At the very least, not someone he could afford to offend.