Failure's Resolve

The night seems restless. The moon like a silverplate shines bright.

Ai, on the other hand, is gloomy while carrying a bag made of worn out leather filled with few clothes, some food on the way and a couple of cultivation pills left ready to get out of this hell of his.

'I said I'm going to leave but where on earth should I go?' Thinking that when he set foot outside the city, there will be monsters waiting for him. Carrying only a crappy sword he found lying somewhere, even a regular wolf would love to eat his brains out.

Still, his decision has been made, to leave.

-Black Fist City South Gate-

"Who do we have here? The legendary weakling everyone was talking about! Haha!" Even the Patrols guarding the gates knows who he is. He's famous after all...

"Hello to you too! Can you open the gate for me, please?" Ai didn't hesitate at all and directly went to the question.

The patrols looked at each other and it seems like the atmosphere has changed. They know that if they opened the gate for this person, monsters would definitely kill this guy, not to mention it's night time. Instead of laughter, they got serious.

"I'm sorry, even if you have a deathwish, we couldn't open the gate for you. You can wait till morning. It's dangerous outside especially for you." Looking down on him, they are definitely right to do so.

"Is there any other way? How about I give one of you this?" Showing the cultivation pills, the eyes of the guards suddenly widened as if they're about to pop out. The weakling looked above and he saw a familiar friendly face, Duno, the Patrol Leader who used to work as a teacher of Ai's sister, Nin. Nin, after the war, was missing and no one has ever found her, one more reason for Ai to leave the city. He believes that somewhere, her sister is still alive.

Once again, they looked at each other signaling why would even they care for the life of a weakling when they could get free expensive cultivation pills. Duno, wearing better equipment than the others positioned on one the tower above them, raised his hand and finally, the gate has been opened.

"Once you go outside, we won't be able to open this till the sun shines. Be careful out there." The guard finally gave in and grabbed the small bag containing the pills.

"Sure thing. I swear, I'll be back and when that time comes, I'll be a different man." Ai headed out with his head up high.

-South Plains of Black Fist City-

'Shit Shit Shit!' After a couple of minutes after setting out, wolves appeared and now chasing the weakling. He's now thinking if being the wolve's dinner would be a good way to die.

'No, if I run out of breath, I'll surely die out here and I can't let that happen! I even said something embarrassing in front of the patrols!' He grabbed his crappy sword and stopped running. He turned around and waited for the wolves to arrive.

A wolf is pretty weak. Even a level 2 disciple could defeat one without breaking a sweat but right now, he's currently level 1 disciple and he's facing three wolves at the same time. Besides, he hasn't really had a real fight so this will be his first.

"Come and get me! I won't go down without a fight!" Swinging his crappy sword like a mad man where his line is on the line, he used what energy he has left to stay alive. Without Qi force to fight, he's just food to any animals or monsters.

Fortunately, he killed one wolf and managed to repel the other wolves with few scratches and a bite on his right arm. He's almost out of breath after that fight.

'Shit... I'm tired.' His eyes widened as he was surprised by what happened next. The wolves he repelled came back with more and this time, there are now a dozen of them with their leader, an Alpha Wolf. For a single man, it would be enough food to feed a dozen wolves. He almost died from three wolves and now, there's no way he could not possibly escape from this.

"There's no way I'm going to die here!" He mustered every reason to be alive. The hope of getting stronger, his sister and the taste of the revenge. Once again, he lifted his head up, holding his sword with his left hand, and his whole body shaking from exhaustion. And all that's left is a thin thread of life that is left inside of him yet his eyes glow with determination.

*Sighs* He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh releasing his tense and doubts from his body. He may have no strength but he can think clearly when he's calm. The wolves stopped from moving forward, even the Alpha Wolf after they saw something different from him. And an instant, he opened his eyes and the wolves started to stumble and run away.

*Whimper* For an unknown reason, the wolves ran away from him out of panic.

The Alpha Wolf stayed and yet, it turned around and run with its pack.

It looks like the youngster managed to use the art of intimidation without even knowing it that even without strength, he was able to fend off enemies with pure pressure alone. But that's not the only case, he also somewhat released Qi which he never has used before. He thought it was luck but something is different from him now.

'What the hell happened?' Even for himself, he couldn't believe that a dozen wolves would just run away from him.

'I need to find a safe place. The night is the time when monsters roam around and I'm in a dangerous place.' Limping away, the weakling went straight south of the Black Fist City near the Forest called Monster Den.

-Black Fist South Gate Tower-

"Did you see that?" The patrols are watching from the south gate tower and it seems they witnessed everything with the weakling.

"How did he pull that off?" They looked at each other and still can't believe that wolves would run away from a fight. To their eyes, as a disciple rank, they couldn't see the aura the youngster has released.

"It looks like I've won our bet?" Duno, the captain of the patrols of the south gate, seems to have faith for the weakling. Taking everyone's cultivation pills, he just hit a jackpot.

They still couldn't believe it but they felt like somehow, they felt cheated. Their leader should have seen or sensed something from him.

"No wonder you let him leave. He must be hiding something." One of the patrols seems unsatisfied of the result of their bet.

"Do we have a problem?" With slight intimidation, the guards straightened up. Still, they've lost their precious cultivation pills.

"No, Captain!" They yelled out not only with fear and respect to the captain but also with the frustration of losing.

"Damn it! It's night time, don't yell! Now, get back to your positions. I'll be going out for a while." Yet, he's the loudest. Everyone rushed to their locations. Some of them are eager to sleep but after they saw the weakling trying to win for his life, they seemed to be a little motivated to do their jobs.

'I guess, he's interesting after all. "I'll be a different man." Let's see about that, young petal.' Duno, with a couple of his trusted patrols, moved out to find the wounded weakling.