Destiny in Cinders

Most of the valuables in Ocher Hill had been swiped clean by looters or other elites in the black market during the initial chaos. For instance, top-grade ores like sweepcloud dust, wood onyx and blueflame jade were all gone. According to Yvelbane, however, those ingredients were not good enough to be considered grade one and were nothing but scrap. An ingredient like jadeslice steel was akin to a grade-two or grade-three ingredient and simply couldn't be compared with them.

On the other hand, brightstart stones, while cheap in Skysource, were rather precious in Void Embrace during Yvelbane's time. It was a much-needed resource for building yang-aspect foundations. The only reason for the cheap price was the relative availability in Skysource. "That's odd. The other yang-aspect objects were rather pricey, but brightstart stones are cheap. Don't tell me the Skysource has a manmade sun..."

An Jing recalled the thousands of suns in his previous life as he picked up a fist-sized brightstart stone and a box of myriadessence iron. The former wasn't worth that much and would explode once spirit qi was funneled into it. They served as simplistic bombs of the cultivation world. One of that size packed as much punch as a full-power attack from a mid-to-high Qi Refinement cultivator. Yvelbane said that it would have no issue blowing up a small building and was definitely effective against the vilespawn fiend and Fengdu Guard troops.

Myriadessence iron, on the other hand, was a byproduct of black iron. It was stable, and while not as tough as black iron, it was much denser. It didn't have much use other than being a plentiful source of mystic-metal lethal qi. It could also be used as material for an anti-corrosion layer.

An Jing had used jadeslice steel to kickstart his cultivation, but using it to recover spirit qi was wasteful. While myriadessence iron was also rare in Void Embrace, it was quite cheap in Skysource. A box of two hundred jin was enough for An Jing to fully recover his spirit qi a few times over.

As for the other materials, he could consider them once he was ready to leave. First, he had to maximize his chances of survival. Traveling light might be a necessity just in case he was discovered right after returning to Void Embrace, so it wasn't a guarantee that he would be able to carry all those resources with him.

The trinkets that the shopkeeper mentioned were rather luxurious. On the counter was a sword case, a jade armor pendant and two swift talismans. An Jing didn't need the sword case since he had a better one, but the other items were quite good.

The jade armor pendant could be activated with spirit qi. According to Yvelbane, using Evenstar lethal qi to activate it would make the armor even tougher and give it a cutting effect. The swift talismans were even better. Though they were one-use consumables, they greatly accelerated the mobility and agility of the user, doubling their speed for the span of ten breaths. It was among the most useful grade-one talismans.

"So, she was ambushed so suddenly that she didn't even have time to arm herself or use items..." An Jing looked around the store with some doubt. "Even if she wasn't able to use these in time, why are these items still lying around? There's no way the looters would leave these things behind."

But he gave it more thought and figured it out. There were simply far more valuable things to pilfer. Most people were also too used to paying with their chips and didn't use cash, so they completely ignored the cashier counter.

He wore the jade armor pendant and kept the swift talismans close. Then, he hid himself in the empty display case of the store and prepared to extract lethal qi from the myriadessence iron to restore his Evenstar lethal qi.

Before he started, he took a close look at the map the shopkeeper had left him. It depicted an airway for the third underground floor. There was a locked side path that seemed rather inconspicuous. It opened with the right code and led to a waterway near the higher floors of the black market.

Ocher Hill and its partners worked together to secure a path like this. Perhaps that was the reason there were so few corpses in the third underground floor. People simply sensed the danger and quickly fled to their escape routes.

An Jing sent the drone along the path depicted by the map and noticed a large number of corpses outside the airway. Clearly, people had discovered it and combat broke out. With the Purple Mansion cultivators still fighting up above, he decided to remain in the black market longer. He would consider his next steps after recovering his spirit qi.

He meditated on the Sword of Tranquility and withdrew all his presence. Anyone scanning around would only sense him as a rusted sword. He also kept the Hexlotus Platform active and surveilling for signs of movement in many locations around the floor. Yvelbane also remained vigilant against disturbances in the spirit qi outside. If there was any perturbations or movement, An Jing would be notified either way.

Preparations done, he started to recover his lethal qi. He thought that it wouldn't be that easy to enter a calm state of mind considering he had just witnessed a great many deaths, but it came more easily than he thought. All the rage, fear and pity that built up within him had constricted his mind like grappler vines, but the Sword of Tranquility seemed to easily slice them apart. Its sharp and hot edge rose from the depths of the youth's mind. The rusted sword let out many sparks, resonating as the rust came falling off.

The hum of the sword was followed by An Jing relaxing his tensed up brow. Gradually, his mind also stabilized. He finally learned what he wanted to do in the near and far future. He would embark on a slaughter. He would slaughter the demonic cult, heavenly fiends and Fengdu Guard! Those who treated others like ingredients for pills deserved death, so did those who had no regard for other lives at all!

I know I can't do it right away, but I have still decided to kill you all. I can't do it right this instant. But when I get stronger, watch me slaughter all of you and your families! His killing intent rose sharply. He took a deep breath and used his sharp rage to polish the Sword of Tranquility, sharpening the rusty sword even more. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Eventually, he calmed down and began to recover Evenstar lethal qi. To him, it felt like only a moment had passed before he was alerted by Yvelbane when in fact, half a day had passed since he entered deep meditation. He had recovered three more streams of Evenstar lethal qi, giving him eight that he could use. "An Jing, someone's approaching the fourth subunit."

An Jing opened his eyes and rapidly cycled the goggles to show the feed from the fourth subunit. A blurry and semi-translucent shade just passed by the drone along a crossroad.

"We're probably not the target." An Jing figured this was some kind of cloaking ability. The path taken by the shade wouldn't intersect with Ocher Hill. "This might just be another cultivator who's looking for a place to cultivate. With that cloaking technique, he might actually survive this."

"That's not the main point. An Jing, he has an incredibly interesting qi signature. I think he has something to do with that ancient treasure!"