Destiny in Cinders

Even cultivators who subsisted on spirit qi had to eat fasting pills from time to time. [1] Martialists, on the other hand, had stunning appetites. It was quite common to hear about them eating as much food as a cow weighed.

An Jing had survived many subsequent life-or-death situations. even pushing himself by using stimulant pills. The jadedew from the Crimsonguard could only restore some of the nutrients that he needed, which was far from enough, resulting in a state of immense hunger that caused his stomach to rumble nonstop. It craved to digest something

"Are these luminescent vines edible?" He shook his head to make himself more wakeful. The sight of the dead vines made his mouth water up. "At the very least, I'll be able to fill my stomach up."

"Glowing things tend to be toxic," Yvelbane said with some uncertainty. It was a sword soul at the end of the day, not a real cultivator, so it had no real experience consuming any food. "It's best that you avoid it. You'll need water to excise toxins from your body with aura, and we don't even have that."

"Alright, got it." An Jing wouldn't actually eat the vines just like that. He looked to the path that led deeper in. "The creature's vines were rather moist, so there must be water up ahead."

Following the path that the vine creature had taken, he soon found a dark little cave. There had to be a stream near the underground ruins or even a hot spring.

The vine creature's lair was a stalactite cave that dripped nonstop with water. Its nest was situated near the center of the cave, surrounded by many toadstools. While the toadstools near the vine nest seemed toxic, An Jing did find some that were colloquially called drumstick mushrooms. They were delicious, refreshing and had a good texture.

"I found some food. As for water, it should be fine if I drink a bit of this, right?" After drinking some hyper-mineral-dense water from the stalactite cave to relieve his thirst, he no longer cared what the drumstick mushrooms had been feeding on to grow and considered it a heavenly blessing that he even found them at all.

He collected the larger toadstools that didn't seem rotten or chipped and took a closer look. "Ah, they were growing on top of corpses."

The corpse had been reduced to mere bones, but they seemed bright and polished like jade.

"It's the wonder, Jade Skeleton. Before this cultivator died, he had a decent level of cultivation based on how honed his wonder is. Fortunately, only his head was corrupted by fiends. Otherwise, he would have become a jadebone zombie, something far too strong for us to defeat. Based on the bones' shape, the cultivator appeared to be in his twenties, and given his cultivation, he seemed to be backed by some significant power. It's odd to find him dead at a place like this."

An Jing listened to Yvelbane's assessment while he studied the bones. "Sounds like there's something deep inside these ruins that draws cultivators to it nonstop. Too bad, we're not strong enough to go hunting for this treasure yet."

He shook his head and left with the toadstools. Then, he returned to the initial cave. The vines had dried out rapidly and lost all moisture, making it good fuel for a fire. An Jing's aura proficiency allowed him to start fires easily. All he needed to do was raise two rocks and collide them to form sparks. Eventually, a pale-yellow flame lit up the cave. The torn clothes of the corpse also made for some rather good kindling. It didn't take him long to get a bright bonfire burning.

He gave the drumstick mushrooms a simple dusting before he began to roast them. He didn't have any oil or seasoning to use, however. For most people, the meal would be bland at best, but for An Jing who had experienced the snow calamity and had struggled to find anything remotely warm to bite on, having had to swallow snow-covered bark or grassroots raw, the piping-hot mushrooms were a delicacy. He consumed more than twenty of the toadstools, grateful that it would fill up his stomach at all.

The aura within his body circulated naturally to help him absorb the nutrients and push back on the dizzy spell that was looming over him. At the very least, he no longer thought of eating moss or salivated at the sight of those vines.

"This will be it. Let's go." He stood up and dusted his hands off. Thanks to having been fed meat quite often at Direlife Manor, there were still some fat reserves in his body, so he wouldn't starve to death just by missing a few meals. The worst he could end up was his famished state from before.

Either way, he had to leave the ruins and conserve his power. While the area was safe enough with the vine creature exterminated, he couldn't be sure more creatures wouldn't emerge from the ruins to attack him. Not to mention, he still didn't have a stable source of food and clean water. The toadstools and water droplets dripping off the stalactites would last a few days at most, whereas he might have to remain in the foreign world for quite a while with the heavenly fiends, demonic cult and Grand Chen scouring the area from which he left his original world.

"Let's hope I won't need to use them." He collected some kindling before leaving and packed them into empty bullet shells. He also packed up some of the dried vines and more torn clothes that would serve as good fuel.

He also found quite a lot of bullets as he foraged. There was another usable rifle from one of the corpses, which he slung around his back. He no longer had to worry about hiding the firearm from Direlife Manor, so rifles were much more preferable than handguns for survival. He could hit targets that were much farther away with it.

An Jing also took the inkjade skull that the vine creature left behind. It was so tough that even his lethal-qi sword hadn't been able to pierce it. After some heavy processing to remove the fiend qi, it would become a decent ingredient for medicines. It wasn't hard to carry as he could simply sling it on his belt. If he really had to get rid of part of it, he could at least use the skullcap as a protective breastplate.

All prepared, he retraced his steps back to the entrance of the cave through the dark and winding path. The caverns were either formed naturally by flowing magma or was a leftover from an underground waterway that had dried up, which would explain the moisture within.

Thanks to Profoundstep, his footsteps made no sound. Only his quiet breathing could be heard echoing in the wide cavern pathway.

Within the darkness, his eyes glowed slightly red, which allowed him to see everything clearly. Most of what he saw was natural formations, but along the way, he noticed some manmade structures, ladders and more corpses.

1. There is a Daoist practice that involves fasting called Bigu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigu_(grain_avoidance) ☜