Destiny in Cinders

"How do I get to the black market?" An Jing asked, prompting an arched brow in response.

"You want to go? You little brat, you're nearly broke after buying those two guns. What can you even afford there? Let me level with you, kid. The black market's on the edge of Deepnight City, yeah, but it's still inside the damn walls. You're not getting in without a city pass. It doesn't matter if you're a Qi Refinement cultivator, you're not sneaking in there, period."

He added, "And city passes don't come cheap. It's more merits than a badlander could earn in a lifetime."

"How much?" An Jing wasn't intimidated. "I'll see what I can do."

"Oh?" Metalhand's eyes lit up with interest as they darted to the half-opened bundle in An Jing's hands. "Looks like you've got quite a few nice things tucked away there... The city pass will set you back 1500 merits." Metalhand threw out a number.

"What other treasures are you hiding? Lay them all out. Look, I might be a lot of things, but Metalhand is a man of his word. Plus, you helped Qing, so I'm not gonna screw you over."

"Alright."

An Jing wasn't worried about Metalhand double-crossing or ripping him off. It didn't matter if he was facing a trusted elder of Huo Qing or a peak Qi Refinement cultivator with a powerful formation. He could simply open the Grandvoid Pathway with Yvelbane and vanish with his goods. These guns were enough to take out the cultists on the airship. In short, he had a fail-safe. Yet An Jing was never one to settle for just enough.

With his immediate problem in Void Embrace solved, he needed more capital to gain a deeper foothold in Skysource. Ordinary people didn't just walk into the black market. Much like this recycling house demanded a trusted referral, the market itself almost certainly required a vetted introduction or recommendation of some kind. At the very least, An Jing had to demonstrate he had the buying power.

With that in mind, An Jing produced his most valuable possessions.

First, there were some pills. Metalhand didn't think much of it. Even if these stimulant pills from Void Embrace looked a bit unusual, they were ultimately just another type of performance enhancer; nothing he hadn't seen before.

Then there were some leftover fangboar meat and fangs. Metalhand raised an eye with interest. "Wood-aspect spirit-beast fangs? It's a pity the quality is so low. The beasts were just at the Spirit Awakening Realm. Fifty merits for both pairs."

Was this what interested him? An Jing's mind flashed back to the climbing vines outside the building. Perhaps Metalhand was a wood-aspect cultivator. Then, there were the wooden roots woven into his prosthetic arm. An Jing hadn't forgotten the display of power that left Gunner's cultivation in ruins.

Huo Qing wasn't the only reason for Metalhand's sudden kindness. Perhaps he sensed something he needed in An Jing's possession, but it couldn't have been the fangs. After a moment of consideration, An Jing finally produced the inkjade skull. It was the core of the vine creature, the remains of a wood-aspect cultivator who had manifested the Jade Skeleton wonder before succumbing to fiend corruption and perishing in the ancient ruins.

When An Jing revealed the inkjade skull, the smile vanished from Metalhand's face. He froze, exclaiming in astonishment, "A fiend bone.... No, a wood-aspect fiend skull?"

He bolted upright from behind the counter, his voice cracking with sheer disbelief. "You killed a fiendspawn! Was it a wood-aspect fiend?"

The inkjade skull was the trophy An Jing obtained after slaying the vine creature in the ruins. It was a lethal hunter that ambushed on sight, capable of spirit attacks so powerful that even mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators would be crushed if they lowered their guard for a second, let alone someone in the Spiritual Awakening Realm.

Metalhand didn't need to know the fiendspawn's full abilities to recognize the staggering difficulty of killing such a creature. Logically speaking, a beginner cultivator like An Jing should have had zero chance of victory. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"This qualifies as a service duty." After that brief lapse in composure, Metalhand sank back into his seat. He gave An Jing a long, scrutinizing look, his voice dropping low as he said, "I didn't think you had anything worth a damn, especially not a wood-aspect fiend bone. Are you sure about this? A badlander like you wouldn't know what it's actually worth, would you?"

"Yvelbane, are fiend parts valuable?" Instead of replying directly, An Jing turned to the sword soul in his sea of consciousness. "From the way he reacted, it appears to have a secondary function."

"Once cleansed, the essences of fiendspawn exhibit superior resistance to fiend qi corruption." Yvelbane was a walking encyclopedia when it came to this subject.

"Following the fall of a grand heavenly fiend, its spine was ripped out and forged into the Myriadcorpse Voidreaper by a divine craftsman. The sword is a peerless fiendslaying weapon, utterly impervious to fiend corruption. Instead, it feeds on fiend qi to grow stronger. The heavenly fiends that fall to this blade are forced to vaporize themselves, lest their remains be used to forge another blade of its kind.

"This world has been ravaged by the fiend calamity, and the pervasive erosion of fiend qi lingers. Such materials are almost certainly in high demand. They're essentially strategic supplies."

"I see."

An Jing understood it well. In a world eroded by fiend qi, the worth of materials that didn't yield to corruption was undeniable. It was no surprise that Boss Metalhand said that it qualified as a service duty.

For An Jing, however, this was of little consequence. His arc was exceptionally resilient, and any corruption potent enough to breach his natural defenses would render ordinary materials useless anyway. As for the high-grade materials that could make a difference, they remained far beyond his current reach.

Shifting his attention back to reality, An Jing gave Metalhand a slight nod. "I know it shields against fiend corruption, but gaining access to the city is far more important to me."

"I'm glad that's clear... You badlanders sure as hell value this."

After accepting the inkjade skull from An Jing, Metalhand paused in thought before speaking candidly. "This skull may be low grade, but it's just what I need right now. It's worth seventeen, maybe nineteen hundred merits tops, but I won't lowball you. I'll pay a premium and give you twenty-one hundred."

When Metalhand fell silent, An Jing couldn't help but wonder if he was planning to seize the goods without paying or double-cross him. However, neither he nor Yvelbane picked up a hint of malice.

The burly man didn't miss An Jing's quiet apprehension. He simply shook his head and chuckled. "My name carries weight here in Mortality Plains for one reason. Metalhand doesn't break trust, and I damn well don't take advantages that I have no business taking.

"You're a real lucky star, kid. First, you save Qing, and then you show up with exactly what I need, a Luofu military-grade core and a wood-aspect fiend bone. If it weren't so obvious that you're not, I'd swear you were..." He stopped there.

An Jing didn't press further: "The city pass?"

The burly man waved his metal arm. "It's all sorted. I'll handle your token for the black market. If you're comfortable staying here for now, I'll take you there myself the second it's here. If they ask who your referrer is, just tell them 'Metalhand Zhang Gu' referred you. While we're at it, do you need anything else?"