Destiny in Cinders

Spirit stones were far rarer than one expected. Every time he was reminded of that fact, An Jing thought about Honor Pavilion. There had been a few spirit stones that were stored there, but the deathtame fiend’s manifestation had destroyed them. He still found it a huge shame. Though spirit items and techniques are useful, spirit stones are the true currency in Skysource that can be traded for even the most precious of resources.

Then again, coming across uncorrupted spirit stones was a matter of luck. If An Jing showed up with them too often, even fools would begin to suspect that he had a reliable source of natural spirit stones, which would cause him even more trouble than before. He didn’t want to be forced to be on the run or in hiding like he was in Void Embrace, so it would be better to not be spending spirit stones too casually.

The contract was signed quickly. Manager Lu and Huo Qing merely looked directly into each other’s eyes, which glowed as if to confirm it. Then, Huo Qing snapped his fingers and was able to turn on and off the lights in the warehouse. From his delighted look, it was clear that the transferral of ownership was complete.

”Then, I shall take my leave, Mister Huo,” Manager Lu said as he left with the spirit stone. ”We will send you the automata in about ten days. Happy doing business with you!”

Even an otherworlder like You Ruhui could tell that the manager was in a hurry to go back to cultivate. Common folk who didn’t have special connections had no means to advance from the intermediate phase of Qi Refinement to the advanced phase on their own. This was typically only possible through spirit stones issued by corporations or higher institutions. It was definitely possible to get spirit stones from black markets or the badlands. Should one be successful, that was considered an achievement and it usually came with a promotion.

That was also the reason property prices in Skysource were quite low. Everyone, no matter who, had cultivation as their first priority. Only insane people sold spirit stones to buy property instead of using it for their own cultivation. That was clear from the odd way Manager Lu looked at An Jing and the rest, as if he was trying to figure out which household these juniors had stolen the spirit stones from. An Jing wasn’t surprised and just brushed it off as behavior typical of people from poor places.

”How is it?” An Jing asked Huo Qing. ”Is this place protected by the garrison?”

”It is.” Huo Qing had finished reading all the terms in the contract, though he had an odd look on his face. ”However, there’s only one year of protection remaining. Going forward, we either have to sign a protection contract for ten years, which costs ten thousand merits, or pay a monthly fee of a hundred merits. Wait, why’s it so expensive? Uncle Metalhand’s fee is only 360 merits a year!”

”I see, so the maintenance costs were the kicker,” An Jing said. ”I knew there was a reason Ocher Hill was trying to sell it off so quickly. This was probably it. But don’t panic.”

An Jing looked at the warehouse and continued, ”A hundred merits a month is something we can afford. Most importantly, we have a base that’s properly ours now. Open it up, Huo Qing. This will be where we cultivate and also the place where you can experiment on your formations.”

The warehouse was completely empty and looked somewhat like a wholesale department store. Large empty racks were placed neatly together deep in the warehouse. They were just like what Huo Qing saw on the spirit net, all made of sturdy metal.

”The warehouse is maintained rather well. I wouldn’t quite call it old yet,” Yvelbane opined. ”Though, it doesn’t have any proper rooms for seclusion.”

”We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. You Ruhui will let me know which spot is the best for cultivation and I’ll build a room at that spot.” An Jing was quite carefree about it. All the goods he could bring over from Void Embrace on a horse carriage would only take up a tiny spot in the warehouse. He would no longer have to worry about how he would stock up on goods. As for a cultivation room, it would take up tens of square meters at most. One didn’t need that much area for a qi-collection formation.

Huo Qing seemed quite excited. ”It’s massive! I can lay out a few formations in parallel and compare them in my experiments! Haha! The disposal facility was far too small. I’m not skilled enough to adapt what I need to do in a small space yet, so this is perfect!”

”That spot is the metal point of the terrestrial vein,” You Ruhui said. ”The flame point is facing the east opposite to the metal point, achieving a balance, though metal is still the main aspect. The builder of the warehouse knew what they were going for! The layout is planned out!”

Just like that, the purchase concluded successfully. After taking a few simple photos and confirming the state of the warehouse, they returned to the recycling house happily. Madam Huai had finished cooking up a few dishes and was waiting for them there.

”What?! Uncle Metalhand was here?!” Huo Qing felt heat wash over him. Even if Metalhand came, Huo Qing wouldn’t regret helping An Jing. Instead, he would try to convince his uncle how helpful An Jing was and show him how much he made from buying and selling spirit items from him. Though, he did feel like going out to buy property with him without telling his uncle was a bit too daring. He felt like a kid whose parents had found out that he loitered at the net cafe without telling them. Even if he was there to look up information for his studies rather than play, he still felt really bad about it.

He hurriedly reached out to Metalhand. Madam Huai also told An Jing about her conversation with the older man, making sure they got their stories straight.

”A cult? Not bad. It’s better than my current cover story of being a badlander.” An Jing gave it some thought and found Madam Huai’s character details rather well thought out. Badlander tribespeople were ignorant of many things but their lives were filled with excitement and chaos, making them quite different from normal people and easy to tell apart based on their mental state. An Jing, on the other hand, would have to bring others around in the future. The only things he was ignorant of were matters relating to the safe zone and the city, so it would be hard to pass himself and others off as ignorant badlanders any longer. Instead, an underground cult sounded far more reasonable. In fact... This is the perfect setup for the organization I’ll build in Skysource one day.

He thanked Madam Huai when he realized that. ”If you didn’t help me patch up the holes in my story, Metalhand might have seen through even more things than I would like.”

”He doesn’t seem like a bad man. He’s sentimental like that friend of yours,” Madam Huai said, shaking her head. ”Only, he’s constantly weighed down by something, and this manifests in the form of his short temper. Let’s stop talking about this and prepare for dinner.”