Destiny in Cinders

An Jing and Huo Qing had been shopping around in the special market. They didn’t browse around that much, having found the location of the exact shops they wanted to visit on the net and heading from one point to another, ignoring the salespeople of all the other shops on the way. The first place they visited had lightning-aspect spirit materials for sale.

”This one’s great!” Yvelbane said the moment it saw a piece of brown earth that glowed in seven colors. ”Man... Skysource’s technomancy is truly amazing. They were even able to artificially create lightning-aspect spirit items of this caliber! If we had known this was possible, we would have gotten the Dao Court’s thunder department to rain down a few more bolts of lightning in the forest to create lightningstruck wood for our juniors... Why didn’t it occur to us?”[1]

You guys had access to so many natural resources. Why did you ever need to create manmade replacements? An Jing thought before he turned to look at the spirit item ahead of him. This was the sunset rainbow earth of the Lianshan Group.

As Huo Qing had said, there was a large variety of lightning-aspect spirit items with various effects. The Shouyang Group’s brightlight iron was suitable for conducting high voltages, making them great as the central core for major lightning formations. The Luofu Group’s rumblestop copper was great for allowing lightning to pass through rapidly without losing much of its charge, making them great for high-voltage power lines. As for Lianshan’s sunset rainbow earth, it could convert different types of lightning into a stable lightning glow, serving as a transformer of sorts. The Xuandu Group’s skyback jade could store lots of lightning power, making them great batteries.

Those four spirit items were all a Spirit Awakening cultivator needed to construct a minor lightning formation. This way, simple power stations could be created in the badlands. They could also be used to power all sorts of equipment or charge spirit-qi crucibles, making them essential for venturing into the wilderness. Most importantly, they were cheap.

”It’s 450 merits per jin...” An Jing was quite taken aback. ”Frostjade costs twenty-seven merits per liang, yet a proper Qi Refinement spirit item like sunset rainbow earth isn’t much more expensive than that...”[2]

The improved version of sunset rainbow earth, rainbow truesand, cost six thousand merits per jin. Though it sounded expensive, it was about the same price as jadeslice steel. In theory, rainbow truesand was the better choice, but Yvelbane said that sunset rainbow earth was enough for a single thread of sword intent, so it wasn’t worth the splurge.

Typically, the price of Spirit Awakening spirit items in Skysource started at twenty merits, with the highest priced at three to four hundred. While there were some like black iron that were sold for 270 merits per thousand jin, this had more to do with its mass produced nature.

Spirit items of the Qi Refinement grade, however, started at five hundred merits and went as high as ten thousand. This was the grade that jadeslice steel and rainbow truesand fell under. In fact, converted to Void Embrace’s currency, they would be at least three times the price.

As for Foundation Building spirit items, the special market didn’t sell many of them. The only thing An Jing and Huo Qing saw from their catalog was ridgemoon jade, which cost 250,000 merits per piece, a price that was orders of magnitude greater.

”I’ll get this, then.” An Jing stopped hesitating and got one portion of sunset rainbow earth. It was essentially a pile of earth that had been struck by seven types of lightning. This was incredibly rare in Void Embrace; there was no way all seven types of lightning would strike the same spot unless a heavenly tribulation was taking place. In Skysource, however, lightning cultivators could guide lightning to specific areas, allowing them to produce such items in mass quantities, resulting in their cheap price.

He made the order and Huo Qing paid for it. Though this looked like a weird arrangement, it was because An Jing left all his merits in Huo Qing’s care since he usually wasn’t in Deepnight City most of the time.

”You need a vehicle next, right?” Huo Qing said after getting the bill, seeing An Jing holding a lightning-struck wooden box that contained the earth. ”There’s a shop over there, I think. Let’s take it out!”

”Are you a car guy?” An Jing could tell that Huo Qing’s desire to spend grew. Not only had he taken care of procuring a safe cultivation location, he did earn quite a bit of commission from the sales.

”Of course. Without them, we’d have to use mobility spells every time we go out! Badlanders aside, cars are like a second home and second life. In Deepnight City, it’d be quite risky to not have a vehicle or airship. Not to mention, cars are cool! It’s just like the flying swords of sword cultivators. Normal cultivators need a way to get around too.”

”I keep forgetting that you used to be Gunner’s driver. Seems like he didn’t force you into that role,” An Jing quipped. He had never had any special feelings about means of transportation and only wanted one because he needed one. With Yvelbane’s request dealt with, he could use the remaining time to browse vehicles with Huo Qing, who did seem to know his specs to be able to make decent recommendations for him. It was then when An Jing felt a gaze.

Huh? He didn’t let his expression shift, though he did squint slightly and channel spirit qi to activate True Spirit Eyes. This gaze has lingered on me for more than ten seconds. What is the person’s intentions?

He turned toward the different medicinal packages of a stall nearby, trying not to look directly at the person and instead peeking from the corner of his eyes. He was stunned to see the black-haired swordsman among the group of young students, staring blankly at him a little longer before reassuming his calm facade. A facade it was, for the swordsman also used True Spirit Eyes to look at him, something that didn’t escape An Jing’s notice.

Nian Quan? An Jing knew that the youth had most likely recognized him. At the very least, he had figured most of it out. Then again, nothing much could be done about it. An Jing’s spirit-qi signature probably stood out because he had learned True Spirit Eyes. Nian Quan’s Ocean Dawn Eyes probably allowed him to detect such subtle shifts. Not to mention, An Jing’s age and build probably gave him away.

Still, it seemed that Nian Quan had no intention of coming over to talk to him. He feigned nonchalance even though he had clearly noticed him.

Oh? He’s quite the considerate fellow. Is he concerned that he’ll cause trouble for me? An Jing immediately understood Nian Quan. The fact that he had called himself ”Yvelbane” when they talked in his apartment was a clear sign that he wished to keep his identity hidden. Nian Quan picked up on it and suppressed his curiosity.

Back then, An Jing was nothing more than a minor pawn at the Aura Realm, while the Skywatch Bureau had been on high alert due to the missing True Talisman. Things have changed, and An Jing reached Qi Refinement and also had a proper city pass, so he wouldn’t draw much, if any, suspicion. He could probably reach out to Nian Quan to check up on him and see if there was an avenue for cooperation in the future.

At the end of the day, An Jing wasn’t too concerned about his situation in Skysource. It wasn’t like Nian Quan would expose who he learned the true intent of Sword of Empyreal Mortality from. So, An Jing waved at him.

Nian Quan’s eyes brightened as he forced down a smile. However, that didn’t escape the notice of his party members. Before they remarked about it, Nian Quan left them behind and headed toward An Jing and Huo Qing.

1. The thunder department is a part of the Heavenly Court of the Daoist pantheon. I believe that’s the analog of the Dao Court in this story. ☜

2. One jin is sixteen liang, so one jin of frostjade can sell for 432 merits. It’s almost the same price, with one liang of sunset rainbow earth costing a little north of 28 merits. ☜