Destiny in Cinders

”Did you all come here for the tournament?” An Jing asked. They began to chat after they bought three servings of noodles from one of the roadside stalls.

”Yeah.” Nian Quan had wanted to pay for the food, but Huo Qing quickly settled the bill. Nian Quan typically wouldn’t eat street food with his schoolmates in such a fashion since it was nothing more than a waste of time to him. But this time, he felt relaxed in a way he didn’t quite know how to describe.

”The black market’s tournament... Oh, I should call it the ’special market’ now... Well, the tournament rewards are amazing, and it’s also sanctioned by the authorities. The principal said that they’re holding it once every two years, with the youth group targeted at middle-school students and the adult group mainly meant for rogue cultivators and the freefolk. While the rewards of subsequent tournaments won’t be as grand as the first, they’ll typically offer at least a foundation pill or something equivalent.”

”That sounds rather good,” Huo Qing said, not stopping to eat even as he mumbled. He finished his noodles quickly enough and was scanning the map to plot their course. Something Nian Quan said caught him by surprise. ”They’re giving away one foundation pill every two years? It’s much more generous than the previous black market.”

”Well, it comes with strings attached and a contract,” Nian Quan said, shaking his head slightly. ”Still, it’s one way to get your hands on something so rare. Instead of risking leaving rogue cultivators who are skilled in combat unaccounted for in the safe zone, it would be better to draw them out to be recruited by the elites.”

In other words, they’re kneeling to beg for alms. Then again, many people want to beg but wouldn’t even have the opportunity to do it. An Jing was well aware of the recruitment pipeline of the city’s elites. The many tournaments and competitions in Deepnight City were opportunities to make a name for oneself. Those who succeeded, would be offered generous contracts by elite factions. Once signed, they would no longer be free to pursue their own goals and would only serve the faction that contracted them.

This was a legitimate way of climbing the social ladder for many badlanders or people living in the safe zone. While it did have an upper limit of progression, with the Foundation Building Realm as the ceiling, few people in this world could claim to have even reached that point. So long as this arrangement worked out, Deepnight City would never be destabilized. If one didn’t like that, they were free to leave the city for the badlands to forge their own path.

As Huo Qing led them to a vehicle store, Nian Quan suddenly stopped in thought. Then, the cold swordsman looked earnestly at An Jing and said, ”Actually, I really think that this void wristguard suits you. I understand that you were planning to buy your own. Since you already need one, don’t deprive me the chance of helping you out. You don’t have to worry about anything else either. This artifact doesn’t need to be cracked. There’s no tracking installed within either. There definitely won’t be any backdoors that the megacorps can exploit.

”Not to mention, it’s no loss to me at all. My home is in Deepnight City, so I don’t need to go around with many things on my person. Even if I did need a void artifact, I wouldn’t need something so good. You two, on the other hand, need to transport lots of things between the badlands and the safe zone. The void artifact is perfect for this. I would be better off with merits I can spend on my cultivation.”

Nian Quan had been thinking about this the whole time. He broke down his needs and An Jing’s needs, as well as the pros and cons for the both of them before he came to this optimal conclusion.

”Ah, that’s true.” An Jing, seeing that Nian Quan had done this after some calm consideration, nodded and accepted his goodwill. He had explained his rationale properly, so he definitely wasn’t offering the void artifact in the heat of the moment. So, Nian Quan wouldn’t regret this transaction at all. It was better that he made this decision with a clear head rather than following an emotional impulse. This would save them trouble down the line.

An Jing naturally wouldn’t cause his friend to take any losses. ”We have enough merits with us. Just name a price and I’ll send the merits to you.”

He thought of something else and tapped Nian Quan on the shoulder, using aura bone conduction to convey his voice. ”Not to mention, I have spirit stones and water-aspect pills. The pills are good for recovering water-aspect spirit qi. You can use it for cultivation, detoxification and healing. I think it’ll be quite handy to you. I’ll show it to you later. If you need it, you can have it.”

In fact, had An Jing not seen Nian Quan’s nice sword, he might’ve offered the blade, Ocean Domination, to him. To a cultivator of Evenstar Ivory Divine Qi with Qiform Arsenal, any weapon he wielded was eventually meant to have its essence consumed. Sometimes, it was better for him to trade it for some merits to buy spirit metals with.

”Sure. I’ll take a look.” Nian Quan came to a decision swiftly. The three of them then went to a quiet corner of the market.

Then, An Jing took out the pills he had gotten from the adept of the Poolsea Sect. There were six of them, all in a clean, white and gold-patterned vial that emanated qi of the metal and earth aspects. It was a generative five-phase interaction from earth to metal, then metal to water, preserving the pills within.

An Jing didn’t know what the pills were called. However, Yvelbane said that it was likely akin to precipitation rejuvenation pills of its time. The pills were refined from vibrant water qi essence gathered along the coast or the banks of large lakes. The ecosystem near large bodies of water made the area quite rich with vitality, which was the reason for the rejuvenative properties of pills refined using qi from those areas. It cleansed the body of corruption on top of strengthening one’s constitution.

Nian Quan didn’t think the pills were anything amazing at first, but once he got a good look at them, he shot An Jing a look of disbelief before turning to the pills again.

”Qi Refinement... No, these pills can even be used by cultivators of the Foundation Building Realm! To think that it’s also of the water aspect...” Nian Quan subconsciously lowered his voice, still staring at An Jing in flabbergastment. ”You can’t take something like this out so casually! Something... something bad will happen!”

Though An Jing was initially confused at Nian Quan’s anxious reaction, he quickly remembered that water and wood-aspect qi was incredibly rare in Skysource, considering how acid rain made it so that plants could only grow in climate-controlled domes, making pills like these even rarer.

”Then, you better accept them with gratitude.” An Jing knew that the vial of pills was likely to be worth more than the void artifact from how Nian Quan subconsciously withdrew his hands in embarrassment. He didn’t care and grabbed the void wristguard from him before stuffing the pills in his hands. ”I can tell that you’re almost about to break through to Qi Refinement. With these pills, you won’t have anything to worry about! Not to mention, when you need help breaking through to the higher levels of Qi Refinement, come look for me and Huo Qing. We still have two spirit stones with us!”

”This... this is far too much!” Nian Quan really couldn’t allow himself to accept it. An Jing’s pills were far too precious, especially to a bearer of water celestial spirit roots like him.

The ruined environment of Skysource made it so that pure water-aspect qi was only available at special locations in the city. As such, cultivating with water spirit roots was much harder compared to cultivating with spirit roots of other aspects. Carelessly drawing qi from the natural environment risked drawing in contaminated qi, which would disrupt the body’s internal state.

But with An Jing’s six pills, Nian Quan would be able to purge contaminated qi within his body six times, allowing him to absorb spirit qi from the environment without fear. If he detected contamination, he simply needed to pop a pill to clear it out!