Destiny in Cinders

The purchases didn’t take much time at all. An Jing and Huo Qing went to the special market of Deepnight City to buy the ingredients needed for the dragonhoard bottle; he already had some of it after foraging through the warehouses of Bejeweled. While Yvelbane wasn’t of much help when it came to pillmaking or talismans, it knew quite a bit about forging artifacts and said that it would teach An Jing a few techniques to forge the dragonhoard bottle once they returned to Void Embrace.

As for fertilizer, An Jing’s guess was right. Skysource really did have quite a selection of them. He found it embarrassing that he even doubted whether this technologically advanced world could provide him with what he needed. The best-selling fertilizers on the market were called flora’s lush, goldbreath soil and speed sprouter respectively. An Jing bought one unit of each for his farming experiments in Void Embrace. He intended to identify which worked the best and purchase that one in bulk later.

The cost of the fertilizers totaled up to around 2400 merits. While An Jing’s merits had mostly run out, he did have quite a bit of frostjade and other spirit items pilfered from Bejeweled’s stores. Huo Qing didn’t think that An Jing lacked any funds either and asked him for a sum too.

”Things seem to be going extraordinarily well today,” An Jing said, nodding as he looked around the special market. There weren’t that many people around as most of them had gone to see what the commotion at Hilltwixt was all about. ”Well, my task here is done, so I think I’ll take my leave sooner or later.”

”Give it one or two days,” Huo Qing said, shaking his head. ”The flamecrow horde is still in the vicinity, so you should wait for Mortality Plains’ suppression force to wipe them out first. They’re an elite force trained to handle fey and fiend threats. The roads will be safe after a short wait.”

”You’re right.” An Jing wasn’t in a rush anyway, so he didn’t want to leave so quickly and rouse suspicions.

The many advert screens in the special market were broadcasting urgent news coverage about the ancient immortal ruins. An Jing saw the same footage of Hilltwixt breaking apart for the tenth time. He could even make out his warehouse in the eastern district, bringing him the mild pleasure of being part of something everyone was going wild about.

The news, however, wasn’t free of advertisements either. Commercial breaks that introduced talismans, defensive artifacts, jade focus pendants, set meals made with secret recipes, health products, artificial dao companions, beginner-use flying swords or even home-use qi-collection formation discs were all over the place. While Huo Qing had grown weary of them long ago, An Jing watched them with keen interest. All of it showcased interesting and fresh Skysource technologies that he wasn’t aware of.

Though Void Embrace excelled at forging high-tier artifacts, even more so than Skysource, they were inferior when it came to low-to-mid-tier artifacts that even normal cultivators could use. The advertised goods were absolutely trivial to the denizens of Skysource, but any random one could usher in a revolution in Void Embrace if they could be supplied reliably there, perhaps used to prop up a brand-new faction.

Riverside might be the beginning of my rise, but it’s no cornerstone. It serves well as a base within the borders of Grand Chen, but I shouldn’t make it my main base of power. I have to leave Grand Chen and go to a place where I can be supported by other elites and rule over a land that properly belongs to me. Only then can I commit effort and investment into developing it according to my needs. For now, only I can only think of the Brightmirror Sect or Dustdawn for that purpose.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw a familiar figure in many of the advertisements. Nian Quan? He took a closer look and it turned out to be that friend of his from Third Middle School after all. He had helped his school’s team achieve third place in the special market’s tournament in the group segment.

An Jing smiled and said, ”I recall that there were more than thirty teams participating. Third place is a rather decent result.”

As he continued to watch, he learned that the individual segment of the tournament was only halfway through. Of the thirty-six initial participants, only sixteen remained after two rounds of elimination. Those sixteen were participating in an exciting points-gathering round. Half of them would be eliminated in five rounds, and today was the third day. So far, Nian Quan defeated three enemies without losing a single time. He could already start preparing for the double-elimination round to come.

”He’s quite powerful.” Huo Qing hadn’t reached out to Nian Quan since their last interaction. However, he was happy that An Jing’s friend was doing rather well. ”He’s definitely getting into the top eight for sure. Wait, ten among the top sixteen are from First Middle School! That’s incredible... An Jing, your friend managed to defeat two students from First Middle School! One of them got eliminated as a result!”

”Huh?” An Jing blinked in confusion, not understanding Huo Qing’s surprise. ”Is it surprising that some students of First Middle School get eliminated when there’s so many in the top sixteen? Were they planning on monopolizing the top eight spots or something?”

”It’s an even bigger deal than that!” Huo Qing shook his head and said, ”Given what I’ve heard, they typically don’t join tournaments at all. But once they do, they’ll almost certainly get all the top spots, as many as the number of people they send to join! So, if they send ten people, they’re expected to get all top ten spots! No exceptions!”

”Huh. I guess this would be the first time for them.” An Jing looked at Nian Quan’s close-up photo. The emotionless expression on his face contrasted against the face he remembered. ”Given Nian Quan’s capabilities, if he successfully refines his qi with the precipitation rejuvenation pills I gave him, he’d definitely be able to reach the finals. I won’t go so far and say he’d be unmatched among peers of his age, though.”

”Even if that’s the case, will First Middle School really be able to accept it?” Though Huo Qing hadn’t attended a proper school before, he was a local who had heard of First Middle School’s reputation. Furrowing his brow, he said, ”From the points ranking, Nian Quan will be the only one in the top eight. The rest will be students from First Middle School. It’s one thing if he settles for a spot in the top eight, but if he’s aiming higher, there might be trouble.”

”Let’s send him a congratulatory message first.” An Jing didn’t seem to mind it at all. He took out a waterscreen terminal and sent Nian Quan a text.

An Jing: Congratulations on reaching the top eight! Give it your best!

Before An Jing put the terminal down, however, Nian Quan’s status changed to ”typing.” He started with a smiley.

Nian Quan: Haha, thanks!

***

At the rest room for the participants located near the underground spirit-vein district of Deepnight City, Nian Quan sat with his eyes closed. His chip had a list of high-priority contacts. Apart from the black one called ”Mother,” the other red one called ”An Xuan” glowed brightly.

An Xuan: You’ve reached Qi Refinement, right? Keep it up and go for broke!

Nian Quan was rather surprised to see the message. He smiled bitterly as he willed the text to his chip.

Nian Quan: Yeah, I’ve reached the Qi Refinement Realm. But...

There was a slight pause.

Nian Quan: But I might not participate in the coming matches. Entering the top eight is already quite something. The headmaster will be satisfied with these results. I’ll be going back to school in two days after the interviews.

An Xuan: But why?

Those two short words were overflowing with many other unspoken questions. Nian Quan looked down at his bandaged right arm and the brown-green patch on his skin that continued to spread across his elbow, a toxic injury. He tried to convey it as nonchalantly as he could.

Nian Quan: There was an accident. I’m injured. It’s no shame to lose to First Middle School. Top eight is already impressive.

The reply caught Nian Quan off guard.

An Xuan: I’m at the special market now. Where are you? I’ll come right away.