Destiny in Cinders

”I want to buy thunder beads.” The last location in Skysource that An Jing had left from was the junkyard, so it took him almost no time to reach the recycling house. ”Also, you mentioned that you recycle things like herbs and spirit items, right? I brought them here too.”

”Great!” Huo Qing said through the waterscreen; he had been studying the whole time and excitedly rose to welcome An Jing. ”Thanks a bunch!”

Since Metalhand vanished, Huo Qing took over as the shopkeeper. He wasn’t just a young fellow with no work experience; he had worked for the Noontiger gang as their accountant once, so he was more than capable enough of running a recycling house. Though he wasn’t powerful enough to defend it, Metalhand’s Hundred Vine Spiritbind Formation took care of it.

Apart from practicing the Imperial Sky Art that An Jing had taught him, Huo Qing studied up on formations. The world of Skysource had a universal examination much like the national exams in An Jing’s past life or the imperial examinations offered by Grand Chen. It was known as the Sacred Selection, colloquially called the dao examination.

According to legend, before the world calamity, the seven sacred lands of Skysource and the many sects within them picked the most talented students from the worldwide examination. The tradition survived the world calamity with the four major dao academies picking promising young examinees to nurture.

The examination covered five sections, namely, pill, martial, formation, artifact and talisman. Divination provided extra points, but it wasn’t a compulsory section. To enter one of the four major dao academies, one had to score at least two distinctions and one merit among the five sections or one distinction and three merits. They also couldn’t fail any of the sections. Typical first-rate non-dao academies only sought one distinction and one merit with no other requirements.

Huo Qing’s current capabilities showed promise. He had a decent frame and build. With a few years of proper training using the technique An Jing taught him and the Imperial Earth Art as well would ensure that he scored a distinction in the martial section.

In other words, he would only need one other section to score a merit in to qualify for a first-rate academy, and the one he chose for that was formation theory. It just so happened that this was Metalhand’s forte. Though it didn’t seem like it at first glance, he was the one who actually designed the Hundred Vine Spiritbind Formation. Using that in the dao exam would definitely earn him a distinction in the formation section.

However, this was the result of Metalhand’s years of individual research rather than a spark of inspiration from a young genius. Huo Qing did have the time and was somewhat talented in the art of formations. He would surely be able to research a formation that would get him a merit in the next twelve years.

A merit might pale in comparison to a distinction, but that was more than enough for one to be qualified to use high-tier formation techniques in Deepnight City, making one rather noteworthy. Most people in the city only managed to barely pass, while the rest failed the various sections of their dao exams. It would already be impressive if they managed to unleash Qi Refinement Realm formations.

Among the many goods An Jing had brought with him was the moss deerskin. It could be used as parchment for talismans or material for formations, which was perfect for Huo Qing to test out on.

”Let me see... This is such a huge haul!” Huo Qing inspected the items An Jing brought and made an offer. ”Six jin of frostwolf bones, nine jin of big bear bones and five jin of lizard bones make eighty merits. The ten sheets of moss deerskin and four sheets of wild boarskin are worth twenty-four merits. Lastly, the ten jin of wanderwhite flowers are worth 190 merits. In total, that’s 294 merits. I’ll round it up to three hundred!”

Metalhand would have rounded it down rather than up, but Huo Qing did his friend a favor instead.

”Let me treat you to a meal next time,” An Jing said, not holding back on his friend. ”Don’t bother transferring the merits to me. I’ll spend them all here.”

This time around, An Jing had also brought the spirit stone he had taken from the True Fiend Cult. He had wanted to trade it to Huo Qing as well, but it wasn’t easy to sell something like that. At least, Huo Qing wasn’t able to keep it secure until the sale given his level of power.

So, An Jing decided it would be best to wait for Metalhand to return first. He did have enough merits to go around. There was even more in the unbound cash card Nian Qin had given him. He needed the money to get gear and ammunition to go up against the True Fiend Cult. Though he knew that the cult was taking their sweet time and unaware that he would ambush them, he didn’t want to give them more time than absolutely necessary.

”You’re spending it all? That’s fine too.” Huo Qing was just about to give him three merit bills but put them back. ”How many thunder beads do you need? They’re not super powerful, so they can’t really break the armored hides of fey. They won’t work well against humans who have bulletproof mantles either. You also risk hurting yourself. Crimsonflame talismans are easier to use.”

”They are, but they go for twenty-five merits a slip and are far too powerful.” An Jing shook his head. Since everyone in Skysource was a cultivator with defensive artifacts, a thunder bead wouldn’t really cause anyone serious harm. However, An Jing was just going to use them on the fiend followers in Void Embrace, and they worked far better than guns.

He hadn’t used the three thunder beads that were left over from his last purchase, so he bought another seventeen to stock up to a whole twenty, spending 153 merits. Then, he spent another fifty on five universal flying swords for his sword case. That left him with 97 merits, which he used on two black-iron blades and one antiexplosion alloy shield for fifty merits, a lightning rod for explosive mining and the explosives that came with it for fifteen merits, and a helmet and ammunition for twenty merits.

Finally, he retrieved the bulletproof mantle that he stored in Skysource, OverSight sword case, Iceburst rifle and spent the remainder of his money to charge up his Ninelands spirit-qi crucible (not the one he looted from the Fengdu Guard, which he stored in Void Embrace to prevent tracking by the Luofu Group).

”I believe I’ve spent more or less all of what I got. If there’s any remaining, use it to get something nice to eat for yourself,” An Jing said, relaxed.

”Wait, friend, what are you about to do?” Even an airhead like Huo Qing sensed something was amiss and put down his waterscreen tablet. ”Are you going to assault some gang? Or go to war with another badlander tribe? Do you need me to come along with you?”

An Jing holstered two gunpowder handguns, had twenty thunder beats with him, hung two black iron blades by his waist, wore the alloy shield on his back, put on the bulletproof helmet and mantle and carried enough ammunition with him to last a long battle. He also packed enough explosives to take down a small fort and had two long-range projectile weapons with him. The Iceburst rifle could slow enemies while the OverSight obliterated them with sheer brute force. He was completely armed to the teeth!