Destiny in Cinders

Thanks to An Jing, the city of Riverside that should’ve vanished from the sights of others due to the snow calamity and beast tide once more became the focus of attention. The shadowy observers in the dark, however, gradually receded, for it was no longer safe to hide in a place where so many things had been forcefully dragged into the spotlight.

The citizens of Riverside were completely ignorant to this fact. But they still felt somewhat relieved. They were far more concerned about Bejeweled’s actions that sought to cut off Riverside from the outside world. While the threat of hunger was present both inside and outside of Riverside, there was the risk that imperial court would not be able to hear the pleas of those in the city sealed off by the traders guild, depriving them of any chance of getting help. They would’ve been doomed to perish in a forgotten and forsaken ruin.

An Jing was only one person at the end of the day. In theory, he wouldn’t be able to bring them the kind of peace they wanted. Yet, his reputation as a divine-arc bearer drew all kinds of attention to him and the city, which was precisely what the citizens needed. As such, the citizens were willing to obey his orders and awaited the next step of his plan.

The one at the center of everything, however, was absent from the city. In fact, he was nowhere to be found in Void Embrace. With a flash of the Grandvoid Pathway, he found himself back in Skysource.

Huo Qing was busy studying within the warehouse in Hilltwixt when he suddenly saw An Jing enter. He wasn’t the least bit surprised and waved at him before turning his attention back on the many jade slips and diagrams on his desk. Typically, nothing An Jing did would be able to disturb Huo Qing when he was in that focused state. Any sound was akin to background noise to him. But when An Jing tried to start up the automata, Huo Qing couldn’t help but tune in.

”What’s up?” He put down the book in his hand with a surprised look. ”An Jing, does your cult lack manpower? Is it time to put the automata to use?”

”Yeah. We don’t have that much manpower, so we need some automata to maintain order and distribute goods.” An Jing dragged all the automata in storage out, inspected their condition and checked how much charge they had. Among them were those that Huo Qing managed to salvage from the recycling house and five which they had bought from the former owners of the warehouse.

It didn’t sound like much, but each automaton was as powerful and fast as a body refinement martialist. Having three or four was enough for a local gang to erect buildings in settlements or villages. Given how quickly buildings could be destroyed during combat in Skysource, cities would be reduced to barely habitable ruins in a few short days if they didn’t have automata that could constantly build them back up again. If not for efficiency concerns that limited their use to areas rich with spirit qi, the companies would’ve replaced every one of their workers with automata.

”But these are builder and miner automata,” Huo Qing said, immediately rising from his desk. ”Wouldn’t service automata be better for tasks like maintaining order and distributing supplies? The programs installed need to be different. Let me write them up for you.”

”Oh, you know how?” An Jing was aware that different automata were assigned different tasks. He had planned to use the ones he had to clear out the rubble of what used to be the building of the traders guild and move certain supplies around. They weren’t complicated tasks to begin with. But since Huo Qing was showing initiative, An Jing let him do as he pleased. ”You’re growing more impressive by the day, my friend.”

”Anyone can make progress like this with enough time and resources. With how I’m able to put together and mess with ten formation discs every single day, I easily have more experience than some teachers.” Huo Qing didn’t even move on his spot. Instead, his eyes flashed as he interacted with his chip. Silver and blue talisman script flowed around as he assembled the program. ”What do you need them to do specifically?”

”Tasks like transporting rations to different streets, guarding goods, subduing anyone that attempts to steal things, you know the gist.”

”That’s easy. These are common tasks, so I already know how to do it. Give me an hour.”

”Wow, that’s quick.” He wouldn’t mind waiting an hour for Huo Qing to finish the job.

Curiously, he came to his side to see what study materials he was using. One book was titled How to Balance a Warehouse Ledger with Only a Single Matchstick? Fifteen Practical Tricks from a Warehouse Manager. An Jing blinked and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Once he was sure he wasn’t mistaken, he said, ”What kind of divine text is this?! I need to read it!”

An Jing recalled seeing similar advertisements in his past life. All of these books promised miraculous changes to one’s life with minimal effort. He didn’t think he’d see something like that in Skysource too. It seemed that this was a cultural staple across many worlds. He flipped through the book while Huo Qing worked away at the program.

”Essentials while on the run: the five different specialized forms of swift talismans.”

”Unseen and Unheard: The Three Key Stealth Formations of Invisibility, Silence and Qi Masking...”

”Escaping Death by Faking Your Assassination for Dummies: the Flesh Automaton Issue, Illusion Formation Issue, Forgetfulness Curse Issue...”

”Ultimate Move to Disappear into Thin Air: Celestial Flame Lightning Formation. Guaranteed to Erase All Traces of You!”

An Jing read out the chapter titles one by one before closing the book altogether. ”Wow, it’s a collection of tips of how to disappear from society!”

Tacky as the whole book was, there were indeed many useful formation diagrams and tricks within it. It was no wonder Huo Qing had it around; An Jing almost thought that Huo Qing was trying to pull a vanishing act on him like when he got his new identity.

”I’m more or less done.” Huo Qing finished altering the formation programs faster than he expected. ”Do you need anything else?”

”Yes.” An Jing put the book down and showed him a list on the waterscreen. ”I need lots of cheap food supplies as soon as possible. Apart from that, I also need these spirit items. Look around and see if anything’s listed for cheap.”

The young formationist looked over the list of ingredients for the dragonhoard bottle and immediately knew what was going on. ”Oh, are you guys trying to make your own spirit-qi crucibles? That’s what these materials are for, right?”

”In a manner of speaking, yeah.” An Jing had a feeling that cultivators of Skysource would have some familiarity with this, but he didn’t think that Huo Qing would get it right in one go. Dragonhoard bottles were definitely related to spirit-qi crucibles. ”Was it that obvious?”

”Not really, but the combination of different colored souljades, terrestrial-vein earth and dew from the Celestial Ocean is for manufacturing spirit-qi crucibles or large qi-deposition formations used by a large town. I just studied them recently.” Huo Qing shook his head as many different thoughts raced through his mind. ”Spirit-qi crucibles from flagship stores are stupidly expensive and they’re not even that good. Most people prefer to build and design their own. However, the most crucial materials needed for spirit-qi crucibles are spirit stones. An Jing, even if your cult has a spirit-stone ore vein, you shouldn’t be that wasteful. If you ask me, you should just buy used crucibles and modify them. It’s far more worth it this way.”

Huo Qing was a humble kid raised at a recycling house at the end of the day, so his mindset was still stuck on pinching credits. An Jing simply waved him off and said, ”We’re only making some for strategic use, not mass production. Also, what about the food?”