Destiny in Cinders

”I see.” Principal He soon received the report from his secretary. ”Your warehouse is located at Hilltwixt, a prime location for exploring the immortal ruins. The two of you picked the place well. Property prices will no doubt rise. Congratulations in advance. But the ruins...”

Principal He looked at Nian Quan and pondered for a moment. ”Even though the ruins’ existence has been revealed, that’s no guarantee that it’ll be open to public exploration. In either case, I would suggest not to enter it haphazardly.”

The direct warning suggested that he had some internal information about the ruins. ”Its public reveal might have gone against the wishes of some higher ups, but that doesn’t mean that badlanders and rogue cultivators will be able to benefit from this. There are many obstacles along the way, and even elite strike teams from other megacorporations won’t be able to overcome them. That’s why they’re letting rogue cultivators in to try it out. My advice is for you all to not rush it. If you really want to explore it, wait a while until we have more information about the situation there.”

An Jing could tell that the principal was no doubt informed about this by his connections. Unlike other cultivators, he maintained a reserved, careful attitude. Since that was the case, An Jing didn’t hesitate and asked what he wanted to know. ”I am indeed quite interested in the ruins. What is their true purpose? Some kind of residential area of the Dao Court? Or an ancient library or archive? Why was it only recently discovered even though it should’ve been underground the whole time?”

”So far, there’s no information about it. But if I hazard a guess, the ruins are probably part of a sacred grotto that moves along with the flow of spirit veins. Deepnight City is situated at the central hub of many spirit veins, after all, so it probably occupied the location where the grotto was supposed to manifest, forcing it to remain underground and eventually fall to ruin. In fact, if not for Deepnight City’s major defensive formation array, it probably would’ve surfaced long ago.

”As for what kind of ruins it is, some people in the know already have an idea.” The principal turned in Hilltwixt’s direction as he continued in a tone of awe. ”It’s a dock. A void-ark dock for a major grotto from the time of the Dao Court.”

”A dock?” An Jing recalled the immortal void ark that he had seen when he first emerged from the underground cavern in Skysource. From what he had learned, the ark had been there to transport the True Talisman and explore the ruins.

”The drone and lethal-qi-resistant gear are ready,” Principal He said with a smile. ”It’ll be sent to you later. Don’t worry, consider it a token of my gratitude. I’ll leave you youngins to chat among yourselves for now.”

He turned to Nian Quan and sighed. ”Though I wanted to advise you against pushing yourself so hard, I am unable to chip away at your sharpness right now. You are alone and have nothing to lose, which makes you incredibly difficult to assuage. But Nian Quan, think about the kind of risk you took for this victory. If you had carelessly failed to avoid Yan Chengju’s magma and the umpire didn’t manage to stop it in time, wouldn’t you have died in the arena? Survival is all that matters at the end of the day. There’s only a future to speak of if you’re still alive.”

Nian Quan didn’t talk back from his sickbed and nodded. ”I understand, Principal.”

”Oh, do you now?” The middle-aged man sighed and left the room, knowing full well that Nian Quan’s display of obedience was merely superficial. It was clear from how he pouted as the principal left the room.

Noticing that, An Jing stroked his chin in thought. ”Actually, the old man was right. You took quite a huge risk. Nian Quan, you’re showing some rather self-destructive tendencies.”

”Ah, is that so?” He began to feel rather embarrassed after getting chewed out by both the principal and An Jing. ”It wasn’t that bad, right? I do want to keep living, and I didn’t feel like I would’ve died earlier. The worst that could’ve happened was me firing off the ailment sword qi earlier than planned to split the magma before I surrender.”

”It’s true that you would’ve survived this time around. Yan Chengju’s only a Qi Refinement cultivator, predictable and easy to handle. But if you run into stronger enemies in the badlands, you have to be constantly on guard for hidden trump cards.” An Jing sat down on the side of the bet and took a banana from the fruit basket nearby—yes, they did exist in Skysource—and peeled it before sticking it in Nian Quan’s mouth to shut him up. ”Let’s go over how you fought. Nian Quan, do you think the way you started the fight was okay?”

Nian Quan’s eyes widened as he swallowed the mouthful of food. ”Wait, was it not? I thought I did quite well at the start.”

The quiet infirmary immediately turned into a forum filled with stubborn arguments. Even An Jing would have a hard time talking sense into the victor, a champion no less. Fortunately, he had Huo Qing backing up his words. Coupled with the fact that Nian Quan did believe in An Jing’s strength, he eventually relented and admitted that there were things he could’ve done better in the fight.

An Jing did praise him for the new tricks he discovered like using the five-phase ailment sword qi in an unexpected, out-of-the-box way in tandem with his own Empyreal Sword True Intent. He had discovered the domain in which he was most powerful, which was a major breakthrough in its own right.

Eventually, the conversation shifted to the immortal castle ruins and the situation around Deepnight City. These youths whose combined age barely numbered more than forty could’ve talked through the night, but the medical officer eventually asked them to leave the infirmary as they were disturbing the other patients, Yan Chengju included.

That was fine, however, since Nian Quan had already moved to the much better housing unit in the city that the principal had provided him with. He only needed to rest at home and didn’t have to be tended to by medical staff the whole time anyway.

At the entrance were two sealed black boxes stacked on top of each other, containing the items that An Jing had requested. The gear, coupled with his Netherscale armor and his celestial arc’s natural resistance, would allow him to brave any kind of hazards in Palespirit Cave.

After An Jing and the rest left the infirmary, the atmosphere in the other patient room got worse. Yan Chengju was initially not that mad; losing to Nian Quan did feel like a blow to the back of his head, but he wasn’t someone who would be rattled by a single loss. The Yan clan wasn’t that harsh on its members, so the most he would get was a few words of admonishment. But even then, the seniors of the clan accomplished much less than he did at his age, so there wasn’t going to be any drama.

But hearing the animated and joyful conversations and detailed technical discussions about the fight annoyed Yan Chengju greatly. He couldn’t take it anymore and asked the medical officer of the special market to drive out the youths who were talking about the falling prices of fire-aspect fey materials as a result from the number of flamecrows killed during the attack on Hilltwixt as well as their plans to swoop up some arcane artifacts whose prices had crashed.

What kind of ridiculous background does Nian Quan’s friend have? Yan Chengju was no fool and had used all the methods at his disposal to gather information about Nian Quan’s recent comings and goings. Naturally, he took note of ”An Xuan” and Huo Qing’s presence. The latter wasn’t that hard to account for, but An Xuan’s background was completely in the dark. It was clear that Nian Quan only managed to pick up some amazing sword techniques after he came into contact with those two. The old Nian Quan wouldn’t have stood a chance against Yan Chengju at all.

He was someone who had considered himself the top dog of his generation and the uncontested favorite in all of Deepnight City’s future tournaments. Yet, it now seemed that he had other rivals, not just Nian Quan. As such, he absolutely had to learn more about An Xuan. Whatever Third Middle School is planning to offer them, First Middle School can match it and then some!