Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

"Would you prefer the fish cooked or fried today, master?"

An odd looking skeleton with crimson colored bones spiked with a purple tint held a large fish in its bony hands and spoke Han Xuhan, who was busy going through his notes on integrating qi cycles belonging to different techniques.

Elder Kong was a really capable teacher. Han Xuhan had managed to learn a lot from him; in fact, he suspected that the elder's abundant help was more than just a sympathetic favour. But as one of the few disciples who were paying for the highest tier of curriculums, Xuhan always received more attention from the teachers anyway.

As their most important lessons were overseen by elder Kong, it was natural that Xuhan got to spend more time with him than the rest. Oddly enough, the elder often muttered to himself like a deranged maniac, sometimes lamenting his luck regarding lotteries and special discounts.

Han Xuhan had a faint suspicion that this elder might have a 'Teacher System' as a cheat. However, it didn't seem like the elder was from earth, much to his disappointment.

"Fry half of it and leave the rest for the next day, little Zhanxian!"

Xuhan had named the skeleton Zhanxian, despite its harmless appearance. The skeleton didn't seem very happy with the name though, and it expressed that verbally, vehemently. Han Xuhan had been quite surprised after hearing it speak for the first time. He hadn't designed any vocal chords inside its throat. How it could speak was a mystery. Heck, it didnt have eyes either, but who knows how it saw things...Xuhan had stopped marvelling about it after a while.

The world of cultivation was truly miraculous.

The skeleton was predictably quite weak. Even Xuhan himself could knock it out within a few seconds. And it's intelligence wasn't particularly high either, but it caught onto things quite easily.

In fact, he even felt that the skeleton was rather adorable. Han Xuhan had been teaching it to cook, sweep the hut, clean the toilet, wash the clothes and all sorts of other miscellaneous jobs. It did the jobs assigned to it very seriously, although with a bit of grumbling.

This would let Han Xuhan skip these menial tasks that Mu Ran often asked him to help with.

He had a rudimentary idea to teach the skeleton how to cultivate after noticing how human-like the skeleton's behaviour was. But it had no meridians, so Han Xuhan had to put that idea aside.

This also made him contemplate a grave matter; was the world of the Crimson sun where the personalities of summoned skeletons resided as simple as it seemed?

Why did it feel like a world where souls without memories were detained?

Nevertheless, that wasn't something he had any means to verify, so he put it out of his mind too, for now. Ever since he had become a cultivator, he had been trying to juggle too many matters at once.

It had been a week since he had reached the second layer of physique transformation realm. The deadline had passed, and Han Xuhan had passed the sect's benchmark, even though he was the last disciple to achieve the breakthrough in the outer court. As dictated in the sect's rulebook, he had eleven months to achieve three more breakthroughs and reach the fifth layer.

Although it sounded like a long time, Xuhan knew his own situation very well. With the amount of resources he could afford right now, he could reach the third layer at best, after which he would go broke...again.

Moreover, he was facing quite a dilemma regarding his cultivation. Should he continue to practice the skeletal monarch technique, or switch to the spiritual bones?

The skeletal monarch technique had no offensive ability to speak of.

As a cultivator, it was essential to have a few offensive techniques. If he cultivated the spiritual bones, at least the skeleton would be able to take a few hits.

But this would slow down his already abysmal cultivation speed, as he would have to cultivate the Spiritual Bones technique from the beginning.

Unable to make up his mind, Han Xuhan got up from his bed and went out of the hut to visit his boss.

Mu Ran was enjoying his life in the sect. His cultivation had boomed forward to the fourth layer a couple of days ago after he had returned from a sneaky venture out of the sect. When interrogated by Xuhan and Xiao Wu, he had refused to disclose how he had achieved a double breakthrough in one night.

"Boss, don't tell me you started dual cultivation with someone..." Xuhan had probed back then.

"Huh? Impossible! How can that be? Haha...you're a funny one, Xuhan. How could I be so lucky to have accidentally stumbled upon an ancient dual cultivation technique in a hidden cave while roaming outside...haha, what a joke! It's definitely not anything like that!"

Immediately realizing that his guess had perhaps hit the mark, Han Xuhan didn't press his boss further.

Now, all that was left unanswered was...

Who the hell agreed to dual cultivate with this douche?

That jade beauty must be desperate!

Either way, it wasn't his business. The only thing he could do was stamp out the envy from his heart...ahem!

Soon, Han Xuhan reached Mu Ran's hut. His boss seemed to be contemplating something deeply, sitting outside on the yard.

"Boss, want to chat?" he said, sitting on a rock nearby.

"Oh, not really. Just experienced an enlightenment a few minutes ago, nothing too serious.

I'll probably make a breakthrough soon. Ai~my cultivation speed is so slow...

Underling, how's your cultivation coming along? Is the skeleton behaving properly?"

"Yes, boss. He's quite well behaved. Picks things up as soon as I teach them too. I'm planning to teach him how to fight."

Han Xuhan had nearly choked upon hearing his boss calling an enlightenment 'nothing too serious'.

He himself would sell all his possession for an enlightenment during cultivation, given the choice.

Xuhan could finally sympathise with all those arrogant and talented young masters who failed to keep up with the protagonist in xianxia novels in his past life.

"Underling Xuhan, that's where you're wrong! Why did you create a male skeleton? Why not a well proportioned female skeleton?

Just think about it. One day, you might reach a very high realm of cultivation. With the skeletons in tow, they're bound to evolve alongside you. Right now, they might be simple skeletons, but on that day, they might evolve into real people! If you keep constructing these powerful male skeletons, what can you get then? A bunch of disposable soldiers! Uselss bags of bones and meat!

Isn't it better to create heavenly beauties? You can have a custom made harem!"

"...Boss, you're so farsighted! Indeed, you're a dragon among men. Only someone as exceptional as you could come up with such incredible ideas!"

Han Xuhan forced a laugh out of his mouth. It took some real effort not to roll his eyes in disbelief and annoyance.

Planning to have a custom made harem while being uncertain of reaching the peak of the lowest cultivation realm?!

Heh.

"Underling, speaking of cultivation techniques, you don't have a weapon for self defense yet, right? You're still a weak shrimp, so having a weapon is a must for you. We will be going out of the sect regularly from now on to complete special tasks since my cultivation has reached a substantial level. You'll definitely need a weapon then. Come with me, I was planning to go visit the Heaven Searing Steel peak for a weapon as well today. I need a weapon too, something big, thick and impressive, just like my-"

"Right, let's set off, boss. "

Noticing Mu Ran's emphasis on the last part of his speech, Han Xuhan interrupted him as fast as possible. A heavy feeling inside his heart told him that the disciples of their sect were about to face a great disaster named "Mu Ran's weapon".

Chatting amicably, the two young men headed toward the mountain peak where the sect's forgery and weaponry were.