Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

The weaponry pavilion was a large and grim palace built halfway on the Steel Searing Heaven mountain peak. It was as heavily guarded as the sect's treasury, and the guards looked much scarier than the senior disciples who usually take up such duties.

Han Xuhan and Mu Ran were not the only ones who were planning to buy weapons from there. This particular pavilion wasn't always open to the public, and now that most of the disciples had settled in comfortably after a month in the sect, it was high time for everyone to take up special tasks issued by the sect that usually came with their share of dangers.

For example, wiping off powerful feral beasts from the vicinity of the sect, delving deep into the jungles to look for rare herbs, exploring the mines owned by the sect, apprehending sinister criminal cultivators, investigating supernatural incidents that plagued the ordinary population under the sect's responsibility...

Xuhan had initially been confused about why anyone would be stupid enough to take up such dangerous tasks. But once he saw the remuneration for the tasks...

The number of spirit stones for each task was counted in tens! There were even a few with hundreds of spirit stones as a reward!

Needless to say, Han Xuhan was extremely interested in these tasks. Earning money without risk was nearly impossible anyway. At least he wouldn't have to come up with bizarre scams too frequently anymore.

"I assume all of you are here to buy weapons, yes? Line up and follow me. Don't wander off or I'll give you a beating that you'll remember for the rest of your life, even if you live till the end of the world."

The rumbling voice of the elder in charge made the disciples who heard him quake as they scrambled to follow the order. Perfectly in line, they followed the owner of the voice, a burly middle-aged man with arms thicker than their waists.

The elder led them inside the weaponry pavilion. It was spacious inside, filled with all sorts of weapons on the walls, some elegantly displayed on tables, some even protected inside glass casings.

"Now, let me see..."

The elder carefully assessed each of them, walking around the line slowly. Occasionally, he would separate some disciples into forming new lines.

After he was finished, there were three lines of nervous disciples.

The elder pointed at one of the lines and spoke thoughtfully,

"You lot, you should wield heavy weapons. Your physical structure and dispositions are very suitable for that type of combat."

Then he moved his finger toward another line. Mu Ran was the last guy in this line.

"You guys, on the other hand, should try out both lightweight and heavy weapons. Pick whichever you prefer."

Then his sight moved to the last line, the line where Han Xuhan stood nervously.

"You kids, don't you all eat? Did you starve yourself while cultivating? Where are your muscles? Bunch of sissies...Just pick lightweight swords, throwing knives or bows. See if there's anything you can actually lift..."

Xuhan felt deeply offended. This elder was body-shaming! Who wanted to be a muscle-headed brute like him? Being slim and elegant was in the vogue these days, hmph!

"Brothers, the elder is right! Look at you, all skin and bones. How do you expect yourselves to find a Daoist partner if you don't look as impressive as me!"

Mu Ran dealt fatal damage to Xuhan and his fellow disciples with his casual comment, something that earned him many murderous glares. But he had grown used to such glares by now.

The elder looked at Mu Ran with extreme approval in his eyes, like he had finally found a candidate to be his soulmate.

Mu Ran shivered suddenly and shut his mouth, afraid that the elder's affection meter might go up again if he added another pint of salt to the other disciples' wounds.

Han Xuhan sneakily gave him a thumbs-up and a 'knowing smile', as if to express his ardent support, darkening his expression further.

"As I've just evaluated, each of you try out the weapons suitable for yourselves. Don't touch anything you shouldn't. For example, everything in the glass cases is out of bounds, and every piece on the tables are still unfinished products I've been working on. Chop chop!"

The disciples immediately scattered all over the hall, trying to get their hands on the best stuff first.

Mu Ran clasped his hands behind his back and surveyed the weapons that were on display with a haughty expression.

"Underling, keep an eye out for the biggest and most impressive weapon in here. I don't care what it is. It just has to look good!"

"Yes, boss. I'll get right to it!"

With a mock salute, Han Xuhan walked into the maze of shelves, eyeing the weapons he found cool. His eyes got stuck on a longsword soon. It was the ideal weapon for an elegant hero, as far as he was concerned.

But when he tried to swing it around, his arms nearly came out of their sockets. Most of the weapons were unusually heavy, he discovered soon enough. HanXuhan suspected that in the mortal world, no one would be able to wield them properly.

He strolled through the spacious hall full of disciples swinging swords and spears elegantly, expression somber.

Suddenly, he remembered how protagonists in novels chose their weapons.

It was always the same few recycled tropes. Either the protagonist would feel a "spiritual attraction" toward a particularly infamous weapon that no one wanted, or he would scour through the whole room and finally find an ordinary looking one...except it would turn out to be a REALLY powerful weapon no one had known about.

Chuckling to himself, Xuhan strode to a less populated corner of the room and started examining the weapons there.

The weapons here were either out of fashion or unorthodox. This was the ideal place for a protagonist to throw a stone in the dark.

With a cursory look, he noticed a long spear with a jagged blade. His eyes immediately lit up.

Just as his hands were about to stretch toward the weapon, another pair of hands snatched it up, fast as an eagle.

"Boss?"

"Good choice underling! This spear...I like it!" Mu Ran patted him on the back.

Han Xuhan nodded, swallowing the torrent of verbal abuse down his throat. Since this was a weapon the protagonist wanted, he wasn't foolish enough to make a complaint.

In the end, Han Xuhan ended up as one of the five disciples who couldn't find a weapon they liked. The elder in charge was fawning over Mu Ran's choice of weapons when he finally noticed the five of them.

Mu Ran looked immensely relieved as the elder left him and strolled toward Xuhan and his fellow unfortunate disciples.

"Did you forget what I told you? Just find something that you can lift, or come back later when you've become stronger. Just look at your martial brother, Mu Ran from the Black Sheep Peak! Mu Ran, tell them how you picked your weapon."

Mu Ran cleared his throat.

"As soon as I laid my eyes upon this spear, I felt an attraction on a spiritual level. As soon as I touched it, I felt that this spear was made to be wielded by my hands! As soon as I swung it for the first time, I promised myself that this spear would be mine, no matter what!"

"See? That's the way, youngsters! You must feel the rhythm in your soul, must feel the steel's intent, must find the resonance that stems from within yourself!"

Han Xuhan scrunched up his face and looked at Mu Ran and the spear in his hand while the elder gleefully gave them some utterly incomprehensible instructions.

All he wanted was a weapon to swing around and look cool. These discussions about soulful resonance were fitting only for battle maniacs. Han Xuhan made up his mind and whipped around with determination laced in his stride.

Listen to my heart, must I?

I'm weak compared to typical cultivators at my level. So I should choose something light and long ranged.

Attempting to test things out, he casually picked up a seven feet long glaive. It was thin, nearly brittle. The metal used to forge it was not light. To reduce its weight, the forger had just fashioned a hollow tube with the metal.

Han Xuhan didn't feel any "resonance " or "intent" while handling it. But it looked cool and intimidating, while not being overly heavy due to its hollow body; and that was enough.

Wait, what if I face an enemy who is an expert at dodging and close combat?

Striding forward, Xuhan picked up a set of half-meter-long axes. They were another pair of badass weapons that he had seen frequently in cheesy action films. Imagining himself posing with each axe in hand when an unsuspecting enemy got too close, Xuhan snickered.

He'd look so badass!

What if the enemy is an archer or a spell-caster type? There are so many varieties of cultivation techniques out there...

Xuhan went further and picked up a set of throwing knives imbued with explosive spells. He didn't need to learn to throw these perfectly. The explosion would do its job. As a certain wizard had quoted many times, "explosion is the best weapon!"

Wait, what if the enemy is so good at fighting that they beat all my strategies and disarm me in close combat?

Xuhan didn't think much. He looked for spell-based weapons in the hall, a specific scene from his past life playing in his mind.

Soon, he found a...pair of shoes. The description of the shoes said-

[ These cursed shoes are the result of a failed experiment conducted by an inner court disciple. While the specific intent of the experiment is unclear since said disciple was drunk while he developed this, the shoes explode at predetermined intervals when activated. The explosion is mostly a ripple of gravitational force with a radius so narrow that it doesn't harm the enemy but the wearers themselves. Also, the explosion angles are unpredictable and the force generated is different each time, leading to a chaotic experience. ]

Han Xuhan chuckled and carefully picked the box that held the shoes. It didn't fit the definition of a weapon, but it would do the job to give him a "push" if he encountered enemies who were experts at close-quarter combat or muscle freaks like the elder.

Want to punch me? Can your fists even touch me?

Want to kick me? My shoes kick harder!

Upon seeing him return, many disciples were shocked open-mouthed. He looked like he was heading to an all-you-can-kill battlefield. It wasn't that they didn't want to copy him....but the expenditure of so many weapons was unimaginable to most disciples.

But Han Xuhan was a tycoon now! This time he was spending his own money! He still had over a thousand spirit stones. He could afford this!

Under the incredulous stares of the elder and all the disciples present, Han Xuhan paid four hundred spirit stones in total for the weapons and left the pavilion with an equally dumbfounded Mu Ran.