Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

"Boss, do you think these demonic cultivators might have any spies inside other sects? Because I don't really get how they're so good at avoiding the detection of every sect's powerful masters so well."

Han Xuhan wondered aloud while looking at Pine town's location on a map.

It wasn't very far from the sect. Half a day's journey on one of the large ferry boats that roamed the numerous rivers crisscrossing through the seven regions was all it would take to reach there. Both young men were feeling quite refreshed from the journey. Mu Ran had even face-slapped a random young master on the boat in a random competition no one cared about. He had been especially cheerful since then.

"I have no idea, Xuhan. Why do we need to care about such measly details, anyway? You keep worrying about the most absurd stuff! Come on, have a match of Immortal Slayer with me. The scenery here really fits the mood for this game."

Mu Ran completely glossed over the issue and threw out a box full of thin cards from his pocket. Xuhan caught the box and sighed. How he wished he could be as relaxed as this guy...

The Immortal Slayer was a popular card game among cultivators. The rules were similar to the widespread card games Xuhan had played back on earth. The cards were divided into multiple types, such as outer sect, inner sect, core members, elders, dao ancestors, and many others depending on the variations of the game.

Each type of cards were again divided into subtypes, such as the first layer outer sect disciple (trash), second layer disciple (slightly bigger trash), third layer disciple ( still a trash ), and so on.

Similarly, the other types were also divided into subtypes that followed a realistic setting. The outer sect disciple cards were cannon fodder, the inner sect disciple cards were special cards, the core disciples were flag bearers with unique skillset, the elders were trump cards, and the dao ancestors were killing move combiners....

The focus of the game was to use lower-level cards to consume higher-level cards of the opponent team and keep enough trump cards in hand to kill the other party's dao ancestors.

It was not a complicated game when just these rules were applied. But historically speaking, once it became popular, the slightly dumber cultivators realized that they always lost a lot of face whenever they played against smarter, yet weaker cultivators.

So they decided to change the rule by saying that when cultivators played such games, cultivation elements naturally had to be present or it'd become a game even mortals could play.

And thus, new rules were born. Now players had to use their reserved qi in order to fuel the ability of each card. The higher the card level, the more qi it consumed. So one had to be careful about powering up each card and take strict measures while dealing with lower-level cards. But for a cultivator who was more powerful than his opponents or more skilled at qi manipulation, this rule was like a booster.

Regardless of the unfairness, it was an unanimously agreed upon fact that the powerful always hold an edge over the weak in the world of cultivation. So the new rule didn't meet much opposition during its popularization; or even if it did, it got squashed by certain muscleheads who didn't want to lose anymore...

But still, most cultivators cared a lot about their face. So they usually didn't bully weaker cultivators by playing this game with them. Mu Ran, however, was a freak of nature, not to mention, he didn't feel any shame in oppressing weaklings.

He played the game not just for fun, but also to flex his terrifying qi manipulation skills and polish his skills further by giving himself bigger and bigger handicaps progressively in game.

Han Xuhan, whose meridians were barely functioning, lost quite frequently due to his lack of skills compared to Mu Ran. It irked him to no end, to be honest. Mu Ran didn't even work half as hard as him when it came to theoretical and practical cultivation. Yet this guy steamrolled him regularly as if his skills were leveling up while he was sleeping and eating. It made no sense. At this point, Xuhan had given up on trying to figure out how his boss was leveling up and credited all of his skills to the perks of being a protagonist. Further thoughts on this subject depressed him.

Shaking his head, Xuhan pushed the issue at hand out of his mind and decided to relax for a bit. He was accompanying a main character as an ally, after all. Regardless of what disaster they might face, Mu Ran would take care of them while Xuhan helped him by cheering from a safe distance.

Taking the cards out of the box, Han Xuhan was about to start dividing the pile when a commotion attracted his attention.

Not far away from their seat on deck, some passengers surrounded an old man.

The grandpa looked quite suspicious, with his eyes shifting around the passengers' bodies and often gawking openly at their jewelry. His clothes were tattered, his white hair was messy, and he carried a lot of pouches on him that looked like perfect thieving equipment.

"Grandpa Di Qian, did you really mean what you said? I can change my streak of bad luck as soon as I get rid of this custom-made, gold-plated, azure crystal necklace?"

A rich woman squealed in a mixture of delight and misery. Her expression made it clear that she was having trouble distinguishing between her 'choices' now.

"Yes, of course. I, Di Qian, have never lied in my life! I see a great cloud of misfortune hanging above your head. If you listen to my advice and chuck this out of the window right now, your luck shall definitely improve."

The old man spoke eagerly, the greedy gleam in his eyes getting stronger with each syllable. But the woman still seemed a bit hesitant to follow his advice. Realizing that they were attracting a large crowd, the old man hurried to convince her.

"Beautiful madam, do not doubt this old man's integrity! If I were a scammer, I would have asked you to hand this necklace to me, not chuck it into the river. As long as you do what I said, you'll definitely sense an improvement in your luck by the time we reach our destination, or I'll castrate myself when we get down from the boat!"

"Old man, at your age, castration doesn't sound like that much of a punishment, though. It's not like you really need-"

The furious companion of the woman, a burly-looking man, snapped at him and tried to drag her back to their seat. But the woman looked rather convinced and stopped him from finishing his sentence with a withering glare.

Han Xuhan and Mu Ran found the flow of events quite interesting. They crept toward the crowd and observed the old man quietly.

"Underling, have you noticed?"

"Yep. He has a faint aura of qi around him. But it looks scattered and chaotic."

"A cultivator who has suffered from qi deviation, perhaps? Definitely a professional scammer. It's not that difficult to retrieve jewelry as long as you leave a trace of qi on it even if it sinks into the river. "

Mu Ran exchanged a glance with Xuhan and wriggled his eyebrows.

"I have no idea what you're trying to imply with your twitching eyebrows, boss."

"We should punish him, right? We are cultivators after all, righteous and full of justice..."

"Yeah, righteous my ass. My experience in the sect disagrees."

"As my underling, how can you whine over such small stuff? We must uphold the image of good, righteous cultivators. Let's teach this old bastard a lesson. How dare he use his abilities to scam mortals!"

Mu Ran rode roughshod over Xuhan's complaints and forced his way into the crowd, trying to get closer to the old man. Strongly feeling that he shouldn't get involved with any old man in a xianxia world, Han Xuhan decided to stay away from the chaos that was about to ensue and just watch the drama.

"Husband, you gave this necklace to me. How can you be so cruel and controlling? It's my necklace now. If throwing it in the river makes me luckier, why can't I do so?"

The woman, meanwhile, seemed to have decided what to do and pushed her companion's hands away. Then she took off her necklace and threw it in the river with a tearful expression on her face.

Splash!

The heavy necklace made a small sound and sank into the water, raising a round of 'aaahhs' and 'ooohhhs' from the onlookers. Mu Ran, who was just about to dive in and save the day, looked dumbfounded as his eyes traced the trajectory of the necklace vanishing from his sight.

The old man looked ecstatic.

"Beautiful and wise madam! You have made the best choice of your life! You will not regret throwing away that precious, gold-plated, azure crystal necklace !"

The old man was practically drooling as he praised her, his eyes never leaving the spot where the necklace had just sank. There were snickers from the onlookers, as well as the tragic howl of her husband mixing in the chaotic situation.

"Fellow travelers, this old man is definitely a scammer! I can prove it to you! Do not fall for such lies!"

The harbinger of justice, Mu Ran, yelled as he forced his way further into the crowd and caught the old man by the collar of his tattered robe. The old man was completely caught off guard.

"Look, I'm a cultivator from the Crimson Snow sect! I threw out a trace of my qi on the necklace just before it sank. I can sense that the necklace has been caught by a creature as soon as it fell into the river. This old man must have trained a fish-type spirited beast as a pet. All of this farce was just to steal that necklace!"

His yell silenced the crowd and stunned the old man. With a contemptuous snort, Mu Ran flicked his fingers at the river and made a grasping motion.

Before the stunned onlookers' eyes, the necklace rose from the river water as if it was being tugged by a string. Attached to the necklace was a large, saw-toothed fish covered in black and red scales and gleaming gem-like eyes, its jaws locked on the necklace.

"It's really a spirited beast! I can recognize it from its eyes!"

"This young man really is a cultivator!"

"So awesome!"

"Can you teach me how to catch fish like this? I'm a fisherman!"

"Can you use this technique to tug down people's pants?"

"Hey, who the fuck was the last guy? Throw him into the river before anyone gets any funny ideas!"

All sorts of shouts sounded throughout the deck. Mu Ran ignored them and tugged the necklace closer with his qi manipulation technique. In a practiced, fluid motion, he threw it at the dumbstruck woman and her hopeful husband. Then he caught the fish by its neck and glared at the old man.

"As a cultivator, how can you use your powers to scam innocents and bully the weak? You need to be locked up!"

The old man looked livid. He tried to refute Mu Ran but before he could speak, he was surrounded by all the over-enthusiastic travelers. When the crowd cleared after a few minutes, his hands and feet were bound with rope meant for cattle. Perhaps due to his seniority, he had been spared a beating. But his expression looked like he had never suffered such indignity in his life.

"You ungrateful bastards! I, Di Qian, never lie! How can you treat me like this just because a random child said so? Woman, you'll regret this!

And YOU! Little cultivator, unhand my little Hei at once! Or I'll make you wish you were never born!"

Xuhan was about to return to his seat when he sensed something odd.

The old man's level of cultivation was fluctuating...

His heart beating wildly, Xuhan looked back at Mu Ran, who had suddenly gone stiff. His hands still held the struggling fish. But he was no longer paying any attention to it and instead slowly turned to look at the old man sitting on the deck with his hands and feet bound.

The aura coming from the old man's body was no longer scattered and chaotic. Instead, it had become sharp and dominating, spreading everywhere like a voluminous tide, suffocating Han Xuhan and Mu Ran so brutally that they felt as if they were facing a tsunami. This was the aura of a powerhouse beyond anything they had ever experienced.

Han Xuhan silently backpedaled and decided that the scenery by the riverside was very fascinating. In fact, the scenery was so gorgeous that he was going to ignore all the shouts for help from his boss and admire the view.