Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

Elder Shen was hunched over a bunch of registers, his eyes filled with pure, unadulterated happiness. Upon seeing Xuhan, he calmly pushed the pile aside and cleared his throat loudly.

"Good, good, good! Disciple, it appears that our business scheme was an absolute success!" His lips stretched to their limit, elder Shen's joy was infectious. Even Han Xuhan grinned victoriously.

"Elder, I'm here for my share of the profit. It should be over four hundred spirit stones, judging by today's sales," Xuhan said as he took out an empty pouch from his pocket and started waving it in the air like a flag.

"Oh, I understood that, little Xuhan. But the trade association which sold the copies hasn't sent anyone with our shares yet. So I was just spending the time re-examining the sales' records." Elder Shen's smile slightly faded.

"In fact, these guys are quite late. Unusual, if you ask me. I've been waiting for over an hour now."

Han Xuhan's brows creased.

"Have you tried contacting them, elder?" he asked, anxious.

"Yeah! Nobody's picking up my messages. Maybe they're on their way here already. Let's wait a bit more..."

The two of them spent fifteen more minutes sitting near the gate of the sect. In the end, Han Xuhan impatiently stood up and faced the elder.

"It's been nearly two hours since the sales have stopped. It's highly unlikely that their association hasn't yet found the time to send us our due. I propose we pay them a visit."

Elder Shen didn't seem to agree. "What's the rush? You're just too impatient, little Xuhan. It's just a few hundred spirit stones!"

"That's a pretty large amount for me."

Elder Shen sighed in annoyance. "You know what, here, take this."

An azure medallion was thrown in his direction, which Xuhan managed to catch at the last second.

"That medallion represents the authority of the Treasurer of the Crimson Snow sect, in other words, me. Go pay those idiots a visit, and chuck it in the face of their supervisor. No matter how rebellious he's feeling today, he wouldn't fancy seeing his entire family lose a limb each."

With the evening sun waning, Han Xuhan walked out of the sect's territory gloomily, heading for the caravan of the merchants who had supplied the cheaper versions of the items sold in the auction.

They had camped near the other end of the plateau, at the foot of two especially large mountains. Han Xuhan was greeted respectfully the moment they noticed his formal robes, as well as the medallion clutched in his palm.

"I'd like to meet the merchants who were in charge of selling the books at the end of the auction," Han Xuhan said to the person who had stepped forward to greet him.

The man's expression turned odd.

"Them? They've left hours ago."

"...." Han Xuhan's nostrils flared. "Did they say or do anything unusual before leaving?"

"Not really...but usually we leave together after spending a day or two here in the plateau. Everyone is in a festive mood after the decent sales. The leaders decided to cut us some slack and let us relax till tomorrow. Only Zhang Shi was itching to leave. Later, he really forced his people to pack up. No wonder..."

The man seemed to have understood that Zhang Shi had done something troublesome from Han Xuhan's stormy expression.

"Which way did they leave? How many hours ago exactly?" Han Xuhan queried.

"Through the valley. That's the only road leading to the closest city. As for the time, I'll have to ask someone. Please wait a bit."

A small commotion rose as the man scurried into the crowded tents.

Soon, he returned with a middle-aged lady, both looking distressed.

"Zhang Shi wouldn't respond to our signals if he has truly committed a crime, young master." The lady bowed, making Han Xuhan's nerves twitch. He had still not gotten over the taboo.

"I sent one of my sons with their caravan for some personal business in the city. I've already sent him a message with this. He'll respond soon!"

Han Xuhan examined the object in her hand. It looked quite similar to the emergency contact crystals he had used a couple of weeks ago.

"We bought it from the sect. Each association has a couple of these. The Crimson Snow sect is quite strict about the sale of this item."

Han Xuhan nodded and waited curiously to see what the response from the other side would be.

They didn't have to wait long. A pigeon came flying from within the valley like a bullet. Han Xuhan knew pigeons were fast...but he was still taken aback at this speed. That had to be beyond 100 kilometers per hour!

It landed on the woman's arm smoothly and raised one of its feet in the air, showing the tiny parchment tied to it.

The woman took it off and went through its contents with a pale face.

"The stone bridge is broken?!" She gasped in a mixture of surprise and horror. Han Xuhan knew that bridge. He had used it to cross the serpentine streams at the other end of the valley back when he had attended the examination of the sect.

That wasn't too far away from here!

If he had a fast ride, he could catch up with them in fifteen minutes.

"They're trying to go around the streams by taking a detour into the mountains. They should have reached the end of the valley by now..." The woman summarized the contents of the parchment anxiously.

"How can the stone bridge be broken?! It was fine yesterday..." the man trailed off, looking both puzzled and worried.

Han Xuhan took a deep breath and ordered, "get me your fastest horse."

The pair exchanged a look before they ran towards the stables.

Two minutes later, Han Xuhan was holding the reigns of a seven-foot-tall bundle of impatience.

"Do you need someone to accompany you?" the man asked as Xuhan climbed on top of the horse with great effort.

"That won't be necessary," Han Xuhan flashed him the azure medallion.

"Now...how do you make this thing run?"

"...."