Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

"...Go on," Han Xuhan said in an encouraging tone. But Zhang Dahai looked disheartened.

"What do you mean 'go on'? You don't even look surprised. Did you actually know he's been lying?"

Han Xuhan chewed on his tongue for a moment, arranging the answer in his mind. All he had left to test was one trigger to grasp the core of the mystery. However, to reveal any hints of his suspicion so early would not be a wise thing to do. Zhang Dahai was a smart young man with a flexible personality. Han Xuhan chose not to put too much trust in him for now. Instead, he decided to use him as a bait.

"Brother Dahai, it's not that I knew he was lying. I was just suspicious about this special physique of his. If he can copy any cultivation technique after seeing it being activated a few times, why did he fail to copy the treasure tracing technique back when Abyss Guild's disciples were using it so wantonly? Why did he have to wait until today?"

Zhang Dahai's eyes brightened up. "Exactly, Brother Xuhan! That was the inconsistency that made me suspicious! That's why I forcefully volunteered to heal his body during the backlash so that I could personally examine this so-called special physique."

"What exactly did you learn from the examination?"

"That there is no such specialty in his meridian structure! Even the rest of his body is completely ordinary. I even examined his nascent spiritual body. There is no source of odd material or spiritual activities in him that could hint at such a powerful physique."

"Well, as long as he's not trying to hurt anyone, let's avoid venturing into that territory, shall we, Brother Dahai?" Han Xuhan suggested in a lukewarm tone. Zhang Dahai's expression said he wanted to argue against that. But seeing Xuhan's visible disinterest poured a bucket of water over the fire in his heart.

"Hey now, cheer up. Don't you remember what sect master told us an hour ago? We're on the right track to make a big splash in this tournament!"

Han Xuhan's sudden shift in topic stunned Zhang Dahai.

"What are you talking about?"

"Sect master told us that we have yet to discover ALL the ways we can earn more points for our sect. If you analyze the methods we've discovered so far, all of those activities have one element in common; that is to damage our competitor sects. Now think, if we can steal their private cultivation techniques...how huge will their loss be?! It'll definitely count as heavy damage to those sects. There is a high likelihood that we'll earn a large number of contribution points and the ranking of our sect will shoot up like an arrow!"

"...That does make sense," Zhang Dahai muttered hesitantly.

"Yes, it does! And to achieve that result, we need to use Liu Yue's talent well. Whether he has the physique or not doesn't matter at all, as long as he can provide us what he has promised! So don't go provoking him in any manner, at least for now. Let's get along with everyone!"

Leaving the flummoxed young man behind, Han Xuhan skipped his way back to the assembly and joined the rest of the defense team in educating their peers. Chen Su, being the perceptive leader as usual, walked up to his side and asked in a low voice, "Did something happen? Why was Zhang Dahai looking for you? Should I know?"

Han Xuhan sold his new teammate out in a heartbeat.

"Yeah, he was just a bit suspicious but didn't want to appear antagonistic in front of the rest of the team. Since I'm an outsider, he felt more comfortable sharing his doubts with me."

Chen Su's confused face was just what he wanted to see. He clarified himself immediately.

"Brother Dahai is suspicious of Liu Yue, which isn't entirely unwarranted, if you ask me. Why couldn't Liu Yue copy the treasure-tracing technique himself when the disciples of Abyss Guild were openly using it to track the treasure sets here? Why did he make you go through all that trouble and risky schemes to get them to hand the technique over? It doesn't really make sense."

Chen Su rolled her eyes, looking annoyed and relieved at the same time, as if she hadn't expected the issue to be so insignificant.

"That's because it was me who planned the whole scheme. Liu Yue never wanted to share his secret ability with any of us. I only got some hints of it by accident, and he placated me at that time by describing the ability as a result of perfect memorization skill. Don't you remember my explanation at that time, Brother Xuhan? I told everyone that Liu Yue had an exceptional memory, not a special physique. It was only after our partial failure to secure the technique that he revealed to me what his true ability was."

"Okay...But that still doesn't answer why he couldn't copy the technique after seeing the disciples of Abyss Guild use it," Han Xuhan said in an uncertain voice.

"Oh, that's because the scope of his ability is very limited. He has to observe his subject up close, witness the activation and conclusion of the qi cycle without any big disturbance, and have some familiarity with the essence of the technique. And these conditions were obviously not fulfilled when Abyss Guild was invading our sect for the treasure set. It's not as overwhelming an advantage everyone seems to think it is."

Chen Su's answer dispelled all of Xuhan's questions, except one.

Why had Liu Yue told Chen Su that he had a special physique despite having none?

Han Xuhan pushed his paranoia to the back of his mind and focused on his current objective; to assist his fellow disciples in cultivation. Not a single team wanted to leave the island before mastering the technique. Their experience in the last two days had not been pleasant. Even Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou had barely succeeded in bringing back a treasure set despite being one of the most powerful, violent invasion teams in the sect. Being able to sense where the treasure set was would be the only way for everyone to make an impact.

Unfortunately, not everyone had the qualifications, and this fact became apparent by the high noon. Nearly seven hours had passed, yet only a handful of exceptional geniuses were able to complete a full cycle of qi by themselves. Many disciples had worked much harder than them in these seven hours, only to end up suffering from qi deviation, mild meridian damage, and spiritual backlash.

Their cultivation session was, of course, disturbed many times throughout these seven hours. To Xuhan's knowledge, three sects had invaded their floating island since the morning, only to be taken by surprise upon discovering that all the disciples of the Crimson Snow sect were there, cultivating instead of invading other sects. Ordinarily, they would at least try to test the defense team even if Chen Su ran over and announced their forfeiture. After all, it wasn't everyday they got to strut into the territory of a powerful sect and return as a winner. Some sects had also figured out that damaging the resources and manpower of their competitors earned them points for the ranking.

But one proper look at the furious, determined expression being mirrored on each face in the assembly made the invasion teams reconsider. They simply contacted Luo Yi to make sure that the forfeiture was not a trick and left quickly.

As per the plan, Han Xuhan and his nine teammates had begun to separate the relatively successful disciples from the mediocre, which just made the situation starker. Only fifteen disciples made it into the 'elite' category, including Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou. The rest were either too tired to continue, or injured.

Chen Su examined the scroll Zhanxian had filled up writing the basics of the technique, alongside Han Xuhan's personal analysis, while everyone was busy cultivating. The disciple who allegedly had the ability to create copies of the scroll stood beside her and studied the scroll's material in a way that reminded Han Xuhan of antique enthusiasts.

"What do you think, Brother Guanglie? How many copies can you create?" Chen Su asked him as she handed the scroll over.

Zuo Guanglie took a long look at the crowd behind them and gave the answer in a cool tone that welcomed no arguments.

"There are fifteen talents who have learned the basics, and they will lead fifteen invasion teams. For now, I can create a copy for each team. They can share it between themselves since they'll be sticking together all the time. To create a copy for every disciple seems unnecessary. I have to join the invasion missions too, remember?"

"Of course, of course," Chen Su said, appearing satisfied enough with that promise. "I'll send someone to inform the sect master about the recombination of the invasion teams in the meantime. I'm sure we will make a better impact this time on the ranking list!"

"Let me handle that. I have to visit the sect master anyway for a personal matter. I'll inform him," Han Xuhan chipped in, taking the opportunity to brag about his close relationship with Xuan Zi. Both Chen Su and Zuo Guanglie looked surprised by the implications, which was exactly the result Han Xuhan wanted to see.

With a heavy heart, he headed to the sect master's mountain peak. His paranoia had once again been triggered, threatening to consume his rationality. But if his suspicion was true...Han Xuhan couldn't imagine the consequences of treating it as mere paranoia.