Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

Three large bags were emptied of their contents, spread on the ground methodically for the convenience of making a swift choice. Han Xuhan squatted on one side of the materials, his face wrapped up in gloom. Suyan Chongqing sat on one knee on the other side of the display, eyeing the items on the ground one by one with utmost care and caution.

"For a cripple, you possess an impressive amount of cultivation resources," she muttered while poking one of his numerous gadgets. "Even I am not sure what the functions of these artifacts are, except a few."

"Pick one, pick one. Don't waste my time," Han Xuhan urged her hoping she would make a hasty choice. But she seemed impervious to the cheap trick, continuing her slow examination.

"What's this thing? And where did you get it from?" she suddenly said, pulling out a purple medallion from the bottom of a pile of spirit stones. Han Xuhan recognized it at a glance. It was the roughly crafted crystal medallion Xuan Zi had given him yesterday. This medallion was practically a tracker he was supposed to carry with him whenever he left the borders of the sect. It could send a distress signal to Xuan Zi, but Xuhan didn't know if it had any other functions. The sect master hadn’t explained much about it to him.

"That's not a treasure," he told her, and received a disdainful look in return.

"My sect master has great affection for me. So he gave this medallion to me as a safety measure. As for what it does..."

Suyan Chongqing frowned upon listening to his full explanation. She twirled the purple medallion a few times between her long, unusually thick fingers, murmuring something to herself.

"A strange thing to lie about. Nevertheless, I can't clearly pick this one..."

Han Xuhan was flabbergasted. What did she mean by that? He hadn’t lied! So who did? Xuan Zi?!

"I want this one," Suyan Chongqing said, pointing to a corner of the assortment. Han Xuhan sighed in relief after following the direction of her finger.

It was one of the armor parts he had purchased from a fellow disciple, a shoe covered in a layer of small spikes that he had added later. This was the same shoe which he had used to kick Fang Xie yesterday, making him bleed. Some of the spikes were about to break apart after the kick, so Han Xuhan had discarded it after the battle.

Of all the valuables here, she only wanted that shoe? Did she know its actual worth? Or was there something HE didn't know?

Han Xuhan didn't reveal his thoughts and handed it to her in silence, observing her expression. Suyan Chongqing rubbed the metal-clad boot with the aura of an expert.

"Yes, the upper layer of spikes is not originally a part of the shoe, right?" she said, to which he nodded honestly.

"Terrible craftsmanship. At least it can be salvaged," she said while putting it inside a pouch on her waist. Standing up, she performed another unfamiliar salute.

"I'm satisfied with your offering. I'll be taking my leave now. It's a shame that a disciple of your stature has become a cripple. My sword is always eager for a challenge. Your sect has not managed to provide one."

Shaking her head in apparent disappointment, the girl strode away, heading down the mountain. From behind, Han Xuhan shouted out a question that had been bugging him for a while now.

"Fellow cultivator, what is your cultivation level?"

Suyan Chongqing didn't turn back to answer, but above her head, the momentary flash of white ink appeared again, displaying the same two words.

Matchless.

Heaviness.

Boom!

Zhang Dahai yelped as the hut behind them collapsed completely, flattened in a way that would make one think a giant had stomped on it vindictively. The walls disintegrated, and the roof was reduced to dust, but not a single possession inside the hut was harmed.

Han Xuhan found himself inside the illusion once more, standing ankle-deep in a desert, looking up at a collapsing mountain. A deep voice spread across the desert as the mountain finally enveloped his vision and submerged him under its weight, crushing his body and soul.

"Soul Reformation Realm! First Layer- Fear!"

.........

When Han Xuhan regained his consciousness, the sky was dark. Groggily, he sat up and discovered himself under the shade of a propped-up wooden plank. Fragments of recollection flooded his mind.

"Oh, fuck."

"Finally, I was getting scared for a moment there."

Zhang Dahai, sitting on top of the ruins of Xiao Wu's hut, threw a slice of grilled fish over to Xuhan. "Where did you get these fish from, by the way? They don’t seem to be ordinary fish!"

Han Xuhan was rendered speechless. Why was this guy eating their food? He just indirectly caused their home to be destroyed! Such shamelessness! Even he himself didn't have a skin this thick!

If Zhang Dahai noticed the indignation in his eyes, he pretended otherwise and continued to eat. Han Xuhan took a sad bite out of the one in his hand and stood up.

Xiao Wu's hut had been destroyed even more thoroughly than his own. Mu Ran's hut had suffered the same fate. So the only residences remaining on Heavenly Hailstorm Mountain Peak were Yuen Zhou's and Kong Ye's. Living with Yuen Zhou wouldn’t be proper, not to mention overly crowded. These huts weren’t meant to be shared by multiple disciples.

"So this is the power of a rookie Soul Reformation Realm cultivator..." he sighed ruefully. He hadn’t even been able to sense how or when she had attacked. Thinking back to the time he had fought with Fang Xie, he realized how lucky he had been. Fang Xie's cultivation was probably even lower than what he had calculated.

"That's right," Zhang Dahai remarked in agreement. "We didn’t stand a chance. I knew that the Formless Sword Sect had a reputation, but I never thought its disciples would be so... so unreasonably strong."

"You could've taken me to the healers, brother Dahai," Han Xuhan said, still feeling the shadow of suffocating heaviness that Suyan Chongqing had left him with.

"First of all, she knocked me out too. And secondly, look at me, do you think I can carry you that far?" Zhang Dahai replied between mouthfulls of food, pointing at his semi-naked body.

Being a cultivator at the upper layers of Physique Transformation Realm, Zhang Dahai's body was naturally not easy to damage. The bone-deep wounds Xuhan had seen him arrive with were already unrecognizable, though not fully healed. The smaller, shallower lacerations and bruises he had sported a couple of hours ago were all gone, leaving barely noticeable scars.

Han Xuhan summoned Zhanxian and Tun Shi Tian for labor duty.

"Whoa!"

"This one has been wrecked too?! I don't even know where to start-"

Han Xuhan's demented countenance put a stop to Zhanxian's rant.

"Before you complain, I hope you two remember why we've been living here in the first place. You two were the reason my real home got demolished. Pack everything up and transport them to Master Kong Ye's house. We will be living there for a while."

Tun Shi Tian wasn’t very pleased, but Zhanxian had no problem doing a porter's job. While they got busy, Han Xuhan and Zhang Dahai went to visit the rest of the Defense team.