Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

Han Xuhan held on for dear life as the horse sprinted through the gravelly pathway at the heart of the valley.

His balls had taken a dip down into hell's gates. Sitting in an awkward posture, Han Xuhan was forced to contemplate whether breaking through to the second layer of the physique transformation realm would heal his precious jewels.

The only good thing about the horse was its speed. He had reached the stone bridge in less than ten minutes, and was forced to halt for a moment there.

It really had broken into two.

The bridge was a narrow one. Originally, it had been an assortment of large stones in the middle of the streams, fallen from the mountains in landslides. The founders of the Crimson Snow sect had moved the tonne-heavy stones into a single line, with enough gap between each to let the water of the stream pass. On top of the stones, thick wooden planks, polished rocks, and artificially created stone slabs had been placed to form the bridge.

But now, right in the middle of the bridge, the widest stone slab had cracked and caved in, barely hanging on from the top of a foundation stone.

Unless someone could leap ten meters forward, they'd not be able to reach the other side of the broken bridge, let alone a caravan full of ordinary humans.

Right when Han Xuhan was about to turn around and look for the alternate route through the mountains nearby, he noticed a thick vine below the broken slab that connected the two halves of the bridge.

Jumping down from the horse, he cautiously climbed down the foundation stone he was on, looking for the rest of the vine.

The vine turned out to be thick enough to support his meager weight, with a somewhat delicate grip on the walls. Han Xuhan ripped it away from the stone wall and tied it to a stone slab.

It was then a simple task to reach the other end of the vine, which had taken root into a crack in the foundation stone just dozen meters away. Climbing back up on the other side of the bridge, Han Xuhan quickly made his way through the rest of the valley.

The caravan he was chasing was not even fully out of the mountain. Those leading at the front were forced to stop as they noticed a disciple of the Crimson Snow sect standing in the middle of the road leading to the city.

It was apparent that he had been waiting for them.

"Where is your supervisor? Where's Zhang Shi?" Han Xuhan enquired in a warm tone before they could greet him.

The scouts hesitantly returned back to the lines of carriage following behind.

However, neither Zhang Shi nor the supervisor turned up. Rather, the same scouts returned with several people Han Xuhan didn't recognize.

"Master Shi and supervisor Lang have left in a separate carriage without telling anyone," said the leading man, a towering fellow with a kind face.

"Did they do something...sir?"

Han Xuhan pursed his lips. "The opposite, actually. They did NOT do something that they were supposed to do. They left without paying the shares of the books sold today."

The eyes of those present widened in shock.

"What?!"

"How can that be?"

"Why would they do something like this?!"

"Please, don't take offense, sir cultivator. We'll interrogate the person in charge right away!"

A commotion followed as someone dragged out a lady roughly and enquired about the truth of the matter.

"Supervisor Lang and leader Shi both demanded a review of the spirit stones earned and goods sold. I handed the keys to them. How was I supposed to know?" the woman said tearfully.

"It doesn't matter, I suppose," Han Xuhan said as everyone turned toward him to hear his opinion.

"We can do this the easy way, or the queasy way.

At this point, it's impossible for me to track down your masters. But I have found you lot, and that's enough.

Hand over five hundred spirit stones, which is approximately the share the Crimson Snow sect was supposed to receive. I'll take my leave and the sect will not pursue the matter. If you feel aggrieved by the matter, go to the city and track down your masters yourselves. It's none of our business."

"Five hundred!"

A collective gasp went through the crowd. Han Xuhan had not exaggerated, in all honesty. The elder and his shares together would probably surpass that amount.

"Respected sir, the masters have nearly emptied our coffers before leaving. The only way we'd be able to produce an amount that high is if we gave away our own money. But these are our life-savings. We would not be able to feed our children..." the brawny fellow trailed off.

"Shut up, Wang!" someone hissed from the back.

"Don't take offense in his words, sir cultivator! He's new here!" another guy dragged the stocky man back into the crowd to reprimand him.

"He doesn't know the rules and proper conduct, sir. We'll pool our money together and hand it over to you!"

Han Xuhan stood still and watched the conundrum unfold. The chaos among the caravan members grew. People began to shift blames. Fights began to break out.

Han Xuhan took out the medallion.

Those at the front of the crowd went still. Those at the back of the crowd calmed down as they realized a new development had taken place.

"I could use this medallion to take forcibly whatever you have," Han Xuhan enunciated his words slowly, giving each word a weight.

"But that isn't my money. That's not the sect's money. So I suppose there's nothing to be gained from you lot.

But I won't let you leave just like that."

He watched the gazes in the crowd shift through an array of emotions with each of his sentences.

"Wherever your masters have escaped to, track them down within one week. I wish to see either the five hundred spirit stones that the sect owns, or those two bastards tied up and brought before the gate of the sect. There are many of you here. You have a chance to accomplish the task, or face the sect's wrath."

Suddenly, an uproarious laugh rang through the crowd.

"Everyone! This guy is just a scammer! Look at that medallion in his hand! That insignia means he has been expelled from the Crimson Snow sect already!"

The brawny man who had been dragged to the back of the crowd had jumped on top of a rock at some point. He dropped the electrifying revelation among the crowd.

Han Xuhan cast a frosty gaze at his azure medallion.

Elder Shen was truly an impressive figure in the dao of deceit.