Destiny in Cinders

The Heavenly Demon Cult didn't joke around with fate and karmic relations. An Jing wasn't afraid of the cause and effect that these actions entailed. If the Lord Inspector of the North wanted to give him an artifact weapon, he would swallow it up even if it was a candy-coated bomb. This was a huge jackpot either way.

The violetshine-gold maces were top-shelf artifacts with four enchantments, not to mention their good base quality. Even though violetshine gold was slightly inferior to jadeslice steel, it was still a proper spirit item. Weapons forged using it had a natural efficacy against spectral entities, more than qualifying them for the label of "artifact."

The reason that material was chosen, assuming the demonic cult was behind this, was likely due to the association between Jing Xuan and his master. Perhaps they believed that Jing Xuan used some yang-aspect spells too.

As for the focus talismans, An Jing had only spent four hundred merits for twenty-five sets, a decent price due to their industrialized production in Skysource. All those talismans could sell for around six thousand liang of silver in Skysource, and yet that amount wasn't even enough to afford the material cost for the violetshine-gold maces, not to mention the cost for designing, forging and enchanting them. The maces were probably worth at least ten thousand liang of silver or more. Zheng Mo was clearly trying to get out from Shu Zheng's shadow and make use of what he left behind to acquire favors from others.

A top-tier artifact weapon like this wasn't even available on the common market in Skysource. Comparatively, An Jing's OverSight sword case was only a common-tier artifact that was stronger than average because of its military application. The same applied to most other artifacts in Skysource, most of them being mass-produced pieces with no unique personal flair.

To get something equivalent to these violetshine-gold maces in Skysource, one had to custom order them. It wasn't so different from the fiend-material-armor commission An Jing left in Metalhand's care. Typically, it would cost more than ten thousand merits, and that was after he supplied the materials himself. Finding the right artificer alone required the right connections and lots of merits up front.

It truly is a profitable business, An Jing thought as he took out the maces from the jade box at the administrative bureau of Keensight. All I did was bring things from one world to another, and that earned me far more money than what I know what to do with. Granted, I'm still limited in how much wealth I can amass or display without raising suspicion given my level of power. Still, it's a stable way to grow my wealth.

He knew that interworld trading was going to be profitable from the offset, but actually making this much money still felt unreal to him. In either case, the warmth coming from the metal and yang aspects of the maces in his hands wasn't something that could be faked. The violet-gold maces were just the perfect weight for him. Putting the yang aspect aside, the violetshine gold material itself made him feel like he could control the weapons like they were extensions of his body.

His lifearc ability also helped with his mastery over all kinds of weapons, maces included. He could use them to thrust, slam and even crush things. Coupled with the sharp Evenstar lethal qi from the jadeslice steel he carried around, he could even use the blunt maces to cut like a sword. The maces could serve as twin hammers, twin swords or even a blade and a sword.

In a way, they were even easier to use than Qiform Arsenal's embodied armament. The weapon generated by Embodied Arsenal was not too different from a typical artifact. There was no way it could compare to the twin maces that had four different enchantment seals.

The more he studied the maces, the more he loved them. He nodded with deep satisfaction. Finally, I've reached the level of big-city martialists, whether it comes to my weapons, cultivation techniques or wonders!

At the moment, the interworld trading he engaged in reached the maximum capacity he could handle. There was no way for An Jing to sell more black-iron blades or focus talismans in Void Embrace without raising suspicion. In Skysource, on the other hand, he had enough stock in his warehouse to last half to one year of sales.

He didn't plan to sell those things off wholesale. Individual cultivators of the Qi Refinement Realm typically couldn't afford to run businesses on a bigger scale than this, not even those who were supported by Foundation Realm cultivators. Before An Jing managed to form his own proper faction, he couldn't go too far with interworld trading, or he would suffer consequences for his greed in both worlds.

Even then, he was making more than enough. If he counted the card that Nian Qin had left for him, he had just north of ten thousand merits, which was enough to buy a typical storage void artifact.

An Jing also heard an interesting update from Huo Qing: The black market had been rebuilt. Even though it wasn't clear which factions footed the bill, Luofu definitely had a hand in it. If black markets were going to pop up one way or the other, it would be better if they tolerated it and regulated it themselves.

The black market was situated at its original location. An Jing had visited it once and saw that it was rebuilt to look almost exactly the same as it did before, down to the way it was managed.

However, it was far less crowded than before, both in terms of vendors and customers. The Skywatch Bureau's wanton slaughter of the black market's loyal clients had dealt a great blow to people's confidence in it. Human lives were the most precious thing at the end of the day. No amount of authority or money could reclaim a lost life. Yet, it was also the most undervalued thing of all that people were all too happy to neglect or compromise on.

To attract more people, the new organizers of the black market announced that they would hold a bargain sale in half a month. Lots of precious items would go on sale, among which included foundation pills, natural spirit stones and the thing An Jing cared most about: void artifacts.

While he was curious about foundation pills, it wasn't really a big deal. According to Yvelbane, the materials used to make them weren't particularly precious in its time. The cost mostly came from hiring an accomplished pillmaker. Not to mention, An Jing wouldn't need to use foundation pills as a crutch given his talent. As for spirit stones, he could easily buy what he needed in Void Embrace. However, he absolutely had to get his hands on a void artifact.

"Half a month isn't that long. The inner armor that I commissioned will be done by then. I'll feel safer if I go to the black market wearing it," An Jing said as he looked at the black market's catalog on the waterscreen with Huo Qing. "They even accept bartering. Then, I have nothing to worry about. I just have to bring some frostjade there with me."

While he wasn't sure whether the void artifact would work well in both worlds, it still made things much more convenient for him to have one. Right as he was about to get up to check how much frostjade he had, he saw a familiar face on the waterscreen and gasped. "Nian Quan?!"

"Do you know him?" Huo Qing noted An Jing's reaction and clicked on the picture to bring up the full article. "Oh, his name really is Nian Quan!"

A pretty-looking youth could be seen on a bloody dueling platform sheathing his sword calmly. "Wow, he doesn't seem like a simple fellow. He placed first in an individual first-year competition during a martial tournament held among southern middle schools of Deepnight City recently. He's a genius that even defeated the descendant of a Purple Mansion cultivator and mastered sword intent at that!"

Huo Qing was rather taken aback by what he read next. "Oh, it seems that Nian Quan's parents are both dead. He only achieved what he did thanks to Third Middle School's sponsorship and his own hard work. How inspiring... I feel like I should work harder after seeing what he accomplished! How did you get to know someone like this, An Jing?"

"Ah, I bumped into him on the street once and chatted for a bit." An Jing smiled. Someone whose fate he had changed completely had embarked on a completely different path. He was both relieved and curious about how things worked out for Nian Quan.

Time flew by quickly and soon, spring came along. Keensight got its first taste of the season with a magnificent springtime thunderstorm. The heavy rainfall filled the rivers and lakes to the brim, creating dense and foggy conditions between the mountains. The dust-covered and hazy world was completely refreshed by the all-permeating moisture, glistening ever so brightly.

After the citizens of Keensight who had survived the snow calamity were revitalized by the refreshing rainfall, a sense of dazed renewal and joy arose from the deepest parts of their hearts. The snow calamity's aftereffects were finally over. They could finally close the chapter on the previous year and its horrible winter and look forward to the new year and season.

An Jing, however, didn't have the luxury of appreciating the uplifting change in seasons. Even the wild profits from interworld trading didn't spark any joy in him because Ming Guangchen had yet to return after two whole months had passed.