Chapter 113 (Full Title): Once a Single Thought of Murder Arose, Heaven and Earth Instantly Broadened

  Little Ochre Mountain had already been ransacked by bandits or bck-market rogues who took advantage of the chaos. Most of its precious materials—items like cloud-sweeping dust, jadewood, and blue fme jade, each on par with or surpassing the value of jade-cleaving steel—had been stolen, leaving not so much as a trace behind.

  However, according to the Sword Spirit, all those materials were merely ordinary first-tier or even unranked substances, barely worth carrying around. In theory, jade-cleaving steel, a second-tier or even third-tier material, should never share the same price bracket as those lesser items.

  By contrast, dawn stone was inexpensive in the Tianyuan Realm but had been quite costly in the Huaixu Realm—at least in the Sword Spirit’s era—because it was a universal material useful for any yang-attribute Dao Foundation. Such price disparities were purely a result of differences between the two worlds.

  “How strange. Heaven and Earth’s yang essence is expensive, yet dawn stone is cheap… Could it be that the Tianyuan Realm has some sort of artificial sun?”

  Recalling the countless suns he had witnessed in his previous life, An Jing finally took only a fist-sized piece of ‘dawn stone’ and a box of ‘Myriad-Refinements Purified Iron.’ As for the dawn stone, its monetary value hardly mattered. Once agitated spiritual energy was poured into it, the stone would explode immediately, serving as a convenient makeshift bomb. A fist-sized piece of dawn stone could detonate with power equal to a mid-to-high-yer Qi Refining cultivator’s full-strength blow. According to the Sword Spirit, it could easily demolish a small house and would certainly prove useful against the sinborn demon or Fengdu Guards.

  Meanwhile, Myriad-Refinements Purified Iron was a by-product of mystic iron, prized for its stable properties. Though it was less durable than mystic iron, it was heavier. Beyond storing rge amounts of Five Metal Baleful Qi and sometimes serving as an anti-corrosion yer, it had few other uses.

  An Jing had used jade-cleaving steel for Foundation Establishment in his cultivation, but depending on jade-cleaving steel to restore spiritual energy afterward would have been prohibitively wasteful. Although Myriad-Refinements Purified Iron was retively rare in the Huaixu Realm, it was very cheap in the Tianyuan Realm. A single two hundred-jin box could fully replenish his spiritual energy several times over.

  As for other materials, he concluded there was no need to rush; he could collect them on his way out. For now, survival and mobility took precedence. If he was discovered and chased before returning to the Huaixu Realm, there would be no way to transport everything.

  Based on what the female cultivator clerk had mentioned, the ‘weapons’ behind the dispy counter were unexpectedly vish: a sword case, a ‘Protective Armor’ jade pendant, and two ‘Swiftstride Talismans.’ All of them were high-quality items.

  He skipped the sword case because he already had a superior one. The protective jade pendant only required spiritual energy to activate, and if he infused it with his Taibai Baleful Qi, it would harden further and generate a countershock cutting effect. The Swiftstride Talismans were even more precious—once activated, they would enhance the user’s speed and reflexes, effectively doubling both for around ten breaths. They were among the most practical first-tier talismans.

  “Attacked so abruptly that they couldn’t even use their weapons or talismans?” An Jing murmured, eyeing the nearly emptied Little Ochre Mountain shop in puzzlement. “Even if they had no time to use them, it’s hard to imagine leaving them behind. Were those robbers so unskilled that they failed to grab these valuables?”

  Yet upon further reflection, he found it less surprising. When mountains of gold and silver were right there for the taking, and everyone used mobile payment instead of carrying cash, who would bother rifling through the counters?

  With everything prepared, An Jing donned the protective jade pendant and carefully stowed the Swiftstride Talismans. He then concealed himself behind Little Ochre Mountain’s ore dispy, ready to extract Baleful Qi from the Myriad-Refinements Purified Iron to replenish his Taibai Baleful Qi.

  But first, he took a look at the map left by that female cultivator from Little Ochre Mountain. It showed a ventition duct along the perimeter of the third underground level. Though unremarkable at a gnce, it featured a locked side passage. Entering the correct code granted access all the way to the sewer system above the bck market. This route, maintained jointly by Little Ochre Mountain and several other parties, served as a ‘secret passage.’ That likely expined the scarcity of corpses on the third level—once danger was detected, most people fled via any number of prearranged escape routes.

  But this was clearly not the time. Using his drone to scan the map’s indicated location, An Jing spotted a heap of corpses near the ventition opening of that escape passage. Evidently, others had discovered it, and a battle had ensued. With Purple Mansion-level cshes still raging above, he decided to remain in the bck market a while longer, meditating to recover his spiritual energy before taking further action.

  While meditating, An Jing employed the Serene Sword Technique to quell his energy fluctuations, ensuring that anyone who happened to scan the area would sense nothing but a rusted sword. He also deployed the Six Qi Lotus Ptform and positioned several subsidiary drones at key intersections on the third floor, concealing them among the rubble to detect any irregurities. The Sword Spirit offered to monitor external spiritual fluctuations as well. If anything sizable or any dramatic surge of energy appeared, both the drones and the Sword Spirit would alert An Jing immediately.

  At first, his emotions were indeed tangled—anger, fear, resentment, and pity coiled around his heart like vines, hiding his true intentions under yer upon yer of leaves and stems and preventing any sense of calm. Yet the moment he engaged the Serene Sword Technique, a sudden burst of razor-sharp Baleful Qi ignited within him.

  It was keen and searing, like an inferno of bzing coals in a forge, roaring up from the depths of his being to collide with the worn, rusted sword in his heart. Sparks erupted as the rust fked off, and the bde emitted a soft yet unyielding hum…

  Kill!

  That crisp, metallic sword cry prompted An Jing’s tightly knit brow to ease, and the weight on his expression began to lift. At st, he realized what he needed to do, what he wanted to do, and what he would do in days to come: kill, and kill thoroughly.

  To hell with the demonic cult, to hell with the Heavenly Demons, and to hell with the Fengdu Guards! Anyone who treated human beings like disposable fodder or livestock deserved to die! Anyone who pced no value on human life deserved to die!

  —Yes, he conceded that he could not yet tackle the deeper, underlying causes… but could he not handle those responsible? He might be powerless for the moment, but once he grew stronger, he would sughter them—along with their entire families if necessary!

  Once that single thought of killing took hold, Heaven and Earth felt vast and unfettered.

  An Jing drew in a long breath, allowing every bit of his hostility, Baleful Qi, and honed resolve to coalesce into a whetstone that ground and refined the core of his Serene Sword Technique. The once-rusted bde grew keener, and so did his inner tranquility.

  He then commenced drawing the metal-attribute qi from the Myriad-Refinements Purified Iron to strengthen his Taibai Baleful Qi. From his perspective, it seemed but a fleeting moment. By the time the Sword Spirit’s warning roused him from deep meditation, half a day had epsed, and his Taibai Baleful Qi had increased from five strands to eight.

  “An Jing, someone is approaching the fourth child drone.”

  At the Fuxie Sword Spirit’s cautionary remark, An Jing opened his eyes, and the drone goggles he wore switched to the fourth child drone’s feed. There, a faint, translucent silhouette—easy to miss if one wasn’t vigint—was quietly moving through an intersection.

  “It’s not coming our way,” An Jing surmised, suspecting some form of illusory body technique. Based on the figure’s path, it probably wouldn’t pass Little Ochre Mountain’s entrance. “Likely another cultivator searching for a pce to hide. With a concealment technique like that, he stands a decent chance of surviving.”

  “That’s not the main issue,” the Sword Spirit said solemnly. “An Jing, there’s something very peculiar about his aura.”

  “I suspect he’s connected to that ‘Ancient Relic’!”

  (End of Chapter)