Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

There were multiple types of resources listed in the Treasury, arranged according to their quality.

Herbal medicine to temporarily increase concentration and affinity with qi, potions to temporarily make skin pores larger, solid blocks of frozen qi that could be used in bathwater to absorb without any effort, drinks spiked with qi, supplementary techniques to speed up qi cycles, pills to stimulate meridians, gadgets that made meridians more flexible, devices to influence one's mental power and concentration, formation ingredients that automatically attracted qi and pushed them inside the cultivator and many more!

The pricing, however, was predictably far from being generous. It took Han Xuhan a long time to filter the resources priced less than 300 spirit stones.

But he did it gleefully, watching the elder impatiently twitching at his deliberately sluggish shopping process. After he had scammed the elder's underling back, the man hadn't dared to return lest he should make another scene. Right now, all he wanted was for Xuhan to complete his shopping and go away.

In the end, he chose to spend 350 spirit stones and bought several blocks of frozen qi, bottles of liquified qi, a vial of concentration-increasing potion, and the lowest level of formation ingredients.

"Didn't you say you only brought 100 spirit stones in your pouch?" the elder was stunned when he saw the list of chosen resources Xuhan had handed to him.

"...I lied, elder. Just like the senior had."

With his pouch light and a heart brimming with satisfaction, Han Xuhan returned to his hut, replaying the scene of the elder's countenance contorting in incredulity again and again in his mind.

The senior disciple had been punished with a penalty of one hundred spirit stones, as well as unpaid physical labor of several weeks. The elder was obviously not willing to deliver a punishment so harsh...

But the prestige of the sect was in question here. Han Xuhan had been kind enough to remind the elder of that fact, multiple times.

"I wonder what his expression will be like when he comes to know that I was lying. I really want to see it..."

* * * * * * * *

One week after his massive expenditure, Han Xuhan finally shed his identity as a mortal and entered the first layer of the Physique Transformation realm while cycling his qi under elder Kong's observant eyes.

He had received a substantial amount of help from the elder while breaking through, for which Xuhan was very grateful to the elder.

Even his boss Mu Ran felt the pressure he was under and exempted him from his lackey duties until he broke through to the second layer.

He had been cultivating furiously for the last few days. With the passing of time, Xuhan had managed to gauge his talent in cultivation compared to his peers. The discovery had shocked him greatly.

No, he wasn't an amazingly talented hidden gem, like he had hoped. His aptitude for cultivation was in fact nearly trash tier. After asking around, Han Xuhan had learned that more than 80 percent of his fellow disciples had taken barely half a week to break into the first layer from being a normal mortal.

The only redeeming quality he discovered about himself was perhaps his comprehension. Having his basic science lessons from his previous life still fresh in his mind, he could adapt and bulldoze his way through complicated lessons, cultivation techniques, and mathematical aspects with much more ease compared to his fellow disciples, something that the elders appreciated while teaching him.

For example, a couple of days ago, elder Shi was describing the subtle differences between bloodlines and how they affect one's body by circulating through the blood vessels. Nearly none of the disciples understood the process or the theory at first, being ignorant of the physiological knowledge of the human body at a molecular level. The only vessel they cared about was the meridians where qi flowed.

But Han Xuhan easily managed to identify the keywords and understood how the bloodline characteristics blended with the blood corpuscles and made tiny changes at the molecular level.

Of course, none of the magical aspects or mutations could be explained scientifically. But he wasn't interested in pursuing harmony between science and magic. So he just marked the inexplicable parts as [cultivation magic] in his notes and left it at that.

However, this was already an exceptional level of comprehensive ability from the viewpoint of the teachers. So Han Xuhan received more care from them as a result.

While such care from the elders would inevitably generate jealousy from his peers, no one was actually feeling any envy toward Xuhan. The reason was simple.

Xuhan's cultivation speed was the worst in the class.

Even Yuen Zhou, the other mortal disciple had broken through to the first layer on the third day of the first week, followed by Mu Ran on the next day.

Multiple elders had refused to believe such a mediocre disciple could have so amazing performance during comprehensive parts of their lessons. After breaking through to the first layer, Han Xuhan had been asked to visit the infirmary pavilion, the head of which turned out to be a familiar person.

She was the woman who had reprimanded elder Mu for giving Han Xuhan the precious opportunity to fly on his sword...

"So, I'm supposed to be examined for abnormalities again, right, elder Cai?"

"Yes. I'm going to conduct a thorough examination of your meridians and the skin pores that connect with your qi vessels. Elder Kong in particular was very adamant about examining you. He refuses to accept your slow speed of cultivation as a simple lack of talent."

Han Xuhan was still rather confused regarding the matter. Wasn't normal for some disciples to lack talent in any sect? Why did elder Kong insist on this?

Or was there more to the story than it seems...?

"Okay. Lie down and try to relax. This might be a bit uncomfortable..."

Hearing her instructions, Xuhan shivered.

Lying on the bed, he felt elder Cai touching his temples lightly. Just as he was about to relax his nerves, a jolt of dull pain went through his head as if something blunt had forced its way through his skin.

Before he could yelp out in alarm, the pain disappeared, replaced by the sensation of strangely fluid movements under the skin of his temples.

"Uh-huh, don't tense your body. Just try to relax." the elder ordered him not to move. The sensation of a foreign object moving under his skin continued, as if probing for something.

Han Xuhan did his best not to freak out. The sensation was nightmarish. It was like a worm moving inside his body. From head to toe, it didn't miss a single centimeter.

After what felt like ages, elder Cai stood up and retracted her fingers from his temples, taking whatever it was that had been crawling under his skin with her, and started walking around the room with furrowed brows.

Han Xuhan sat up and massaged his brows to relieve the tension he was feeling around his forehead while waiting for the evaluation.

However, the tense elder Cai ignored his pointed coughs and stared at her finger in a dazed manner, her lips moving silently as if she was muttering to herself about something problematic.

Xuhan started feeling a premonition of dread. It couldn't be...was there really something wrong with him?

Could he be so unlucky?

Speaking from experience....Ah, shit.

Their reverie was broken when elder Kong entered the pavilion out of nowhere.

"What's the situation? Did you discover anything worrisome, elder Cai?"

Elder Cai snapped out of her daze and seemed to be gathering her thoughts slowly. Han Xuhan patiently waited for her to speak.

"Upon examination, it seems that disciple Xuhan has a few damaged meridians, which to be frank, isn't a rare phenomenon. Most mortals do not take proper care of their qi vessels due to ignorance. I have seen many disciples here in this sect with the same handicap."

"Is that it? I'm aware of that already. But that shouldn't be the sole reason behind his mediocre speed of cultivation, right?"

Elder Kong didn't seem surprised in the slightest.

"Yes, there are other reasons as well. Some of his meridians have had unnecessary growth spurts which have blocked multiple crucial points of his qi routes. This is also not an unnatural thing. Most cultivators have a few mutated meridians.

"While examining his dantian, the point where most of the qi is stored and processed, I noticed that it was a size smaller compared to average. This is another reason why his cultivation speed is slow.

"I also checked his skin pores, which are smaller in number compared to the skin of an average person, as well as being slightly narrower than usual, making his qi absorption slower."

As elder Cai listed the reasons one by one, elder Kong's expression became odd.

Technically, none of those defects were particularly problematic. Few people were born with a perfect body suitable for cultivation. Almost everyone had one or two of these defects, except...

"Yes, exactly what you're thinking elder Kong. None of those defects should have impeded his cultivation by much. They can be neglected when compared with the bigger picture.

Yet, Xuhan has too many of such small defects in his body. Statistically speaking, it's very common for someone to have one or two such defects, slightly rare to have four or five, and very, very rare to have over half a dozen.

"But little Xuhan has tens of such defects.

"If we were to talk about the possibility of such a physique's existence, it would be ten times rarer than the top-grade divine physiques mentioned in legends that all cultivators dream of.

"It's not unnatural, he is just unfortunate, incredibly, terrifyingly unfortunate.

Simply said, the heavens seem to have a vendetta against little Xuhan. All of those defects are natural and harmless when alone, but stacked together in one body? That's the same thing as making a mere mortal run a race on one foot. He'll always be the last without external help.

"Hell, he might not even finish the race and collapse halfway. Without a very large and constant supply of resources, Xuhan has no chance of progressing his cultivation at the normal speed."

Elder Hei's words were like thunders clapping beside his eardrums. Both Han Xuhan and elder Kong were stunned into silence.

This kind of luck, to have obtained a physique ten times rarer than divine physiques...

What atrocities did Xuhan commit in his past life? Wasn't he just an innocent mortal? Is this any different from the heavens bullying a helpless man?

Gloomily, Han Xuhan walked out of the medicine pavilion while elder Kong remained seated inside, still shell-shocked.

As it turned out, he had no other way of cultivating normally except consuming external resources like those geniuses that are cherished by the sect, with the only difference being that he would have to pay for it all...

"Looks like I'll have to go earn some spirit stones," Xuhan muttered in a low voice. He was already used to such shockingly depressing news. So it didn't affect him much.

Being this unfortunate was just like playing a game on hard mode. It might be a frustrating experience, but it certainly offered a more interesting gameplay.

Either way, he was determined to become a powerful cultivator, regardless of the handicaps.

In all honesty, finding out about this handicap only made him even more curious about why the heavens had screwed him over so hard.