Chapter 78: Boss Iron Hand

  —Sure enough, Celestial Fate was not merely a bel for a so-called Child of Destiny favored by fortu was more like a beefed-up trouble geor!

  An Ji out a sigh. He had also noticed that his own luck was extraordinarily subtle—he wouldn’t call it ht bad, but it iably led to tless twists and turns.

  If this truly stemmed from the “Seven Fiends Celestial Fate,” then the name perfectly fit the reality.

  As for the possibility of actually having a Celestial Fate, An Jing did not have much of a rea.

  A powerful Heaven-Ordained Fate signified siderable talent, and he was naturally gd about that. Still, he would not bee overly awestruck ant because of it.

  Certain things, An Jing would dardless of whether he possessed such a Fate.

  It was his will that drove him to uake specific as, ultimately fulfilling the Fate. He never acted solely because Celestial Fate dictated it.

  —Fate was ordained by Heaven, but matters were aplished by man.

  That was An Jing’s creed.

  By now, midday had arrived. The grayish sky glowed bright white, as though the entire heavens had bee a massive indest mp.

  Such was noon iianyuan Realm. There was no grand su was just as bright.

  At this point, An Jing’s objectives were perfectly clear.

  First, he o acquire some form of curren the Tianyuan Realm.

  Thanks to the skirmishes among various gangs and Daqiang’s group “generously” leaving him their belongings, he now had a sizable assortment of firearms and items they’d carried—Spiritlight Guns, bullets, stimunts, and peared to be spray isters. Acc to the Subduing Evil Sword Spirit, those tained a spray-based healing medie.

  Acc to Huo Qing, his elders would be willing to buy all of that back.

  Sed, he o acquire ons suitable for “sniping.”

  It did not necessarily have to be a sniper rifle; as long as it could strike someone on a flying shuttle, it would do. Several hundred meters was not that far. An Jing had firmed the white-robed schor was not at Internal Fortification but rather at the pinnacle of Internal Energy. Thus, like An Jing, he would be uo block a bullet; a shot to a vital point would be lethal.

  An Jing did not bother calg the costs. If he failed to kill that white-robed schor, he would never be free from the Demonic Sect’s pursuit.

  Whether by purchase, theft, or robbery—if he had the ce to obtain what he needed, he would take it without hesitation.

  He sincerely hoped his fellow inhabitants of the Tianyuan Realm would give him some leeway so he wouldn’t be pushed to such extremes.

  Third, he needed specific resources to cultivate the Radiant White Spirit Diviri.

  Currently, An Jing was still using the Imperial Heaven Qi-Nurturihod granted by the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect.

  It was a det cultivation teique, but it leaoward assassination, offered retively weak direbat potential, and was only average in speed. Besides, it likely had hidden traps. An Jing simply did not feel at ease cultivating it.

  Meanwhile, the Radiant White Spirit Diviri—inally a top-tier Sword Immortal cultivatiohod from the Sword Spirit’s era—not only ighe effects of Demonic Qi but would also grant An Jing a mueeded boost to his physical stitution.

  As a Qi Refining practice, it likewise provided a signifit enhao one’s sensory perception.

  As long as he could advahe grade of the Radiant White Spirit Diviri, he would offset most of his shortings. After that, all he needed was a suitable movement teique.

  The Sword Spirit really had nothing of that sort. After all, it was an Immortal Sword, not a Sword Immortal, and only knew sword-trolling teiques. An Immortal Sword had no reason to learn footwork or evasion skills.

  Sin Jing was temporarily uo ehe city in the Huaixu Realm, he could not purchase resources there. Fortunately, the Tianyuan Realm’s Artifact Refining industry was highly advanced.

  Simply the massive furnace core iown’s ter made it clear that this world had no she of the Five Metals, which would allow him to quickly raise the level of the Taibai Diviri.

  Lastly, he o find a pce to rest.

  Even cultivators needed sleep. It had been ages sin Jing st rested properly—though this remained his lowest priority. After all, he was still young, and a few sleepless nights wouldn’t truly harm him. In fact, the more he pushed himself, the more invigorated he felt.

  Beyond these four main objectives, An Jing didn’t mind lending Huo Qing a helping hand.

  After all, Huo Qing robably the first individual whose destiny had been directly rewritten by An Jing’s ‘Seven Fiends Celestial Fate.’ He wao see how this oned, gloom-browed atant-cultivator from the gang would develop now that his life-or-death tribution had beeurned.

  Moreover, with his assistance, perhaps An Jing could iate a better buy-back price.

  With his objectives set, An Jing began to act.

  He was aced to listing tasks in order—owo, three, four, five—so he would never feel fused about what came .

  Thus, once he firmed that the junkyard’s Demonic Qi had nothing to do with any Heavenly Demon, An Ji relieved and led Huo Qing to the recyg station.

  Xuay, Fu Pins—southwestern dump site for recycble metal scraps.

  Recyg Hut No. 2.

  Upon arriving at the recyg station, An Jing immediately noticed the distinctive style of this small recyg hut.

  All around y multicolored, rust-stained metal scraps and piles of wreckage. Yet the recyg hut aloed on a solid stone foundation, with a proper lobby, wooden window frames, and lush climbing vines draping its walls, giving it a and appealing look.

  The only odd thing was the hut’s rooftop—it seemed a little too new.

  Many others had also arrived early at the recyg hut, just like An Jing. Most of them wore humble attire, with bulletproof rain cloaks devoid of any gang emblem, indig they were simply ordinary folk colleg recycble items.

  The hut had yet to open, and everyone waited quietly at the entrance. Surprisingly—given local habits—they merely grumbled that “Old Iron Hand has overslept again,” but did not bang on the door or try to make him open it.

  An Jing uood why they remained so docile.

  He sehat the vines o were no ordinary ivies but a peculiar spirit pnt f a formation across the surrounding ground.

  Acc to the Sword Spirit, if that wood-attribute grand formation activated, even a cultivator at the seventh yer of Qi Refining (Internal Fortificatio Achievement) wielding a Magical Artifact would be in for a tough battle.

  Mur folks in this area had Vital Essence Like Threads, barely qualifying as cultivators. Hardly any possessed Vital Essence Like Rivers, so no one dared be reckless.

  An Jing’s party was another matter. Huo Qing had es and urgent business. Steadying himself, he stepped forward and—uhe uneasy gazes of bystanders who clearly wao stop him but didn’t dare—rang the doorbell.

  —Ding-ling-ling!!!

  The bell’s pierg ring echoed. Moments ter, a furious roar sounded: “Enough with that racket! Sting the doorbell!”

  “You worthless bunch of corpse-pig jackals and sging vultures! You won’t eve a man sleep—may all your mothers be…!”

  A torrent of expletives followed, eg around the hut in a booming voice steeped in foul nguage.

  Then the door flung open, and a giant man well over two meters tall stormed out. His imposing manner faltered momentarily upon seeing the se in front of him.

  His junior, Huo Qing, appeared utterly spent, on the verge of colpse, with a freshly healed wound on his shoulder. Nearby stood a masked youth, obviously wearing someone else’s clothes, holding the unscious form of the man the giant reized as Daqiang.

  “What in the world is this?”

  His voice was filled with fusion. “Ah Qing, how did you get hurt? Why was Daqiaing you take the front lines? How did he get knocked out, too? And that kid…?”

  The man’s left arm was a massive metallic prostheti silvery white, with wooden roots curling around the joints. His left eye, fashioned from red jade, was some kind of Magical Artifact prosthetic.

  He frowned and used his glowing red eye to size up An Jing from head to toe, then raised an eyebrow. “Such a young barbarian kid… This must be something major.”

  “Uncle Iron Hand, it really is a big deal,” Huo Qing said.

  Initially, Huo Qing had many worries, but after so mabacks, he had grown tougher. F himself to stand straight, he spoke frankly. “Uncle Daqiang misappropriated ang’s resources and tried to pin it on me. My frieed him, but the things we did in the first pce are enough to get me killed by the boss.”

  “I’ve got no other options. I didn’t want to bother you, but with things as they are, you’re the only one I turn tuidance.”

  “You idiot! You foolish brat!”

  Huo Qing summarized how he and Daqiang had embezzled fa funds. Halfway through, the tall man—Iron Hand—scowled. “How the hell did you two even dare?”

  He leveled a fierce gre at the unscious Daqiang in An Jing’s grasp, then glowered at Huo Qing in fury. “That’s pure idiocy, letting that level of stupidity in—utterly brainless! Damn it, you k was wrong, but you still followed that sdrel Daqiang?”

  “Betraying yang is disloyal to the gang! Not valuing your life is unfilial to your parents!”

  “You rotten brat, both disloyal and unfilial—now that you’re ered, you suddenly remember your uncle?”

  Huo Qing had no answer. He k and bowed to Iron Hand. Enraged, Iron Hand kicked him, sending him flying nearly a dozeers. A couple of bones clearly snapped uhat blow, yet Huo Qing stayed silent. He merely staggered back to his feet auro Iron Hand.

  “Get in here! You know where I keep the medie, you little punk!”

  He smacked Huo Qing again, his massive hand striking so hard that blood seeped from the er of the young man’s mouth. Yet now that Iron Hand’s anger had somewhat cooled, he showed his for his junior by letting him ehe shop—a gesture of tacit prote.

  “Scram, scram! All of you, get lost!” Iron Hand roared at the sgers and body-pickers outside. “Grandpa’s got personal busioday, so I’m not opening up! Go on, e baorrow!”

  “You made me e all this way for nothing—tomorrow you’d better give me a dist!” “Go to hell!”

  Sensing Old Iron Hand’s foul mood, the crowd dispersed in a flurry of sighs, idle chatter, and half-joking curses, scattering through the junkyard.

  Only then did Iron Hand finally turn his gaze to An Jing.

  Seeing An Jing standing there, still holding Daqiang, the hulking man spoke in a calmer toinged with gratitude. “Huo Qing survived all this only because of yht, young brother?”

  “It’s windy out here. You should e in as well.”

  (End of Chapter)