Chapter 84: Return to the Huaixu Realm

  The ing Sword Case had been successfully cracked without any mishaps, which was naturally good news for An Jing.

  Although An Jing had also purchased a Frostfall Rifle, giving him a way to attack fre, having more methods and trump cards was never a bad thing.

  Receiving the newly cracked ing Sword Case from Iron Hand, An Ji an unpreted sense of closeness—rather like a phone once locked to a single user that no longer required a password or fingerprint s.

  “Brand it with your vital esse its core, and then you’ll be able to trol it.”

  For aire day and night, Iron Hand did not rest at all; he spent every moment crag the military core of the sword case.

  He had done several other things too, but seeing the mysterious look on his face, An Jing chose not to pry—after all, one must be curious about the right things.

  After w nonstop all day, Iron Hand showed no sign of fatigue; in fact, he was quite enthusiastic. He even wao take An Jing outside to test the sword case’s power.

  An Jing had no obje. He took his newly purchased spiritual energy furnad headed outside the recyg hut.

  The spiritual energy furnace was about the size of two fists. It looked somewhat like an hss yet also resembled a small pill cauldron, with alternating bands of dark blue and bck across its surface. Fed from spiritual steel, it had a white fluorest sto its core that dispyed “y-nine pert,” indig how much spiritual energy remained inside.

  This spiritual energy furnace bore the brand 【Nih】, a small pany uhe Shouyang Mountain Group that specialized in furnaces of this type.

  Essentially, a spiritual energy furnace served as a power source for activating various Magical Artifacts, enabling ordinary cultivators of low cultivation to wield powerful artifaaintain protective formations around the clock.

  The Nih furnace was sidered a cssic design. It could be charged via artificial spiritual veins and was patible with most Magical Artifacts, including sword cases, of course.

  An Jing ected it to the ing Sword Case. Then he brahe case with his own vital esseaking trol of its operational program. In that instant, he felt as though he could direct the sword case as smoothly as moving his own arms. Moreover, a faint white ring of light, like a targeting lens, flickered into view in his eyes.

  “That’s the sword case’s automatic targeting formation. You link the formation to your target, thehe furo fire the flying sword. The flying sword will ght for whichever target the formation is locked onto.”

  Iron Hand guided An Jing to aim at the target perched atop the junkyard’s trash hill. He reminded him, “Don’t worry too much about precision. As long as the formation remains locked, the flying sword will tinually adjust its trajectory until it strikes. That’s what makes the sword case more vehan firearms—though it does e a lot of spiritual energy, it’s remarkably easy and fortable to operate!”

  “An Jing! These new-era flying swords are really quite fasating!”

  At that very moment, within An Jing’s Sea of sciousness, the Sword Spirit cheered with excitement, “I se—this is a new flying sword! I el my power into this sword case, making its blows heavier, its edge sharper, and its aim more precise!”

  “That’s perfect.”

  It was the first Magical Artifa Jing had ever operated, and he felt a rush of y. Right then, he held the ing Sword Case—shaped almost like a unch rail—in his hands, lined up the targeting formation in his eyes with the tiny dot on the distant trash hill, and used his vital esseo loto it.

  In the very instant, he activated the spiritual energy furnace.

  Buzz!

  A milky-white spirit crystal fred with brilliant light, and the small flying sword in the acceleration rail thundered forth in a split sed. A faint white arc of sword light streaked across the sky, and the target on the junkyard hill burst apart, disiing into ash that scattered on the wind.

  “That’s it!”

  Startled by its destructive power, An Jing paused for a moment before his heart surged with delight. With force like that, it certainly deserved its reputation as a military-grade sword case—no ordinary Internal Breath martial artist could possibly block it! Eve the peak of Internal Breath Like Tides or an Internal Fortifiartial artist would o remain fully on guard to ward it off!

  But An Jing’s intearget, that schor in white, although he possessed a Heaven-Ordained Fate and some secret arts, should only be at the Internal Breath Like Tides level.

  Still, if even an Internal Fortifiartial artist was caught off guard, a sirike might finish him!

  “This power…”

  Even Iron Hand, watg from the side, was stunned. He was well aware of a sword case’s destructive capabilities and had seen many military-grade ones. Yet for some reason, the case in An Jing’s hands felt even more potent.

  —Could it be a special high-quality sword case provided by the Luofu Group? But when I cracked it, I didn’t find anything that set it apart from other military cases… aside from the main branch's military core, which might be worth something.

  Iron Ha puzzled. In his opinion, if the target—covered by two yers of scrap-metal armor—had merely been blown open with a rge hole, that would already be impressive. But for it to be obliterated by a single flying-sword bullet…

  Could the target have been corroded by acid rain?

  Meanwhile, An Jing noticed that the furnace’s reserve had dropped from y-nine pert to seventy-two pert.

  One shot had ed twenty-seven pert of its stored energy. This meant a mid-grade furnace could fire at most three flying-sword bullets in quick succession. A low-grade furnace would be tapped out after two shots, likely requiring An Jing to add some of his own energy to pensate.

  “Military-grade sword cases guzzle spiritual energy; ordinary sword cases usually fire four or five times.”

  Iron Hand also noticed the dip in the furnace’s energy level and shook his head slightly.

  All the energy tained within a mid-grade spiritual-energy furnace was roughly equivalent to the total reserves of a Vital Essence Like Tides cultivator. But unlike a furnace, a human body would suffer harm if it burhrough every st bit of vital essence. In typical bat, a person could safely draw on only about seventy pert of that energy.

  For a cultivator like An Jing, whose Vital Essence was Like Rivers, even a single shot from a military-grade sword case using his own power was already a testament to his deep reserves.

  Hence, only people from powerful, wealthy panies could truly afford to use such military-grade Magical Artifacts.

  That recisely why the sword case’s massive spiritual energy ption had left the door open in the market funpowder ons to thrive.

  An Jing, however, did not mind in the slightest.

  In the Huaixu Realm, three flying swords were more than enough for his purposes.

  Besides, he had discovered the clever advantages of that military core.

  The ing Sword Case’s auto-guidance system ractically on par with a lo devid magic bullets, far more powerful thaype-III Eagle-Eye Sword Case. The synizatioween its algorithms and formations was the true value hidden within its core.

  Still, Iron Hand’s main motive for crag the Luofu Group’s military ight have been something else.

  “Many thanks, Boss Iron Hand.”

  Ohe test was pleted, An Jing offered his sihanks to Iron Hand. The tall man grinned fidently and said, “Seems my work’s up to par. If your tribe happens upon more military-grade artifacts iure, bring them to me.”

  “So, what’s your move? To be ho, little brother, the city’s been anything but peaceful tely. My advice is to wait a while before heading there again.”

  As they talked, the two returo the recyg hut. Boss Iron Hand gave An Jing a semi-transparent card and a regur token about the size of a thumb. “The semi-transparent one is your city entry pass. When the iion es, pour in your vital essence, and it will bind to you.”

  “The token is a bck-market pass. If anyone asks who referred you, just say it was Iron Hand Zhang Gu.”

  Iron Hand could tell An Jing reparing to leave.

  This mysterious youth from the wilds had arrived without a sound, and he would depart just as quietly, like so many others bound for Xuay.

  Meanwhile, An Jing took stock of his equipment:

  A ing Sword Case and twelve flying-sword bullets.A Frostfall Rifle and thirty-six special bullets.Two gunpowder pistols, plus eight spare magazines.One Nih spiritual energy furnace.Eight s of pressed meat.Five Defehunder Pearls.One sacrificial jade dagger.A set of bulletproof rain cloak and ical hat.Two Qi Boosting Pills.One piece of spirit jade, and oy piece of spirit jade.One high-quality retractable spear-type Magical Artifact taken from Daqiang.He also carried a few small knives and miseous items, but they were hardly worth mentioning.

  Seeing that An Jing’s bag was tattered—likely sged from a corpse—Iron Hand gave him a rugged off-road pad some gear straps to secure and carry everything.

  Now An Jing was ready to depart, while Iron Hand po take Daqiang—whose cultivation had been crippled—to meet the leader of the Day-Tiger Gang.

  Officially a “dead man,” Huo Qing would remaio stand guard. On paper, his existence was erased, and soon he would need a new ID chip.

  Until then, he had to stay at the recyg hut and study diligently.

  “Brother An, you said I’d already repaid my debt for you saving my life, but then you went and saved me again.”

  Just before An Ji—after recharging the furnace—Huo Qing, now penniless, could only csp An Jing’s hand in gratitude. “I won’t make a fuss with thank-yous for such great kindness. If you ever need anything, just say the word. If it’s within my power, I’ll do it without pint!”

  “You brat, who said you’re qualified to make promises like that?” Iron Hand lightly smacked Huo Qing on the back of the head, though not forcefully.

  His willio volunteer anything at all revealed that Huo Qing’s personality was ging, and Iron Ha gratified.

  “Then I’ll definitely hold you to it.”

  An Jing did not uimate this young fang atant. Over the past two days, the dark aura on his forehead and the bck tinge on his face had vanished pletely.

  Perhaps, just as the Sword Spirit had said, An Jing had entirely ged the course of Huo Qing’s fate. Now, in terms of Heavenly Fate and good fortune, Huo Qing had been reborn.

  And thanks to his assistance, An Jing’s owiny had received a slight boost as well.

  Waving farewell to both of them, An Jihe recyg hut, disappearing among the junkyard’s scattered debris.

  Iron Hand and Huo Qing began making preparations to iate with the Day-Tiger Gang. Even though the ce of failure was slim, they couldn’t rule it out. Iron Hand had weathered many years in the Fu Pins through both caution and luck.

  No oiced exactly when An Jing slipped away.

  Without a sound, he left that world auro Huaixu.

  (End of Chapter)