Destiny in Cinders

Chapter 16: Talent Manifestation

At the end of the day, those were just An Jing’s guesses. He couldn’t be sure that the beast flesh and herbal concoctions had anything to do with it.

Zhang Ying, who understood beast flesh the most, had already left the mountain. While Gu Yeqi seemed better versed in herbs, her understanding was limited to their effects when used in isolation rather than when used in a blend.

Since Zhang Ying and Ye Xiuyuan’s departure, An Jing kept on wondering what could’ve happened to them. There was always a sense of aloofness whether he trained or studied, furrowing his brow or blanking out from time to time. One instructor couldn’t bear to see it any longer and came over to ask about it before shaking his head, leaving.

The others didn’t think it was too out of place since Zhang Ying and Ye Xiuyuan had been An Jing’s friends. Zhan Feng did also call himself An Jing’s follower, though what could really be said about the fancies of children like that? The true extent of their relationship didn’t stretch far beyond having trained together for a while. Even so, they had gotten along for a time, so when three of An Jing’s friends suddenly left, it was no wonder that he would feel down. Fortunately, Gu Yeqi and Cang Linzu were still around. When the three of them were talking, An Jing would smile from time to time.

Despite An Jing’s less-than-ideal mental state, he still remained the strongest disciple among them. There were a few challengers who thought that this was a chance to test An Jing’s strength, only to be defeated by the listless, unfocused An Jing all the same. It got to a point where he didn’t even bother using both hands and simply used a stick in one hand and Armorpierce Impetus to knock the weapons out of every challenger’s hand. On average, each challenger only lasted two and a half bouts.

Only then did the children realize with shock that An Jing had been hiding his true power all along, having only shown them the bare minimum of what he could do. Still, the realization wasn’t so drastic that it was completely unimaginable. An Jing had been strong to begin with, so it only stood to reason that the gap between him and the rest would get even wider after they had been given proper martial techniques. He had already mastered those techniques while others were just beginning to be able to use them, causing them to have far more openings in comparison.

Having been seen through, An Jing no longer bothered to hide his true capabilities and showed them often. This, however, resulted in the rest not being willing to train with him, not that he minded it. It was their loss for not taking the chance to learn from him even through their own defeat.

The only ones who had qualms about it were the instructors. Training with the other children wouldn’t make An Jing stronger, which was not what they were tasked to do. As such, the instructors decided to step in personally to train with him, which he didn’t mind.

Since the instructors wanted him to go all out, he did as he was told. Though his spars with the instructors often ended with his defeat, serving as examples of what not to do for the others, the rest didn’t look down on him for it. Instead, they respected him even more. Nobody else would be willing to join the fight and be defeated every single time, only to get up and try again, after all.

In time, even as An Jing kept losing, he no longer collapsed on the ground like before. There were even times when he could exchange a few proper bouts with the instructors, occasionally triggering their countermoves.

The instructors who went into this casually eventually got more serious as well. These seemingly emotionless instructors even began to praise An Jing from time to time. After all, if they couldn’t even bring themselves to praise a kid who they needed to take seriously to defeat, all there would be left to do was to admit their own incompetence.

Despite what everyone thought, however, An Jing still hadn’t shown all that he was capable of. He had only revealed half of the power he had hidden before, hiding the other half and keeping his cards close to him.

The reason for that was simple. Instead of keeping everything hidden, he would reveal enough to encourage Direlife Manor to invest more resources and instruction in him. Since he noticed that something was amiss after his friends were sent away one after another, his dormant sense of urgency had been reawakened.

No matter what was happening in the background or what Direlife Manor had planned for those who were disqualified, it didn’t change the fact that they valued and needed talent. So, as long as he showed enough promise, he would be able to gain more opportunities, eventually leading to him learning more about the mysteries of the place.

That was the path he had chosen, and though much of it was still clouded and unclear, especially with regards to the mysterious voice he had heard that night, he knew that the one thing he needed to do was to get stronger. Only then would he be able to suppress that anxiety within him.

Nowadays, he ate the most among the children and also sparred with the instructors most often. His familiarity with the martial techniques was honed even more until it reached higher, refined levels. Bit by bit, his wasted movement and needless openings were chipped away to the point that he struck efficiently and sufficiently.

He had even integrated some of the insights he gained from his Spark into Armorpierce Impetus. For instance, he was able to use the technique to exert terrifying amounts of power with grappling and ground work. However, all that still wasn’t enough.

”I have to break through and reach the Aura Realm.” This was the goal he had set for himself. ”Only by using aura can I hide my presence even better and go undetected by other aura martialists. With it, I can also discern the real effects of the beast flesh and concoctions they’re feeding us.”

The three hurdles on the martial path were mind, body and skill. When a martialist reached the point where their body moved with great accuracy, exactly the way the mind wanted it to move, one would be able to start cultivating aura.

Aura was linked to innate qi in the body, but it was also a skill that could only be cultivated as a martialist matured. One had to first restore one’s body and soul to the prenatal form to cultivate this stream of energy.

Only by possessing aura could one be called a martialist. The three stages of the Aura Realm were the Silk, River and Tide stages, with each one considerably stronger than the previous one.

Even if An Jing only reached the most basic Silk Aura Stage, he was confident he would be able to evade detection from all the instructors and never be discovered by the usual patrols.

The mind and body parts of the equation were in place, and he was getting there in terms of skill. As he got closer and closer to full mastery of Armorpierce Impetus, he had a feeling that he would certainly be able to reach the Aura Realm in another month.

However, a breakthrough like that was surely to be discovered. After all, almost all martial techniques practiced in Grand Chen were methods of motion. The healthier one’s body was, the stronger it would be, leading to richer innate qi. When one lived an active life, one’s innate qi would also become active, which in turn gave one’s mind opportunities to get a grasp on innate qi. The coordination of mind and body gave rise to skill, which was basically reflected by the harmony of motion between mind and body. This harmonic movement within the body was the true nature of aura that all martialists harnessed.

In other words, methods of motion were the culmination of mind, body and skill. In more concrete terms, this was a process where one was immersed to the point of achieving a state of ideal harmony between mind and body to the point of being able to tap into one’s innate qi.

Achieving such a state required the flawless execution of one’s martial skill, including actual combat experience with others. Doing so would definitely cause enough of a commotion that it wasn’t something that could be hidden.

While breaking through to reach the Aura Realm might earn An Jing recognition from Direlife Manor, it would also draw the kind of attention he didn’t want. The instructors and the rest would be aware that he could hide his presence and take extra precautions to prevent him from discovering the secrets of the place, hence why he wanted to hide his breakthrough.

There was one thing, however, that he had gotten wrong. He had already performed well enough that he stood out without even needing to reach the Aura Realm and had achieved his goal without meaning to.

One morning, Instructor Li didn’t dismiss the class as usual after their training session. Instead, he called An Jing to him.

In an envious tone, he said, ”You have made such great strides that we instructors can no longer teach you anything. You don’t have to go to the arena in the afternoon today. Instead, the manor lord will see you later to teach you the orthodox technique.”