Destiny in Cinders

The goldfur bear palm was about the size of a human shoulder, encased in clear ice for preservation. It emanated wisps of gold-white radiance that fizzled out and reformed within the ice, strengthening the structure of the water crystals themselves. This was an odd phenomenon of five-phase interaction.

Even though An Jing was mainly trained in the martial way, he had studied quite a lot of Daoist texts and was familiar with the five phases and how they related to each other. The aspects of metal, wood, water, fire and earth represented the five modes of matter in the universe. But one could also look at it deeper. They were also abstractions of the innate properties of things.

Metal represented the white, malleability and change. It could be formed according to people’s will. The meaning could be expanded to mean transformation, refinement, severance and replacement. The core principle was one of shifting complexity to simplicity. This description didn’t only just apply to mystic metals’ material properties. Rather, these described a category of properties that could be abstracted to be analogous to metallic properties.

While metal was tough, it was malleable and could be forged into all sorts of tools and weapons, signifying adaptability. Old metal could also be reforged and transformed into something new. This could apply to both theoretical and political revolutions.

It was also why the color white represented metal even though most metals weren’t of that color. The color white symbolized solemn severance, a touch of purity that could cut through all corruption. Only by rendering the surrounding environment white would one have a canvas to paint something new on.

It also symbolized replacement, which was why the fall season was also associated with metal. Fall came and severed the hot summer, drastically shifting things toward the cold of winter. It cut off the rampant proliferation of life during spring and summer, culling and refining the herd. It was not unlike how the color white diluted other colors when it mixed with other colors, decreasing their intensity as its pure pigment displaced and replaced others.

The goldfur bear palm was a metal-aspect spirit item and the energy it contained would constantly corrode away at the material of its container. It wouldn’t work with metal, stone or wood containers. Only ”water” containers could contain something like that.

While water was soft, it could take countless different forms. It didn’t seem that remarkable, yet it was the cradle of all living things, even the smallest of beings. However, it could also bring death. When all water, vapor and boiling matter sank and settled, they would change into snow and ice. It could become a boundless sea that swallowed all. Drowning was the most lonely form of death, occurring without a single sound. All signs of struggling were muffled in murky depths. Water encompassed all, whether living or dead, closing the cycle of life itself.

The color black also had similar associations. Any other color that encountered black would be darkened more and more. Pure black stood for the depths, solitude and absolute silence, sharing very similar properties to water. Even though water was colorless in its own right, in deep bodies of water, there was nothing but pitch darkness. Yet, its ability to nourish also symbolized the rebirth of spring after deathly winter, emblemized by the nourishing relationship water had with wood.

The generative relationship from metal to water didn’t just refer to the analogy of water vapor condensing into water on the surface of metal. It also mirrored the severing nature of fall which allowed winter to occur, setting the stage for water to bring about life once more when spring came along. It was a process of receding, gathering and condensing which strengthened everything else. If one only understood the superficial interactions of the five phases, one wouldn’t be able to go far in all matters pertaining to cultivation.

An Jing watched as the paw corroded away at the ice, which continued to reform again and again, a classic manifestation of water-metal interaction. The ice seemed to absorb some of the metallic elements that the paw emanated. By using the ice block that constantly disintegrated and reformed around the paw as a base for paw soup, one would be able to retain most of the essence of the paw. By borrowing the aspect of fire to stimulate growth and proliferation, the essence could be refined into a much more digestible form.

”It’s a shame that this paw isn’t the most precious part of the bear, impressive as it is. Goldfur bears are most valued for their lungs and gall bladder. The skin and other parts are merely secondary,” Yvelbane said with a tone of resignation.

Most of the might of the goldfur bear came from the lungs, which could pull into massive amounts of air to be used as fuel for the body. It also allowed them to roar as loud as thunder.

”Obtaining the qi within the lungs might allow us to strengthen your own lungs and reinforce the meridians across your body. It improves Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal’s fragmented ability, Firm White.

”Additionally, once your meridians are cleared, the speed at which you gather qi essence will also increase rapidly just like how vapor condenses into droplets on metallic surfaces, thereby boosting your kidneys. We just need another water-aspect catalyst to bring your ocular technique to the next level.”

”There’s no rush. We’ll have more chances to get our hands on spirit items in the future,” An Jing said nonchalantly. He knew that Yvelbane’s perfectionist tendencies were flaring up again as it planned every detail of his cultivation roadmap. However, that was built on the assumption that he would only be able to pick one type of resource. As An Jing could traverse between worlds, he had far more opportunities to double or triple dip into resources, greatly expanding his full potential far more than most others could. The more resources he could pile on, the more perfect of a cultivation he could attain.

The only question now was how he would consume the goldfur bear paw. He did know how to cook somewhat, but his repertoire was limited to fried rice or tomato-egg stir fry. Stew was something he couldn’t claim to have mastered.

After some thought, he decided to call on Blessed Virtue Garden’s master chef to prepare the ingredient for him. Blessed Virtue Garden were fully convinced of how rich and generous he was, so they definitely wouldn’t refuse his request or shortchange him of his precious ingredient.

As he expected, the master chef immediately agreed to the request and accepted a symbolic amount of money as compensation. He did ask whether An Jing would spare a small bowl of soup after the dish was prepared, but didn’t elaborate on the reason. Perhaps he had some urgent need to clear his meridians and stimulate his kidneys, which the soup would be the perfect catalyst for.

”Of course, by all means.” An Jing wouldn’t refuse this small request that the chef had humbled himself to make. It was a small favor for someone who would bring the most out of this precious ingredient.

The paw took quite a lot of time to properly cook. An Jing only got to enjoy the meal alone in a meditation room of the establishment at midnight. If he were frank, it didn’t taste that good and resembled a really stiff pork knuckle. Despite the master chef’s attentive efforts across a span of eight hours, he wasn’t able to infuse any real flavor into the paw. It tasted no different from metal, just softer and chewable.

An Jing was a martialist, however, so harder textures were no problem for him. In fact, it was sometimes more stimulating and preferable. The feeling of his innate qi immersed in the powerful spirit qi from the food was also a proxy for the feeling of deliciousness.

He finished the food as quickly as he could and started to circulate his techniques to prepare for a breakthrough. He held a piece of jadeslice steel in each hand. If he had enough time, he would make full use of the boost provided by the bear paw to manifest the second Evenstar seal.