Destiny in Cinders

”So this is what makes celestial arcs special...” It was as if An Jing had many corresponding divine arcs that gave him the authority to control specific types of spirit qi, which enabled him to use even more complicated techniques. He would be able to master techniques and abilities far more holistically. Even if he focused on only one type of spirit qi, the divine arcs would give him such fine control over particular types of spirit qi, far surpassing the control afforded by other lifearcs.

In addition, the Fortification Realm, being the martial equivalent of the Qi Refinement Realm, meant that An Jing had become far more accomplished on the martial path than the immortal path. Not including the seventy strands of spirit energy that Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal allowed him to control, he sensed that he could control more than a hundred streams of blood and metal lethal qi when he used his wonder. The maximum number was probably 144, double the number of Earthly Lethalizers.

It wasn’t a massive number; An Jing had yet to reach full mastery with Temporal Grasp. He believed that the wonder’s highest limit would allow him to control a total of 240 strands.

The fact that he could already control more strands of qi than Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal at the Fortification Realm didn’t mean that the latter was weaker. Instead, it was because Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal was only at the Spirit Awakening Realm before nine seals were manifested, the immortal equivalent of the Aura Realm.

Once he manifested all nine seals, he would be able to control a basic number of 108 plus twelve strands of spirit qi, making a total of 120. That would put him on his current level of the martial path when he used his wonder, which was far more than most typical people could control. From the tenth seal onward, every seal increased that number by sixty. Not to mention, every ninth manifested seal unlocked an ability, so Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal was by no means inferior to any martial arcanum in Void Embrace.

”Yvelbane, the martial path seems to allow one to generate spirit energy directly with the power of the lifearc,” An Jing said, somewhat surprised. It really felt like the martial path was developed to be able to complement the immortal path perfectly. ”Doesn’t that mean I won’t need to carry jadeslice steel around anymore?”

”You’re overthinking it,” Yvelbane refuted. ”The spirit and lethal qi produced by your lifearc using the qi essence in your body is fundamentally part of you. Do you know how much you’d have to eat to recover the spent qi essence? Typical martialists need to rest for long periods of time to be able to recover their spent spirit energy. If you cultivate this way, you’d be completely drained in a few short days! You can only be self-sustaining once you reach the Clearing Realm or establish your immortal foundation at the equivalent Foundation Building Realm. That’s when you’ll be able to absorb the spirit qi in the environment and convert it for your own use.”

”I see.” It made sense when he thought about it. The power of the lifearc was inherent to it, only growing when the lifearc itself grew through certain actions. For instance, Madam Huai’s Qi Soul Lending grew when she helped others. The Seven Ruins Arc grew with the destruction of all things old, followed by a replacement by the new. At the end of the day, amassing lifearc power was a crucial part of martial cultivation that even someone like An Jing couldn’t afford to slack off on.

He had to awaken his other lifestars and continue to gather feedback to his lifearc to increase his comprehension of the dao. How could he waste his precious lifearc’s power to generate spirit energy when he could just use spirit items to speed up the manifestation of his seals? Either way, the Fortification Realm was a whole new level. Even if it couldn’t shortcut his seal manifestation, it still sped it up considerably.

Apart from that, An Jing would be able to pose as a beginner immortal cultivator of the Qi Refinement Realm in Skysource. Once he raised his immortal-path cultivation to Qi Refinement proper, he would be able to dominate opponents on the same level in terms of spirit-qi capacity alone.

”I should be able to defeat Fortification Realm martialists from proper sects too, right?” Despite feeling like that, he felt that it wouldn’t be an easy feat even with Temporal Grasp. He probably wouldn’t be able to last a few moves against Ming Guangchen’s Fortification Realm arcane corpus.

Being at the peak of the Fortification Realm meant having all five wonders. Unlike having just four, having all five meant that the base formation within the body was initialized. The unique combination of wonders could finally interact with one another to unleash far more power than their sum combined.

For instance, Ming Guangchen’s Ocular Blaze was so powerful to the point that An Jing couldn’t defend against it because of the boost from the Hexsun Formation within his body. His arcane eyes’ power was greatly strengthened as a result. An Jing’s Temporal Grasp was only a lone formation eye with nothing else supporting it. Even if he could speed himself up, it would only mean a faster loss. Going against someone with five wonders while only having one was difficult to say the least.

”Next, I should manifest Brightmirror Heart. I’m already at the Fortification Realm, so I can start practicing True Nature Ego Fist. I should also ask Master for some martial techniques of the Fortification Realm.” With those thoughts in mind, he returned to his room joyfully and continued to meditate.

Ming Guangchen didn’t return the next day, but his arcane corpus did the day after, though only for an instant.

”I ran into some trouble,” he said with a stern expression but a relaxed gaze. ”He Wuchang is also a Treasures Realm sage with three divine treasures. For some reason, he’s approaching Keensight. I beat up him quite a bit, but wasn’t able to heavily wound him because of how much he has grown. I have to chase him away from here to stop his plans.”

An Jing listened quietly; He Wuchang was the name of the Lord Inspector of the West! Just as I was worried that the inspector would personally come after his elite strike team failed, you went to beat him up already! It’s no wonder people say the two of you have a grudge. Even the minor members of the demonic cult know that the Lord Inspector of the West came to mess with me because of how I’m related to you. It sounds quite serious.

An Jing felt quite touched that his master went so far for his sake. If Ming Guangchen had only cared about sending Xuan Mingjing away, he would not have to fight the demonic inspector and could focus on gathering the materials required for the altar. It was quite risky for sages to fight each other, after all. Even though he was familiar with his rival’s capabilities, he still took on extra risk to protect ”Jing Xuan.”

”What...” Ming Guangchen did make some time to check on An Jing’s progress, only to be flabbergasted. ”You... broke through to the Fortification Realm? You already did it?!”

His arcane corpus shuddered for a while before he recovered. Even so, his tone still sounded distraught. ”What kind of wonder did you manifest? Why can’t I see any changes? Wait...”

A possibility suddenly occurred to him. He widened his eyes and used his Ebony Sun Eyes ability. ”Don’t tell me... It’s the soul wonder?”

An Jing nodded without elaborating, but that was enough for his master to figure out many things. ”I recall seeing an ultimate ability from the Heavenly Demon Cult at Endmost Sky... Don’t tell me...”

He looked at An Jing, who remained silent. That in itself was an acknowledgement.

”Good! Very good!” Ming Guangchen laughed and placed both hands on An Jing. ”I didn’t think I could still underestimate you after all I’ve seen, but I did it anyway. I truly failed as your master. Don’t worry. He Wuchang, no... Nobody in the demonic cult will be able to bother you for the time being. Take my word for it.”

Then, his arcane corpus vanished.