Destiny in Cinders

”What’s this feeling...” An Jing felt almost like he was about to comprehend the dao right as he switched the lights of the warehouse in Hilltwixt on. It was as if he was at the brink of grasping more insight, though it wasn’t actually a full-on dao-comprehension state.

He raised his hand and formed a crystal-clear longsword of crimson and gold, using blood lethal qi for the spine of the blade and a golden radiance for the edges. Culling was the ability that An Jing awakened after fusing Pyrestar Warden’s Qiform Arsenal and Evenstar Eclipse’s Smelting Arms Forging Soul. It was an ability qi armament.

When An Jing first created it, he didn’t think much about it apart from its remarkable ease of use. It was as if the weapon was created to suit his every desire and need. Using it, he killed the Lord Inspector of the West’s blood-lethal-qi arcane corpus.

Deep in thought, he raised Culling to his chest and used his other ability, Embodied Arsenal, turning Culling into a stream of pure blood-colored light. Streams of refined blood lethal qi surrounded his body before assimilating into his skin and flesh, infusing into his innards. His injuries immediately recovered quite a bit.

This was thanks to the life energy he stole after using Culling to destroy the arcane corpus. Those who cull wielded life and death in their hands, extinguishing the breaths of countless living beings. Once Culling was used to kill a stronger enemy, it would steal a portion of their vigor. When Culling destroyed other weapons or armaments, it would also take a portion of its essence!

The stolen vigor could be used to heal injuries or cultivate, while the stolen essence could be used to restore or reinforce his weapon. It was a traditional ability with great combat applications. The rush of insight allowed him to master the finer aspects of the ability completely, completely surpassing the shallow understanding he obtained when he first awakened it.

”Wow, that burst of insight came at just the right time. I was just thinking that I should buy some medical supplies here in Skysource. Guess I’ll get to save that money this time around. Wait, no! I’ll be able to save on medical costs from now on!”

An Jing’s injuries had been quite severe. Though he was able to move unabatedly and run faster than birds could fly, his meridian network had been on the brink of collapse, not to mention his drained reserves of qi essence and fractured bones, and that was despite all the constitutional enhancements he benefited from as a user of Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal. Other martialists would’ve ended up on the brink of death after taking the kind of beating he had.

Having replenished his vigor, he was immediately able to stabilize his innards without having to expend all sorts of qi essence. The recovery process was already under way. With his internal organs working as usual and meridian network stable, he was able to absorb spirit qi from the environment to start the virtuous cycle. He would be able to recover up to eighty percent of his prime within three days without using any medication.

”A burst of insight? Was it because you saved Keensight yet again?” Yvelbane didn’t think it was too out of place. ”Or is it feedback from changing the fate of your master?”ℴℴ𝘮

”I guess it could be either.” An Jing couldn’t be sure, but something in him told him that it was neither. ”I doubt it’s from my master. He’s stranded in a different world, so feedback from him probably won’t make its way back to me for now. I believe that day will only come if I suddenly get an unexplained boost in my mastery of Brightmirror Heart or other techniques of the Brightmirror Sect. Only then will I know that Master’s safe.

”But this burst of insight was related to my qi-armament ability. If I had to guess, it must be the divine armament. Did I change the Keensight Bell’s fate?”

He gave it a bit more thought and found it really plausible. The Keensight Bell would soon be recognized as a divine armament that was helped by a divine-arc bearer during its breakthrough. It had also witnessed An Jing’s fight against three adepts up close. No doubt, it had drawn the attention of quite a few powerful elites who had been watching the bigger picture. As a divine armament of Grand Chen, it was likely to get a larger share of the empire’s resources as a result from its fortuitous encounter with An Jing.

”Oh well, let’s not think about this for now.” He shook his head to refresh himself. Having already recovered, he no longer needed Huo Qing to bring him any medical supplies. ”Let’s go over the loot!”

He opened his pack gleefully as Yvelbane watched in anticipation. The first item was a plain-looking jade talisman. Upon closer inspection, he gasped in surprise. ”An ability token!”

He had looted the jade talisman from the adept from the Seated Mirage Sect. Earlier, he thought it was an artifact similar to the jade armor pendant he once owned. But when he didn’t notice it doing anything during their fight, he had figured it was something akin to a focus talisman, in other words, a cultivation aid. To think that it was actually an ability token this whole time...

”Luckily, I killed him first without giving him the chance to use his ability token.” He wiped some nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead and sighed in relief. ”It would’ve been troublesome otherwise.”

”The ability contained in this token is a sword formation!” Yvelbane said after a close inspection. It was itching to analyze it more closely. ”This is amazing! Once I crack it and remove its restrictions, it’ll be yet another trump card at your disposal! This just so happens to be one of the things I’m good at. I should be able to extract an imprint!”

”Then I’ll leave it in your care.” An Jing had never doubted Yvelbane apart from its memory full of holes. It was the one who had spurred the True Talisman and Keensight Bell to get him out of that sticky situation.

Not to mention, Adept Heartsword of the Seated Mirage Sect was proficient in the use of qi and mind armaments with no true physical form, which was quite similar to An Jing’s own ability. Should Yvelbane successfully analyze the ability token, not only would he be able to use the token, he could also learn the sword formation and apply it to his ability!

Though they already hit the jackpot with the first item, the second was no slouch either. It was the weapon of the adept from the Poolsea Sect, a rather straight saber with a length of three chi and a silver-white blade. Under the right lighting, one could see an icy blue sheen with caustic ripples on it. The hilt was black and green and adorned with a carved orca pommel. The words ”Ocean Domination” were inscribed on the hilt, likely the name of the weapon. When An Jing gripped it, the air around him moistened.

This blade was probably a high-grade artifact like the violetshine-gold maces. Though he would have to spend some time studying its precise capabilities, he already knew that it was of the water aspect, which didn’t match the two aspects that he had awakened. It didn’t matter, however, since the weapon itself was made from good materials. He could even use it and keep Culling as his hidden trump card.

Not to mention, the bearer of Seven Ruins Tribulation had access to all five aspects of the five phases as well as the aspects of yin and yang eventually. Perhaps using a water-aspect weapon could accelerate the awakening of his Dawnstar starruin arc.[1]

There was also a bottle of pills among the loot from the Poolsea Sect’s martialist. Yvelbane gave it a look, and while it didn’t know its name, it knew it was a kind of pill that provided a boost of water-aspect spirit qi. It was typically used as a cultivation aid.

”I’m guessing this won’t be of much use to me,” An Jing said. ”Let’s see if we can sell it off at the black market. The purity of this water spirit qi is pretty high. I bet it’d fetch a good price.”

As for He Wuchang, he was the poorest of them all, or at least his arcane corpus was. The only thing An Jing got from him was the vigor he stole with Culling.

”Master better have killed that poor sod. Who knows how many people would fall victim to him if he survives...” An Jing wanted to slaughter that beast himself if he could. If the beast was allowed to return to Xishan or Taiyuan, he would no doubt slaughter countless people to heal its wounds. He was much better off dead.

The remainder of the loot included some silver-backed bills, a silver key, a flare talisman and three spirit stones. Within the semi-translucent jade stones were dark-green patterns that pulsed with spirit power.

”These grade-two spirit stones are used for building the foundation for the Clearing Realm,” Yvelbane said. ”They’re of the same grade as the one from the spirit-qi crucible that you pilfered from the mechanized soldier. It’s too bad that your sword case is ruined. Otherwise, you’d have something that can heavily wound three adepts.”

”Indeed.” An Jing hadn’t even considered selling these grade-two spirit stones in Skysource. It simply wasn’t something that a Qi Refinement cultivator would be able to get his hands on. He would definitely be robbed if he revealed he had it before reaching the Clearing Realm. While there weren’t many, they were still precious resources.

The final item was particularly sentimental. It was the shard that Ming Guangchen had sent him, the shard of the divine armament used by the mysterious swordsman.

”Whoa...” Though the shard had been suppressed by Ming Guangchen and appeared like nothing more than a jade-white blade fragment with lightning patterns, Yvelbane’s hilt trembled the moment it set its sights on it, completely forgetting about the sword formation from the jade talisman it saw earlier. ”It’s a lightning arcane ability combined with destructive sword intent. I wonder if this is five-phase destruction divine lightning or divine-firmament lightning? It could also be upper-clarity tribulation lightning...”

The more it looked at the fragment, the more excited Yvelbane got. ”This is amazing! An Jing, it is a treasure! Even though it’s just a shard, it contains a complete strand of destructive lightning sword intent! As long as you prepare a suitable lightning-aspect spirit item, I’ll be able to extract the destructive intent for you to observe and cultivate! With your celestial arc, you might be able to grasp the divine essence contained within!”

1. Dawnstar here refers to the planet Mercury, also called the ”Water Star/Planet” in Chinese (水星). ☜