Destiny in Cinders

The nights at Brokeblade Mountain were so quiet that even the birds and the bugs couldn’t be heard. Cold winds blew apart the clouds, letting moonlight cast a sparkling sheen across the snow-covered mountainous region.

According to legend, this place was the site of a massive battle between ancient cultivators. It took many, many years for time to slowly erode away at the myriad traces of lethal qi from the land before any sign of life returned to it. Even so, the winds coming from Brokeblade Mountain still had an unmistakable chill that made people subconsciously hold their breath. Since the snow calamity began, the chilly breeze started freezing everything over. The layers of white ice crystals that formed across every surface glinted like the edge of blades, causing people to look away instinctively.

The once great river that emerged from the mountains had become nothing more than a frozen channel of ice. Tall, frozen trees stood on both sides of the river like crystalline formations. Bone-deep frost swept across the branches like wisps of white smoke, resulting in an eerie howl.

Amidst all this frost and snow, a bonfire quietly burned, save for the occasional crackle and snap, scattering embers around. A simple camp site was set up around it. There was a tent in which the carcass of a large bear laid, its stench of blood and decay sealed in by the frost. The snow calamity made the whole place a natural freezer to keep things cool and fresh.

The black-haired youth could be seen cultivating with his eyes closed within a massive tree hollow. His long hair was unkempt and tangled up behind him, but his skin was fair and speckless as jade, vibrant with vitality and standing out from the lifeless snowscape around him.

Nobody would mistake him for a weak scion from a well-off household, for if they observed him closely, they would see the powerful musculature hidden beneath his skin. The blood that circulated within him was so warm that vapor fumes emanated from his body, warming up the tree hollow to the point that it felt like spring within. The frost inside melted and new saplings even sprouted.

An Jing was at a critical juncture with the Minor Yang Sword Art. Apart from techniques that failed to enter the mainstream and got drowned by the sands of time, the varied and countless cultivation techniques in Void Embrace all had their strengths and could manifest all kinds of abilities once they were cultivated to fruition. The Minor Yang Sword Art was one such technique that had been passed down through the ages.

But just like fishing, some people returned with a full bucket while others sat there for days on end without much to show for it. Even though there were different tomes for the same technique, they emphasized different points and explained things slightly differently, resulting in varying outcomes when cultivated.

The version of the Minor Yang Sword Art taught among the common populace focused on performing sword forms with controlled breathing to stimulate the organs and blood flow to generate minor yang qi. Using it, one could regulate one’s body and retain one’s youth. Cultivating the technique long term kept one healthy and free of sickness and extended the lifespan. The technique’s beneficial effects made it quite precious.

However, the Minor Yang Sword Art passed down in the Brightmirror Sect differed from the version used by the common populace. Regulation of the body and circulation of qi were naturally still part of it. However, the core of the teachings were hidden in these cryptic words: ”Affix your will like the moon, affix your qi like the sun, affix your psyche like the sword.”

”Affix your will like the moon” meant that one should keep one’s will independent, like the lone moon among the star-filled night sky. The human realm was filled with noise and chatter that competed to outshine one another like the stars in the sky, some hidden and others more prominent than others. All of those competing and distracting wills greatly sapped away at the quintessence of life.

Sometimes, focus would be misattributed to one specific thing, yet it was a mistaken perception that prevented one from unleashing one’s full potential. Through the complex sword movements and breathing techniques to modulate qi, one could rid oneself of distracting thoughts and be like the lunar celestial body of Great Yin, arcing across the night sky on its lonesome, unaffected by the stars beyond it.

It was through this that one could affix one qi like the sun, generating it with one’s will. It would be as if there was a sun within the body, spreading qi essence or aura across every corner just like how the celestial body of Great Yang’s rays touched every corner of the world as it soared through the sky, burning away all impurities and ensuring that the meridians were unclogged. The will was like yin, while the body was like yang. Generating yang by the will of yin resulted in what was called minor yang.

The last step was unifying one’s will, qi and psyche and start viewing the environment as major yin and one’s own body as the true yang. That was how the psyche could be affixed to take the form of the sword and come bursting out of the body, allowing one to manipulate the qi essence and even origin qi outside of the body.

Those were the hidden teachings of the Minor Yang Sword Art. Once one was able to gather one’s psyche into a sword to manipulate qi to the fullest extent, one would manifest the Ocular Blaze wonder. The eye was just the lifegate, while the real place where qi essence gathered was within the innards. The name ”Ocular Blaze” was merely figurative and had little to actually do with the eye itself. According to the core teachings, it was named thusly because one’s eyes would glow like fire after the innards were filled to the brim with qi essence that could be unified with one’s psyche and wielded by the will. Only then would qi essence be able to leave the body, allowing martialists to use it for ranged attacks.

”Typical martialists see Ocular Blaze as a hidden technique used only for surprise attacks, which is why they completely overlooked its true meaning. Even if they have the core teachings, they mostly just focus on the sword art itself. While cultivating the sword single-mindedly can nurture aura and build up bodily constitution all the same, they still miss the forest for the trees and end up cultivating something subpar.”

An Jing gradually opened his eyes. His wonder shone through with a golden, reddish hue. His eyes seemed so deep that it appeared to be a bottomless abyss of flame. A divine radiance like that of stars sparkled deep within.

His bones and muscles snapped audibly as he stood up. Smoky vapor emanated from every inch of his skin with such intensity that the fire nearby roared and rose even higher. Qi essence blended with spirit qi in the environment, turning into a flame of bright gold that illuminated the night, melting the snow and putting out the mundane fire. Yet, qi essence continued to burn.

As An Jing’s eyes moved, many invisible swords of will and qi essence swept across the frozen forest, instantly melting the snow and ice in the trees, causing a short downpour. The sudden infusion of moisture created many muddle puddles on the ground, which soon dried out from An Jing’s gaze.

This was Ocular Blaze. The Brightmirror Sect’s arcanum version of the Minor Yang Sword Art wasn’t for cultivating actual physical swords. Instead, it was a sword of the psyche, will and qi essence. Normally, the wonder turned one’s gaze into swords that took on characteristics of the lifearc. Those with frost-aligned lifearcs generated swords of yin frost. Those with blazing lifearcs generated swords of yang radiance.

However, that was but a sign of basic mastery. One who comprehended the true meaning of the Minor Yang Sword Art could turn their will and qi essence into swords. When normal martialists got hit with Ocular Blaze, the qi essence around their body flaring up uncontrollably, spreading all across their bodies and burning them to a char as if the look from another martialist had caused their victims to spontaneously burst into flames. That was yet another origin for the name of the wonder.

An Jing, alone on the snowfields of the northern frontier, trained hard daily to manifest his second wonder. The mystical manifestation faded away from his eyes, returning them to normal. He picked up a log and lit a fire with a pinch of his fingers.

He fell into deep thought as his eyes looked deep into the flame. ”It’s no wonder even those with imperial blood manifest this wonder. Ocular Blaze affixes the psyche into a sword that’s akin to fire. It’s a wonder that gathers the soul and the purest of qi essence. Typically, it would be the fourth wonder to manifest. But given my abnormal talent, I cultivated Sword of Tranquility and manifested Temporal Grasp as my first wonder. And now, Ocular Blaze is my second...”

Since he received instruction from Jin Yanhua and Ming Guangchen, An Jing was no longer an ignorant bumpkin about Void Embrace’s martial path. In terms of knowledge, he was at least comparable to a martialist of a second-tier city.

Typical martialists manifested wonders in a specific order, starting from the flesh, sinew, bones, internal organs and lastly, the soul, the classic way to manifest wonders across the entire body. The flesh and blood had to first be provided with enough qi essence through manifesting a wonder like Metal Muscle or Dragonnet Tendon. Then, one focused on elevating the fundamental bone structure with a wonder like Jade Marrow. Next, focus would be put on the internal organs by manifesting a wonder like Dantian Ocean, Visceral Cycle or even a qi-essence-related wonder like Ocular Blaze. The last and final wonder was the soul wonder, the most precious part of any core teaching.

That was the typical blueprint for body refinement cultivators. Ming Guangchen, on the other hand, was a martialist who focused on internal qi and abilities, so he would switch the body and bone wonders to ones that enhanced blood flow or harmony between the internal organs.

An Jing had planned to take a similar path to Ming Guangchen’s. However, the first wonder he manifested was the soul wonder, Temporal Grasp, because of Heaven’s Child Art. As such, his order was flipped compared to other people’s.

Since his soul was already quite powerful, he manifested the qi-essence wonder, Ocular Blaze, next. After that, he should either manifest Brightmirror Heart to harmonize the feedback between his innards and qi essence or something like Visceral Cycle; the order of these two didn’t matter. Once he was done, he would be able to spread his bountiful psychic will and qi essence throughout his body and manifest a wonder that could encompass the entire body. In a way, the flipped order in which he manifested his wonders was completely upturned, fitting well with the characteristics of Seven Ruins Tribulation.