Destiny in Cinders

However, An Jing did sense a hint of subtlety. ”A typical martialist cultivates the body step by step, generating feedback to the Six Cranial Meridians to gather psychic will. But without the strong control afforded by psychic will, accidents happen often during cultivation. Then again, the way I cultivate grants me the ability to observe and control my state with psychic will to ensure I won’t make a single misstep.”

The path of martial cultivation was dangerous indeed. Even in his past life, a normal person trying to lift weights for bodybuilding could easily hurt themselves without proper knowledge or training, sometimes suffering debilitating injuries. Such pitfalls were far too common on the martial path. Manifesting wonders, especially, could result in the counterflow of blood and qi, huge losses of qi essence, damage to the innards or bone structure and even the soul.

However, An Jing’s Heaven’s Child Art allowed him to observe his internal state with great clarity while Temporal Grasp sped up his thoughts, allowing him to carefully manifest Ocular Blaze without issue. Clearly, manifesting the soul wonder before anything else was the move if one had the right talent.

”I should let You Ruhui and Nian Quan know about this. They’re both quite talented. Nian Quan, especially, managed to awaken his sword intent, which is akin to the Sharp Psychic Intent wonder. While he doesn’t have Heaven’s Child Art, he should still benefit from my experience somewhat.”

Having expended quite a bit of qi essence, he found himself rather hungry. He took out Ocean Domination and used it to cut off a piece of bear meat that had melted from his blazing qi essence earlier. Then, with a casual flick of the blade, he sliced the meat into tiny chunks and pierced them with a branch before roasting them over a fire.

The bear had been hibernating within the tree hollow before this. It was likely that the harshness of the snow calamity woke it up from hibernation. It went hunting for food and managed to kill a deer. When it ran into An Jing and tried to attack him too, it ended up as food instead.

As he roasted the meat, An Jing took a deep breath and was surprised. ”Huh? Is it me or is the fiend qi less intense now?”

”The Minor Yang Sword Art is filled with vitality, which helped clear away some of the fiend qi in the surroundings,” Yvelbane said, having observed this change when it stood sentry while An Jing cultivated. ”Fiend qi is corrosive and causes decay. Like a bottomless void, it consumes everything, annihilating all. Only the purest form of energy that promotes existence, like the qi essence of life, can even out against fiend qi.”

”Indeed.” An Jing gave it some thought and nodded. ”I recall my master’s ability, Mirror of Celestial Banishment. It’s built upon the Ocular Blaze derived from the Minor Yang Sword Art.”𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Yvelbane seemed rather interested in it. ”I would like to see for myself how fiend-banishing techniques have evolved. You must show me some once we make it back to the Brightmirror Sect!”

”Definitely!”

Eventually, the oils were cooked out of the bear meat, falling into the sizzling flame. An Jing took out some seasoning and slathered some on the meat before biting into it, huge mouthfuls at a time.

The snowfields of the northern frontier had been completely deserted since he arrived. He traveled on his hoverbike the whole time and reached the part of Brokeblade Mountain that was near the border of Hanhai Circuit. This used to be the border of the wider Hanhai Region, but since the empire’s armies conquered part of it and formed Hanhai Circuit, it became part of the empire’s territory. The snow calamity was far less intense in this area, which was clear from the presence of surviving beasts in the wild. It shouldn’t be long before he reached a human settlement of some sort.

There were three cities near Brokeblade Mountain, namely, Riverside, Riveryond and Refuge. An Jing’s first objective was Riverside, a place where one of the businesses owned by the An clan used to be located. Even though he had no idea how it fared after the snow calamity came, that was the first choice where he would look for his mother.

”Have you figured out how to get in contact with your mother? If she’s not at Riverside, will you wait there for some time or go straight to the next city?”

”If I don’t manage to find her on my own, I’ll get the local authorities to help,” An Jing said. The shift in his attitude was somewhat surprising. ”I already exposed that I’m a ’divine-arc’ bearer anyway, so Grand Chen will be jumping at the chance to get on my good side. It’d be a waste not to take advantage of that. Given my current status, it probably won’t be hard to track down one single person.”

”What if they try to control you using your mother?”

”What else? I’ll take my mother to Skysource before escaping,” An Jing said. This was almost second nature for him at this point. ”Given my experience in fleeing, coupled with Frostwhite Dart, there’s no way they’d get their hands on me unless they send out a sage. If it really does reach that point, I think Grand Elder Rising Light will send a helping hand from afar. Considering that the Brightmirror Sect and Grand Chen get along rather well, I doubt they’d completely burn that bridge.

”At the end of the day, I’m just the first person of this era in Void Embrace to awaken a divine arc. It’s only a flashy title, and more divine-arc bearers will follow. I think Grand Chen would be more concerned about the other divine-arc bearers that appear within their borders.”

An Jing loved to think about worst-case scenarios and plan for them. He had never truly needed them, but it would be too late to come up with something when he finally did.

After filling up his stomach, he put out the fire and left the remainder of the bear meat sitting there. He didn’t lack any food in the first place. Had the bear not attacked him, he would’ve found a different place to manifest Ocular Blaze. The remainder of the bear carcass would probably help the other struggling beasts survive the snow calamity.

He erased all trace of his presence and took out Frostwhite Dart from his void artifact. After orienting himself with the moon in the sky, he continued on his way.

An endless vista of snow stretched into the horizons. The silvery mountains in the backdrop served as a rather fitting frame for the moon up above. Using the moon and river as his guide, An Jing crossed forests and hills.

As the hoverbike levitated the whole way, he was able to see quite far ahead. It didn’t take long before he spotted a few abandoned villages. They didn’t seem too dilapidated yet, so the residents probably left not too long ago.

”I’ll finally get to see people sooner or later!” An Jing was quite excited. While he knew that Riverside was near Brokeblade Mountain, he didn’t have a firm grasp of its precise location. Before the snow calamity struck, he could at least use the terrain to find his way, but the thick layer of snow made that rather difficult. It would be far easier to look for signs of human activity.

Right as the sun was about to rise, An Jing spotted a few black dots in the distant snowfields, a rare sight indeed. It was a group of ten-odd people. They seemed spread out, but not so far that they wouldn’t lose sight of one another as they struggled to advance. Instead, it almost looked like they were fleeing from something.

”Huh... Is someone chasing them?” An Jing put the hoverbike into the void artifact and observed the situation from afar atop a tree. ”This feeling...”

Sensing something amiss, his eyes immediately glowed with alertness. ”It’s fiend qi! Fiendspawns!”