Destiny in Cinders

Climbing Snowfang was starting to understand what An Jing was getting at. Curiously, it asked, ”Did you come to Brokeblade Mountain on a treasure hunt?”

”I mainly came to find my missing mother, but it doesn’t hurt to pick up some spirit items along the way. My lifearc needs to be fed quite a bit, after all.” An Jing didn’t dispute the boar’s words.

Shen Mubai had been doing rather well lately, finding joy in quiet cultivation at her residence. After her cultivation sessions, she helped An Jing out with some miscellaneous tasks. For instance, she was the one who wrote the slogans on the automata. Her calligraphy was so pristine that it looked just like the administration’s official font. With his mother safe and sound, An Jing could finally seek out Yvelbane’s fragment.

”If there really is a treasure, Lord New Moon Shadow must have it grasped firmly in its tail,” Climbing Snowfang said. ”If it leaves, the treasure is definitely leaving with it. However, Brokeblade Mountain is vast. I have no idea which specific treasure you’re looking for.”

An Jing checked with Yvelbane, who told him that its fragment was still located in the mountains. ”It’s not anything particularly precious, so I believe it’s still around in the mountains. If you want to thank me, you can draw me a map and mark the locations where you noticed odd phenomena.”

He took out a blank jade slip; jade slips in Skysource and Void Embrace weren’t that different. Then, Climbing Snowfang used psychic intent to inscribe words into it as if it had done so many times before.

”All the good things belong to the lord. If it’s still around, it must be in Palespirit Cave. Do let me warn you, however, that everything in there is a possession of the lord. It’s true that it hasn’t shown itself for quite some time, but don’t be fooled into thinking that this is an opportune moment to pilfer the cave. It is really dangerous and filled with toxic metal lethal qi and waste qi from terrestrial veins. Typical feys aren’t able to approach it in the slightest!”

”Got it.” He received the jade slip back from the beast.

”Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m telling you where it is so that you don’t accidentally wander into it. Look, that’s where Palespirit Cave is.” Climbing Snowfang pointed at the center of the mountain range where the ”blade” was ”broken.” ”Three times a year, dense metal qi floods out of the cave into the entire mountain range. When it mixes with the moon essence in the sky, it turns into brightmoon metal essence, a qi of branded metal and profound yin. It also mixes with the magma lethal qi and metal lethal qi deep beneath the mountains to form unified innate qi that gives feys like us sentience. Lord New Moon Shadow established his dao using them, but monopolized the brightmoon metal essence. Everyone knows that it’s trying to progress to the Sanctification Realm, but the lord vanished all of a sudden. I suppose it’s a good thing that the brightmoon metal essence came flowing out to the rest of us.”

”Thanks a lot.” An Jing gave the jade slip a casual look. Beyond the markers that denoted the location of spirit items, there was also some information about Palespirit Cave. They chatted a bit longer before Climbing Snowfang left, still relishing the vitality of the evergreen wood.

That scientifically bred evergreen wood might not be as hardy as typical spirit plants out in the wild, but feys should be able to care for them rather easily. They probably only care about the purity and density of its vitality. The act of gifting the boar a piece of evergreen wood was akin to granting it a wonder. It helped establish a foundation in the internal body formation that connected it to heaven, giving the beast hope to reach the Treasures Realm. There was nothing the beast could do to repay that boon in full. Even after telling all the information it knew to An Jing, it still felt like it hadn’t done enough.

Trading an item that was widely available in Skysource for precious information was a great deal for An Jing though, even if it was just about the spirit items around Brokeblade Mountain without any details about Palespirit Cave and New Moon Shadow.

An Jing said, ”That boar seems like a good fellow, though also a bit sly. It didn’t dare to explore Palespirit Cave itself, so it figured that a metal-aspect divine-arc bearer like me could be the one to break the seal. That’s why it told me so much about it. Then again, it didn’t lose out much from letting me have the cave. It will probably break through once it finds the time to cultivate.”

”That’s true,” Yvelbane said. ”These feys are smart, but seldom outright devious. They might get you to do things that benefit them, but they won’t really put you in harm’s way. If it reaches the Treasures Realm, it’ll owe you a favor. There’s no harm in forging a bond with it.”

The transaction ended satisfactorily for both sides. While this didn’t completely solve the crises that loomed over Riverside, An Jing wasn’t counting on it to.

He returned to the city and patrolled it briefly, noting that people were getting enough food and returning to their typical routines. He then left messages for Bai Qinghan, his mother and Xu Tai before flying off to Brokeblade Mountain with his hoverbike, straight to Palespirit Cave.

After all he had experienced, he had reached the peak of the Fortification Realm. Based on the classification system of the empire’s True Martial Arena, he would be given a nine-five classification. In other words, his combat capabilities were comparable to Fortification martialists with five wonders even if he didn’t actually manifest all five.

The truth wasn’t far from it either. He had managed to kill Lu Jin and the fiend followers in Keensight, some of whom had four wonders, before reaching the Fortification Realm. After manifesting two wonders, one of them being the elusive Temporal Grasp, he only needed one move to kill Wu Qi, leader of the hunter-turned-cultists, with four wonders, Lu Jin’s equal. He also managed to kill the serpent that had five wonders and was almost at the Clearing Realm.

The mystical qi he had gained from exterminating the fiendfallen serpent was absorbed by the True Talisman. The mysterious object went on to consume more than half of the heaven purification radiance it produced, leaving only some for An Jing to strengthen Ocular Blaze. That was the reason he had been able to use the Minor Yang Sword Art so many times to heal the beasts.

The True Talisman didn’t have any sentience and only acted based on a very limited set of instincts. Yvelbane and An Jing remembered how it spat out some heaven purification radiance the last time they were in a proper crisis, so they tolerated the True Talisman’s current consumption.

”This thing is deceptively weak,” An Jing said. ”It yields to you, Yvelbane, but it doesn’t fear imperial blood in the slightest. I believe that in its proper form, it’s a part of a Pure Yang or even Soaring Realm major formation.”

”That is indeed the case,” Yvelbane agreed. ”It pales in comparison to me, but it contains a hint of indestructibility. No matter how badly it’s damaged, as long as the nature of the damage it sustains is spirit in nature, it’s able to recover itself using heaven purification radiance.

”If we’re able to restore it completely, it’ll return to being a talisman that can establish a connection to heaven. Perhaps it’s a completely refined dao merit that Goldcore venerateds need during the crucial step to reach the Dao Embryo Nascent Soul Realm.

”Not to mention, it can also be used to scatter fiend qi. It’s no wonder that the corporations of Skysource want it. So far, I’ve been unable to fully exploit all its functions.”

An Jing pondered in silence. The reason the demonic and fiend cults were hard to deal with was that they were akin to stinking piles of feces. Striking at them would leave oneself covered in disgusting fiend qi, increasing the risk of one falling to fiend corruption. Weapons and spirit artifacts could also be corrupted. However, the True Talisman could provide fundamental vital qi to purify the body. Though An Jing hadn’t used it before, it was still reassuring to have as an insurance, allowing him to fight anything contaminated with fiend qi without holding back.

”It’s likely that we will only be able to learn how to use it properly in Skysource,” Yvelbane said. ”Still, what we know is sufficient for now.”

”True.” An Jing nodded and suddenly found all this rather entertaining. ”Come to think of it, the True Talisman is only one component of a major formation. I reckon that we need to collect other True Talismans to fully restore its power. That’s just like you and your fragments, Yvelbane. As for me, I have to collect the remaining lifestars to complete my collection of the Seven Ruinous Luminaries and manifest the rest of my wonders. There’s still so many gaps we have to fill in.”

”Haha! We’re a collective made up of an incomplete lifearc, sword and formation.” Yvelbane sounded abnormally jolly all of a sudden. ”Like attracts like!”

”Oh, wait! The Heavenly Dao of Void Embrace is also broken! Perhaps the shattered Cosmic Heart and the fiend-qi corrupted lands are waiting for a certain celestial-arc bearer to pick up the pieces and restore them. Wait...” He suddenly fell into deep thought. ”Something about this sounds a bit off...”

Before his mind wandered too far, An Jing arrived at his destination: the True Fiend Cult’s base in Brokeblade Mountain, or what was left of it.