Destiny in Cinders

”I’ll win?” Principal He wasn’t sure what Nian Quan meant by that. His eyes widened, the glow from his chip not yet fading as he looked at the arena.

”This time, we have Nian Quan from Deepnight City’s Third Middle School, the only participant in the tournament’s top eight to not be from First Middle School! His current record contains all wins, no losses! As expected of a prospective sword immortal with sword intent! His right arm does appear injured, so it’s a question whether he’ll be able to wield his sword properly. But from how calm he looks in the arena, maybe we’re still in for a treat!” The announcer tried to hype the audience up, but it was clear that nobody in the audience had hopes that Nian Quan could win without using his sword.

His opponent was Yu Guan, the slender student. He was quite confused that Nian Quan chose to step onto the arena without forfeiting, but he smiled cruelly when he saw the calm expression on his face. ”Don’t blame me for going hard on you. It’s your fault for getting in my way, after all.”

When they were both in place, they exchanged curt greetings. Right after that, Yu Guan conjured up three spell spirits, also known as summons. Conjuration spells like these were based on the classic myth of masters who scattered beans that turned into soldiers that fought for them. Conjuration spells could be elevated to summon arcane golems or perform divine conjuration rituals. Some conjurers even resorted to raising feys and fighting alongside them or pure tamers that let their summons do all the fighting. Cultivators using this fighting style boasted a decent amount of power in the early, intermediate and latter stages all the same assuming they picked the right partner and had access to sufficient resources, becoming the perfect all-rounders.

While Yu Guan’s family had ample resources, it wasn’t quite to the extent that he could refine his conjuration spells to perfection, hence his fervent ambition to join the Truthseeker Society to acquire more resources. As for the Yan clan of Deepnight City, they came from a lineage that once produced a venerated and their current leader was a living Purple Mansion sage. The leftover resources that fell through their fingers were more than enough for Yu Guan’s Foundation Realm clan.

One of the spell spirits was shaped like a giant wolfdog, incredibly agile and aggressive. The other was a giant eagle, wings spread wide as it coursed through the air, its blade-like talons large enough to slay huge beasts. The third was a bear of epic proportions, voluminous enough to completely shield Yu Guan from all frontal attacks and packing enough mass to cause the whole arena to rumble with a ground slam.

”Go! Crush him!” Well defended and ready to attack from both ground and air, Yu Guan ordered his summons to fight autonomously while he cast even stronger enhancement spells from behind. If Nian Quan was injured by the spell spirits, it would be entirely his fault for being too weak. Yu Guan wouldn’t be held accountable for them while they acted on their own.

There’s no way he’ll be able to defeat my carefully honed summons. Haha, it’s impossible! Yu Guan would never underestimate his opponent for any reason. His assessment of Nian Quan was based on an honest evaluation on Nian Quan’s current condition compared to his spell spirits’ might.

Yet, Nian Quan didn’t even bat an eye at the summons that bore down on him, completely ignorant of Yu Guan’s thoughts. He merely raised his arborealized hand and stared at it silently.

”The sword is an extension of my body. My body itself extends to become my sword,” he muttered as he looked up, his oceanic eyes reflecting the rays of dawn, helping him see through the spell spirits’ occlusion and lock onto Yu Guan midcast.

He raised his fingers to form a sword’s blade and engaged Armorpierce Impetus and Sword of Empyreal Mortality. With all the power and speed he had, he infused all the genuine empyreal innate qi from his body into his stiff right arm before projecting a stream of sword qi in Yu Guan’s direction.

An explosion rang out, echoing loudly like roiling thunderclouds and river rapids in stormy weather. In that instant, the bear spell spirit that was about to leap toward Nian Quan with its claw raised exploded into shards of light. Even the hunting dog and the giant eagle in the air shattered from the resulting shockwave.

The entire arena trembled as a dust cloud rose into the air, forming a hazy wall out of nowhere. Yet, that did nothing to stop the massive river from rushing toward Yu Guan, still frozen at the sight of his exploded summons. The stream of empyreal sword qi sent him flying! He spat out a mouthful of blood midair before blacking out completely.

”Call the match,” Nian Quan said as he exhaled. His steps were weak and shaky after he had expended all his energy to launch his sword qi. He waited calmly in the arena until the announcer declared his victory before slowly leaving, smiling as he skipped lightly back to An Jing and Huo Qing.

”Impossible!” The smile on the face of the tubby principal in the VIP booth vanished as he rose abruptly. With a look of utter disbelief, he glared at the arena and howled without a semblance of self-control, ”Speak! What kind of pill did you take?! You must’ve been doping! There’s no way you’d be able to leverage so much spirit qi after getting afflicted with stiffwood lethal qi!”

Only then did Principal He snap out of it. He could tell that the sword intent and sword qi that Nian Quan had used wasn’t typical of sword cultivators in Skysource. Instead, they were rooted in body refinement. Nian Quan had used his solidified right arm as a sword to unleash power that far exceeded his usual limits! It was an incredible move indeed, yet how did Nian Quan learn body refinement methods such as this?

Principal He glanced at An Jing and the rest before he smiled at the tubby principal who had lost his temper.

”Calm yourself, Old Gao. You might want to reel yourself in a bit. It’s not a good look.” Principal He calmly repeated what his counterpart said earlier, ”’Let what happens in the arena stay in the arena,’ your own words. Isn’t it a bit childish of you to complain right after you lose?”

”Good... Very well... Fine...” Principal Gao suppressed his rage and sat back down, smiling like before. ”This really was unexpected. I didn’t expect you to still have a hidden trump card up your sleeve, Young He. But I do wonder how far it’ll take you.”

Though Principal He wasn’t sure what had happened himself, he didn’t give anything away at all. ”That is not something you have to worry about, Old Gao. You should be more concerned about explaining this to the powerful clans of your school. Oh, I seem to recall that First Middle School’s principal got replaced when I got first place back then. You should be wary. Even if they don’t replace you outright, I worry that they’ll cut into your compensation package.”

While the two principals were making snide remarks at each other, Yu Guan was stretchered away. Yan Chengju glared furiously at Nian Quan from the other side, not that he and his friends were bothered in the least.

”You did well!” An Jing gave Nian Quan a high-five with a hearty laugh. ”You made it to the semifinals while remaining in the winner’s bracket. If you win again, you’ll reach the finals! Are you confident?”

”Yeah. Before this, I would’ve gritted my teeth and accepted my lot in life.” He looked down at his wood-stiff hand that had recovered until it could just barely wield a sword. ”But now, I can confidently say that I’ll win!”