Destiny in Cinders

”An Xuan, over here!” Huo Qing called out the moment he saw his friend arrive.

An Jing sat down beside him and asked, ”What happened?”

”Yesterday, Nian Quan got defeated by their ace and ended up in the loser’s bracket.” Huo Qing’s hands were gripped tightly, a clear sign of how intense the battle Nian Quan had just fought was. Filled with both elation and worry, he said, ”But before his defeat, he managed to use his sword skills to overcome three of his opponent’s arcane artifacts and forced out his vital-origin artifact! Yan Chengju might look like a body refiner, but he’s actually an artifact refiner! His vital-origin artifact is a large earth-aspect cauldron. As for his other three, they’re a crimson ruyi scepter, bluewater talisman and whitefloat dust, which all seem to nourish the vital-origin artifact. I think his main aspect is earth and he should be going for a mutually generative cycle between the five phases. However, he still needs a wood-aspect artifact to complete that cycle.”

”That’s not too bad.” An Jing could immediately tell that Yan Chengju wasn’t a martial cultivator; these people tended to be battle maniacs who wanted their enemy to be in their prime and use all their tricks so that they could properly hone their skills against them. ”This artifact refinement legacy is decent. Seems like they’re trying to nurture him to develop pentaphase primordial true intent from a young age. But as it stands now, the wood aspect is the weak link. No wonder Nian Quan was able to force out his trump card. Water nourishes wood, while earth obstructs water. If Yan Chengju wasn’t missing a wood aspect in his collection, Nian Quan would struggle to deal him any harm.”

He must be a dweller of the immortal ruins after all, right? There’s no way a normal rogue cultivator from the badlands would know all this! Huo Qing thought as he nodded. ”Nian Quan used sword intent to push through all three of his arcane artifacts, but the power that remained from that wasn’t able to deal much damage on the brown cauldron. So, he eventually chose to forfeit the match. And then, we have today’s match...”

He turned to look at the arena with admiration. ”While Nian Quan still isn’t on your level, the fight was incredibly graceful. His opponent was a full talismanist who started the match with three guard talismans. He also used a bunch more to bombard the whole area with explosions as if it cost him nothing.

”When Nian Quan was drowning in spirit light at the beginning, I thought he would lose the match. But then, he surfed on his flying sword through the most heavily bombarded area and engaged his opponent in close combat! The talismanist wasn’t bad at close combat either, but he simply lacked the kind of experience that Nian Quan had. He got cut down after a few more bouts, but Nian Quan took another desperate talisman square in the chest right before his opponent went down and got pretty badly hurt.

”In his next match, he’s going to face off against their ace again, the same Yan Chengju who already defeated him once. And this time, he’s in worse shape than before. I think it’s going to be an uphill battle...” Huo Qing’s expression was filled with worry.

An Jing, however, smiled after he took a good look. ”Uphill, huh? It’s uphill indeed. Huo Qing, take a good look at Nian Quan’s current state. This is what peak performance looks like!”

Huo Qing himself didn’t have much experience in combat, so he wouldn’t outright refute An Jing’s claims no matter how many doubts he held. Instead, he would patiently wait and see.

Nian Quan spotted An Jing and his eyes brightened, but he didn’t say or do anything. Instead, he stabilized his breathing to try to recover as much stamina and spirit energy as he could before the finals. He already had to fight an extra match to get out of the loser’s bracket, suffering more injuries as he did so. Even though the tournament organizers provided him with jadedew and some concoctions for qi and bodily recovery, that didn’t apply to the energy he had spent. There was always the chance that someone in the winner’s bracket would lose out of nowhere, but it was quite unlikely.

”The final individual match of the first special-market tournament is finally upon us! In the arena, representing First Middle School, we have Contestant Yan Chengju! Facing him is the dark horse from Third Middle School, Nian Quan!”

On one end of the arena, Yan Chengju, dressed in the long robes of First Middle School, stepped into the arena, with Nian Quan getting in from the other side. The announcer went all out to hype up the audience. ”Both contestants are the aces of their respective schools! In their previous match, Contestant Nian Quan wasn’t able to fully breach Contestant Yan Chengju’s defenses and suffered a loss. However, the sword intent and techniques he displayed were worthy of admiration! Having defeated First Middle School’s number-two representative, he has returned to the arena for a rematch against Yan Chengju! Will First Middle School’s representative take first place like always, or will Nian Quan triumph in his revenge match, overcoming the odds? I’m sure all of you already know which contestant to support! Only time will tell who will emerge on top!”

As An Jing didn’t have a chip, he had to use a waterscreen to scan a code to pick who would win. The other audience members’ eyes flashed when they scanned it before their seats glowed red or blue depending on their pick. The main screen in the center displayed the votes; Yan Chengju had a staggering share of the votes at more than eighty-five percent, while Nian Quan’s was only a little more than fourteen percent. The blue seats in the arena representing him were drowned in a sea of red.

”Hah, so there really are people who support that kid from Third Middle School!”

The group of youths sitting next to An Jing looked at the color of his and Huo Qing’s seats and laughed. ”They must be picking based on the pretty boy’s looks. I bet they didn’t even care about the performance of the contestants at all.”

”Preach, brother!”

The youths were likely students of First Middle School themselves or their friends. ”He’s just a chipless badlander. There’s no way he’d be able to gauge the potency of the Five Directional Artifacts. It might’ve looked like Nian Quan broke three of them, but all that achieved was forcing Boss Yan to use his full power! Once he does, Nian Quan wouldn’t even be able to resist!”

An Jing wasn’t someone who feigned ignorance when people talked about him behind his back. He turned around and glared at the youths, emitting a pure stream of lethal qi. The noisy chatter immediately vanished as they shivered in silence, one of them even spilling his drink on his leg. He was so startled that he jumped from his seat, drawing the attention of other audience members.

”Oh?” Principal He had been paying attention to Nian Quan’s friends that he met outside of school the whole time. His expression turned serious when he saw An Jing turn back. ”Psychic intent? That kid might only look like he only just reached Qi Refinement, but he can already wield sword-like psychic intent...”

In Skysource, the equivalent of a soul wonder was a specific application of psychic intent, so Principal He wasn’t that far off. ”A Qi Refinement badlander with sword intent that even managed to project sword-like psychic intent... This youth’s talent is far beyond my imagination. Nian Quan is strong, but he alone can’t elevate the entire team. But if I have two promising prospects who can use sword intent in the team...”

Previously, Principal He had only toyed with the notion of reaching out to An Jing, but after this, he was fully convinced and already planning to make his move.

”Wow! Looks like the spirit of competition isn’t limited to those in the arena today! Nian Quan’s supporters and Yan Chengju’s supporters are at each other’s throats! And it seems like the former have the upper hand.”

Meanwhile, Nian Quan and Yan Chengju just finished their customary salute. Though they were both expressionless, the announcer didn’t miss any chance to fan the flames. ”Nian Quan’s supporters might have won off stage, but the only thing that matters is what happens on stage! Who will be the one to get first place? Will Yan Chengju defeat Nian Quan like before, or will we be witnessing a miraculous turnaround?! Will Nian Quan be able to live up to the hopes and expectations of his friends and family just like how they bravely stood their ground for him?!”

”I really didn’t expect that you’d be able to reach this point,” Yan Chengju said, holding a brown cauldron that emitted large amounts of spirit qi in pulses. ”Well, you are a genius with celestial spirit roots and sword intent, after all. You might be the only one among the youth in Deepnight City who can rise up to challenge me.”

”You? Me?” Nian Quan laughed when he heard those words, but it didn’t carry even the slightest hint of mockery. He really did find the notion hilarious. ”I have to admit, you are quite powerful to be able to wield so many types of artifacts using five-phase techniques despite only having earth spirit roots. You’re blessed with both the talent and the resources to make it flourish. But to claim that you’re at the top of the entire generation?”

Nian Quan shook his head as he thought of An Jing. ”This world is much larger than you can imagine. There are geniuses out there who are far beyond what we can even conceive, even in Deepnight City alone. Yan Chengju, you have lost all trace of humility, and that is why you will certainly lose.”