Destiny in Cinders

The instant the drone entered Palespirit Cave, a waterfall of data streamed down across An Jing’s waterscreen, not that he bothered to sort through it. He was completely frozen on his feet.

”Heavens...” he muttered audibly. ”There’s actually so much spirit material here...”

Palespirit Cave wasn’t a complicated network of labyrinthine caverns. Instead, it was a vast basin filled with all types of precious mystic metals, wondrous alloys formed by a mixture of crimson bronze and spirit silver, close to ten thousand streams of varied metal-aspect qi that coiled together in a serpentine pattern and radiant, colorful light from the various types of spirit minerals all around. There were even streams of rare lesser-yin and lesser-yang qi of the metal aspect. Typical feys with metal affinity needed only one whiff of it to make instant progress that would normally take days.

It was a stunning sight for most martialists. Even An Jing was moved by it. It was clear to him that the peak-sage crown fey, New Moon Shadow, had taken advantage of the natural terrain of Palespirit Cave to gather many types of metal-aspect qi and spirit items to cultivate its fey core, establishing its prenatal foundation that it needed to become a true spirit, perhaps a whitespirit lunar serpent or even a whitespirit dragon.

At the very center of all that metal-aspect qi was a massive ore-gatherer plant. Unlike the one that Little Cang had been found guarding, however, this one was incomparable in all other ways. It was pure-white in color with nary a stain across its entire growth, reinforced by the purest of metal-aspect qi to the point that it looked like jadeslice steel. An Jing had only seen jadeslice steel by the liang while this whole plant was at least thirty-thousand jin in weight![1]

That alone would’ve made it an incredible treasure; imagine having that massive amount of jadeslice steel, yet it had something that jadeslice steel didn’t: rich vitality. More shockingly, a flower had bloomed at the very top of the ore gatherer. It looked like a lotus flower that used to hold something in the middle. New Moon Shadow was probably the one who had taken it. Still, the silver lotus itself was nothing short of a treasure produced by nature.

”What?! A natural sword-formation base?! Is that a prototype arcane relic?” Yvelbane snapped. ”Hah! I get it now! The ten-point furnace terrain of Brokeblade Mountain refined the natural mystic metals in its environment until it produced this unblemished albus wood, which the crown fey later nurtured using its vital blood essence until it bloomed! That helps it gather and refine all kinds of qi to form a true-spirit fey core!

”The crown fey must have left Palespirit Cave because it reached a critical bottleneck to roam the world and find a fortuitous encounter that would help it overcome the bottleneck! Just like undergoing sacred manifestation according to Void Embrace’s martial path, it must head to a place where karmic threads entangle and intersect. Even though the whitespirit swordlotus is only something to help it coalesce a true-spirit fey core, it still contains the essence of all this unblemished albus wood. It’s the distilled essence of the entire Brokeblade Mountain! You can use it to nurture swords, innate qi and even formations! It’s a natural sword-formation base, an absolute treasure!”

Yvelbane sounded overjoyed. ”It also happens to share the same source as my sword qi, making it extra precious to me. An Jing, I’ll teach you artifact refinement so that you may refine this treasure into your own sea of consciousness. Not only will you gain a prototype arcane relic, my main body will also have a proper spot to be consecrated at!”

”The lunar serpent’s about to achieve sacred manifestation?” An Jing’s joy at seeing all that treasure waned somewhat at the shocking news. ”Yvelbane, I get that you’re happy because you just found the perfect bed to rest on, but don’t forget that there’s a chance that this crown fey is already corroded by fiend qi. If it falls under the heavenly fiends’ control after achieving sacred manifestation and notices that we barged into its lair, it’s no laughing matter!”

”At the very least, it hasn’t achieved that yet.” Yvelbane’s past self wasn’t the least bit worried about any threat at the Sanctification Realm, so it was particularly nonchalant about the matter. ”It left with its fey core and left the lotus here. Obviously, it’s not precious enough that the fey would keep it around, so let’s just take it!”

”Fine. But that raises the question: What could possibly have happened to cause a peak-sage crown fey to leave in such a hurry that it even abandoned this prototype arcane relic? What kind of fortuitous counter did it leave its lair to seek?”

”Warning! Fiend-qi levels rising rapidly! A source of dense fiend qi is rapidly approaching!” the drone reported through the waterscreen. An Jing immediately learned the reason.

The metallic sound of scales rubbing together rang out as a dark, netherly-like presence spread out. Four dark shadows gradually seeped out of the basin in Palespirit Cave, taking the shape of massive serpents. They were four pitch-black snake molts that had been usurped by fiend qi!

The instant the snake molts appeared in the mystic-metal glow, the entire cave’s spirit atmosphere flipped to that of rot and decay. The colorful lights all around dimmed as if the rot set in. The molts tried to approach the lotus platform at the center of the cave, but were damaged and kept at bay by the spirit glow of the unblemished albus wood. The snake molts of different shapes feared the spirit glow of pure-white metal and gradually receded to nurse their wounds, leaving a small trace of pitch-black fiend qi. The presence that these molts exuded was comparable to adepts of established sects. Each one was close to the Clearing Realm in power.

”Fiendmolts! Heartless fiendmolts!” Yvelbane exclaimed. ”So this was the reason the crown fey left. It had long been corrupted by fiend qi, but it managed to barely suppress it using its main body’s cultivation. However, that makes it impossible for it to coalesce a true-spirit fey core to achieve sacred manifestation, so it’s desperate enough to leave its cave in search for anything that can help!

”It was able to use its innate serpent molting capability to birth itself anew. After casting its old shell away and refining its qi essence, it shook off a large amount of fiend qi in one go and managed to coalesce the true-spirit fey core. But it still needs to completely isolate itself from fiend qi to achieve sacred manifestation. Regardless of its chances of success, it simply isn’t possible to do it in Palespirit Cave where it has molted and metamorphized four times already. It needs a fortuitous encounter that can get rid of the fiend qi from its body completely before its final transformation!”

”In other words...” An Jing breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the Clearing Realm fiendmolts scurry away. ”New Moon Shadow most likely won’t return. I can simply harvest the whitespirit swordlotus for you to use as a bed, assuming I can take out the four fiendmolts.”

”Indeed. My fragment must have suppressed quite a lot of the fiend qi already. That unblemished albus wood is the core of Brokeblade Mountain’s major terrestrial-vein formation that’s suppressing the fiend qi. The four heartless fiendmolts are trying to release the fiend qi sealed by my fragment, which is why they’re trying to destroy the unblemished albus wood and the lotus platform.

”An Jing, I don’t mean to rush you, but the four fiendmolts haven’t reached their peak strength. In fact, they’re being suppressed by Palespirit Cave. This is the perfect opportunity to wipe them out. If you leave them be, they’ll gradually wear away at the spirit glow of the albus wood and destroy the lotus platform, ruining the formation laid by the crown fey. If that transpires, a fiend-corrupted crown fey’d be only one of your worries. You’d have four other Treasures Realm heartless fiendmolts on your tail!”

”I got it.” An Jing nodded solemnly and exhaled deeply. He piloted Solace back to him. ”But it’s still tough given my current power. Either way, our exploration has been quite fruitful. We have to make a proper plan to take out the four fiendmolts.”

1. One jin is sixteen liang. ☜