Destiny in Cinders

You Ruhui had been ready to send all that information over long ago, but the tomes used by the dragons weren’t too reader-friendly for humans. She reorganized the information with Jin Yanhua’s help before sending the revised edition over. That process was by no means a waste of time as she managed to deepen her own insights as well.

”It’s finally here!” An Jing was overjoyed when he received that torrent of information. He didn’t have the time to pore through the tome in detail, but flipping through it should be enough to identify exploitable weaknesses of the half-dragon fiendmolt.

He entered the cultivation room and calmed his mind. He skimmed the dragon-tongue incantations that detailed the intricacies of practicing the technique and went straight to the examples of cautionary mistakes.

”’Once there was an aquatic dragon in Southsparkle Ocean who managed to manifest True Dragon Spine and lost to a giant-pincered crustacean because it had thought its own body impervious to damage and that it could easily smash through its opponent’s defensive shell. Yet, its enemy slipped out of its grasp and used its massive pincers to clench down on its vitals, forcing it to admit its loss.’ Hmm... While a long, whiplike object can unleash lots of force, it’s vulnerable to snapping or cutting forces. Maybe I should switch to using Culling on the fiendmolt.

”’Far away at Jadeflame Mountain was a dragon martialist who had morphed into human form who hadn’t been willing to reveal its real name. The dragonoid fought against a magma sprite on even footing, relying on True Dragon Spine to gather spirit power from the surrounding environment to even the odds against the sprite’s natural environmental advantage. The dragonoid even managed to overcome the elemental pressure and dominated the terrain. However, the magma sprite used that opportunity to infuse lots of its own energy into the dragonoid martialist. As a result, the dragonoid lost control over the energy in the body and wasn’t able to move. In the end, the magma sprite triggered a volcanic explosion that knocked the dragonoid martialist out.’

”So, it seems like even dragons have a limit on their control over spirit qi. The half-dragon fiendmolt has some kind of support ability that allows it to use Treasures Realm abilities despite only being at the Clearing Realm. If I’m able to tip the delicate balance of spirit energy within it, I’d stand a much better chance at eliminating it!”

An Jing read through many other cautionary cases and realized that dragons actually lost from time to time. Though they were hard to defeat overall, they were far from invincible. However, they were quite adept at learning what gave other races the edge and modifying themselves, creating more and more diverse forms of dragonkind. Some winged dragons, for example, had much stronger limbs while shorter dragons had stockier builds, fitting their natural habitat well, just like dragon whales. In fact...

”Huh, most dragons morph their bodies into basically humanoid forms... And it seems like there are many factions that have dragonblood or cultivate their wonders among the bearers of Grand Chen’s imperial blood. Does that make imperial blood akin to dragonblood or something?” He almost lost it at the revelation. ”Does Ancestral Dragon Hall see Grand Chen’s imperial blood with such prestige? If that’s true, does that mean that most humans have trace amounts of dragonblood in them? It’s no wonder the empire has such a unique relationship with many different dragonblood true spirits. It’s a family business and sometimes distant relatives come to help run it.”

All that considered, the Void Embrace Ancestral Dragon with the Vita Ex Nihilo lifearc from antiquity was probably the source of many races across Void Embrace. Ancestral Dragon Hall did have quite a bit of legacy cache to fall back on.

An Jing’s understanding of True Dragon Spine also grew deeper as he skimmed those case studies to the point that he had new thoughts about his own cultivation. ”I already knew that True Dragon Spine focuses on the spine out of which the meridians and nerves spread. It’s the central pivot of control over spirit qi in the environment. Externally, it forms an arcane domain, while internally, it accumulates dragon qi. It’s similar to how Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal strengthens the seven po to some degree. What stands out to me, however, is this appearance...”

He raised his hand and traced a dragon in the air and drew the spine in its body too. Then, he erased the skin and flesh, leaving only True Dragon Spine behind. Furrowing his brow, he said, ”Why does it look like a tree? It’s a bit too abstract to call it a dragon.”

The real shape of True Dragon Spine when the dragon’s flesh and skin were removed was no different from that of a tree. The spine was the trunk of the tree out of which many roots resembling meridians and capillaries spread all the way to the extremities. The top of the tree was the head of a dragon which resembled branches and leaves.

”Take a look!” An Jing flipped the diagram up vertically. It looked no different from a tree growing out of the ground.

Yvelbane said, ”What? Is there anything weird about it?”

”Huh?” An Jing didn’t expect such a lukewarm reaction from the sword soul. ”This is True Dragon Spine, right? Isn’t it odd that it’s shaped like a tree?”

”But why is this odd? Dragons are the rulers of all true spirits. It goes without saying that they contain multitudes. They can even embody sea algae, let alone trees. Don’t you think True Dragon Spine looks somewhat similar to seaweed, mycelia and moss too? These meridian connections that take root all over absorb all sorts of spirit qi, condensing them into dragon qi. That’s the whole point of True Dragon Spine, is it not?”

Yvelbane believed that An Jing probably realized the main point of the wonder long ago given his talent. Yet, for some reason, he was oddly preoccupied about dragons to the point that it got in the way of the usual course of his logical capabilities. He seemed to consider dragons as unique beings separate from all other kinds of living beings. That’s odd. Did his Spark give him a wrong impression of this somehow?

An Jing was completely flabbergasted. That’s right! The memories from my past life gave me that blindspot. Dragons are the ancestral source of true spirits in Void Embrace. What forms they can and should take were never bound by my own preconceptions in the first place. Not to mention, there were people who tried to draw parallels between dragons, horses and trees in my past life too. We also had many types of dragons that controlled different aspects of the storm.

I see... So True Martial Spine resembles a nation, while True Dragon Spine resembles a tree. Why doesn’t it look like the stereotypical image of the dragon? What in the world did the Ancestral Dragon look like? Would the Ancestral Dragon really take the form of whatever I’m imagining right now? Perhaps the Ancestral Dragon looks practically identical to trees from the outside but was able to move about and fly freely. Maybe the way the Ancestral Dragon gave rise to so many different types of true spirits was completely different from how I imagined. Perhaps I can’t even think of it as a normal birthing process... No, that’s too large of a contradiction. All those messy thoughts flashed across his mind. He just realized that he hadn’t seen any proper dragons apart from the half-dragon fiendmolt and the humanoid Jin Yanhua.

”Thanks, Yvelbane, for helping shatter my preconceptions. I was stuck.” He breathed a sigh of relief as it dawned on him that blindly pondering on theories without the prerequisite background could lead him to misguided paths. ”Next time, I have to get Ruhui to describe the dragons she saw over there. How can I study True Dragon Spine without even knowing what they look like?”

Though he had only skimmed the compiled information, he did learn quite a bit from the tome, discovering the weaknesses of the half-dragon fiendmolt and even some of his own blindspots. Such was the path of cultivation. One could get stronger not just by improving one’s capabilities but also discovering an enemy’s weakness.

Knowing what he did, he immediately set off toward Brokeblade Mountain. First, he sought out the fey that was the forest of the mountain. The forest fey wasn’t hard to locate. All An Jing did was spread his spirit qi in a pulse across the crowns of the vast trees while cruising along with Frostwhite Dart.

Not long after, a voice that sounded like someone who had been awakened from a deep slumber rang out. ”Who goeth there? Knowest thou not that I slumber?”

”I am An Jing, acting city lord of Riverside.” An Jing learned from his experience interacting with Climbing Snowfang and reported his official rank and name.

The fey of the forest was slightly taken aback. They replied with the same courtesy, ”We, Grand Mountain Ruler Lushjade, stand as a conscripted member of the northern frontier’s fey ministry in service to the Brokeblade General.”

As expected, the proper way to interact with feys in Grand Chen was to report one’s affiliation and rank. The fey ministry of the empire’s protocols stated as much. Considering that the feys here have all been recruited by Grand Chen, it’s no wonder Brokeblade Mountain is typically peaceful. The mountain rulers must already pay some homage to the empire. Seems like it doesn’t just rule over humans, but also the many feys and true spirits in its domain. It’s no wonder Ancestral Dragon Hall considers their imperial blood as a type of dragonblood. Perhaps to dragons, they simply aren’t that different. That lines up with the true intent of the fey cultivation path.

”Hmmm, so thou art City Lord An. Thou hast already encountered Climbing Snowfang, hast thou not?” Lushjade said after they calmed down and sensed the presence of the boar mountain ruler around An Jing. ”Ask away if thou any questions hast. Why hast thou woken me? The snow calamity rages on. We would struggle to survive the long winter should we not hibernate. Willst thou bear the consequences thereof?”

Though using a friendlier tone, Lushjade still gave An Jing a stern warning. He didn’t waste words and immediately reported the matter of the fiendmolts in Palespirit Cave. Little did he expect that this would enrage Lushjade.

”How dareth a mere temporary ruler make such uncouth slander to one of superior rank? Hast thou any proof that the Brokeblade General was behind the so-called fiend-qi infestation and the four fiendmolts?! Not to mention, thy trespass into Palespirit Cave is a crime most grave! Who hath thee such a right granted?!”

”Let’s be reasonable. All kinds of measures are allowed when heavenly fiends are involved.” An Jing almost rolled his eyes. The forest fey’s regal, authoritative air was that of a human’s, not a tree’s! Then again, it was quite surprising that Lushjade wasn’t aware of the fiend qi in Palespirit Cave. An Jing gave it some thought and realized that he had only found the fiendmolts after sending the drone in. The fiendmolts themselves couldn’t move more than a hundred zhang away from Palespirit Cave, so their presence had been almost entirely concealed by Brokeblade Mountain’s metal-aspect qi. Perhaps the fiendmolts didn’t leave because they didn’t want to be discovered by other feys.

”I have no proof.” An Jing could sense that Lushjade was mustering their power in preparation to take him down. The forest around him glowed green while the trees shook audibly as they tried to encircle him. While Lushjade was a great fey, they were much more powerful than Climbing Snowfang, at least tens of times stronger than a typical Clearing Realm enemy, but not quite reaching the Treasures Realm. This was what made plant feys unique. Though they struggled to move, they were far more capable at storing energy compared to others of the same level of power.

The many lights among the plants gathered to form suppression formations, but An Jing wasn’t worried. He took out a letter and said, ”However, I have a letter of appointment from His Majesty, a sentinel king. Do you want to take a look?”

The moment An Jing took out the letter from King De, Lushjade ceased gathering their power immediately, having sensed the sentinel king’s dragon qi from the letter. An Jing showed it to the great fey, and while his claims weren’t directly validated by the letter, the great fey could tell that King De saw An Jing in a good light. He might be the acting city lord for the moment, but not for long.

”Very well, we believe thee. Exterminating fiendspawns is our duty.” The formations hovering above An Jing’s head were immediately dispelled. Lushjade immediately switched gears. ”City Lord An, hast thou a plan that requireth my aid?”

Apologies, Your Majesty, looks like your letter did come in handy after all! An Jing sighed in relief. While he had other ways to convince Lushjade, such as luring out the fiendmolts once more before escaping into Skysource, it would delay his plan by two to three days. He had decided to bank on the sentinel king’s name and reputation and it worked much better than expected.

”I already eliminated one of the fiendmolts. I can deal with two more, but there’s also another half-dragon fiendmolt that can only be killed with a fire-aspect blade. Wood feeds fire, and while I have a fire-aspect ability of my own, I still lack wood-qi support. So, I need you to provide spirit and lethal qi to me at the critical moment so that I can kill that half-dragon fiendmolt in one strike.”

”We mind this not. Expending some wood qi would help me sleep better. But our power spreadeth not to the vicinity of Brokeblade Mountain, the Brokeblade General’s own territory. Thou wouldst have to come to this mountain to receive our aid.”

”Is that so?” An Jing furrowed his brow slightly. He had considered this issue before. The spirit farms were located in a blessed land that was clearly of a different type than the land that the forest covered. Either way, securing Lushjade’s help was enough. At most, he would store lots of wood qi into the dragonhoard bottle for later use. ”Very well. Then, start preparing. I plan to take action soon.”

”Very well.” The great fey of the forest agreed happily. Forests couldn’t just uproot themselves and run, so a fiendspawn that appeared nearby would eventually pose a threat.