Destiny in Cinders

Pentabeast Divine Fist: My Journey was Lu Jin’s personal cultivation journal. Even though this was a common fist technique, Lu Jin had gained quite a deep insight into its intricacies and wrote much of his understanding down as well as the improvements he came up with. He did seem to be quite talented and interested in this topic. Alas, Pentabeast Divine Fist was far too common of a technique with many rough edges. Though Lu Jin had tried to patch them up to some extent, it was only higher intermediate among Fortification Realm techniques and couldn’t be considered an exquisite fist technique.

”Pentabeast Divine Feast and Beast Tamer as his lifearc, huh... It was a shame. If Lu Jin had been able to let go of other things and focus on the martial path, he would’ve been able to make this fist technique entirely his own, modifying it to suit his needs and honing his mind throughout the process.”

As a martialist himself, An Jing felt pity for how Lu Jin ended up. Had he been able to use his own power to improve the technique and break through to the Clearing Realm with it, it would’ve been a great achievement that also solidified his foundations greatly. Perhaps he would have been able to break through further and extend his lifespan without having to resort to fiend worship. Alas, that was but an idealistic scenario. Nobody in this world was that dedicated and focused on honing a single technique.

An Jing put down the journal and looked at the final text that had the longest title and gave off the strongest spirit glow, Nether Capture Soul Domination Divine Curse Mantra by the Sovereign Nether Divinity.

”This is quite an advanced nether curse scripture. It can be used to set up an altar, control the souls of the dead and also conduct a ritual to deploy an arcane domain that allows you to contact fiendgods!” While An Jing was ignorant of these things, Yvelbane had quite a bit of familiarity with them. ”I see, so this was what that fellow used to commune with heavenly fiends and set up the arcane domain. Is it also what transformed his lifearc to Death Tamer? But why? These scriptures should be used to commune with fiendgods in the nether realm, so how did he contact heavenly fiends with them?”

”I have no idea. Let’s look into this at a later date,” An Jing said when Yvelbane fell into deep thought. This reminded him of the Imperial Sky Starslaying Grand Ritual that the Heavenly Demon Cult carried out at Direlife Canyon.

Even though the formation was truly of the Imperial Sky, a heavenly deity, it was used to summon and control the power of heavenly fiends. One could perhaps say that they were using the power of the Olden Heavenly Father to bind the heavenly fiends. Could techniques that were meant to control fiendgods also bind heavenly fiends? Could the heavenly fiends of the modern day even be considered the same beings as the heavenly fiends in antiquity?

”Maybe we’ll only really know the true nature of these heavenly fiends once we run into some in Skysource. Either way, these scriptures are precious, especially to esotericists.”

An Jing probably wouldn’t be able to learn it himself, but he thought of Huo Qing, who was studying to be a formationist. If this was just a normal nether scripture, Huo Qing might benefit a lot from studying it and apply some of what he learned on his formations. You Ruhui could probably use it too, but given her impressive background and legacy, she had probably seen or learned much better techniques than this.

Apart from the tomes, there were some spirit items such as herbs, but not that many. Most of them had been corrupted by fiend qi. Only those that were kept safe in boxes remained preserved.

”Huh?” An Jing was stunned that he knew about all these spirit items when he inspected them. ”Rootless flower, moonbow stone, dazzling quinoa and even froststream dew?”

They were the exact items he had seen for sale at Fullyield Pawn Shop. ”Wow whee. I didn’t think that I’d come across such a treasure trove.”

It wasn’t that odd when he thought about it. Honor Pavilion was probably a major supplier for Fullyield. It was gone now, so the spoils belonged to An Jing. ”They’re all good stuff. Let’s pack them up.”

He packed the boxes up easily in the inner pockets of his mantle. He could use the rootless flower when he ventured into water-aspect crypts. He would go around asking how he could extract the grand yin betels from moonbow stones when he had the time. There wasn’t a good use for dazzling quinoa yet, but it couldn’t hurt to have it.

The froststream dew, however, did move him somewhat. ”This item has an aspect so I can’t use it for honing spirit eyes. Still, I can trade it for some other spirit water. Or, I could even invest it in Nian Quan. Let’s see how things go. I can’t exactly contact him casually for now. I’ll wait for the whole commotion over the True Talisman to die down first.”

There were also many pills apart from the spirit items, all of them blood colored. An Jing ground his teeth at the sight of the blood pills and crushed them completely to prevent anyone from using them.

By the time he was done, the heaven purification radiance had fully assimilated into his body. It was a kind of pure essence refined from mystical qi. He felt a warm comforting feeling spread through his meridians and innards, smoothening out their pathways. The qi around him pulsed potently to the point that his mantle visibly flapped around even though there was no wind. His eyes also emitted a faint crimson and gold glow.

Though he stood there without moving, the energy coming from his body melted the icy snow and blood around him, causing vapor to rise. The aura that was sustained by Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal and the Imperial Sky and Earth Arts projected astral flame-like talisman script onto the vapor. It looked just like the bright stars in the heavens and the brilliant mountain and river landscapes on earth, oozing an air of profundity, a sign that An Jing’s vital cultivation was rapidly rising.

At the same moment, he witnessed countless memories, those of the lives that had been sacrificed by the True Fiend Cult in particular. Their hatred, pain, despair and sorrow from the torture they had endured were on full display. It wasn’t enough that they were seen and treated like livestock. They were also tortured during the cult’s sacrificial ritual, undoubtedly one of the worst pains one could endure in this world. As those memories faded away, those poor souls felt a sense of release from the grips of pain and sorrow. An Jing let it pass through him quietly, fists clenched.

He also witnessed the memories of the fiend followers, including Lu Jin’s. He had been a young genius tamer once and started out as a good person. Using his unique lifearc, he helped Keensight weather a beast stampede and earned the praise and respect of its citizens. Later on, he became the administrator of Honor Pavilion’s branch, venturing into a completely new career. He had also achieved much in martial training and had a promising future ahead.

As time passed, he grew more and more hesitant. Unable to successfully manifest his fifth wonder, he eventually lost his chance to ascend higher and break through to the Clearing Realm to extend his lifespan. The headquarters of Honor Pavilion even sent him a deputy that they hoped he would help train, an action that marked the beginning of his fall.

He also raged at the fact that he had no offspring. He had invested all he had into his career, making it his life’s purpose. Yet, his superiors had asked him to train his replacement. He had worked hard for countless years only for his bosses to try to replace him with a greenhorn! He had only failed once! As long as he found some precious medicine, he would be able to recover his qi essence and try to break through to the Clearing Realm again.