Destiny in Cinders

”Sailing upstream, huh,” An Jing muttered. ”If that’s what a lifearc is, what about abilities?”

Ming Guangchen said, ”The same applies. If martialists don’t fulfill their lifearc, their abilities would also deteriorate. Eventually, they will no longer be able to bear the power of their lifearc. Why do you think those with root arcs are considered geniuses while those with miracle arcs are the favored children of the heavens? That’s because bearers of root arcs can eventually become bearers of miracle arcs, while the bearers of miracle arcs can eventually become bearers of divine arcs. That is the main motivation for martialists like me to consistently try to fulfill our own dao. Human agency, earthly position and celestial destiny. All of these have to be in place and feed into one another. An Jing, even if you bear a divine arc, if you don’t take any action and focus on nothing but cultivation, you’ll find the power of your lifearc weakening until eventually your cultivation stalls completely.”

That was the nature of the bottleneck on the martial path. In other words, martialists had to strive to achieve great things. Otherwise, they would fall into normalcy before their cultivation began to weaken. Human agency was an important component that could alter even the destiny ordained by the heavens. It could be used to strengthen lifearcs or even cause one to fall from grace to the lowest of lows.

”Wait, there are people who understand it this way?!” Yvelbane was even more surprised than An Jing was. ”I can’t believe it! I didn’t know that the martial path had such a severe limitation as to cause one to lose progress if they didn’t continue to advance. Isn’t this the complete opposite of the immortal path?”

Yvelbane gave it a bit more thought and seemed to realize something. ”It’s no wonder that martialists of this world are so different from qi cultivators from my time. The path of immortal cultivation emphasizes untethering oneself from the world and all mortal affairs. This is the complete antithesis of martial cultivation.”

”Looks like this is why lifearc martialists continue to get involved in worldly affairs,” An Jing said. ”When one reaches the intermediate phase of martial cultivation, it becomes necessary to look deeper into the power of lifearcs. Collecting human luck, securing a good earthly position and changing celestial destiny...”

He began to understand the reason the demonic cult pushed children like them so hard. They would never have awakened lifearcs with peaceful cultivation. They had to experience great highs and lows, fortune and misfortune, to be able to unleash their lifearcs’ power!

Those who use evil methods like that deserve death! He closed his eyes for a moment to calm himself. ”Does that mean one can go from bearing a root arc to eventually bearing a divine arc?”

Ming Guangchen nodded. ”There is precedent for it, quite a few in fact.”

”What about mixed arcs? Can they also ascend to bear divine arcs?”

”It’s not impossible, but it’s far too difficult. Historically speaking, it has only happened when mixed-arc bearers come into contact with bearers of divine or even celestial arcs. However, there are many mixed-arc bearers that end up elevating their lifearcs to miracle arcs. As long as they continue to strive, they will eventually get the chance to better themselves.”

”An Jing,” Yvelbane said, ”this person is really knowledgeable! You should ask him more about the affairs of Void Embrace!”

Haha, so I tell him I have a friend who’d like to learn more? Well, it just so happens that it’s true! An Jing came from a clan at the border of North Han. Even though they used to have members at the Clearing Realm, there was still much about the martial path that they weren’t privy to. Putting aside true large sects and powerful factions, there were many in Keensight alone that knew far more than An Jing. As such, the genius sage who was guaranteed to make it to the Altar Sanctification Realm in the future was a magnificent resource for information. Even so, An Jing had to focus on getting affairs in Keensight in order first.

”Sage Mystic Mirror! How did you—” Zheng Mo wouldn’t dare let a sage knock on his door and request an audience with him. Instead, he had come out with a group of men to welcome him. When he saw the familiar figure with the sage, he jumped with a start. ”Jing Xuan? Wait...”

Zheng Mo was lazy but not daft. He immediately understood the relationship between the mysterious genius Dustdawner and a sage of the Dustdawn Sects. Finally, it became clear to him who had supported Jing Xuan from behind the scenes.

Ming Guangchen proceeded to verify his guesses right away. ”City Manager Zheng, I believe my disciple has done quite a lot to contribute to Keensight during this crisis.”

He didn’t say much else; he didn’t need to. Just like that, his arcane corpus vanished in a flash of light. But before he left, he made sure to tell An Jing, ”Given your talent, you should be able to cause quite a large commotion. Once you’re done, wait for me to contact you. I know you have many questions for me. Don’t worry, I will live up to my name as your master. I’ll answer everything that I can pertaining to the martial path.”

”A large commotion, huh? That’s easy.” An Jing smiled. If An Jing had to do things stealthily, the only options he had were to sneakily assassinate his target and wipe out all witnesses. But when it came to making a commotion to draw attention, he had even more tricks up his sleeves!

”Oh? The sage left just like that?” Zheng Mo didn’t know what to do next after Ming Guangchen vanished into thin air. He thought that there would be some more specific instructions for him, but it seemed that the sage only wanted to send this Jing Xuan kid to him.

”Young Hero Jing, what are you here for, pray tell? Is it to claim the reward from Grand Chen?” He spoke to An Jing in a soft tone. He had been aware that he left Keensight with a convoy that morning. Yet, the sage brought him back so suddenly, so he must have had something he needed to do. ”Come in and have some tea first!”

”Since it would be rude to refuse your sincerity, I will accept your offer graciously.” An Jing felt like he was getting used to using this canned phrase. He supposed he didn’t mind using it more often if it always led to good things.

Once he took a sip of his tea at the backyard of the administrative office, he said, ”My master has indeed sent me back to claim the reward. That way, I wouldn’t need to trouble you all to send people all the way to my homeland. That would be a huge waste of resources and manpower.”

”Consider it done,” Zheng Mo said with an enthusiastic wave. ”We’ve already prepared for this long ago.”

The name of Jing Xuan was associated with many good deeds, though the fact that he had eliminated Honor Pavilion alone was still unknown. His deeds included the arresting of kidnappers from the True Fiend Cult and the killing of seven of their elite soldiers and the guards that watched the kidnapping victims. His actions had saved hundreds of citizens of Keensight.

Apart from that, he was assumed to have helped fight back against the True Fiend Cult when they retaliated and tried to fight the city garrison for control over the terrestrial-vein nodes (in actuality he had been storming Honor Pavilion’s building). This was quite likely to be true because they had to account for the many dead martialists at Honor Pavilion in the aftermath. It must’ve been done by an anonymous hero. It couldn’t have been members of the city garrison as none of them claimed those kills.

Zheng Mo had been planning to let his men take credit if nobody came out to claim it. But since the sage sent An Jing over, the city manager was shrewd enough to make sure he got the credit instead. As far as An Jing himself was concerned, this credit was rightfully his in the first place.

All his deeds amounted to quite a hefty reward. ”Five hundred liang of silver, fifteen liang of densegold, a banner of commendation, an honors certificate for being an upstanding subject of Grand Chen and prioritized free access through city gates!”