Destiny in Cinders

”An armament arcanum?” An Jing was resting in the courtyard after six grueling hours of tests. No doubt, going at the spirit-qi targets generated by a sage, which were likely tougher than physical targets, drained him quite a lot.

He had thought that the testing would continue when Jin Yanhua came back and rose to his feet, only for Jin Yanhua to say those words.

”That’s right, Guang wanted me to teach you an armament arcanum,” Jin Yanhua said, her lean and tall figure standing tall in the courtyard. The only part that was wide and thick was her dragon’s tail, which seemed as tough as a steel whip. ”My lifearc is called Mountain Pile Armaments and the cultivation technique I use to hone it is Thousand Arms Lethality Accumulation.”

As she spoke, she stretched out her arm and levitated a few sword-shaped dragon scales covered in green capillary-like patterns around it. Those scales continued to rise into the air and assembled into flying swords covered in streaks of lightning. The swords surrounded her and formed a lightning sword formation. An Jing also noticed the sharp, pine-leaf-like scales on her tail linking together to form many powerful lances and halberds.

”Initially, I only bore a root arc called Thousand Arms Smith.” She pulled her arm back and turned the weapons back into dragon scales. ”This lifearc is ideal for people who go on to become master smiths. And indeed, I am one of the few divine-armament smiths of Ancestral Dragon Hall. I was the one who forged your master’s mirror artifact, Hexsun Eightsights, Xuan Guangyun’s sword, Thousand Streams and many other signature weapons of Ancestral Dragon Hall’s members.

”Father loved me because I’m able to craft divine armaments. When I reach the Sanctification Realm, I might be able to forge dao-sentient spirit relics, further adding to the wealth and resources to my sect. However, I didn’t want that to be the case. Even though the heavens gave me such a peaceful destiny, I wanted to achieve big things. That’s why I developed an arcanum of my own, specifically for armed combat. Mingjing, ah, I’ll call you Ruhui like you asked. You should come too.”

You Ruhui, who had joined An Jing for the tests, was rather surprised that she was named. She didn’t think she would be allowed to learn it too. Wasn’t An Jing the amazing one? Why was she suddenly being taught an arcanum?

An Jing turned to Ming Guangchen and saw him smiling and immediately understood that his master had rendered him yet another boon. An Jing was rather taken aback, but grateful.

”You have an affinity with fire and metal, while Ruhui has affinity with earth and metal. That means we should start with metal,” Jin Yanhua said when the two sat down together.

She raised her hand. Then, golden lightning bolts poured out from between her fingers, their arcs appearing incredibly sharp. They seemed to contain explosive power, yet they were stable. Alone, they didn’t seem capable of anything. They had to be used with something else to unleash their might.

Then, a sword-shaped dragon scale rose into the air and fell into Jin Yanhua’s palm, immediately ending up covered in the glowing lightning bolts, which continued to spread along the blade, then to Jin Yanhua’s arm, shoulder and head, forming a half-armor that covered her arm. It was quite the stark contrast against her other unarmed, slender side.

Jin Yanhua held a dragon-scale sword in her other arm and struck it with the first one. The sword covered in electric light instantly vaporized the one without it in a blinding flash that conveyed the sharpness of metal. The unreinforced sword’s ashes began to scatter like powder in the wind.

You Ruhui widened her eyes and observed everything closely.

An Jing, who was reminded of the Magnefire Abyss formation at Hilltwixt, said, ”Magnetic lightning... You used qi lightning to reinforce a weapon and the qi’s friction to generate metal lightning and unleash destructive power! What a terrifying technique! Also...”

He turned to look at Ruhui, who looked as if she had realized something. ”This is also an aspect that Ruhui possesses!”

”That’s right!” Jin Yanhua was surprised once more. She smiled as she turned to An Jing. ”You were able to see through to the fundamental principle of my combat art. Guang really sold you short. My cultivation technique suits Ruhui well. That’s the reason Guang and Guangyun asked me to help in the first place. It suits you too, boy.”

Jin Yanhua released the power, causing the lightning bolts to scatter. The sword scale returned to her body. The vaporized sword scale’s form was also restored, albeit still damaged. It, too, returned to her body.

The dragon lady said, ”This is a lightning technique, one that’s specifically tailored to armaments. It’s an arcanum of the Greater Ebony Cult and Ancestral Dragon Hall as well as my own creation. I will teach you two how to use it while Guang is busy calibrating the void altar. However, An Jing, you have to pay a fee. Ruhui doesn’t, of course.”

An Jing immediately understood that Jin Yanhua wanted to form a karmic link. Techniques were not to be transferred lightly. As An Jing was Ming Guangchen’s disciple, a close comrade of Jin Yanhua, she didn’t hesitate to teach him her arcanum. Even so, that didn’t mean An Jing could just accept it for free.

Without hesitation, An Jing rose and took all of his gold, silver, yinjade and spirit silver that he had obtained from the demonic cult and handed it to Jin Yanhua. ”This is all the wealth I have amassed. Take this as a token for my sincere dao-seeking heart.”

”Very well.” Jin Yanhua held the precious metals and symbolically accepted them. Then, she said, ”It’s our first time meeting, but I didn’t come with a gift. As your senior, I suppose it’s only appropriate for me to give you an allowance.”

Her hand flashed, instantly melting the precious metals, refining them into an ingot that could be used to craft a precious artifact. Then, she handed it back to him.

Though she didn’t take anything from that transaction, the sincere attitude An Jing showed was the point. Jin Yanhua was quite happy about it and told You Ruhui, ”Ruhui, you should learn something from him. Even though we dragons of Ancestral Dragon Hall don’t care too much about formalities, we value expressions of sincerity heavily.”

You Ruhui didn’t know what she did to get caught in the crossfire again.

Jin Yanhua spent the coming days passing down her arcanum in great detail. The arcanum was called Trueblitz Pentaphase Infusion. It was a lightning-centered technique infused with aspects of the five phases that was derived from the Greater Ebony Cult’s Fiveblitz Soaring Divinity arcanum.

One had to pick a specific aspect relationship to use this technique, such as using metal lightning to nourish water lightning, or water lightning to nourish wood lightning to create a cycle of nourishing and hindering. Maintaining even one type of lightning would be enough to fortify one’s armaments and infuse them with powerful lightning. It could also be used to disintegrate armaments to rapidly release the blood or metal lethal qi within them to unleash terrifying destructive power. This was exactly the kind of powerful combat art that An Jing needed!