Destiny in Cinders

Despite the difficulty of cultivating qi of the water aspect, cultivators of those spirit roots had unique advantages. At the Qi Refinement Realm, water-aspect cultivators were in high demand among companies or parties that ventured into the badlands. They could also take up stable, lifelong careers in the aquaculture or water-purification industries.

If Nian Quan, a bearer of celestial spirit roots, became a proper sword immortal, even more doors would open for him. That was yet another reason the principal took extra care to nurture him. Either way, the six pills were far more valuable to Nian Quan than a mere void artifact.

However, the inverse was also true for An Jing. Having Heaven’s Child Art meant that he no longer needed pills to purify corrupted qi within his body. He also cultivated as quickly as he could while maintaining a stable foundation, so he didn’t need any boosts.

As for spirit stones, Nian Quan was still fine with accepting them. He would easily be able to pay it back once he reached the sixth level of the Qi Refinement Realm per his contract with Principal He, after which he would be given a high-grade water-aspect spirit stone.

Still, Nian Quan couldn’t help but feel a huge helping of guilt and gratitude for accepting such precious resources, not that An Jing cared; the people he knew all had different aspect affinities. His own were earth, wood and metal, Huo Qing’s were earth, wood, and fire, Bai Qinghan’s was profound-yin-like water, You Ruhui’s were earth and metal, Ming Guangchen’s were yin and yang and Jin Yanhua’s were lightning and metal. There would always be someone he could offer things to for their favor.

”Alright, take it! I’ll go ahead and shop for a vehicle.” An Jing didn’t bother to wait for Nian Quan to find the words to thank him. He went straight to the store, only to almost be driven out by the owner.

”A minor? Just leave. Minors can’t drive, got it?” The owner was probably a member of a gang as well. Even though his hairstyle was as typical and boring as they went, the uncovered tattoos on his neck were far too eye-catching.

An Jing completely froze up. It was the first time he was denied anything because of his age. Being born with the Spark meant that his mental age was quite advanced, after all. He didn’t think that being in the body of a twelve-year-old would actually result in problems like these.

It was no matter, however. An Jing only needed to display his Qi Refinement power to the owner, who blinked his eyes in disbelief, scanning An Jing up and down as if he was doubting his eyes. After he ascertained his cultivation, he unwillingly moved aside and said, ”Welcome, fellow cultivator.”

”I need a portable vehicle, something that fits into void artifacts. It doesn’t need to carry multiple people or much cargo. I only care about how fast it can go and how long it can last. I need it to go across all types of terrain.” An Jing detailed the specifications of the vehicle he needed in precise detail.

The owner loved customers who knew what they wanted and nodded. ”Do you need it to have protective features for extreme environments?”

”Hmm, shielding from acid rain, duststorms and blizzards would be great. Is there something for high temperatures as well?”

”It’s all doable. All we have to do is to install a defensive formation disc for an extra fee.”

”Alright. Let me see the base unit first.”

It took less than five minutes before An Jing came face-to-face with a silver-white hoverbike. It was covered in thick alloy armor and had four hover rotors facing different directions, all imbued with Windboost spells. The hoverbike was mainly powered by a high-capacity spirit-qi crucible, capable of operating for thirty-six hours straight. At cruising speed, it could cover a range of 45,000 li per day, and it did all that while constantly hovering three zhang above the ground.

”Behold, the Frostwhite Dart Gamma,” the boss said. ”This is easily the best one-man vehicle you can get on the market. While its speed or defensive capabilities aren’t comparable to true airships or high-class flying cars, I believe it meets all your needs. Normally, it goes for 5500 merits, but since we’re doing a grand-opening sale, I’ll discount it to the lucky number of 4900 merits!”[1]

An Jing immediately knew that this was exactly what he needed. However, he had practically no experience with such things; it wouldn’t be shocking if he ended up scammed. So, Huo Qing stepped up and asked the owner whether he could test it out.

The owner initially wanted to tell him off, noticing that he wasn’t at the Qi Refinement Realm. However, Huo Qing gripped his fists tight and caused it to snap audibly. The owner immediately snapped out of it and said, ”A body refiner, I see. Fine, feel free to check it out.”

Unsurprisingly, Huo Qing immediately discovered four problems with the hoverbike. First, the spirit-qi crucible was old, probably a refurbished one. The Windboost spell circuits in the rotors were also faulty and might cause the bike to hover lower than expected. There was also something off with the Thrust spell, which had to be remedied by assessing its spirit-qi compatibility.

As for the final problem, it was even simpler. Huo Qing whispered to An Jing, ”This thing’s tainted! I knew that they wouldn’t sell any vehicles this good here. We have no idea where they got this hoverbike from. It’s all too shady. I think it’s fine if you only use it in the badlands, but if you drive it around in the city, who knows what kind of trouble you’ll get into?”

An Jing wasn’t too shocked by this. Even though the black market tried to rebrand, it was still shady at the end of the day. There was bound to be shady business there.

”Looks like we have to ask for a discount. To think that he tried to sell us shady goods at eighty-percent of the full price.” An Jing shook his head and stepped forward with Huo Qing to bargain.

”Oh, so we have some sharp-eyed bunnies here, I see.” The owner had only tried to pull one over some young folks. When he found that these two weren’t easy to fool, he didn’t insist on it and brushed it off, lowering the price to 3200 merits.

Huo Qing gave it one more check and found another flaw with the high beam, using it as ammunition to engage in another harsh round of haggling. It ended in his victory. While the high beam couldn’t be fixed, the owner was willing to install a close-range flashbang emitter.

”Come on, you won’t be using the high beam anyway in the badlands. That’s akin to suicide, you know. Instead, this flashbang emitter is enough to stun most feys up close. If you ask me, this is a much better deal.” It was sound reasoning, so they didn’t argue. Huo Qing and An Jing then went on to install some properly working spells and a defensive formation disc, bringing their shopping trip to a close. It was then when Nian Quan had to part from the group.

”I hope I’ll hear about your victory on my next visit.” An Jing gave some words of encouragement before he left.

Nian Quan, however, shook his head. ”It’d be great if I make it to the top then. However...”

He handed An Jing his sword with a look of expectation. ”When you held the sword earlier, I felt a trace of sword intent. Even though I’m still far from reaching a bottleneck with Sword of Empyreal Mortality, I still wish to witness your sword intent.”

”Oh? My sword intent?” An Jing knew that sword cultivators were the sort who couldn’t hold back from seeing other people’s sword intent. If this was Void Embrace, they’d start crossing swords right away. Still, he didn’t understand much about his own sword intent.

”Do I really have sword intent?” he asked Yvelbane.

”What? Don’t tell me you don’t know...” Yvelbane sounded surprised. ”An Jing, the essence of a sword lies in its purpose; it’s a tool for taking life. Leveraging the savage impulse, you can use killing intent to spur lethal qi along, uniting the body’s essence, breath and psyche into one as you manifest qi of the finest purity. It is the ultimate refined form of the impulse to hurt and kill, combined with an unwavering will to take life. By blending those two together, you generate sword intent to cut through countless manifestations!”

An Jing blinked somewhat blankly. ”That’s it?”Isn’t that just a description of how I unleash every strike I make?

”Yeah, that’s it. Do you remember the pure sword lethal qi you refined when you first broke through to the Aura Realm? That’s the same as the sword intent you emit whenever you wish to kill another person. That’s why I called you a genius of the way of the sword. When most other people try to kill, their intent is mixed with impurities such as emotions of joy, exhilaration, anger and sorrow, muddled by resentment and curses. That impure mixture makes it hard for sword intent to form.

”At Qi Refinement, you can use sword intent to slice spells or enchantment seals. At Foundation Building, you can use it to destroy spirit intent. At Purple Mansion, sword intent can even cut through the void. As for the Goldcore Realm, your sword intent will elevate to the level of a dao, but that’s a story for another day. All in all, sword intent is rather potent on the way up to the Goldcore Realm.

”Your killing intent is so pure that you don’t even need to use the sword as a weapon. It doesn’t matter what weapon you wield. You can even unleash sword qi with a single blade of leaf. All I can say is that you are born to tread this path. I’ve had my suspicions for a while that you were probably some immortal or divine being who has mastered such a path in your past life.”

1. The lucky number here is a rather vague Daoist reference to a saying that’s attributed to the I Ching, book of changes. ”The Grand Dao comprises fifty precepts, forty-nine of which govern the workings of the world, one of which is hidden from humankind.” (大道五十，天衍四九，人遁其一) At least, that’s my attempt at translating it. It’s said that the one that’s hidden is heavenly mystery/hidden fate. ☜