Destiny in Cinders

The Human Immortal Body Refinement Mantra... just became Supreme Truths of Heaven Man? An Jing scrutinized the manual in his hand. To think that they’re even able to change its contents like this remotely... The Heavenly Demon Cult’s elites definitely have their eyes on me. Yet, they’re not interfering with what I’m doing or here to forcefully take me away. How peculiar indeed.

He looked up at Bai Qinghan, who was also in deep thought. ”Is this the classic text that you were supposed to bring me?”

”Well, it used to be. As for what it became, I have never seen it before either.” She didn’t find what happened too surprising. When it came to An Jing, unexpected things were the norm. ”That must mean that you’ve comprehended some deep principles of the cult. This text appeared right next to me just before I was about to set out to visit you, so I’m guessing that the top brass wanted you to have it. Looks like it just leveled up.”

”Interesting,” Yvelbane said. ”I recall that we used to have something like the Human Immortal Body Refinement Mantra too. It works by condensing pressure points to refine the body and psyche, shaping and forging the heavenly ladder and earthly pillar. Speaking of which, the wonders of the martial path’s formation-based cultivation system serves a similar role to the Human Immortal Body Refinement Mantra’s pressure points. One thing I’m not sure about, however, is whether the ’Heaven Man’ mentioned here is a reference to the saying, ’one that strays not from the primal source a heavenly man,’ or the mere state of being attuned with heaven, unifying heaven and man. It could also refer to celestial beings that reside in the immortal heavens. Why don’t you see what’s inside?”[1]

”Aren’t you worried there’s some kind of trap waiting inside?” An Jing said.

The sword soul snapped back, ”If there really were a trap, you wouldn’t be able to run from it even if you tried! Now, get to reading already!”

An Jing opened the Supreme Truths of Heaven Man; the manual itself wasn’t particularly thick. It wasn’t even a proper book in the traditional sense. In fact, the individual sheets felt somewhat like jade, similar to the bound jade tablets of Skysource. He swept it with his psychic will, causing golden text to suddenly appear on the jade walls of his sea of consciousness.

”Across all of the vast cosmos, man is that which is most noble and numinous. Heaven is that which is most high and grand. Time is that which is the fastest and most eternal. One who grasps celestial time represents that which is most supreme, whose soul follows the dao and spreads across the eight extremities, witnessing the clear rising to become the Blue Heaven above and the turbid sinking to form the Yellow Springs below, ever unworn, ever unchanging.

”One who harmonizes spirit qi is in tune with heavenly workings and is thus nourished by heaven. One who harmonizes lethal qi emerges from the forces of arrival, departure, arising and ceasing, and is thus nourished by oneself. The path of spirit and lethal qi and matters of cultivation lie within the soul and the body. Alas, far too many are the foolish and primitive, their natures weak, their lifeforce diminished.

”Seeking the dao is no trivial task, and for that I have created this method, one which does not discriminate between male or female, young or old, wise or daft, rich or poor. One needs only to engage in consistent practice in accordance with heaven’s mandate, translating one’s destiny into action, which in turn, fulfills one’s destiny, thereby realizing the unity of yin and yang, uniting the principle of creation and transformation with the primal source. Rid oneself of stagnant and confused states of mind and bring forth one’s wise, courageous and radiant true nature.”

”Seems like the ’heaven man’ here does indeed refer to a man who acts in accord with heaven. The path of the heavenly man,” Yvelbane said, bobbing as if it were nodding in the sea of consciousness. The psychic intent contained within the text came as quite a surprise for it. ”This mantra might just be comparable to dao-classic-tier core teachings. It’s a mighty technique invented by someone who has attained the position of a supreme for those that come after!”

The mantra was written in the tone of voice of a supreme heavenly man who expounded on how one might harmonize spirit qi to open the door to heavenly workings and even harmonize lethal qi by executing acts of creation and destruction. From one step to the next, one would be able to unite essence with qi, qi with the psyche, and the psyche with the body to take part in generative transformations that achieve a complete and unified realm.

An Jing wasn’t merely surprised; he was utterly shocked. ”But that’s hardly the main focus of the text, right? The initial part contains a summary of Temporal Grasp’s true meaning, but it later talks about achieving a unified realm using Temporal Grasp as the core. Isn’t this straight up the precise instructions on how to go from the Fortification to Clearing and even Void Divine Treasures?”

He was still perplexed. ”This can’t be! Don’t tell me the demonic cult expects me to show up at Heavenly Will Mountain right after I manifest Temporal Grasp!”

”Nope,” Yvelbane said, having properly digested the meaning of the whole mantra with its immortal-level understanding. ”In fact, it’s the opposite. The text states that using Temporal Grasp to form a psyche worthy of one in accord with heaven before using it to forge a body of that caliber is far too strict of a standard. Most people are foolish and primitive and would never come to understand this key point. They simply aren’t fated to. That’s why this particularly heavenly man came up with a specific method for the mundane and foolish folk so that they may fulfill their lifearcs to forge the body of a heavenly man.

”One’s arc and destiny are bestowed by heaven, so fulfilling one’s lifearc is akin to carrying out heavenly will, which strengthens one’s life and nature so that one might be in accord with heaven to forge a celestial dao body. With such a body, even the biggest fool will have the tiniest shred of a chance to cultivate psychic intent,” Yvelbane explained with a tone of awe. ”This fits really well with the martial path of Void Embrace. The part that states ’engage in consistent practice in accordance with heaven’s mandate, translating one’s destiny into action, which in turn, fulfills one’s destiny’ essentially describes the process of gradually advancing one’s lifearc until it finally becomes a divine arc.

”After undergoing this process, the core of one’s being, in other words, the primal source, also gets elevated on a fundamental level. Basically, the Supreme Truths of Heaven Man contains the method to repeatedly elevate one’s core nature until finally transforming one’s body into that of a heavenly man.”

”I see. So this is a cultivation method that can improve one’s lifearc, numinosity and vivency.” An Jing quietly pondered the content of the text again. ”It’s nothing short of a divine technique as far as normal people are concerned. However, its effects are best brought out by cultivating it with Temporal Grasp. It is a soul wonder, after all, and this cultivation technique builds upon the body in a way.”

Furrowing his brow, An Jing put down the bound jade book and sighed deeply. ”This text also contains the way to manifest a fundamental wonder of the Heavenly Divine Cult, which is the counterpart of Temporal Grasp and the fundamental formation diagram for the manifested wonders! But that hidden information will only be revealed once I grasp the deeper insights, just like the Imperial Sky and Earth Arts. And unlike Temporal Grasp, the wonder in here isn’t something that only celestial or divine-arc bearers can manifest. Anyone can cultivate it. I worry that this is one of the fundamental texts of the demonic cult that contains its core teachings. If I really end up cultivating using it, nobody would believe me even if I told them I’m not with the cult.”

”But everyone already knows that you’re a traitor of the demonic cult,” Yvelbane said. ”It’s a complete non-issue. Not to mention, you can simply mask Supreme Truths of Heaven Man using Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal. They’re not that far off from each other anyway.”

An Jing did find that reasoning rather convincing. Temporal Grasp was indeed one of the strongest manifestations of the soul’s psychic intent, but it came with rather extreme demands on the physical body. For now, An Jing’s body could still sustain that load thanks to Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal, but it was only a metal-aspect technique at the end of the day. Once all Seven Ruinous Luminaries of his lifearc awakened, the technique would no longer be able to bring out his full potential as far as other types of spirit qi were concerned.

Supreme Truths of Heaven Man, on the other hand, promised to forge an aspectless bodily wonder, pairing perfectly with Temporal Grasp, making it something An Jing should cultivate.

As he browsed the text, Bai Qinghan sensed spirit qi rapidly condensing around his body before it emitted a stunningly bright glow. The soft, white and aspectless glow of spirit qi enveloped his entire body, stretching from his eyes to the rest of his head and his heart to his body, extremities, face, fingers, arms, back and even the tips of his hair. An Jing’s compatibility with the technique was so high that merely browsing it was enough to cause him to subconsciously circulate it to refine his body!

”Oh well. Even if this is a poisoned apple, I should at least keep it and find a way to excise the poison.” An Jing suppressed his qi essence, causing the glow to disappear. He figured that the demonic cult was trying to pull him to their side by offering him the technique. Perhaps they also wanted to make other sects or factions be inherently suspicious of him by letting him learn their signature technique, ostracizing him and forcing him back to the demonic cult. But he knew better than anyone that the demonic cult wasn’t the only faction he had it out for. It wasn’t just Grand Chen; he had gripes with all the factions in the Northblack Sacrifice Continent. The Brightmirror Sect was no exception either. There was no point in isolating him from other sects in the first place.

”At the very least, I now have something to cultivate before I return to the Brightmirror Sect, so my time won’t go to waste.” He put the jade book into his void artifact and looked at Bai Qinghan, who still seemed to be contemplating the true meaning of the cult’s teachings.

”Little Bai, what do you plan to do next?”

”Me?” She took out a waterscreen and said, ”If you don’t mind, keep this waterscreen with you. I’ll be able to reach out to you more easily with this. When you decide on what you want to do next and leave this area, I will return to Heavenly Will Mountain to cultivate there. I already grasped my arcanum and just gained some insight earlier. Once I go back, I’ll be able to break through to Fortification and catch up to you.”

Catching up to me? That’s tough. If not for the fact that I want to try manifesting only aspectless wonders, I would’ve manifested three already. Though that was honestly how he felt, he knew better than to speak it out loud. ”I still have some affairs to handle in Riverside and the vicinity of Brokeblade Mountain, so I’ll be around for quite a while. Feel free to stay if you like. You can ask me if there’s anything you don’t understand.”

Hearing the familiar words, Bai Qinghan smiled. ”Yes, Senior Disciple.”

All of a sudden, someone knocked on the outside gate loudly, causing both of them to stand up with a snap and turn to the entrance of the courtyard.

”Pay up! It’s Bejeweled!” yelled an uncouth, overbearing voice. ”Stop playing dead! It’s time to pay for the firewood, water and rations you’re consuming! If you don’t hand it over, we’ll come in and take it from you directly!”

1. ”One that strays not from the primal source is a heavenly man” (不离于宗，谓之天人) is a quotation of the Zhuangzi (https://ctext.org/zhuangzi/tian-xia/ens), one of the seminal Daoist texts. As for ”unifying heaven and man” it refers to this phrase 天人合一, which is basically the core Daoist teaching: to be in tune with one’s own nature is to be in accordance to heaven. ☜