Destiny in Cinders

An Jing didn’t really care what the Dragon General was thinking. Since the man didn’t lose his cool and send his power down to smite him, An Jing put away the ability token hidden in his hand. Then, he approached Mo Li’s charred corpse and looked at the green and gold formation discs that had resized themselves to become as big as millstones.

The green one was called ”Four Symbols of Virtuous Reign,” sporting a surface of smooth, beautiful jade that was somewhat transparent like the surface of the lake. Looking deeper through the translucence, one could see living, pulsing talisman script in a neat formation that formed ripple-like flows. The ”Four Symbols” in the name didn’t refer to the four sacred beasts, but rather, to the four virtues of origination, penetration, furtherance and perseverance. It used the pure yang of heaven as the origin point for all life, penetrating deep into their destinies and wellbeing, furthering their interests across their lifespan and allowing them to persevere till the very end with the clearest of qi.

The golden formation disc called ”Martial Fruition” had a thick, rugged outer appearance that looked like a blade had hacked into it multiple times. The edge of the disc was covered in patterns depicting mountains formed from metal and rock. This disc represented martialists that embodied the virtue of defending the nation like a tall and stable mountain that wouldn’t shake from any disaster.

Those two formation discs had redirected the terrestrial veins’ energy and allowed Mo Li to display the power of a Clearing Realm martialist. That was how he had been able to push An Jing back considerably and gain the upper hand for a time despite being utterly trashed by An Jing moments before.

An Jing wasn’t too surprised by the turn of events since Zheng Mo had demonstrated a similar capability in Keensight. There was no way Zheng Mo would be able to hold up against An Jing, but the moment he used his official seal to leverage the divine armament’s power, even the Lord Inspector of the West would have to tread carefully, let alone An Jing and the Clearing adepts he fought.

”These feel like divine armaments despite not being the same.” An Jing picked those two discs up and was surprised by their weight. Together, they added up to some six thousand jin, though they felt no heavier than two pieces of flatbread given his current capabilities. ”What in the world are they used for? They can’t just be divine armaments in all but name, right? Was Bejeweled trying to use the terrestrial veins of Riverside to nurture their own divine-armament major formation? Then again, it doesn’t look like something the traders guild would use. Some other major figure must be behind this.”

”These formation discs don’t have the slightest hint of sentience, so there’s no communicating with them. Let’s just bring them straight to the central pivot of the terrestrial veins to take a look,” Yvelbane suggested. It had an idea, but wasn’t sure if it would work. ”Bejeweled must’ve been trying to place them at the central pivot to connect them to the major formation to tap into their true power.”

”Is there a need to do that?” An Jing furrowed his brow. ”What if it really works? Wouldn’t we just be doing their job for them?”

”Haha, in their dreams,” Yvelbane proclaimed confidently. ”With me around, I’m able to cut off their connection to the terrestrial veins at any moment.”

An Jing trusted Yvelbane deeply; it was mutual. So, he did as he was told. ”Alright, let’s give it a try.”

They had been to the central pivot of Keensight once, so they worked their way to the administrative bureau of Riverside. Just like Keensight, there was a manmade hill that served as an entrance at the center of the bureau. The only difference between this and Keensight’s was the presence of a manmade river beside the mountain that represented Yonder River.

Upon reaching that location, the formation discs floated in the air and spun in opposite directions as if they had been awoken. Mystic talisman script glowed brightly as they transformed from one form to the next like ethereal mirages that outlined the trajectories of the terrestrial veins of Riverside and the area near Brokeblade Mountain.

An Jing looked closely and saw that the three cities near Brokeblade Mountain weren’t just connected to each other’s terrestrial veins. They were also connected to half of Brokeblade Mountain’s terrestrial veins, making spirit power particularly potent around that area. Even though the spirit veins branched into the three cities, each city’s spirit power was as potent as Keensight’s.

Feeling somewhat alert, An Jing said, ”Does that mean that we don’t have to be in the city to effect changes here? Can we do it from Brokeblade Mountain too?”

With the feys of Brokeblade Mountain having migrated away, the only parties that remained there were the beast diversionary squads and the True Fiend Cult!

The moment the formation discs started spinning, they drew terrestrial-vein qi to themselves and channeled it into An Jing’s body, purifying it and giving him access to incredibly pure and refined spirit power.

”I see, so this is how they work...” Mo Li had relied on the very same pure spirit power earlier in the fight too. It was comparable to power from high-grade spirit veins in Skysource. Having constant access to it gave one a huge edge in a fight.

However, Mo Li suffered quite a lot of pain by enduring the high-pressure flow of spirit power through his body, which was why he would rather make peace. Officials of Grand Chen didn’t have this problem since their divine armaments and official seals helped them bear that burden, allowing them to use the spirit power as they pleased.

An Jing didn’t seem too excited about the prospect. The formation discs basically functioned like normal divine armaments. The only thing about them that stood out was their unique designs.

The sword soul, on the other hand, observed everything silently before it snapped, ”Heavens! An Jing, look! It’s incredible!”

”What is it?” An Jing knew that formations weren’t his strong suit, so he did as he was told and looked at where Yvelbane indicated: the point between the two formation discs where their spins intersected. He saw a few thin yet heavy strands of ebony and gold qi forming.

”Oh? Is it the imperial court’s imperial dao dragon qi? Not bad. The formations really are replacements for divine armaments. I didn’t think they’d be able to generate dragon qi too. Is Grand Chen experimenting with divine-armament substitutes? Did I blame them wrongly for abandoning the folk and withdrawing their divine armaments?”

”No, An Jing! Focus and sense it properly!” Yvelbane said with urgency. ”Sense it with imperial blood!”

An Jing did as he was told and let out a cry of surprise. ”Ah?! It’s unclaimed! This isn’t the imperial court’s dragon qi... It’s without any master...”

He could feel the imperial blood droplet within him tremble in a way that didn’t resemble something that saw what already belonged to it. Instead, it was the trembling of a desire to possess something new, one of pure greed.

”Interesting...” An Jing didn’t bother to think about how the formation discs were able to produce unclaimed dragon qi. Instead, he raised his hand and sensed the imperial blood’s reaction as he grasped the strands of ebony-gold dragon qi. Normally, nobody could harvest dragon qi without explicit authorization from the imperial court. Yet, An Jing was able to absorb it into his body just like any other kind of spirit qi. Then, the strands of qi entered the imperial blood and got transported vast distances away.

Far away at the Ancestral Dragon Hall of the Central Balance Dao Continent, You Ruhui froze midway through practicing her swordsmanship with Trueblitz Pentaphase Infusion. Then, her aura and presence suddenly spiked!