Destiny in Cinders

Right when they arrived, both of them sensed a burst of muddy yet surprisingly organic metal qi radiating from the recycling house. Exchanging a glance, they hurried inside.

”Uncle, what happened?” Huo Qing called out the second they walked in. Meanwhile, An Jing immediately locked onto the source of the surging metal qi. Metalhand stood there looking completely helpless, clutching a squirrel that was currently gnawing on an air-conditioner remote. Behind him was a bizarre pile of various chewed-up items including a flying sword with a bite taken out of it, a gun barrel with a distinct chomp mark, and a waterscreen frame keychain with a missing piece.

No word of explanation was needed; everything was abundantly clear. An Jing immediately bowed in apology, ”I’m so sorry! This pet of mine is a little... hard to tame. How much damage did it cause? I’ll pay for it all.”

Even with Metalhand gripping it firmly by its scruff, the squirrel continued to blissfully chew on the receiver, utterly unfazed by its recent advancement into the Qi Refinement Realm, or rather, its transformation into a Fortification fey.

”It’s hardly worth mentioning, no need to pay me back. Getting stuff chewed up by rodents is standard operating loss.” Metalhand sighed helplessly and tossed the squirrel into An Jing’s arms. ”Where did you find this fat-tailed rat anyway? It eats spirit metals, alright, but it’s too damn fussy. Takes one bite of one kind, won’t touch the rest, then goes and ruins the next thing it sees... Bloody hell, the thing even gnawed on the floor heaters and the plumbing, not to mention my stainless steel faucet! I had no clue until I went to wash my face!”

”Well, its constitution is... somewhat special. Very special.” In return for finding the seed crystal, An Jing left the squirrel in Metalhand’s care before heading to the special market, not expecting that it would cause so much trouble. Holding the squirrel, he walked over to the back room and discovered that its body was much tougher. It was no longer soft and squishy to the touch, but firm and bouncy. In all likelihood, it had advanced into a Fortification fey through its wonder, Hundred Metal Body.

The little thing is actually a spirit beast and possesses a lifearc! How could An Jing have imagined that a creature plucked so casually from Brokeblade Mountain would turn out to be a spirit beast bearing a lifearc? On second thought, it made sense. Without sentience and an arc, any ordinary fey would have left Brokeblade Mountain with the rest of the horde rather than linger in the freezing snow. Even if it could survive solely on ores, its ability to resist the herd instinct demonstrated a level of intelligence far beyond a common squirrel’s. However, he didn’t know what its lifearc was or its classification.

An Jing let go, but instead of falling, the squirrel flicked its large tail and hovered in the air using magnetic levitation, spinning around with smug satisfaction. Brokeblade Mountain was rich in metal qi and spirit ores. It had stored up plenty of metal qi but was missing a pure, high-grade spirit ore to finally condense a core. Although An Jing had only given it a small fragment of jadeslice steel, it was enough for a qualitative change. This pure metal awakened the ashen-white squirrel’s instinct to grow stronger, causing it to single-mindedly seek out more materials for advancement, devouring all kinds of spirit metals to replenish various qi.

Then, An Jing tossed it into Skysource, a place teeming with all sorts of metal objects as well as recycling houses. It was truly like dropping a rat into a granary; it gorged itself until it was completely stuffed. And after accumulating a hundred types of metal qi, the squirrel manifested Hundred Metal Body to advance to the Fortification Realm, relying on its unknown lifearc.

Looks like its lifearc is related to magnetic fields. Hundred Metal Body alone doesn’t grant the power of magnetic levitation. An Jing pondered as he assessed the squirrel’s arc. ”It seems we are bound by fate. As soon as you showed up, you helped me secure a treasure, and in turn, I facilitated your breakthrough... That’s right...”

Reaching out, he brought the squirrel close. Their eyes locked, the spirit beast’s gaze now radiating a much livelier gleam.

An Jing smiled. ”Well? Want to officially partner up?”

The squirrel nodded vigorously, swishing its tail back and forth. It was already incredibly intelligent and understood that it owed its breakthrough to An Jing. Without him, Metalhand would have beaten it to death like any common, oversized rodent. Stick with the boss, and there will be metals to feast on!

”You’re an honest little fellow, aren’t you? Hmm, a squirrel with a huge ashen-white tail... I’ll name you Little Cang.”[1] Despite appearing deep in thought, he had casually picked a name. Fey that have formed a core all have the potential to advance to the Clearing Realm. That serpent’s core was completely corrupted and ultimately dissolved into mystical qi before I even had a chance to study it.

”Come here, let me take a look at you.” Though the core was a fey’s most precious possession, Little Cang recognized this as the perfect opportunity to display its loyalty. It raised its tail, causing an ashen-white orb the size of a pinky finger to emerge from its tailbone.

Huh? An Jing was surprised. It doesn’t come out of the mouth?!

”Such is the path of feys in accordance with nature. They must first align with the universe. It simply hasn’t had the time to condense its core within its body yet.” Yvelbane was entirely unfazed. ”As the fey’s body is tempered through the refinement of a hundred distinct types of metal-aspect qi, the distilled essence forms a core on the surface of its body, much like the orbs dragons forge within their talons before taking them into their bellies. Nevertheless, this is a newly formed core in its purest, most natural state. If you study it at this stage, you will gain far more from it than you would later on.”

Naturally, An Jing wasn’t about to pass up this opportunity. He observed it intently. Little Cang’s core might look small, but it was perfectly formed. A hundred distinct strands of metal qi were arranged and woven according to their respective cycles of generation and restriction. Like a hundred fine, infinitely long, yet incredibly resilient threads of spirit qi, they weaved together into a perfect whole.

Such acute sensitivity toward the subtle nuances of different metal qi was something even An Jing couldn’t quite match. Although Evenstar lethal qi was the purest form of metal qi, it lacked breadth. Only by first establishing an internal body formation could he use this pure metal qi to connect to spirit and lethal qi of other aspects, derive mystic-metal qi, and subsequently convert them into hundreds and thousands of metal qi variations.

Sure enough, they’re interconnected. Light gleamed within An Jing’s eyes. Channeling True Spirit Eyes and Ocular Blaze, he peered straight into the fey core’s depths. The intricate web of a hundred types of qi woven across the core’s surface was continuously absorbing metal qi from the environment, integrating them layer by layer into the core.

The outermost layer consisted of a hundred strands of qi, which gave way to the next layer of dozens of refined metal qi. Deeper down, there were twenty or thirty strands, and finally, a mere dozen or so that closely resembled mystic-metal qi. And at the very center of the core, isolated through the layered refinement, was a single speck of pristine, pure metal qi that was almost identical to the Evenstar lethal qi An Jing cultivated through Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal.

1. Cang 苍 meaning ”ashen” or ”pale” in this case. It’s no coincidence that this sounds almost identical to another ”Little Cang” that we know... ☜