Destiny in Cinders

During the past twenty days, the four fiendmolts attempted an attack on the unblemished albus wood once every two hours. Each time, they were wounded by the albus wood’s retaliation and retreated, covered in injuries from the sharp metal qi. They slithered off to holes of different sizes and hid there until they recovered. Despite that, their attacks were relentless, numbering a full twelve times each day. They didn’t show the slightest sign of tiring or giving up.

This was not just a matter of foolishness. Rather than a complete absence of any intelligence, it would be more accurate to say that they weren’t capable of thinking for their own sake. They had base instincts and powerful capabilities, being able to gather information from their surroundings and react to stimuli like machines. The fiendmolts had the vague notion that the whitespirit swordlotus was something that could help them transform. Not to mention, once they destroyed the unblemished albus wood, they would be able to be able to release the energy deep in the mountain that fueled their regenerative capabilities. Given that was the case, the only sensible action to take was to continue their attack relentlessly until they achieved their goal.

The attacks happened approximately once every two hours, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. It mainly depended on how long their attempt persisted and the strength of the unblemished albus wood’s retaliation. The most recent counterattack had been quite heavy, so the four fiendmolts’ scaly bodies had been shredded up quite extensively by the metal-aspect qi. They were forced to retreat to the corners of Palespirit Cave to recuperate using fiend qi that emerged from the mountain’s depths.

This was also the reason their original body, the four-winged lunar serpent, had almost become fiendfallen. Nobody knew exactly when, but the source of fiend qi that had been sealed within Brokeblade Mountain suddenly started emitting its stored power outward. While this influence was only still limited to Palespirit Cave, the fiend qi could easily spread all throughout the mountain range as long as there was some kind of connective relay such as a terrestrial-vein formation. Alas, the formations of the True Fiend Cult’s hunting site in the mountains and even the one in Riverside had been taken over by someone else, so the four fiendmolts only had themselves to rely on to wear away at Palespirit Cave’s natural defenses.

It would not take much longer. The fiendmolts reasoned that while the unblemished albus wood’s defenses were still rather potent, they clearly paled compared to before. In another twenty to thirty days, the four Clearing fiendmolts would be able to take down the omnidirectional attack formation of the albus wood and finally destroy it.

Once they obtained the whitespirit swordlotus and consumed the heavenly and earthly spirit essences within, they would gain sentience and absorb the fiend qi in Palespirit Cave and become Treasures Realm fiends. This would be nothing short of a calamity for all humans and feys around Brokeblade Mountain.

But this time around, the fiendmolt closest to the entrance of the cave felt an anomaly which hadn’t been present during their previous attempts. The metal-aspect spirit qi within Palespirit Cave was being siphoned at a leisurely speed outside the cave, as if some being outside the cave had disrupting the equilibrium of qi through consuming so much of it outside, causing differential pressure that pushed the qi out to equalize it.

The fiendmolt’s main instinct was to verify the anomaly, so it wriggled toward the exit of the cave. Were it actually sentient, it would probably have brushed it off, but its mechanical mind prevented it from ignoring the presence of any foreign creature. This characteristic of theirs caused them to behave like sentries of the cave despite being fiendspawns. Many a cultivator who had attempted to sneak into their lair suffered quite a bit from these predictable yet hard-to-fool fiendmolts. Then again, their very predictability and weak coordination also made them easily lured away from the location they were supposed to guard to be killed off one by one.

That particular fiendmolt had two horns. Its sensitivity toward metal-aspect spirit qi was quite refined. The moment it left the cave, it immediately spotted the source of the qi disturbance. There was a drone carrying a tiny bottle of violet and gold, which absorbed the abundant metal spirit qi in the surroundings like a whale swallowing seawater.

”I managed to lure it out as expected,” An Jing said, hiding not far away and using Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal to disguise himself with some projected metal-aspect lethal qi. He had already set up many traps outside the cave before luring out the first fiendmolt. It would be great if this attempt succeeded, but failing was also fine. He then sped up the dragonhoard bottle’s qi absorption.

The fiendmolt raised its head, hissing as its horns glowed slightly white. It wasn’t able to sense the drone. As far as it was concerned, the dragonhoard bottle was a special object that it could benefit from absorbing. It wasn’t even able to conceive the notion of someone controlling the object’s movements nor cautiously evaluate whether something like this was bait that was too good to be true. So, it didn’t hesitate and slithered quickly toward the dragonhoard bottle.

Though the fiendmolt was foolish, its light, fiend-qi-dense body boasted great physical characteristics. First, there was a flash, followed by an explosive shockwave as the fiendmolt bolted through the air, covering a distance of tens of zhang in an instant, almost about to swallow up the drone and the bottle! An Jing, having predicted that, accelerated Solace. bringing it past the metal-lethal-qi veil.

If the fiendmolt actually entered the veil of lethal qi, An Jing would show it how much more powerful a practitioner of Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal was in an area filled with so much qi of a compatible aspect. Yet, the fiendmolt stopped when it was around a hundred zhang away from Palespirit Cave. The moment it registered that it had failed to capture the dragonhoard bottle, it immediately retreated toward the cave.

”It’s actually that inflexible... There’s no sign of greed or desire at all.” An Jing tried it a few times and ascertained that the fiendmolt would immediately turn back to attack once Solace was within the range of a hundred zhang. Yet, there was not even the slightest chance that the fiendmolt would enter the veil of qi beyond that range. This was the disadvantage of sentience and self-awareness. Humans often succumbed to greed. Even when they knew that they should really be taking a step back, some simply couldn’t resist making one more move.

Either way, An Jing had other things to test out. He used Solace to lure the fiendmolt to a pit in the ground a hundred zhang away from Palespirit Cave. The fiendmolt jumped into it without hesitation after the drone entered it. Then, a flash of lightning erupted, forming chains that weaved together like a cage that struck the fiendmolt’s body!

Still covered in wounds from the unblemished albus wood’s retaliation, having not had the time to recover, its weakened body was pierced and bound by the lightning chains completely. There was nothing it could do but endure the lightning strikes.

It let out an odd growl as the fiend qi from its body bubbled and emitted black smoke. It was the sound of gas or liquid being forced through small openings. The fiendmolt wriggled as if it was in pain, but it was actually trying to reinforce its crucial weak point, the abyssal hollow.

Yet, it was pointless. The moment the fiendmolt was attacked, the air around it had been heated up by the lightning. The sudden gust of warm air destabilized Solace and caused it to drop the dragonhoard bottle. An Jing leaped into the air and caught it and immediately absorbed the spirit qi stored within. The lightning talisman burned hot in his hand; the fusion of Trueblitz Pentaphase Infusion and his store-bought talismans created lethal-qi lances of explosive lightning. Three loud rumbles rang out in succession like the booms of a massive drum.

The first boom was the sound of An Jing throwing the metal-qi lances of lightning with all his power. The second was the sound of those lances striking the back of the fiendmolt, exploding its abyssal hollow. The third came from a powerful blow delivered by An Jing with Ocean Domination after he used Temporal Grasp, so fast that he was a blur!

Anyone who heard the resulting resonant clash would be given the impression that the heavens themselves had delivered a powerful smite that could shatter all kinds of aberrations and even the darkness itself. The lightning lances closed the distance of more than thirty zhang in an instant. When struck, the fiendmolt’s back emitted large dense tufts of fiend qi. An Jing’s eyes glowed red as he used True Spirit Eyes to see through the smog. Then, Ocean Domination glowed with the power of tidal waves, unleashing projections of killer whales as the blade swept toward the back of the serpentine monster.

The fiendmolt let out an explosive howl as its body arced intensely. Even more fiend qi came bursting out as if it was trying to use its massive back injury as a mouth to swallow An Jing in one mouthful. This was far from impossible; fiendmolts didn’t have organs in the true sense of the word. They were merely bundles of fiend qi wearing a skin. It was all too happy that An Jing did the work of approaching.

The torrent of fiend qi caused the flora around to wither and crumble, reduced to black dust right away. There was no way human bodies could endure fiend qi of this purity. Even powerful body refinement martialists would be corrupted by it!

But the defensive lethal-qi field An Jing deployed expanded like an air bubble in water, protecting his body from any and all harm. While the temperature within the qi field skyrocketed to dangerous levels right away, he didn’t panic. Ocean Domination in his hand unleashed a raging torrent that almost severed the fiendmolt’s midsection, crushing the abyssal hollow near its abdomen.

The sensation of cutting into the abyssal hollow was rather odd. It didn’t feel like he had destroyed anything like a physical body or a soul. Instead, he only felt the pull of the void. If he absolutely had to put it into words, it would be that the abyssal hollow was like a shapeless magnet. Even though blades could cut through it, its magnetic field clung to the blade. Once the blade was drawn away, a piece of that abyssal hollow remained on it and corroded it, while the rest fell to the ground to form another abyssal hollow.

Shards of abyssal hollows couldn’t truly be eradicated unless one used sword intent to sever its connection to the source of the attractive force. Ocean Domination, propelled by the energy in the dragonhoard bottle, managed to unleash levels of power fit for the Clearing Realm. The sword intent from An Jing also eradicated the abyssal hollow of the fiendmolt, which didn’t even manage to shriek in pain as it pulled its body back violently and smashed An Jing down into the ground like a pylon with such terrifying force that it shook the earth around it.

The fiendmolt was definitely stronger than the average Clearing adept in terms of physical strength. An Jing hadn’t been able to properly block the sudden strike and got driven some five chi into the ground. Fortunately, he wasn’t badly injured thanks to his Firm White Attestation ability that reinforced him and his innards. He would’ve been flattened otherwise.

The fiendmolt struggled and shrieked, its massive body tumbling around on the ground in the lightning trap. It eventually managed to shake off An Jing’s talisman lightning chains, causing lots of electricity to arc all around. All the while, it had continued to emit large amounts of purple-black fiend qi that carried the toxic yin lethal qi of the four-winged lunar serpent. The moment the lethal qi touched the ground, it turned into large amounts of purple-blue mist that left many corrosion pits in the ground.

Then, three streams of powerful fiend qi came swarming out of Palespirit Cave. Once they realized that one of their own was being attacked, the fiendmolts, including their child spawns, all sprung into action and headed toward the lightning trap to save it. While a hundred zhang was a distance that the fiendmolts could clear in the blink of an eye, An Jing was able to kill the trapped fiendmolt almost instantly. With a loud rumble, the fiend qi burned and bubbled like steam, instantly being converted by heaven and earth into mystical qi. The True Talisman in An Jing’s sea of consciousness quickly absorbed all of it.

Seeing their own kind perish, the other fiendmolts didn’t show any sign of rage. However, they felt the threat posed by An Jing and immediately launched attacks his way. The most terrifying one had two horns and a pair of claws, almost like a half-dragon. It bellowed in a deep voice, eyes flashing as it conjured five layered dark-purple rings of power behind it to draw in large amounts of qi. The toxic lethal qi around Brokeblade Mountain formed into five massive tidal waves that loomed over An Jing; the four-winged lunar serpent had ”molted off” its toxic lethal qi talent, which had then been inherited by the fiendmolts!

”What was that New Moon Shadow thinking?! Even if it was trying to morph into a whitespirit dragon, there’s no need to leave an entire ability to the fiendspawns, is there?!” An Jing’s expression turned grim at the sight. Not fighting the fiendmolts head-on had been the right choice. He definitely wouldn’t have expected Clearing Realm fiendspawns to be able to use a Treasures Realm ability. They would be really troublesome to deal with if he couldn’t take them out in one shot.

Fortunately, he had prepared extensively for the engagement. He immediately kept the drone and dragonhoard bottle in his void artifact and stored the True Talisman back in his sea of consciousness, swapping it out for Yvelbane’s actual hilt to open the Grandvoid Pathway and leave. The massive tidal waves came crashing down where he formerly stood, causing the entire mountain range to tremble as the semicircular pattern of destruction spread out, corroding everything in its wake. Toxic bubbles formed on every surface.

Sensing An Jing’s disappearance, the mindless fiendmolts didn’t even stop to observe the situation. Instead, they divided the fiend qi of the dead fiendmolt among themselves. Heaven and earth had already converted most of the fiend qi into mystical qi, which the True Talisman sucked up. However, An Jing hadn’t been able to reclaim the carcass and fiend materials before leaving. Once the three remaining fiendmolts consumed it, their power levels grew slightly. They then returned to Palespirit Cave without turning back.