Destiny in Cinders

An Jing raised his hand and looked at it. Being from a martial clan, he had practiced martial techniques since his childhood. The strict training at Direlife Manor also resulted in rather callused, scarred hands. However, the past few days of meditation during which he had guided spirit qi into his body renewed the skin on his whole body, restoring it to a fair, supple sheen.

He looked at his own reflection in the glass platform and also noticed a hint of light emanating from his eyes. The pulse was rather dim and relaxed, but it was proof that he had managed to reach the first seal of Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal.

"A rather stable foundation indeed," Yvelbane said, satisfied. "The first ability you have unlocked is called Firm White. Those who are firm thin not when honed. Those of purest white stain not when muddled. This ability will cleanse your meridians, strengthen your body, polish your mind and stabilize your soul, making you incorruptible and impervious to various poisons.

"All cultivation, killing, refinement and nurture techniques focus on the mastery of an ability. Only after you're able to use the ability can you be considered to have learned the technique. Though you have only just initiated yourself into this technique, your body has already begun to change."

Yvelbane let out a soft sigh. "However, there are some techniques that can't be haphazardly practiced. Once the ability is manifested, it is difficult to get rid of it. Abilities will circulate on their own even without you explicitly activating them, leading to an additional drain on the energy cycle in your body. It will take up a portion of spirit energy from the available pool you can use.

"The more abilities you have, the more powerful you will be, but these things are hard to judge at the moment. Perhaps you will discover other abilities that complement some better than others. Or you might improve an ability but inadvertently increase the cost of using it, a cost that might be more than what you can pay. That wouldn't be ideal either."

"I see." An Jing had a rough understanding based on some experiences from his past life. "Every technique will definitely manifest a passive ability that works on its own without explicitly being called on, but that will bring down the amount of spirit energy I can use, and once I reached the limit, I won't be able to learn new techniques and manifest those abilities, which would keep me stuck and unable to progress unless I advance to the next stage."

"That's precisely it. There are some rare arcana that can dissolve old abilities to make space for new ones, but they come at the cost of lifespan. Cultivators from major sects would have already plotted out their future path from the start, giving them a huge advantage over those of smaller factions.

"Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal, for instance, manifests abilities as you progress and fuse them into a grand ability near the end, greatly reducing the capacity they consume by half. You would only need enough energy to use six minor abilities to unleash power equivalent to that of twelve standard abilities.

"Genius cultivators of minor sects who master twelve different Evenstar techniques might be comparable in power to a cultivator who mastered Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal, but the latter would be able to learn additional abilities and end up being much more powerful."

It sounded like either Yvelbane or its former wielder had learned techniques haphazardly because they were talented enough to master them, only to have to pay a huge price later on. Then again, there was something odd about how it framed things. Was Yvelbane a human too or has it always been a sword? If it's the latter, has it always had a soul? Or did an injured immortal seal his own soul in the sword? Does it even know the difference?

Yvelbane continued to guide An Jing through the cycle to refine the metal lethal qi within him. "To conclude, the Firm White ability is part of the foundation that you're building toward in the future. It will stimulate your qi essence and make your body firm, allowing it to endure pain and torture, making it quite an important step. The fact that you're able to manifest the first seal shows that you have an excellent mind. If you were in a sect, the elders would definitely take notice."

"They'll take notice of my mind?" An Jing asked as he continued the circulation. "What's more important? The mind or talent?"

"The mind, of course. The spirit roots and body are considered by most to be a foundation, but they're also foreign objects in a sense. People like you with the Spark have already experienced going through the cycle of reincarnation. In a sense, this body is hardly your first. Your body isn't that which truly makes up your being, so to speak. You should already have an insight relating to that.

"Among all things in the world, the hardest thing to obtain is a good dao heart. Not to mention, you've also awakened your lifearc. Lifearc bearers are gifted innately with abilities that don't consume spirit energy. So, if you master abilities that complement them, you'll stand to benefit much more. If we take your Seven Ruins Arc as an example, mastering abilities relating to lethal qi is extremely beneficial.

"An ability like Qiform Arsenal is also enhanced by abilities such as Voidride Six-Qi Sword, Nameless Chaos Axe, Illusionbreak Shapeless Sword, Pentaphase Yin-Yang Universal Starlight Eradicator and others, Even if your talent was only average, the major sects of my time would no doubt have sought out treasures to enhance your talent on account of the mind you possess."

"I see." An Jing continued to ingest the remaining metal lethal qi. A stream of faint white smoke came out of his nostrils, piquing his curiosity. "Those abilities all sound quite amazing. Do you still remember them?"

"Of course!" Yvelbane had thought that An Jing had gotten sick of talking, so it was delighted to answer when prompted more. "Why else do you think I'm guiding your cultivation in so much detail? I plan to teach you these invincible abilities once you're powerful enough to learn them!

"However, your comprehension is far too good. I was going to get you to train Qiform Arsenal so that you'll get a hang of spirit flow, but you seem to have grasped it without any guidance. You've surpassed my expectations yet again. That prompted me to reconsider the best training routine for someone with a lifearc like yours so as not to squander your talent. Basically, you don't have to rush. Just focus and go at your own pace. Spirit Awakening is all about establishing the fundamentals, after all."

"Then I'll look forward to it." An Jing smiled, but he still had some doubts. "Then again, Yvelbane, the martial path seems quite distinct from the immortal path, especially when we're talking about the criteria to advance to the next stage. Can these two paths really complement each other? Will qi cultivation enhance my mastery over these abilities or conflict with it?"

"I don't know. That's the reason I haven't taught you a whole bunch of amazing abilities yet," Yvelbane answered honestly. "That's also why I still can't call myself your teacher. I know too little of the Void Embrace of the present day. Abilities consume quite a bit of energy, so you can't just learn them for no good reason. I think we will have to test out some more things relating to Void Embrace's current situation before I'll dare to teach you those abilities. For now, it's enough that you've completed the first seal. The second one won't come so soon, so you should focus on getting better artifacts."

"You're right. It's about time we got going." He didn't leave immediately and circulated the energy in his body more to fully stabilize the changes that the first seal created within his body. He only got up when he was done.

Streams of Evenstar lethal qi flowed nonstop within his body, causing him to emanate the essence of a sharp weapon, a stark contrast from the time when the manager of Ocher Hill sensed that he was nothing special. With the first seal manifested, others would be able to identify him as a cultivator, perhaps even one of the Qi Refinement Realm, which would save him quite a bit of trouble.

An Jing's body contained thirteen streams of Evenstar lethal qi. Normal cultivators needed to extract metal-ore lethal qi twice a day until they reached sixty strands to form a single strand of Evenstar lethal qi. However, one liang of jadeslice steel contained far more qi than a normal cultivator would be able to extract in a year.

Yvelbane tasked An Jing to separate out the impure strands and only extract the pure strands of qi, thus allowing him to form thirteen strands of Evenstar lethal qi in his first session. It wasn't a small number, but it wasn't that large either.

An Jing was still at the Spirit Awakening Realm as a qi cultivator, but using an advanced technique to manipulate his spirit qi put him in a league above those of his level. But unlike true Qi Refinement Realm cultivators, he was only at the River Essence Stage in terms of capacity, which meant that his qi recovery rate was much slower. Once he used up all thirteen strands, he would have to spend a whole day meditating with jadeslice steel to recover it.