Destiny in Cinders

I can manifest or dispel this at will... Embodied Arsenal! An Jing could clearly feel that his ability had crossed the threshold to reach the next level due to mystical qi. His Seven Ruins Arc was incredibly powerful. Perhaps he would be able to control many more lethal-qi weapons in the future. However, what manifested that day was mostly from Pyrestar Warden's influence, focusing mainly on blood lethal qi.

"To think that this would be the next phase of this ability..." Embodied Arsenal allowed An Jing to manifest a swordstaff from his hand using blood lethal qi with but a thought. He gripped the weapon's shaft and found it as sturdy as a solid object. Not only that, he had a feeling that he could control the weight of the swordstaff however he wanted as long as he had fine control over spirit qi.

At the moment, he could at most add a hundred jin to the weight of the weapon he produced. It didn't seem like much, but any martial practitioner would know that a hammer around six jin in weight would be able to crush the skull of a heavily armored soldier. Just imagine the amount of force a martialist could produce with a hundred jin.

Qiform Arsenal was an ability that allowed its user to produce an object or flourish that would helped unleash the user's destructive urges. Embodied Arsenal, on the other hand, was the fusion of the destructive urges with oneself so that one would be able to most proficiently unleash those destructive capabilities.

As he pondered upon the subtle differences of this new way to use his ability, something suddenly occurred to him. "Wait, are my comprehension capabilities that good? I haven't gotten this ability for more than a month, right? Why does it feel like I've handled it for years already?"

"Your previous life again?" Yvelbane said. After knowing An Jing for as long as it did, it no longer grasped every straw like it used to. "Don't tell me you're the reincarnation of that old colleague of mine."

"Of course not." An Jing was certain that Yvelbane's sword soul could no longer distinguish whether it was the immortal sword or the immortal that wielded the sword any longer. It seemed to have no trouble adopting whichever role that suited it best in the moment, which was yet another reason why it wanted to recover its memories so badly. That would surely be part of a solution to its identity crisis.

An Jing focused his attention on his senses and felt that it might all be due to his celestial arc. "I feel that my comprehension has improved a lot due to my celestial arc. It's the same feeling I got when I changed Huo Qing's destiny! Right! That's the feeling!"

In fact, he even felt that this wasn't that different to the sense of clarity he felt when he learned Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal. "Ah, so the effects of changing Huo Qing's destiny already began to manifest back then! I knew that it was funny how impressive my comprehension was even as a bearer of a celestial arc. Under normal circumstances, there was no way I could have manifested the first seal right at the initiation phase of the technique."

"Indeed." Even Yvelbane couldn't ignore the obvious signs. "Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal is normally something that only Purple Mansion sages or Goldcore venerated pick up. It usually required the cultivator to at least have an immortal foundation for the Purple Mansion Realm, which would allow them to get initiated rather quickly.

"Yet, you're not even at the Qi Refinement Realm. How in the world did you get initiated so quickly? I don't think it's just Huo Qing. His influence couldn't have been that huge."

The sword soul laughed heartily. "An Jing, I think it's the disaster children that you saved! Their destinies definitely changed because of your actions! The karmic ripples are already feeding back into your growth!"

"Who knew, huh? I don't even need a void artifact anymore at this rate." Being able to take apart weapons and store them in his own body meant that he would always have something at hand. The weapons that he manifested would be able to grow stronger with him as he incorporated better and new materials along the way. All this seemed to imply that the ability would be much stronger in the future.

Though, there weren't many types of weapons that he could infuse in himself, being limited to simpler weapons and artifacts like swords and spears. What if he was able to infuse the OverSight sword case or other weapons from Skysource in the future? How powerful would those weapons be once they were strengthened by this ability of his? He was filled to the brim with anticipation just by the thought of it. Alas, he had to cultivate hard to be able to reach that point or perhaps hunt even more powerful heavenly fiends to harvest more mystical qi. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

As for the True Talisman, he noticed earlier that it already made its home within his sea of consciousness. Though it tried to occupy the very center, the broken sword's true form already took up that spot, so the True Talisman shifted to the side and began to revolve like a tiny sun.

"It's acting on instinct, not intelligence. Still, rather interesting," Yvelbane opined.

"I have a feeling that it will bring me loads more trouble in the future," An Jing said. The more powerful the True Talisman was, the more trouble it stood for. Fortunately, An Jing was already mired in so much trouble that it didn't seem like it would make much of a difference.

"The Seven Ruins Arc is conceived by calamity and born of hardship. It is the answer to disasters, arriving only to reflect that devastation back upon the world," he muttered when he calmed down. "I finally know how much trouble this celestial arc has lined up for me."

"Not to your liking, is it?"

He shook his head. "No. I have to overcome it. I will make my celestial arc obey me and act in line with my will. It's just like you said, Yvelbane. Even if my celestial arc is destined to trigger devastation, I can channel that into overthrowing the existing world order. Destruction is always followed by creation. I would be able to recreate things as I see fit. I may just be a brute martialist, but I shall learn and comprehend. I will emerge victorious."

Having killed the heavenly fiend and no longer having cultists on his tail, he felt more relaxed than ever. There was no longer anyone that could capture or hinder him. He was confident in that much.

"Let's go." He pulled the lethal qi from his ability back into his body and picked up his gear. "It's about time we set off."

"True. From this moment on, you will be free to roam like a dragon in the open seas. The technique you got from the instructor also matches what you've already learned. Your training will be on track as well."

"The Imperial Earth Divine Body Refinement Art..." He took out the tome that Instructor Li had given him before his death and furrowed his brow. He couldn't shake the feeling that this was part of the demonic cult's overarching plans somehow.

However, he snapped out of it soon enough. "It's not realistic to completely cut off karmic ties with the demonic cult. In fact, I already started training using the Imperial Sky Seethrough Nurturing Art, so I have to see it through and learn the Imperial Earth Divine Body Refinement Art. If something goes wrong in the future, I'd just switch to training with a different technique, and if that doesn't work, I still have Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal to fall back on."

"This martial technique is a rather potent one, especially if you combine the two parts. It's no normal Foundation Realm technique. No matter what the demonic cult has planned, one thing is for certain. They want you to survive. They want you to grow stronger."

By then, the fiend qi from the vilespawn fiend had faded away completely, marked by the scattering thunderclouds above. Then, a chill started to settle, causing the falling rain to turn into snow to mark the end of the battle. All signs of battle and ruin would be wiped away by a blanket of white frost.