Destiny in Cinders

An Jing finished reading through the Imperial Earth Divine Body Refinement Art that Instructor Li had given him and studied the three subtechniques in the manual, which allowed him to easily shift his build and face to disguise himself.

The technique was also critical in refining his body in tandem with Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal. Together with Imperial Sky, there were two that refined the qi, while the Imperial Earth Art refined the body, which gave rise to useful synergies.

The Imperial Sky Seethrough Nurturing Art's Selfless Azure Sky, Fearless Abyssedge, Doubtless Piercing Mind and Qualmless Profound Step were focus, qi nourishing, power projection and footwork methods. The matching methods from the Imperial Earth Divine Body Refinement Art were Wantless Dense Earth, Clingless Reincarnation, Wrathless Retribution and Hateless Slaughter respectively.

The selfless and wantless aspects of these two techniques honed the mind and focus. It was typically something that one would begin to practice at the late phase of the Fortification Realm and its equivalent, the Qi Refinement Realm. These two methods allowed one to unlock special wonder abilities after reaching the Fortification Realm.

The latter two methods in those two techniques were meant to supplement the former two. Unlike what An Jing had thought, Clingless Reincarnation wasn't for body refinement or qi stabilization. Rather, it was a meditative method that tried to get one to not cling to attachments in life. With that state of mind, one would circulate the aura throughout one's meridians to strengthen the body's foundations, allowing aura to circulate more smoothly and facilitating more explosive displays of strength while increasing one's capacity to sustain damage.

Once that method was mastered, one would be able to pair it with Armorpierce Impetus from Doubtless Piercing Mind to unleash an instantaneous blow that channeled the limits of a martialist's strength. It also sped up the circulation of qi, which improved one's innate constitution for smoother progress!

Wrathless Retribution was a technique that regulated the muscles and circulatory system of the body, focusing on consolidating power and withdrawing the killing intent of the body to achieve a calm state of non-joy, non-rage, non-anger and non-malice.

The body's ability to control aura would be greatly enhanced in that state, increasing the efficiency of recovery or presence hiding, even allowing shifts in the musculature of the body and face, essentially enabling one to transform into a different person. When one reached mastery with this control method, one would be able to use it with Qualmless Profound Step, allowing one to blend into any kind of situation without standing out in the slightest.

Lastly, Hateless Slaughter was a unique mental technique. It required one to meditate on the people one wanted to kill and the lives one had taken time and again as one channeled aura before unleashing the power in an instant. Repeated meditations would allow one to eventually channel aura and power without any trace of hatred, rage or unnecessary emotions like joy and sorrow. All traces of anxiety would fade away, leaving behind the purest intent to take a life.

Doing so would not just focus and hone one's will and resolution; one would be able to start preparing oneself for the special wonders unlocked by the Imperial Earth Divine Body Refinement Art. It also improved other things like blade, sword or unarmed combat techniques, increasing one's accuracy and tendency to deal vital strikes. Being able to focus on killing without being overwhelmed by any other emotion allowed one to unleash the most amount of power where it would be most effective.

There were also side effects to this technique. Just like the Imperial Sky Art that greatly dulled one's perception of the weight of life and death, the Imperial Earth Art made one so strong willed to the point of bordering on stubbornness, resulting in limited adaptability and high resistance towards circumstantial changes.

"These are amazing refinement techniques! While they'd just barely pass on their own, these two make up for each other's shortcomings and become greater than the sum of their parts!" Yvelbane said. "Fearless, selfless, doubtless, qualmless, wantless, clingless, hateless and wrathless... They encompass meditative, mental-honing and body reinforcement techniques, a holistic, well-rounded package indeed!

"It's not just helpful for the martial path, the immortal path of qi cultivation also benefits a lot from it! This is by no means an entry-level technique. Even in my time, few martialists managed to reach the level akin to full mastery of the Imperial Sky and Earth Arts."

These two techniques were clearly meant to complement one another. Alone, they were only slightly above average. Fused, they became one of the most impressive orthodox techniques!

An Jing didn't lack resources nor time and had more than enough talent and comprehension for these techniques. He had focused on cultivation within the cave and easily managed to initiate himself into those techniques. He put extra effort into Wrathless Retribution, the one that allowed him to change his appearance.

As he walked out of the cave with a blood-lethal-qi swordstaff in hand. He no longer appeared like the traitorous herald of doom covered in dense lethal qi, but rather, a pleasant northern youth of light temperament, clad in white robes with gold trims.

He found the temperature around him rather pleasant as he trudged through the snow. In his past life, he would've described this level of coldness to be around minus eight degrees. A martialist like him could easily endure temperatures minus thirty or colder with proper vigor circulation. As long as they weren't surrounded completely in deep yin ice, they would never freeze to death.

"Resisting natural disasters..." He muttered these words as he thought about the dream he had. In his past life, he was the martial practitioner who had died early as he tried to resist his own destiny, the man in a world without miracles. That man was also An Jing, a boy in a world of miraculous martial and immortal paths.

Smiling, he said, "Being impervious to the climate and weather counts as resisting nature. I've achieved a small milestone right here."

Whether it was the north or northwest, the snow calamity got worse and worse as the winter dragged on. The entirety of the northern region of Grand Chen would experience cold days ahead.

An Jing knew that the best move to make before it got even colder was to stay in a city where he could plan his future cultivation. "I am about to reach the Tide Aura Stage. Whether it's aura training or practicing the Imperial Earth Art, I'll need lots of nutrients. The canned meat of Skysource isn't bad, but it's a bit too expensive. Void Embrace has much better food at far better prices.

"I also haven't started practicing the spirit-eye technique that Nian Quan gave me. Apart from spirit qi, I also need clearsource dripdew or some other spirit water that's pure enough for it. They're not exactly rare in Void Embrace, but finding it myself is too much trouble. I hope I'll be able to buy some at Keensight.

"Thanks to jadeslice steel, I'll soon be able to form the second seal of Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal. I'll need to go to Skysource for the breakthrough, but it can't hurt to find a safe place in Void Embrace to settle down first. Before doing so, I should store all the gear from Skysource that might give me away at Huo Qing's place so as to not draw attention or suspicion. I'll keep my Hexlotus Platform and the more common firearms with me, though. If that isn't enough, I can just escape into Skysource to gear up before coming back to deal with my enemies."

With his goal set, An Jing headed toward the city of Keensight.