Destiny in Cinders

The giant airship gradually descended and landed in the distance. At the same time, the haze that covered the surroundings faded away, revealing a grand city that was built upon a spirit vein. Towering buildings and skyscrapers stood tall and proud, appearing much more impressive than mountains, forming forests of metal and concrete that made up the immortal city. As the warship continued to land, many tiny lights in the city lit up, as if welcoming the arrival of the warship.

An Jing was utterly stunned by the sight of the warship entering the city. After that, the hazy clouds formed once more in the sky, blocking out the view. He snapped out of it and drew a cold breath. "What in the world?! How do they even have warships?!"

It was such a stark contrast against his world, Void Embrace. The clash of worldviews made him freeze up with awe. He was only able to react once the stunning sight hid itself from his view. Only then did he wipe away his cold sweat and sit down on a rock nearby.

"What kind of world is this?" He looked in the direction of the city and tried his best to calm down. "Even though I can tell that the level of civilization of this world isn't low based on their firearms and spirit-beam guns, that doesn't even cut it! They're hella advanced!"

"Indeed. Their artifacts of war are very intricate. Only major sects would be able to build such things," Yvelbane agreed. "However, what I tried to warn you about were the cultivators inside. I believe there was a venerated of the Goldcore Realm aboard the ship just now. Their divine will was sweeping the landscape and he was able to perceive us."

"What would they be able to learn?" An Jing asked, nervously standing up. "Can they tell that we're from a foreign world? Or sense the foreign aura that my body gives off?"

"That's impossible. Don't forget that I was the one who opened the Grandvoid Pathway. As long as my sword still shines, you will be seen as a resident of this world. Nobody would be able to tell otherwise." Yvelbane switched to a much sterner tone. "The fact that he could have discovered us, however, already puts us in grave danger."

"I see, so they wouldn't be able to tell..." An Jing's anxiety faded away as he sat back down. "What's there to fear, then?"

That conversation helped him recover from the awe of seeing the powerful warship. He looked back at the many different settlements in the distance. "Though the wilderness here looks rather desolate, there are quite a few villages and towns here. I suppose even if the Goldcore cultivator discovered us, they would just think of us as one of the many hermit cultivators of the wilderness."

"You can never know for sure what they'll do. An Jing. You must take yourself more seriously. That lifearc of yours has a tendency to drag you into all sorts of troublesome situations. Still, to think that this world has kept its immortal qi-refining legacy. It's really different from the martial path of Void Embrace."

An Jing asked, "Do bearers of celestial arcs get wrapped up in problems?"

"Not necessarily. However, your lifearc has two manifestations. The first one is Pyrestar Warden, which manifested as a result of your experience escaping the demonic cult. The other came because of me, Evenstar Eclipse. Both of them are incredibly ominous, but having two instead of one would pit their effects against each other, so your luck won't be that bad. In fact, it'll be quite good.

"Even so, they still make you the center of many incidents and struggles. You will often find yourself amidst huge disasters just like how you got wrapped up in matters concerning me, the heavenly fiends and the struggles of the many human factions. You're lucky enough to still be alive and well, but if you're not careful, you'd just as easily end up as a corpse."

"Is that so..." An Jing fell silent for a moment. He didn't mind Yvelbane's warning and smiled. "Sounds like my future's a rather exciting one."

He looked at the area where the ship had landed one last time before surveying the terrain around him. Down the hill, he saw a wide stretch of gray-green forest and a large riverbank in the distance. The warship had disturbed the surrounding clouds and caused rain to fall. Thunder even rumbled in the distance. It didn't take long for the rainclouds to approach. Soon, rain would start to fall around him.

"An Jing, the fiend qi in this area is heavy. Even the rainwater is corrosive, so you'll have to find shelter." Yvelbane felt something amiss before the wall of rain arrived. "Even though you have a lifearc that gives you good resistance against these things, it's still not good to be bathed in corrosive rain for too long."

"Alright." He immediately returned to the cave.

The droplets of rain soon intensified into a whole downpour, but the ambient temperature didn't fall at all. This felt more like rainy weather in tropical regions.

An Jing reached his hand out to cup a few drops of rain and saw that they were purple-blue in color. His cult uniform sizzled where the droplets fell.

Acid rain? He was quite surprised that the quality uniform of Direlife Manor began to sizzle and smoke from the rain. It was by no means able to block blades, but it was still made of good and lasting materials. What was even more shocking was how his skin felt nothing but a mild warmth despite the rain's corrosive nature.

My body's no longer that of a normal person after my lifearc awakened. He sat down on a flat stone deeper in the cave, watching the beautiful colored rain fall. It's no wonder. Without a lifearc, I wouldn't be able to advance beyond the Aura Realm to reach the Fortification Realm. The ability to resist corrosive fiend qi must be crucial. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Even then, he still had no idea about the implications of his lifearc. The Pyrestar and Evenstar were powerful bad omens that allowed him to manifest blood lethal-qi weapons. It was at the very least a miracle arc, though given how it was stronger than Bai Qinghan's, there was a chance it was a divine arc. He was able to touch corrosive rain without actively channeling his lifearc. It would be the biggest thing in his arsenal for his survival in this foreign world.

Still, relying solely on his lifearc wasn't the way to go. Having nothing better to do, he talked to Yvelbane and tried to sum up what they knew about this place. First, it had experienced a similar fiend calamity like the one in Void Embrace. The desolate lands and corrosive rain were proof of that. Though the corrosive qi in the rain seemed to have dissipated quite a bit, it was still dangerous.

Second, for some reason, the denizens of this world managed to retain the legacy of qi cultivation. This was good news for An Jing as Yvelbane was familiar with this path of progression. Though it wasn't proficient in the martial path, it knew quite a bit about the immortal path of qi cultivation and could teach him good techniques. Thanks to it, An Jing wouldn't just be a clueless otherworlder in this foreign world.

Lastly, civilization was quite developed here based on the many towns and the megacity in the distance. The people here had access to resources and a high mastery over technomancy. As such, An Jing probably wouldn't have a hard time finding the mystic metals that he needed for Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal. The warship was probably built using special metals, which was proof enough that this world produced mystic metals.

As long as he was able to enter the towns, he would have a chance of obtaining resources to grow in power. That would help him brave the dangers in Void Embrace as well. Mastering even one bit of a high-tier technique like the divine seal would boost his power greatly, after all.

Having access to resources from both worlds would allow him to get stronger much faster than the enemies from either world could imagine.