Destiny in Cinders

"Of all the places Princess Mingjing could encounter me in Void Embrace, it happened in Keensight, the ideal location. To think that I would actually be able to use the power of terrestrial veins to cultivate!" The formation of the fifth seal had happened within An Jing, so he didn't give off any signs of a breakthrough to the outside world.

WIth his fifth seal formed, he felt that his bones were far sturdier than before, not to mention his bursting vitality. His body's natural ability to produce blood and marrow seemed to be more robust. His rich qi essence mixed in with bundles of Evenstar lethal qi just like how the power of terrestrial veins tempered the divine armament. They continued to circulate in his body, stimulating his marrow to produce more blood and spreading vitality throughout his body.

Bones were the base framework of the human body. With his bones strengthened, his flesh, tendons and skin would get a boost as he continued to refine them. But if he hadn't built a firm framework to start from, he wouldn't have enough qi-essence capacity to form the bone seal in one fell swoop. The fifth seal would serve to build on his earlier gains and set up even more in the future.

He was overjoyed that his breakthrough was successful. The sudden surge of vitality made him understand how qi cultivators in Skysource were that hard to kill and could survive direct shots from sword cases as if they were massive beasts. An Jing's vitality might one day surpass theirs should he be able to manifest the ninth seal of Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal.

"The warehouse in Hilltwixt will be worth so much more to me now. Keensight's terrestrial veins are of the yang and earth aspects, which work to nourish my metal aspect. Hilltwixt's terrestrial veins are of the metal, fire and earth aspects, which is of an even greater help to me!"

He continued to maintain his resonance with the divine armament, gently borrowing its power while consuming half of the jadeslice steel to reinforce his previous four seals. He could already maintain a stunning number of threads of Evenstar lethal qi at any given moment, a whole seventy strands. Typically, cultivation techniques that allowed the maintenance of twelve threads of spirit qi per seal was considered above average, while the weaker ones only maintained two to three threads of spirit qi.

An Jing, however, had five additional threads of fundamental spirit qi from when he first established his foundations. Each thread of qi was doubled by each of his seals, giving him an extra ten threads. Coupled with the twelve from each seal, it made seventy threads in total. This gave him far more options when he was out fighting for his life and also sped up the recovery of his qi essence.

Within less than a month, An Jing's power had almost doubled since the time he raided Honor Pavilion. By now, he was confident that he could kill Lu Jin and the heavenly fiend without relying on his sword case and rifle. That wasn't to say he would stop using them entirely. It made no sense to waste energy unnecessarily if he had equipment he could rely on.

"The line between the martial path and the immortal path isn't as clear as I thought," An Jing reasoned as the qi essence and spirit qi settled into a regular pattern. "From what I've observed lately, the martial path seems to be something that cultivators developed once they lost the ability to use spirit roots. They relied on formations, talismans, terrestrial veins and many other methods to pave a completely new cultivation path. Lifearcs, on the other hand, feel like a later addition that allows people to tap into spirit qi in the environment to supplement the martial path. I bet in the early days when people were transitioning from the immortal path to the martial path, they must've relied a lot on pills, talismans, formations and artifact refinement techniques."

"Indeed," Yvelbane said. "Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal is an internal body refinement technique that was developed from an artifact refinement technique. It's not surprising that it can be converted into a cultivation technique for the martial path. Now that you are able to adapt the method of refining divine armaments using terrestrial veins to hone Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal, you have added your own simple enhancement to it. It is a fusion of the martial and immortal cultivation paths. As expected of the genius that mastered Ailment Swordfinger in one go!"

"Well, I am your wielder, after all," An Jing said, not feigning any humility. Though he definitely got a boost from the celestial arc, his own sharp wit and talent definitely factored much into it as well.

However, he did sense a disadvantage of this cultivation method. "Using the power of terrestrial veins to temper my body will bind me to the ground like the divine armament. It's one thing to use tempering techniques for crucial moments of breaking through, but relying on terrestrial veins all the time would turn me into an earthbound spirit!"

"That's true," Yvelbane agreed. "Well, there are ways to avoid this, but the earth-aspect lifestar of your celestial arc has yet to awaken, so you're unable to borrow its power to purify terrestrial-vein power. There's no rush. Using it as it is right now isn't detrimental."

"I look forward to it." The two of them were giddy with anticipation.

Apart from speeding up his progress of Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal, An Jing also sensed signs of his Evenstar trait developing as he tempered his body. Traits developed first before they manifested as abilities. His Evenstar-associated arc pulsed eagerly.

Naturally, An Jing raised his left hand and drew the black-iron blade he wore on his waist out of its scabbard. Without circulating any spirit qi, he merely willed the solid black-iron blade that hadn't so much as dented through his whole raid through Honor Pavilion to melt away like molding clay. It then took the shape of a sword, then a spear, and finally a mace.

"Not bad. It's quite easy to do." He found that the shape of a mace fitted him better than a sword or blade. "But is this trait limited to shaping metals? I feel like there's more that I can tap into here."

While his ability hadn't fully awakened, he was certain that it had something to do with his usage of terrestrial-vein power to temper himself. It was just like Qiform Arsenal, an ability that had awakened when he desired to unleash explosive destructive power. Back when he awakened the ability, the main thought in his mind was that he wanted to create a suitable tool for the scenario he found himself in. It didn't matter whether that was his own body or a weapon he could wield. While shaping metals seemed to line up with what he was doing moments ago, it was probably quite far off from the ability it would develop into.

"Huh?" Feeling a spark of inspiration, he applied Qiform Arsenal to the mace he had just refactored. He overlaid the swordstaff he infused into his body onto the mace. Given that his abilities all stemmed from the Seven Ruins Arc, they should be related somehow.

It turned out that his attempt did something. Overlaying the long mace into his embodied armament caused it to gradually transform into a long mace, much to his delight. "It seems that I now have an armory of any kind of weapon I want!"

He initially thought that he had to keep Qiform Arsenal exclusive to his identity as Jing Xuan since he wouldn't want to be seen using the same swordstaff as two different people. However, that issue was solved before it even became a problem.

After he reabsorbed his qi-armament mace, he found that it had become even sturdier than before. He was also able to undo the transformation to turn it back into a swordstaff, but he didn't do so.

Instead, he focused his attention on the black-iron mace that remained in his hand. It used to be sturdy and solid, but it had turned hollow. Though it was not fragile by any means, it was only as sturdy as a weapon made from common metal. It was as if using his ability and trait had drained the essence of the original weapon into the embodied armament itself, much like how the divine armament absorbed terrestrial-vein qi to refine itself and released what was left over.

"So this is tempering! Using other weapons to temper the embodied armament! This is my metal-aspect trait, a foundation for an ability I will awaken in the future. So, it allows me to temper myself and my weapons, huh?"