Destiny in Cinders

Both bloodlines and lifearcs were powers that exceeded the baseline limits of the human body. Through these methods, people could grow much stronger during the Fortification Realm, manifesting a far stronger bodily formation in the future.

At the end of the day, what Ming Guangchen said was the key. Wonders were crucial to the formation base. Having one or two additional ones wasn't necessarily a good thing if they exerted a bad influence on the rest, disrupting the balance of typical formation diagrams.

"It's true that I can manifest a few more wonders. My celestial lifearc is powerful enough to support it, no doubt. However, most of the internal body formations use five wonders as the formation base. Ones with six wonders are less common, but they still exist. But those with seven wonders and above are probably only available in factions like the imperial court..."

An Jing had obtained quite a deep understanding on cultivation after the Fortification Realm. Martial meridians referred to heaven-earth meridians that formed in the body through martial cultivation. The ones that were of upward polarity were connected to celestial oceans whereas those of downward polarity were linked to the eight wastelands. Wonders were like stars, and the way they were configured relative to each other formed a formation diagram that was akin to the empyreal starscape that illuminated heaven and earth.

Every Clearing Realm cultivation technique possessed a fundamental formation diagram that served as a template for the technique. Practitioners would configure their wonders and how they would be regulated according to the respective fundamental formation diagrams. While An Jing believed that he was talented enough to not run into issues while optimizing his configuration, finding a proper technique with a fundamental formation diagram that worked with that many wonders was a different matter entirely.

"Doesn't Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal have something like that?" An Jing asked.

Yvelbane said, "No. Even though this cultivation technique is similar to the martial techniques that developed later on, it's still an immortal cultivation technique at the end of the day. It focuses on cultivating abilities rather than wonders on the path to extending one's lifespan. I believe investing in this youth from Skysource was the right move. Formation techniques are much more helpful as a reference for the martial path than immortal cultivation techniques."

"Forget it. It's not like I need it now," An Jing said. He was young and had lots of time to grow and learn. "It won't be long before I reach the peak of Spirit Awakening with Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal. I should get used to my current capabilities before going out to buy more jadeslice steel."

He had used four of the six pieces of jadeslice steel that he had purchased long ago. While that was still enough to manifest the final two seals, An Jing wouldn't wait until he ran out before buying more. He wanted to always be prepared. Not to mention, jadeslice steel wasn't the only type of metal of use to Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal. If he found some that were even more useful, he wouldn't mind spending a healthy sum on them.

"An Jing, I heard quite a bit of commotion! Were you cultivating using some special technique?" Huo Qing asked as he approached the makeshift seclusion room. He had been assessing the specific nodes of the terrestrial veins in preparation to upgrade the qi-collection formation to a triple-nested one.

He was quite surprised to see An Jing's torn clothes. "Wow! Was it so intense that it ripped your clothes?!"

The qi-collection formation from the Soul Domination Mantra wasn't that potent with only one layer. But when it was stacked nine times in total, it was comparable to formations of the Foundation Building Realm. Six stacks were enough to satisfy the industrial standard to operate automata, while three stacks put it around the level of typical qi-collection formations.

Huo Qing had just finished a double-nested one. According to him, it wouldn't be long before he could nest it three times given the progress he made in formation studies. It wasn't surprising that he made such quick progress, given that he had a decent constitution to begin with. Once he poured everything he had into doing something, he could go on for quite a while.

"It was a technique of my cult," An Jing said as he looked at his shredded sleeves. He didn't really mind it, however.

Huo Qing got him a fresh set of clothes from a box nearby. "I've thought of staying here for longer, so I had some spare clothes with me."

"Thanks." An Jing put on Huo Qing's clothes; they were slightly roomy for him. "Do you want to learn the technique?"

"Our aspects probably don't match." Huo Qing was no longer that formal with him after having gotten to know him for so long. He went back to calculating formation parameters, turning around and chuckling. "My spirit roots are of the wood, earth and fire aspects. Uncle Metalhand's are wood and metal. That's why I was able to learn his wood-aspect formation techniques. However, your cultivation technique appears to be of the pure metal aspect. It's probably some arcanum that only people with celestial spirit roots can cultivate. I definitely won't qualify."

"Wood and earth?" An Jing wore an odd expression. "Huo Qing, I'm afraid that I've become the hat that completely changed your life."

"But of course." An accountant and part-time driver like Huo Qing definitely didn't know the joke[1] An Jing was referring to, but he responded all the same. "The more spirit roots a formationist has, the easier formations become. However, breaking through becomes much more complicated. That's why most formationists aren't that powerful themselves and mostly rely on formations."

"I see." As far as An Jing was aware, Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal wasn't an arcanum that required celestial spirit roots. It was even more superior than arcana like that given how it didn't have such strict requirements. An Jing's own spirit roots were of the wood, earth and metal aspects. It wasn't that different from Huo Qing's wood, earth and fire, yet he didn't have any trouble with the technique.

Huo Qing's words did remind him of something. "Yvelbane, didn't you say before that cultivation on the martial path is fundamentally related to formation techniques? Huo Qing has a decent constitution and mixed spirit roots. He's also a formationist. It's one thing if we invest in him for formations, but don't you think the martial path would be better for him than the immortal path?"

"Oh!" The pitch of Yvelbane's voice heightened. "Now that you mention it, it really seems to be the case!"

"I knew it!" An Jing was getting excited. "I knew that being able to go between worlds wouldn't just be convenient for making money. Trading techniques is also completely valid! But still, martial techniques that take advantage of wood, earth and fire aren't easy to find. I should keep an eye out for them back at Void Embrace, and if that fails, I wonder if Endmost Sky will have some."

An Jing had evaluated Huo Qing's progress and found that he was advancing at a decent rate with the Imperial Sky Art. In fact, he was even faster than the children of Direlife Manor, being a cultivator that practiced a nourishment technique. He also had a much better foundation to build upon.

An Jing decided that he would teach him the Imperial Earth Art once Huo Qing mastered the Imperial Sky Art. Even though there was no way for him to comprehend Heaven's Child Art, let alone Temporal Grasp, the fundamentals of the Imperial Earth Art would allow him to pick up any martial cultivation technique from Void Embrace.

If Huo Qing could start cultivating a Fortification Realm technique that allowed him to manifest wonders, how would that change how he saw things as a formationist? With that in mind, An Jing approached Huo Qing and tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to turn around in confusion.

An Jing confidently said, "Just you wait! While it's not within my power to make you capable of cultivating the technique I use, my cult has many other arcana. I'll go and take a look some time. Perhaps there will be some that suit you. Don't feel bad about it either. The cultivation techniques would only waste away if there isn't anybody to practice them. Also, if you don't get stronger, that would limit how much profit I can make off you, got it?"

"Hey! You're making it sound like I'm a bad investment already! An Jing, I don't think you quite understand how valuable arcana are. If you really find something that even I can cultivate to reach the high Qi Refinement Realm or even the Foundation Building Realm, I'll work for you for the rest of my life!"

"Hah! Just you wait." An Jing didn't plan to elaborate.

With Metalhand dealing with his trades and Huo Qing working to improve the qi-collection formation, An Jing realized that the only thing he could do was cultivate in seclusion. He finally had access to a qi-collection formation that was connected to good terrestrial veins, which allowed him to cultivate much faster than he could in Void Embrace. So, he went back to the seclusion room.

Before he started cultivating again, however, he recalled his other friend when he saw Huo Qing working hard at his studies. I wonder how Nian Quan is doing.

Even though he was curious about it, he wouldn't risk his and Huo Qing's safety to establish contact with Nian Quan. His cultivation should be going rather smoothly after Yvelbane taught him Empyreal True Intent.

1. Earth 土 and wood 木, when put together, form 土木, which is short for civil engineer (土木工程). The joke here refers to a Chinese meme of a deformed traffic cone that looks like the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter, where the traffic cone tells you that your future career belongs in civil engineering. See the translator's thoughts for a picture reference. ☜