Destiny in Cinders

An Jing and You Ruhui came out when Ming Guangchen called out to them. They joined him at the courtyard where the altar was being constructed.

Ming Guangchen had set up a camouflage formation to block out the sights and sounds in the courtyard. Then, he poured out a large pile of materials from his void-artifact mirror.

"There's so many voidjades and hollowstones!" An Jing's eyes were dazzled by the sight. All of the materials for the altar were other-dimensional ingredients related to the void and nether. They could be made into hundreds of void artifacts in Skysource! Not to mention, these void materials were processed and inscribed with dense talisman patterns. They seemed like special building blocks that could be used to piece together an impressive artifact.

"The voidjades are produced by the Grandnight Sect, while our Brightmirror Sect controls the hollowstone mines," Ming Guangchen said nonchalantly. "They tend to be expensive, but this only applies to high-grade ones. The ones I have here are average. They're usable, but only for things like stone bases."

Ming Guangchen was quite adept at setting up altars. You Ruhui also knew a thing or two about formations. Though An Jing wasn't completely ignorant about this, he only knew enough to follow simple instructions to place the stones in specific locations.

Once the altar took form, Ming Guangchen used his spirit power to refine it into a unified whole. Then, he took out a semi-transparent crystal colored silver and green. "Naturally, the most important part is this."

"What's that?" An Jing squinted as he muttered, "It looks like souljade, but it's not..."

"It's a terrestrial-vein crystal." Ming Guangchen placed it at the center of the altar carefully and proceeded to use a secret technique. "It's a byproduct that's often found near pristine minerals. It doesn't have spirit qi of its own, but it has incredible affinity with terrestrial veins. Basically, it's used as a coordinate marker for traveling through the void. It was far too much effort to smuggle this into Grand Chen. In theory, having something like this would get you arrested as if you brought in a weapon of mass destruction!"

The altar was finally complete and glowed silver and gray with hints of green mixed in. The lights layered atop each other to form complicated patterns. The altar seemed to be waiting and calling out to something.

Ming Guangchen focused in silence. An Jing and You Ruhui also understood that what happened next would be related to You Ruhui's next destination.

As they waited, An Jing told Ming Guangchen about his theories about the Grandnight Sect's involvement and the Soul Domination Mantra.

Ming Guangchen seemed rather calm even after hearing about it. He flipped through the mantra and sighed. "Actually, we already had our suspicions, but that isn't enough. We need proof."

"Can this mantra not be used as proof?" An Jing asked.

Ming Guangchen nodded. "Well, it's a piece of evidence, that's for sure. But it's hardly enough to make a proper case. Some techniques of the Brightmirror Sect have also leaked to the outside world. You can't just levy accusations based on leaked techniques. Otherwise, everyone would just bring leaked techniques of other sects with them to crime scenes to frame one another.

"That aside, if the Grandnight Sect was involved in matters concerning imperial blood, it's no wonder there are so many heavenly fiends in Dustdawn. It seems more and more likely that a faction is supporting this from behind the scenes. They're even using heavenly fiends to achieve their aims."

Ming Guangchen suddenly looked relaxed. "Fortunately, I wasn't planning to keep Mingjing in the sect. Instead, I'll send her to somewhere where Grand Chen and the Grandnight Sect can't touch her. Look, here she comes."

An Jing felt a really familiar sensation as a black tear opened up in space, revealing a pathway that stretched on endlessly from the altar to the stars above. Then, a person stepped through the spatial corridor back into the corporeal world.

"Well done, Guang!" said a bright, womanly voice, which was followed by soft, thunderous bellows.

At that moment, all metallic objects in the entire four-walled compound levitated without warning. There was no sign of any spirit-qi ripples. Instead, it looked like a wild magnetic force spread across the area and lifted all the knives, pots and pans, rotating them in midair. The phenomenon lasted merely an instant. Then, the magnetic field disappeared, returning the objects to their original positions.

As the person approached the void pathway's exit, the first thing that appeared was a scaled, bladed and spiked dragon tail. It swept around, leaving tiny arcs of electricity in its wake.

Then, a tall and slender black-haired woman stepped off the altar. She had a pair of horns that resembled branches of ancient trees. Her eyes sparked with lightning, emitting purple-red light. The tips of her long, black hair were covered in green lightning bolts that hung like ink traces. She wore a tight-fitting armor of scales and a massive, black lance behind her back that looked as if it could pierce through the void itself.

A dragon! An Jing thought.

Yvelbane was just as shocked. "It's actually a dragon, one from a rather pure bloodline at that! How could such pure dragons exist..."

"What's up with that? Should the opposite be the case?" An Jing asked.

"Since the Void Embrace Ancestral Dragon answered the call to resist the tribulation with... with whom? Umm... The ancestral dragon worked with some immortal but eventually fell to heavenly fiends at... where did they fall?" Though Yvelbane sounded like it had many things to say about it, it couldn't remember what it wanted to say. "Agh, I can't remember! I really don't. Basically, since that event, True Dragons no longer exist in Void Embrace. This dragon lady isn't a pure-blooded True Dragon either, but she's as close as it gets. She's probably not any different from an actual pureblood."

"Then just call her a pureblood. There's no need to split hairs, right?" An Jing said.

"You don't get it. True Dragons aren't a race in the traditional sense. They're more like beings that hold a certain position..."

An Jing was more concerned with what was happening around him than debating someone's bloodline.

"Sister Yanhua," Ming Guangchen said with relief. "I finally managed to get you to come here. But please, put away your armor and weapons. This isn't the central continent. Once Grand Chen discovers the spirit qi you're emanating in this rural region, we'd be in trouble."

The dragon lady didn't answer him as she looked around the courtyard. Then, she turned back and said, "Guang, what kind of demon did you just fight? You stink of bloody curses."

"The Lord Inspector of the West of the current generation from the Heavenly Divine Cult. He's a third-rate savage," Ming Guangchen said, immediately noticing the lady's bad habit. "I kicked him back to his lair. He isn't around."

"Oh..." The powerful dragon lady seemed rather easygoing since there were no enemies around. With but a thought, the armor turned into mystical patterns before they disappeared into her body. The massive spear also transformed into parts of her spine and tail.

Then, she turned to the other side of the altar. Now clad in martial robes, the dragon lady stared intensely at You Ruhui and nodded. She then turned to An Jing and raised her brow.

Then, she stepped toward them and pulled both of them into her embrace with her tail, stroking them affectionately. "Not bad. They're good children. They have a righteous smell about them."

An Jing didn't know how You Ruhui felt about this; even though he could smell the elegant fragrance of pine ink and bamboo, he felt like he was being constricted by a massive snake!

"Why did she pull me in too?! You Ruhui is her friend's daughter, so I get it! Maybe she hugged her when she was a baby! Isn't it awkward to hug me too?" An Jing was confused.

"That's just how dragons are," Yvelbane said as if it was the most natural thing. "Have you seen coiling-dragon pillars before? Those pillars depict how dragons actually greet each other. The scent she leaves on you marks you as someone she has to protect. Dragons can perceive the scent much more strongly than their eyes can see."

"I'm Jin Yanhua," said the dragon lady. She loosened her grip and tail after marking them properly. "I'm an old friend of your father and your master. Don't get too stuffy with me. Just call me Sister Jin. Let's drop all the stiff formalities."