Destiny in Cinders

Xia Xi and the rest had reacted rather quickly with decent coordination. Since An Jing killed the smoking gambler, the group formed around Wei Gu as the vanguard and Old Cook as support. Xia Xi was their main attacker, but he needed a few moments to prepare before he could launch a proper assault on An Jing. Even soldiers of Grand Chen might not be conditioned that well. These outlaws would be able to kill a Crimsonguard unit of thirty in mere moments with the power of their lifearcs. Yet, An Jing was able to chop up Wei Gu and the ghosts, crushing their teamwork in mere moments.

"Just die!" Xia Xi didn't hesitate even after all of his allies were taken out. He had always been the core of their party anyway. Even though he wasn't able to use his toxic alcohol fumes without the smoking gambler's support, his Flame-Wind-Water Heron Fist was more than capable of helping him unleash eighty percent of his full power.

He gave it all he got and leaped toward An Jing right after he slashed the ghosts and found himself in an awkward stance. Then, Xia Xi raised both of his wine-armored hands of flame and rained down a barrage of attacks. The ignited alcohol burned bright green and red, leaving trails that made him look like a three-headed six-armed giant. Apart from the power in his punch, the oily wine that splashed around also threatened to burn An Jing.

Had the smoking gambler and Old Cook's ghosts still been alive, the wine armor could also be infused with toxins and ghostly corrosion. Most Fortification Realm martialists wouldn't be able to fight back at all, immediately suffering severe burns and corrosion once the wine splashed on them!

A good combination indeed! An Jing noticed that the wine could be controlled by some trait of Xia Xi's lifearc. It ebbed like tides, with the burning flames keeping anyone from approaching with punches, kicks or slashes. An Jing was forced to retreat backward as the wine-covered fists landed on his mantle. He could feel the heat from the dark-green flames spreading across the mantle's surface. The combat formation of these lower-intermediate Fortification martialists was layered and dense, greatly raising their odds of winning.

An Jing was certain that Lu Jin would get burned to ash in a fight against these outlaws within ten bouts. Then again, he only needed three bouts to kill Lu Jin. He suddenly stomped the ground as he backed off, caving it in completely; the floor had already been corroded quite a lot by the blood of the smoking gambler. Then, he fell through the floor.

That wasn't actually able to stop Xia Xi's attack. The wine-covered man twisted and avoided An Jing's slash before grabbing onto the wall and continuing to attack from above. While this was the correct move under most circumstances, he was shocked that he couldn't locate An Jing anywhere.

The next instant, the wall collapsed from outside. An Jing had used the stomp to launch himself through the roof above earlier! As he fell, he unleashed a flurry of slashes at Xia Xi's head. The blade arced swiftly, leaving trails of blinding white. First, the sticky, flaming wine armor got extinguished, emitting trails of black smoke that rose toward Xia Xi's head.

Xia Xi didn't have the time to think. With his left hand holding onto the wall, he subconsciously raised his right to punch the blade! His wonder, Golden Attire, kept frost and flame out. Dantian Ocean enhanced his manipulation of qi in the environment with his will. Coupled with his powerful attack, Wavemaker, he was able to send a wave of flaming wind shooting across the air!

The Flame-Wind-Water Heron Fist was as furious as fire and as unrelenting as tides. Xia Xi was confident he could punch through a wall of metal, let alone a common blade! Alas, he wasn't just up against a normal weapon, but one reinforced with the Qiform Arsenal ability, further enhanced by a divine-armament tempering technique!

The blade sliced through tiles, wooden beams and bricks without discrimination. An Jing's slash parted fire from wine and sank into Xia Xi's fist, traveling along his arm and sweeping past his chest and the wall behind him. He then tossed away the burning blade of iron; its essence was already extracted when it was overlaid with Qiform Arsenal earlier. Xia Xi's bisected corpse behind him proceeded to burn up from the remaining flaming wine.

With the fifth seal unlocked, my physical strength is comparable to that of intermediate Fortification martialists. He dusted off his hands after killing Xia Xi, feeling much better. While most of his motivation for going on the offensive was his frustration at the Lord Inspector of the West, he also wanted to test out how much he had improved.

The results were rather satisfactory, even if he didn't use his gear from Skysource, blood lethal qi or the Imperial Sky and Earth Arts. He had been able to kill four Fortification martialists with his ability-overlaid blade and his own physical capabilities alone. Even though the element of surprise factored greatly into the outcome, it wasn't something he felt bad about. Surprise attacks were fair game on the martial path. Still, I'm quite lacking in long-range attacks if I don't use the sword case. It wasn't easy to stick close to liquid or flame-armor users.

Apart from that, this was a rehearsal for separating his identities as An Jing and Jing Xuan. An Jing could use the sword case and blood lethal qi, both of which were methods that the Heavenly Demon Cult had taken note of. Jing Xuan, on the other hand, only used basic weapons from Void Embrace and Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal.

Though it worked out rather well, it also exposed a few problems. As he considered how he could make up for the shortcomings, he jumped to the third floor of the building that continued to burn from the flaming wine. Old Cook, still alive, lay on the part of the floor that was untouched by the flame. An Jing picked him up and disappeared into the night. Local firefighter regiments flocked to the building soon enough and easily contained the flames.

An hour later, at a nameless forest at the outskirts of Keensight...

Sheesh... An Jing gave Old Cook a swift death as promised after interrogating him. Who knew that the Heavenly Demon Cult had so many informants and contacts left in Keensight...

He looked in the direction of the city thoughtfully. So, they sent an elite team here because they didn't want to lose the city.

He also obtained an unexpected piece of information. The demonic cult had been cooperating with Grand Chen for quite some time in Dustdawn to reestablish the trade route between the border tribes and Keensight. The Lord Inspector of the North was in charge of getting matters in Dustdawn in order while the Lord Inspector of the West dealt with Grand Chen. That was why he sent the elite squad to the city in an attempt to secure that vital trading hub.

The people An Jing had killed were only the vanguard. Eventually, the demonic cult would send adepts over. It was likely that the Lord Inspector of the West himself would make an appearance too.