Destiny in Cinders

Had Ming Guangchen not received the call for help from King Jing, he would've never learned of his death at all. This was definitely not common knowledge across Grand Chen. The few that were aware of it didn't seem to have any big reaction either, nor did they know the details of what had transpired. It was as if a powerful master just tripped, fell and died when it normally would take quite a lot to kill someone of his caliber. A method or person that could kill King Jing without causing any commotion simply couldn't exist.

Xuan Mingjing tried her best to recall what she could. "I remember... At first, there was the arcane edict from the imperial court... Yes! It was a sacred arcane edict from the court! Father lost all of his power on the spot. Even though he could still resist somewhat, he wasn't strong enough..."

Back then, Xuan Mingjing was already running for her life per her mother's instructions, so she only got the lightest impression of what happened. However, Ming Guangchen shook his head with certainty. "That can't be. Brother Guangyun has rendered great merit for the young emperor of Skysoar Hall. Even if the young emperor went insane, his many ministers and advisors would never allow such an edict to be issued. Not to mention, Brother Guangyun's power doesn't entirely stem from imperial blood."

"Hmmm, that's true as well." Xuan Mingjing's eyebrows shook as she combed over her memories for the details. "It didn't stand out to me at the moment, but when I think about it, that edict did seem rather odd. It didn't feel like something from the imperial court, but it had the same effect! My father's powers were diminished, leaving him with only less than ten percent of his usual strength. That's how Sixth Uncle was able to push him back and suppress him."

It was quite cruel that she had to recall the sight of her father getting murdered. But after all she had experienced, she was willing to buckle down and face it all head-on. She calmly focused on every single detail she could recall. "That's right, the dragon qi on the arcane edict seemed... off somehow."

Ming Guangchen asked, "Was there any interference from heavenly fiends?"

"No. It's definitely not fiend-qi corruption. In fact, the dragon qi was even more pure," Xuan Mingjing said, shaking her head. "I can't be sure about it, but maybe I'll be able to discern the dragon qi if I get to see something similar again. However, Mother and I did get attacked by heavenly fiends as we were on the run."

"So, the heavenly fiends were involved too," Ming Guangchen said, expression grim. "Since the passing of the late Tianyou Emperor, all hell has broken loose in Grand Chen. Putting aside the odd circumstances of the late emperor, something about the imperial court's mandate system must have broken. There's no way anyone would be able to attack someone with imperial blood otherwise."

"But..." Xuan Mingjing gripped her fists tight and mustered her courage to doubt. She looked at Ming Guangchen and said, "Isn't the dragonjade that Father gave me necessary for the imperial court's grand mandate ritual? He extracted the dragonjade secretly, so I'm not surprised that the mandate system is starting to act up."

She closed her eyes in a pained look. Even so, there was something that had confounded her since her escape. "Uncle Ming, can you tell me the truth? Was Father's death something he brought upon himself?"

This was her greatest worry. She knew better than anyone how important the dragonjade was to Grand Chen. If her father had ruined a central pivot of Grand Chen's rule, that would make him a treasonous traitor of the empire. Holding the rank of king, everything he owned was thanks to the imperial court and his imperial blood. Kings could do anything as long as it didn't betray the empire. If her father had committed treason, then death was the least he deserved, not to mention having his title stripped away. Xuan Mingjing would also have to stop her quest for revenge.

In fact, she had been thinking about how she could bring the dragonjade back to the imperial court. Her vengeance was a personal matter and she couldn't risk crippling the mandate system of the empire and causing devastation to countless households over it!

"Oh?" Ming Guangchen didn't stay silent as Xuan Mingjing agonized over the matter. He smiled and praised her. "Not bad, Mingjing. Your question is really constructive. The fact that you're able to consider this angle without being blinded by your desire to avenge your parents has proven how commendable you are. However, you're mistaken. What your father gave you isn't the core of Grand Chen's ritual mandate system. Instead, it's merely the core of the simulacrum."

"What?" Xuan Minjing raised her hands in confusion and pressed them against her chest. "Isn't my dragonjade the source of dragon qi that the mandate ritual runs on?"

"It is the endgame from your father's years of roaming the world, the result of the adventures that he and the rest of us undertook. It's also his final wish and hope. Once he obtained it, he left Endmost Sky and returned to the imperial court and stopped adventuring with us. We only stayed in touch by communicating through the void. Initially, I didn't understand why he made that decision. But I do now after seeing what Grand Chen has come to."

He opened his sun-like arcane eyes and looked to the southeast. "This was what he tried to contribute to the movement of the Reformists. The dragonjade you have over there is a patch that was used to augment the mandate ritual. It's the order of the Heavenly Dao given form. It's a core that allows you to give minor mandates and not actually a component of the heavenly and earthly mandates. Also..."

He closed his eyes and continued, "If my guess is right, your dragonjade also contains a clue to the whereabouts of the strongest terrestrial-vein divine artifact of the Eight Sentinel Kings. It's one of the Eight Celestial Armaments, the Southdipper Liferuler."

Xuan Mingjing froze up with shock. At the same time, her mind went down an odd train of thought. Wait, if the power of my dragonjade has nothing to do with Grand Chen's mandate ritual, doesn't that mean that the imperial blood droplet I shared with An Jing won't be of any help to him if he tries to overthrow Grand Chen?

***

An Jing was not aware of Xuan Mingjing's worries at all. The only thing he felt was a wave of insight, which he figured was due to fate tying up loose ends once she met up with Ming Guangchen.

At that moment, he was busy memorizing the flow of dragon qi between the divine armament and the terrestrial veins, trying to distill their profound essence. The light-gold terrestrial-vein qi didn't just revolve around the divine armament, it also revolved around An Jing.

Thanks to Yvelbane's shared enhanced perception, he could discern the complicated yet straightforward pathways interweaved through the terrestrial veins. Every single strand of terrestrial-vein qi and dragon qi flowed according to a predetermined logic, following a pathway straight until they diverged or converged at different intersection points.

A mystical sense of understanding entered his mind that was in a selfless, wantless state. He began to derive inspiration from it. The reverberations from Xuan Mingjing's imperial blood droplet allowed him to accurately grasp every detail of the divine armament and the terrestrial-vein formation.

Then, as if the heavens were helping him, he replicated the whole thing with Qiform Arsenal inside his body! He gripped a piece of jadeslice steel and began to circulate Evenstar lethal qi in his body. Earth bears metal, a nourishing relationship. In an environment filled with terrestrial veins, not only was the metal aspect not drained, it was even more active than usual.

The strands of Evenstar lethal qi and the mystic-metal lethal qi from the jadeslice steel mixed together. They flowed through An Jing's body as regulated by the Evenstar seal seeds, forging his flesh and bone like they were divine armaments!

Without any fanfare at all, An Jing manifested the fifth seal of Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal. Not only that, thanks to his celestial arc, he sensed that this body refinement approach that forged his body as if it were an artifact was cut from the same cloth as the method that terrestrial-vein divine armaments used to refine themselves using dragon qi. It probably came from the same source! Not only did the terrestrial-vein tempering allow him to borrow power from the terrestrial veins for his breakthrough, it even sped up the manifestation of his divine seal!