Destiny in Cinders

An Jing was completely unaware of the commotion in Blessed Virtue Garden. His soul had entered a mystical trance and all he could sense from the world were ethereal blobs. Nothing seemed clear to him, fading into white and then nothingness, out of which countless odd visions and notions surfaced. There was even a flash of heavenly fiend intent, a clear sign of their temptation.

An Jing's mind was firm, however. He would not be swayed in the slightest by this primordial scape's corruptive temptations. In a world where everything was in flux, An Jing alone was the unchanging constant, resembling an eternal tall peak.

As he maintained this resolute state, he gradually felt an impeccably clear trace of profound intent rising up to resonate with the purple mansion in his sea of consciousness. Then, it turned into a clear, bottomless spring within his mind. The profound intent cleared away all unnecessary thoughts, instantly giving him access to a hundred different cultivation insights. His mind was working away actively!

At that moment, the oral mantras of the Imperial Sky and Earth Arts manifested clearly like never before. Selfless Azure Sky, Fearless Abyssedge, Doubtless Piercing Mind and Qualmless Profound Step. Wantless Dense Earth, Clingless Reincarnation and Wrathless Retribution, Hateless Slaughter. The eight basic methods of those two arts were constantly dissected and reconstituted into something clearer and more distinct, exposing many of its profound mysteries.

I see, the problem was with the Imperial Sky Art. My understanding wasn't wrong, but it just wasn't deep enough. He thought that he had understood the Imperial Sky Art well enough, only to realize that he had only been skimming the surface.

This was the foundational cultivation technique of the demonic cult, practiced by all its members. Yet, even with identical texts, mantras, methods of practice and tests, there were some who were stuck practicing one part endlessly without making progress. Others were able to gain more profound insights that helped them comprehend the art's fundamental principles. There were far too many mysteries hidden in the Imperial Sky Art that manifested differently depending on the practitioner.

Selfless Azure Sky doesn't preach to literally dissolve the ego. Instead, it encourages one to adopt an even higher vantage point, expanding the view beyond oneself, separate from all prejudices and preconceptions gained through life experience. The vantage point should be elevated and free from outside influence to allow one to objectively evaluate oneself! The cold, emotionless attitude that comes with practicing the Imperial Sky Art is but a symptom of this phenomenon. Yet, most people, including me, thought that we were adopting a dissociative mindset to separate our egos from all the deeds we would commit because we believed that we were being trained to be killers for the demonic cult! We were colored by our own prejudices!

Selfless Azure Sky offered the kind of vantage point that saw all as one and the same. It preached an impersonal, universal compassion for all. It was somewhat akin to indifference, but different in qualitative ways.

If learning the Imperial Sky Art dampened one's emotions, learning the Imperial Earth Art dampened one's desires. The more progress one made, the less one would be interested in beautiful women and delicious food. Pleasant music would no longer improve one's mood. Delicious flavors would no longer sate one's appetite. Beautiful mates would no longer move one's heart.

Wantless Dense Earth allowed one's desireless body to take in all things. The art made the body abandon all the drives that it acquired throughout life, allowing the body and soul to experience the purest form of truth, showing oneself everything one was made of, in and out! These were the basic precepts of the Imperial Earth Art that An Jing came to truly understand in the dao-comprehension state. These were answers that he already knew deep down, but hadn't discovered until he finally entered that state.

Like rising and receding tides, qi essence circulated nonstop within his body, rapidly and naturally adjusting their angle and flow. Like a long river that twisted and turned, stretching from shallow mud-filled streams to massive deltas connected to the ocean, qi essence started their flow at a relatively gentle speed only to accelerate more and more, adopting an even better and more natural pace of circulation!

The heaven purification radiance that remained unused within his body was completely refined, raising the quality of his qi essence even more, bringing him to the peak of the Tide Essence Stage. There was nothing forceful or excessive about that boost in qi essence. It was all natural and downstream of the pathways that already existed within him. As all that was happening, An Jing's mind cleared up, filling him with details about achieving the Heaven's Child Art and characteristics about the special wonder.

Selfless Azure Sky and Wantless Dense Earth... Once I properly master the core essence of these two arts and meditate on the Imperial Sky and Earth, I will achieve an objective vantage point that will allow me to perceive the truth about myself. In that state, I'll be able to perfectly control every single movement within and without my body, down to every muscle, organ and even the flow of my blood and qi essence! This is Heaven's Child Art!

It was all clear to him. It's no wonder the Heavenly Demon Cult needs to teach the Imperial Sky and Earth Arts to us. They need geniuses like me who can make this realization on their own and understand the fundamental properties of Heaven's Child Art! This is the perfect inner observation technique! It allows me to analyze all my weaknesses and internal injuries and helps me make minor adjustments until I achieve a perfect body! I'd be the true child of destiny, sculpted by heaven and earth.

That's the fundamental nature of Heaven's Child Art. It's not a cultivation technique per se, but rather, a state that greatly increases the efficiency of one's vital cultivation. When I have that, cultivation mistakes become incredibly rare, which will greatly boost my success rate in practicing other techniques!

This effect that came from the fusion of the Imperial Sky and Earth Arts was sublime and put them on the same level as Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal. However, it was typically impossibly difficult to reach this level of comprehension. One first had to have a thorough understanding of one's own mindset and be able to view the world without any prejudice.

Even if An Jing told people outright about his insights, it would be pointless. It was like being told the solution of a complicated problem but not being able to apply that solution to anything else. Cultivation wasn't an examination that could be solved with the right answer. One needed the right frame of mind and thought process to be able to cultivate the right way.

In addition to that, An Jing realized that the selfless, wantless state was necessary to achieve basic mastery for Heaven's Child Art. As long as I enter that state, my thoughts speed up. In essence, time will slow down from my point of view!

His mind was clear as a mirror when he achieved a full comprehension of the principles contained in the Imperial Sky and Earth Arts. But from an objective point of view, time itself doesn't actually slow because my own movements will be just as slow. It doesn't help much apart from making my techniques more stable and accurate when they're executed without any careless mistakes. In fact, desynchronizing my mind and body for too long risks causing more mistakes to occur and weakening me even more, so it's not something to be used constantly. Then again, the rest of the techniques within the Imperial Sky and Earth Arts will make up for those shortcomings!

Fearless Abyssedge allowed one to stay calm during the selfless and wantless state. Doubtless Piercing Mind allowed the body to keep up with the mind's accelerated thoughts for a short time. Qualmless Profound Step was a footwork technique that was meant to be used during a state of accelerated thought, allowing one to silently and rapidly come and go as one pleased to launch a large number of explosive surprise attacks!

Clingless Reincarnation was an arcanum that nourished the qi pathways, allowing them to endure an increased flow rate during the selfless and wantless state. Wrathless Retribution and Hateless Slaughter were even simpler in that it helped the user make optimal moves for each situation without being swayed by unnecessary notions while their thoughts were sped up.

All those aspects of the Imperial Sky and Earth Arts were there for the sake of manifesting a unique spiritual and mental state, which led to the awakening of a profound wonder of the soul at the start of the Fortification Realm that could aid their cultivation and allow them to speed up their thoughts in combat! An Jing opened his eyes. Pure spirit light emanated from them as he came to understand all the insights he had obtained.

"The wonder..." he muttered as the cosmos told him its name. "Temporal Grasp!"