Destiny in Cinders

An Jing and You Ruhui were about the same age and they had spent enough time together to get completely familiar with one another. As such, they no longer spoke so carefully around one another and even joked around.

"Come to think of it, Little You, I heard that descendants of members of the imperial court can't even decide what they want to eat. They have to cook their own meals if they want anything tastier. Is that true?"

"Sheesh, you've heard too many baseless rumors that the commonfolk spout. Your brain's been rotted by it all." It wasn't the first time You Ruhui heard another one of the ridiculous things An Jing had learned. "The art of making soup also serves to train one's grasp over aura. Cooking congee is a test of patience and control. Cutting vegetables helps familiarize one with the right way to use tools and handling materials. All those skills are core fundamentals of martial cultivation.

"As for our food, it's handled by the imperial court's Divine Chef, a Pure Yang transcendent. My father was filled with praise for him after witnessing the transcendent's mastery over life and death!"

An Jing raised his eyebrow teasingly. "In other words, you still don't get to decide what you eat."

You Ruhui immediately pivoted to the explanation that the transcendent bearer of the Divine Chef lifearc knew what was best for their development and cultivation and emphasized that the martial path was far more important than the fulfillment of one's culinary preference. She also made sure to mention that they could get extra servings as they pleased.

"Not to mention!" You Ruhui proudly proclaimed, "When it comes to cooking spirit ingredients, one has to discover those secret techniques through one's own research. The real secret techniques aren't things that are taught."

"But you know how to make soup, right?" An Jing took a sip of the meat soup. It was delicious indeed, but An Jing pointed something out. "All you know how to make is meatball soup! I've never seen you make any other dish in all the days we've been here!"

You Ruhui blushed when she was called out. She let go of the ladle forcefully and said, "Why don't you do it then?!"

"Fine! I'll show you!" An Jing immediately jumped into the action, using thunder grinding to pulverize the meat and cook up a delicious pot of beef meatball vegetable soup.

When You Ruhui took a sip of the soup, she immediately relented despite her earlier disapproval. "Darn it! Why can you cook too?!"

"It's thanks to my Spark."

"Does your Spark have everything?!"

"There's many more things in there like novels... and something called... video games? I was rather fortunate in my past life. The only shame was that I died too early and didn't get to enjoy much of it. I hope I'll be able to enjoy that kind of life here in Void Embrace too."

"Right..."

***

During this relatively peaceful period, An Jing managed to stabilize Temporal Grasp. He was able to enter the celestial-temporal state immediately and speed up his thoughts and movements to 2.5 times more than usual. If he didn't use that state longer than five instants (approximately two seconds), he would be able to activate it again four to five times in a row. Once he went longer than five instants, consumption increased sharply and peaked at nine instants (approximately 3.5 seconds). If he didn't exit the state at that point, he would leave the state weakened. The longest he could keep it up was twelve instants (approximately 4.5 seconds). He would be forced to leave the state any longer than that.

These spans of time were quite long as far as combat was concerned. Fights between martialists were decided in mere moments, after all. Twelve instants were enough for An Jing to kill four or five countryside martialists with only four wonders or less.

Ideally, however, he didn't want to have to use Temporal Grasp to the absolute limit. Once those twelve instants came to an end, he would be weakened and would only recover after six hours of proper rest. His soul would hurt to the point that he wouldn't be able to think properly. Any normal person experiencing those symptoms wouldn't be able to focus for a whole month from the headache that resulted.

Next, An Jing went on to practice the Minor Yang Sword Art and True Nature Ego Fist. There wasn't much to elaborate about the former as it was only a setup for Ocular Blaze. True Nature Ego Fist, however, could allow him to manifest Steadfastness. An Jing didn't need that wonder though, so he only learned it to be able to conjure up defensive projected qi. He could also use it to project qi outward for ranged attacks.

As for his trump card, he decided that he would buy a void artifact and load it up in Skysource with heavy-duty thunder beads meant to be used against feys. Using Temporal Grasp, he could launch a whole barrage of thunder beads in an instant to wipe everything out before the enemy could react!

"I should also see if I can find some better sword cases. Then again, Huo Qing did say that military-grade sword cases aren't that modifiable. The only way to go is the custom route."

An Jing believed that he was due for another explosive growth period. In fact, he was planning to get a chip in Skysource. He did wonder how Huo Qing was doing, having been too busy to worry about him while he was polishing his own power after meeting Ming Guangchen.

It was around that time when Ming Guangchen returned with the materials needed for his altar along with some good news. "He Wuchang was beaten up so badly by me that he even abandoned his armor and fled into Taiyuan."

Ming Guangchen's eyes were closed and his graying hair fluttered freely in the wind. He seemed as reliable as usual, and his words were just as reassuring. "The demonic cult in Xishan won't be coming to Keensight anytime soon. They're withdrawing."

"Master, you're amazing!" An Jing was truly overjoyed. It didn't feel good in the slightest knowing that a Treasures Realm cultist had his sights on him. "But Master, wouldn't the Sanctification Realm venerateds of the cult make their move against you? No doubt, you drew quite a bit of attention."

"Walking the martial path means polishing oneself through trials and tribulations." Ming Guangchen seemed to be in a good mood, probably from absolutely trouncing his foe. "It's not like I killed him. The demonic cult might even thank me for beating up the Lord Inspector of the West. As they see it, this setback is part of the 'heavenly will' they worship so much.

"However, only the Heavenly Divine Cult would react this way. They are madmen with odd beliefs. You should be much more careful when you deal with other factions. For instance, I have an arcane seal that allows me to unleash an ability of my master, who's your grandmaster, Shrouded Dust. In typical fights, the defeated would acknowledge their loss and call it a day. But if you're trying to kill members of proper sects, you should be prepared to defend yourself from a blast of a venerated's ability. Perhaps you'll have to face off against an angry venerated who'll cross the void to take you out."

An Jing sensed something odd about that explanation. "Then, what about Senior Lucid Stain?"

"That's probably because of the mole in our sect. The enemy that killed him is far too mysterious and much more powerful than we can imagine." Ming Guangchen shook his head. "Another reason for that is that our sect is too far away from the Northmost Snowfields and couldn't easily interfere. Keensight is squarely within the spheres of influence of our sect and Grand Chen, so you wouldn't be in much danger. At the end of the day, if someone is out there to get you, there's no amount of preparation that'll keep you completely safe. You have to adapt on the fly so that people won't be able to jump you out of nowhere."

An Jing nodded. While his celestial arc always brought him trouble, Ming Guangchen's miracle arc wasn't much better off in that regard. It was clear how bold and daring the enemy was to even dare to interfere with a celestial-arc bearer like him, not to mention the affairs of the imperial court that involved You Ruhui. It was nothing short of dancing on the edge of the blade. Fortunately, An Jing and his master's luck brushed off against each other; they solved many problems for one another.

Either way, after close to a month of waiting, the void altar was finally near completion.