The middle-aged scholar wore a cold, indifferent look, yet he was well-acquainted with Qian Yuan since they were both mid-level officials in the Prefecture.
He said calmly:
"My uncle is in seclusion, so I've been assigned to watch over the Academy Bureau for a few days.
"It's only a matter of opening a Life Furnace. Even if it's a sixth-rank furnace, I can manage it.
"You can rest easy!
"So it's this young one who wants to forge his Life Pattern? Quite lucky our island's Violet Life Furnace hasn't been opened in thirty years. The Fate Fire inside is blazing strongly. I guarantee it will help him forge a fine Life Pattern!"
Qian Yuan nodded and turned to Jing Qian:
"Go to the side chamber and make your preparations. Three days from now, Supervisor Tao will open the furnace and channel the Fate Fire into you."
Jing Qian acknowledged with a nod, then casually chose an empty side room and stepped inside.
Now, only Qian Yuan and Tao Yong remained in the courtyard.
Qian Yuan leaned closer and spoke again:
"Supervisor Tao, don't underestimate that boy. He is someone our Department Head values highly.
"When you connect him to the Fate Fire, add an extra flame."
Tao Yong's face flickered with surprise.
"So the Department Head has even passed him the Reincarnation Innate Fate Method?
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to give him an extra blaze!
"But… that additional Fate Fire will count as compensation beyond the standard grant. How should I record it in the accounts?"
Qian Yuan replied:
"Deduct it from my own Fate Fire allotment. After all, this matter concerns the Maritime Department."
Tao Yong nodded in agreement and watched Qian Yuan leave the courtyard.
Inside the chamber, Jing Qian sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, letting out a long breath.
After so many twists and turns, his crude plan had succeeded.
With the Tidal Turtle Divination Shell in hand and mastery of the Jing Clan's great secrets, no one had suspected his identity.
Now, all he had to do was survive the coming ritual of being burned by the Fate Fire. Then, with a brand-new identity, he would emerge before the world.
The Jing Clan had been reduced to just him alone. There was no one left who could expose or question him.
And those of the Xi-Zhi Island faction would never imagine that this newly promoted ninth-rank junior of the Maritime Department was the long-sought orphan of the Jing Clan.
With his new status and his cultivation strength, Jing Qian was confident he could thrive on Hunzhou Island.
Steeling his scattered thoughts, he focused his mind entirely on the upcoming ritual of the Fate Fire.
In this world, cultivators activated their Life Furnaces, drew upon the Fate Fire, and burned their bodies with it to awaken their innate Life Patterns and formally step onto the path.
This was a road every cultivator had to walk.
But that did not mean a cultivator could only undergo the burning once.
On the contrary, the mystical Fate Fire held countless wondrous effects: it could refine spiritual power, purify cultivation, expel alien energies, and temper the flesh.
Without such qualities, it could never have helped mere mortals step onto the path of cultivation in the first place.
And for cultivators who had already entered the path, the burning of the Fate Fire still held tremendous benefits.
The only issue was that establishing a Life Furnace was no easy feat, and accumulating the Fate Fire consumed vast resources.
Thus, the value of the Fate Fire was nothing short of priceless.
Ordinary people find it nearly impossible to obtain even a single spark of Fate Fire to help them enter the Dao. Unless they are the master of a Life Furnace they've built themselves, very few can ever make use of excess Fate Fire to sustain their cultivation.
This is why, in Hunzhou, true seventh-rank Longevity cultivators who achieve success often choose to establish a Fate Island to build a legacy of their own. Only in this way can they control Fate Fire as a resource, raise disciples, and continue to fuel their cultivation.
And within Hunzhou, the ones who control the greatest share of Fate Fire are, without question, the government offices.
In the Academy alone, there are four ninth-rank White Flame Furnaces, two eighth-rank Azure-Burning Furnaces, one seventh-rank Blue Blood Furnace, and a single sixth-rank Violet Life Furnace.
With these, the government meets both the island's demand for fate-affirmation among its tens of millions of inhabitants, and the daily cultivation needs of the great cultivators across the three branches and two academies.
For this reason, Jing Qian looked forward to the coming burning of Fate Fire with great anticipation. The sixth-rank Violet Life Furnace, with its pure and concentrated fire, could help a cultivator awaken a higher-rank Life Pattern from birth.
For example, if an ordinary rogue cultivator awakened an Azure Wing Life Pattern with a White Flame Furnace, then with the Violet Life Furnace, the very least he could expect would be an upgrade to a Blue Blood Life Pattern.
This is the very first step that opens a vast gulf between rogue cultivators and those with established inheritances.
And for Jing Qian, undergoing this second burning of the body was just as critical.
He drew out three White Fang-rank sea monster materials from the Void Realm, the necessary offerings for the Three-Sacrifice Fate Method. Then, without delay, he sank his spirit into the stele of fate once more.
This time, instead of hiding himself in the Void Realm, he completed the transfer of consciousness while sitting in meditation, directly beneath the fate stele.
With his divine sense, he linked to the stele and used a single Life-Casting Chance.
Immediately, the half-step Blue Blood–rank Tidal Wave Life Pattern appeared on the stele.
Without stopping, he activated a second Life-Casting Chance.
This time, it was the Soul-Weaving Life Pattern that appeared.
Then the third chance was consumed.
The final Sumeru Life Pattern was moved onto the stele.
At this point, Jing Qian had spent three precious Life-Casting Chances not to reshape his patterns, but to test something more daring.
Now, his sea of consciousness was empty of all Life Patterns. There was no trace of any Life Pattern within him, only a dozen or so White Fang Life Essences.
Miraculously, he had created the illusion of having returned to the peak of the Essence-Nurturing stage. His body bore no trace of any life pattern, yet he could still wield the power of all three!
Burning with Fate Fire to temper power and refine cultivation was already a great boon. But how could that compare to seizing the chance to affirm fate anew?
With deeper reserves of life essence, richer experience, and the far stronger Violet Life Furnace, Jing Qian was about to undergo fate affirmation once more.
What kind of patterns might he awaken this time?
The thought filled him with boundless expectation.
He quietly adjusted his breathing, nourished his soul and power, and in the blink of three days, the auspicious hour had arrived.
Brilliant streams of violet-red Fate Fire poured down through a special conduit hidden in the beam overhead, flooding the chamber.
The raging flames engulfed Jing Qian, turning him into a pillar of fire.
Steeling his mind, he drove the fourteen White Fang Life Essences in his body against the Fate Fire.
The three White Fang-rank monster materials before him instantly melted. With the secret art of the Three-Sacrifice Fate Method, his spirit once again entered that vast, obscure, and mysterious space.
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