"Huh?"

An Jing felt a jolt of surprise as he pried the inkjade skull away from the vine creature. Dark tendrils writhed from the skull's eye sockets, twitching and pulsating like fleshy masses. They looked as if they were about to sprout into some snail or hermit crab and scuttle off into the dark. Seeing this, An Jing pinned the skull down with his sword, only for its "limbs" to lurch into a frantic, octopus-like struggle.

"Strange," he noted curiously. "It's incredibly tough. My lethal-qi sword won't go through."

"This is its true form," Yvelbane said thoughtfully. "I see now. These plants weren't eroded by fiend qi, which explains why I couldn't sense any trace of it on them. This skull belonged to a cultivator who succumbed to their own inner demons. They likely possessed a wood-type spirit root when they were alive and could control spirit plants.

"After succumbing to their inner demons, their physical form was corrupted by fiend qi, turning the skull into a fiendfallen with these spirit vines as its body to trap any creature that wanders past.

"Destroy it," Yvelbane said calmly. "This is the lowest tier of remnant fiend that isn't even sentient."

"Alright."

With a slight nod, An Jing plunged his sword through the mouth, nailing the skull firmly to the ground. Blood lethal qi surged, triggering shrill cries from the fleshy vines, which then evaporated into pitch-black fiend qi. A hazy gray mist hovered within the center of the skull, radiating an eerie, unsettling glow.

"What's this?"

While An Jing stood there in confusion, Yvelbane eyed it with a hint of surprise. "It's a fractured echo and it's quite useful."

"What's that?" An Jing asked curiously. With the creature gone, he was feeling lighter. "You brought up spirit roots at Direlife Manor as well. Tell me more about it."

"Where the mind lingers, an echo follows," Yvelbane explained, "In this world, natural order is restored when evil is consumed. Such is the precept of 'ingesting the vile to restore the truth.' Fractured echoes are slivers of mystical qi, distilled from the cleansing of a fallen fiend. Inferior echoes are but the hazy mists you see before you, while superior ones manifest as divine birds, dragons, snakes, or even elixirs and sacred texts.

"Fractured echoes preserve the memories and cultivation of cultivators who went haywire and fiendspawn in their purest form. Powerful echoes can even produce miraculous effects, such as forge rare treasures, unlock abilities, or heal wounds. They are blessings bestowed upon those who vanquish evil. The grand ritual that took place at Direliffe Canyon essentially draws upon my power to help you purge your inner demons, condense mystical qi, and facilitate the awakening of your lifearc. However..."

At this point, Yvelbane became lost in its thoughts. "In my time, only 'truefiends' and 'overfiends' leave fractured echoes. Furthermore, those left by truefiends have distinct forms, nothing like these mere wisps... It's simply too weak.

"But... why..." Yvelbane muttered to itself, struck by a sudden wave of confusion. "I have this sense that I was involved... but... I don't remember."

An Jing silently waited for the sword soul to continue.

After a while, Yvelbane shrugged it off with its usual nonchalance, letting out a small sigh. "I don't remember, oh well."

"Will echoes help to restore your memories?" An Jing asked.

"That's thoughtful of you. Of course." Yvelbane chuckled. "But given my true form, only the echo of a formidable heavenly fiend might achieve that. Don't bother dwelling on this."

Yvelbane glanced at the gray mist. "This wisp can nourish the soul, but its effect on me is almost negligible. You were just attacked, so use it to stabilize your mind. I'll teach you how to absorb it." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

With the sword soul's guidance, An Jing focused his mind, drawing the gray mist into his sea of consciousness. Once inside, it transformed into a dim flame and floated beside the sword like a celestial body revolving around the sun. By circulating Sword of Tranquility, An Jing could harness this fractured echo to fortify his soul.

When he was done, Yvelbane said, "As for spirit roots... In my time, before the lifearc-based martial path existed, we practiced what was known as 'spirit-root qi cultivation.' Just as the martial path requires a lifearc to advance beyond the Aura Realm to reach the Fortification Realm, spirit-root qi cultivation, or the immortal path, follows the same principle. Without a spirit root, one can never cross the threshold from Spirit Awakening into Qi Refinement."

"I see." An Jing understood.

This was the fundamental element separating mortals from those who walked the path of immortality. Although ordinary people could cultivate, they could never surpass the first realm. Only those with lifearcs or spirit roots could hope to transcend that boundary and continue their cultivation journey.

"I have a lifearc... but do I have spirit roots?" An Jing asked.

"Yes," Yvelbane replied. "Your natural aptitude is decent. You possess three roots of the metal, earth and wood aspects. Between the three aspects, earth begets metal, metal restrains wood, and wood restrains earth. Yet within you, earth nourishes metal while suppressing wood. In turn, wood suppresses earth into dormancy. Consequently, your metal spirit root has flourished. You have considerable talent in this regard, which is why I've imparted the Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal unto you. Alas, we lack the resources to continue."

An Jing felt the sting of disappointment until his gaze fell on the remains of the building. He just got a spark of inspiration.

"Yvelbane, what you said earlier..." He narrowed his eyes on the ancient building, noting that much of its structure was made from metal. "Can they be considered mystic metals?"

"Hmm..." Yvelbane paused for a moment. But as it followed An Jing's line of sight toward the collapsed hall and metal remains, the pieces clicked into place. "Yes, scrap or not, it's still metal. Go have a look and I'll see if it meets your needs."

An Jing moved instantly.

The pillars and beams were plated in crimson bronze that had mostly succumbed to rust. Neither thieves nor the owners ever bothered to strip them down. Almost none of it was usable, save for a thin layer at the bottom.

The purple tin lampstands were surprisingly well preserved. The outer layer had even retained a certain luster from contact with the premium oil once used, a sign the metal's superior quality.

An Jing also stumbled upon a large number of black-iron nails still embedded in the wall that used to be a notice board. Fortunately for him, whoever cleared the area was too lazy to pull out all the nails, which were still in pristine condition. In total, he had five liang of crimson bronze, one jin and two liang of purple tin, and three liang of black iron at his disposal.[1]

1. Relative values of jin and liang varied across time, but it was standardized to be 16 liang = 1 jin. ☜