Destiny in Cinders

To think that such a massive ticking time bomb had been by my side all along... She could be a princess or commanderial princess of the Grand Chen imperial clan. What did my Seven Ruins Arc bring me this time?

An Jing sighed inwardly long and hard before shaking himself awake. ”I feigned ignorance because I didn’t want to be involved in your troubles. Looks like I wouldn’t be able to avoid this even if I wanted to, right?”

”Apologies. That is indeed the case,” the girl said with a shy nod. ”Even though you might feel like I’m making this up, the people who are targeting you are the same as those who are after me. I am their main target. If they succeed, Keensight will be completely destroyed, and I’ll be recaptured after I tried so hard to escape. Given your miracle arc, you will not be spared from this. They’ll capture you and use you as a live sacrifice.”

”Wait a second.” An Jing could tell that the girl was sincere, but there was an uncanny naivete to the things she said. If An Jing wasn’t already aware of the truth of the matter, he definitely would’ve thought that she was just spouting nonsense.

It didn’t change the fact that what she said was true. He recalled the information he had gathered in the past few days. The reason Lu Jin wanted to take over the terrestrial-vein node was to prevent City Manager Zheng Mo from using the terrestrial veins to cast spells, which could be done by sending blowback through the terrestrial veins using the nodes he conquered. That would leave Keensight vulnerable to the incoming snow calamity, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, which would be used in a blood ritual to funnel corruption into the terrestrial veins for the ”esteemed lord.”

An Jing had suspected that the heavenly fiend behind Lu Jin needed to conduct the blood sacrifice to find him. Yet, he had overestimated his importance. Their real target was none other than the girl with imperial blood, born with wonders.

Does that mean I’ve taken on her misfortune for her? No, it can’t be. An Jing was only a starruin-miracle-arc bearer on the surface, or a divine-arc bearer at most. Under most circumstances, he wouldn’t be worth more than a member of the imperial bloodline, but he was still important enough to draw the attention of the heavenly fiend away from the girl.

But in actuality, An Jing was a celestial-arc bearer! The girl with imperial blood had inadvertently served as a smokescreen to cover his traces. With her around, nobody would care about a young upstart trained by the Heavenly Demon Cult who only appeared to bear a miracle arc, with a suspicion that it was only a disguised divine arc. The girl was the one who had taken the misfortune in An Jing’s stead!

Having figured that out, he raised his hand to get her to stop. ”In simple terms, you’re being hunted down.”

The girl froze for a moment before nodding.

”Your pursuers are dangerous. They haven’t located you yet, but they wouldn’t mind destroying the entire city to do so through some cursed ritual technique. Thanks to my lifearc, I’ll also be noticed by them, so I can’t steer clear of this situation either,” An Jing summarized.

”Exactly!” The girl seemed rather happy and wanted to add something else, but stopped when An Jing raised his hand to silence her.

”I will not ask you how you’re able to discern what kind of lifearc I have. Let me ask you this: You didn’t report any of this to the authorities because you’re not on good terms with them, right?”

”Yes, beca—” The girl was about to answer, but she forced herself to stop and stay quiet.

An Jing nodded. That’s good. Thankfully, she didn’t leave earlier. Otherwise, she would’ve been easily caught by the demonic cult, considering how they’ve infiltrated the authorities here. Either that or Grand Chen would’ve taken her back. Wait a second...

He paused and furrowed his brow at that thought. Come to think of it, was it really necessary for the Crimsonguard to be deployed to fight Direlife Manor, a mere branch of the demonic cult?

The Crimsonguard was a proper expeditionary force unlike a typical garrisoned force. Expeditionary forces were trained much more strictly in all aspects, ranging from mental, physical to skill. The only people who were allowed to join were those who had managed to start nurturing their aura. Soldiers firmly in the Aura Realm could become squad leaders, leading a full troupe of aura martialists. An army that comprised only aura martialists could easily wipe out normal armies ten times their number!

Not to mention, even Sage Mystic Mirror made an appearance. Something was definitely really off. There was no way the commander of Hanhai would deploy such a huge force just to save his granddaughter, Gu Yeqi. That was a personal matter. There had to be a larger objective that he was trying to achieve.

If An Jing managed to figure out the real reason the demonic cult gathered disaster children on his own at Direlife Manor, there was no reason Grand Chen couldn’t do the same. They probably attacked Direlife Manor because they were searching for a certain target to begin with. If the target wasn’t there, they could eliminate the possibility that the demonic cult had gotten their hands on it. What if the demonic cult had served as just the right distraction for Grand Chen, diverting their attention away from here and allowing the imperial-blood girl to leave?

An Jing still had many questions, such as what the girl did for both the authorities and the True Fiend Cult to be after her. This won’t be a problem. Even if Grand Chen would never admit that the Heavenly Demon Cult had infiltrated them, I can at least be sure that they see the True Fiend Cult as enemies.

He nodded and said, ”I have a rough idea of what you’re going to ask. You can’t report anything to the authorities, but you want to solve this problem somehow. You could tell that I also want to deal with this situation, so you came to ask me to work with you, is that right?”

”Exactly! You’re right!” She jumped with joy. ”How amazing. I didn’t even say much and you figured everything out! The madam doesn’t want me to take any risks, but I know that if I don’t, it’ll lead to countless deaths and endless spilled blood. The madam wouldn’t be spared either! She’s lived her whole life helping others. I don’t want her to invalidate all the good she’s done at the very end. It seems like I was right! Miracle-arc bearers truly are extraordinary!”

As if noticing that she probably said too much, she took a step back and clammed up once more.

The fact that she’s able to identify lifearcs to some extent is enough for many sects and the authorities of Grand Chen to spare no effort to hunt her down.Thankfully, she isn’t able to discern that I have a celestial arc. ”I’ll be straight with you. I do plan to wipe out the True Fiend Cult. What kind of help can you offer me? And what kind of price are you willing to pay to enlist my help? Also, what do I call you?”

”You can call me... You Ruhui,” she said after spending some time thinking up a new name. ”I can be a huge help to you. For example...”

You Ruhui raised her hand and disappeared completely before An Jing’s eyes.

”Optical camouflage?” Meanwhile, An Jing thought, everyone knows that the emperor of Grand Chen is surnamed Xuan! Where did you get ”You” from? He snapped out of it and said, ”No, it seems even more advanced...”

Yvelbane said, ”Amazing! That’s the Hidden Earth ability! She’s borrowing the qi from terrestrial veins to cloak herself! Even sophisticated fate divination techniques wouldn’t be able to track her down easily. It’s no wonder the heavenly fiend wants to corrupt the terrestrial veins to locate her! It’s one of the top-tier stealth abilities. This girl was able to keep eluding capture by relying on it alone. But there’s something that bothers me. Why wouldn’t she just escape to Dustdawn? Why does she insist on staying in Keensight?”

An Jing figured out the answer. ”Perhaps she can only use the terrestrial veins within Grand Chen. The way she taps into them must have something to do with the blood of the imperial clan. It might be some secret treasure that only they possess. Grand Chen’s laws are strict. There’s probably some kind of restriction that prevents her bloodline, secret treasure or ability from being used outside of Grand Chen’s borders.”