Destiny in Cinders

Honor Pavilion’s defenses far exceeded those of a normal trading guild, but was surprisingly lax by the demonic cult’s standards, allowing An Jing to locate his target effortlessly. On the surface, Guo Chang, the martialist with Treasure Jade Garment, was head of the guards. He appeared to be a Fortification martialist hailing from Dragon Master, a vast territory northeast of Grand Chen where True Dragons were revered. Treasure Jade Garment was a wonder that had been adapted from wonders of sea beasts.[1]

He doesn’t seem very strong. This was the conclusion An Jing reached after studying the man closely. Guo Chang’s combat power was solid across the board. Despite his gaunt physique, his muscles resembled tempered iron, packing enough explosive force to tear through tigers and leopards. Coiled around his waist was a masterfully crafted whip, which easily rivaled An Jing’s own black-iron blades.

Had An Jing not mastered Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal, he wouldn’t last ten moves against the man. Even Lu Jin in his prime would barely surpass him. But unless he had a hoard of defensive wonders or a body forged like that of a Clearing Realm martilist, he stood absolutely no chance against a sudden attack from the sword case.

Of course, this hinged on the element of surprise. In short, An Jing couldn’t expose the sword case until he was ready to go for the kill. If he could eliminate Guo Chang at a negligible cost and avoid a two-on-one confrontation, An Jing’s odds of victory would increase by fifty percent.

An Jing fought off the urge to pull out his sword case and end the man. I’ll wait for the perfect ambush. Acting right now would only sound the alarm. His true targets were Lu Jin and the idol in the secret chamber. He had to stick to the primary objective.

Honor Pavilion maintained fifteen skilled martialists. Apart from Guo Chang, the remaining fourteen were split into seven teams, each leading other martial practitioners to patrol the interior and exterior of the building. Furthermore, there were over a dozen elites from the True Fiend Cult hiding within Honor Pavilion, ready to unleash chaos in the city.

”Did you consider using your Hidden Earth ability to track those thugs or martialists back to their base?” An Jing asked as he continued to trail the guards.

”I assumed they were with the government, and I knew they could detect my manipulation of the terrestrial veins, so I was too afraid to follow them,” You Ruhui replied honestly.

An Jing nodded and continued speaking. ”Can your ability hide me from the heavenly fiends? I want to sneak inside and look around.”

You Ruhui carefully assessed Honor Pavilion before shaking her head. ”No. There’s likely an idol in there that’s been worshiped for over fifty years and has already formed an arcane domain. I wanted to probe the place with a spell while we were roaming the area, but my spirit sense immediately screamed that it was dangerous.”

”I see.” An Jing grew pensive. He now knew how his drone had been discovered—it was the arcane domain. Their inspection was now complete.

You Ruhui lowered her telescope, appearing troubled. ”My plan was to help you quietly snatch two cultists so you could turn them over to the authorities. After all, I have to stay hidden from them. Once you tip them off, we can sit back and let the authorities eliminate the cult. And even if they have insiders in the government, they won’t be able to do a thing with hard evidence. It’s safe, simple, and keeps me out of the spotlight while you get all the credit.

”But I had no idea the True Fiend Cult had grown so strong. They have two Fortification martialists, the heavenly fiend’s techniques, and the arcane domain. With the guardian adept absent, the city manager will have to tap into the terrestrial veins to fight the cult. But using the terrestrial veins will expose them to an ambush on the terrestrial-vein nodes, and we can’t rule out cultists inside the government. The heavenly fiends have taken control of Keensight’s lifeline without anyone realizing!”

You Ruhui was inexperienced but far from stupid. She instantly saw the flaw in her own plan. ”Not going to the officials is the right call. It’ll lull them into a false sense of security. But what do you suggest we do instead?” With little real-world experience to draw from, she was out of ideas.

”It’s simple.” Now that he had every detail of Honor Pavilion safely etched in his mind, An Jing had the perfect strategy. ”When the moment is right, I’m going to slip inside Honor Pavilion, take out their leader, and end this.”

”Slip inside?” You Ruhui was stunned. Her gaze flickered away as if recalling an acquaintance, before she turned back to ask hesitantly, ”You don’t mean just storming in, killing every single person you see, and calling it a stealth job because there are no witnesses left, right?”

An Jing remained silent.

Even with her veil on, it was obvious that You Ruhui was absolutely terrified. ”You’re not actually serious, are you?”

An Jing sidestepped the question entirely. ”The snow isn’t heavy yet, but give it a day or two, and there’ll be a brutal blizzard that will wipe out all visibility. When that happens, the city manager will activate the terrestrial veins to stave off the frost. The True Fiend Cult will definitely concentrate their men at the terrestrial-vein nodes. I want you to take Madam Huai, find a place to hide nearby, and use your spells to kick up some chaos. Honor Pavilion will be empty, and that’s when I’ll remove the important targets.”

”No, no...” Clueless as she was, You Ruhui shook her head frantically. ”Our strength isn’t enough! They’re practically invincible right now with two Fortification martialists and the heavenly fiend’s techniques. An ambush is our only choice! What sort of plan is this? It’s madness!”

”What?” Glancing at You Ruhui, he chuckled. ”Didn’t you approach me under the assumption that I’m powerful, simply because my cultivation is hidden from you? I thought you at least had an idea of how strong I am. I didn’t realize you’re just pulling a desperate gamble...”

You Ruhui choked on her words. She had proposed they work together simply because she couldn’t gauge An Jing’s strength and knew he had to have cards up his sleeve. But would a normal person come up with a plan like that?! Figures. These lifearc bearers are all absolute lunatics!

Taking a deep breath, You Ruhui collected herself and began to think. ”If you’re really that sure of yourself... then I will definitely help. If you can restrain a Fortification martialist, I can prepare an altar ahead of time and use a technique that might heavily injure or even kill him. That leaves the other Fortification martialist. Between the two of us, we should be able to deal with him.”

”Alright, but the safety of you and Madam Huai comes first.” An Jing was pleasantly surprised. Even if he deemed it unnecessary, it was reassuring to know You Ruhui had a hidden hand, giving them more room for error. ”I’ll also bait the cultists into attacking me later to tip off the authorities. This is their job, after all. We can’t just let them sit around doing nothing.”

”I’m not strong enough, so this is the best plan I can come up with.” You Ruhui still couldn’t quite wrap her head around it. Shaking her head, she said, ”But you’re different. Forget their secret techniques; a big name like Lu Jin must have a few tricks. Even if you’re confident you can defeat him, why risk your own life?”

An Jing offered no response. Risk? No... A crimson light flashed in An Jing’s eyes. This wasn’t about safety or weighing the benefits. He simply refused to let Grand Chen or anyone else steal his prey. At long last, he had the perfect opportunity to unleash his full power without any holding back, throwing all logic aside just to ruthlessly butcher his prey. He just... wanted to let it all out.

With all this information memorized, An Jing turned around and vanished into the curtain of snow. He muttered quietly, ”Our investigation is pretty much done. Let’s head back.”

Though hesitant, You Ruhui held her tongue. Since she was the one who had sought him out, she buried her doubts and quietly returned to the teahouse with him.

1. It was mentioned earlier that the founding emperor of Grand Chen learned from the Dragon Master. That was likely the figure that the region was named after. ☜