Destiny in Cinders

To the southwest of Dustdawn, which was northeast of Grand Chen and to the east of the Taiyuan Mountain Range, was a vast plain called the Great Northwestern Wasteland. Though it was called a wasteland, it only referred to the fact it was uninhabited by humans. It was actually populated by many forests and rivers.

The massive trees of hundred meters that linked together to form dense forests were magnificent material for the keel of massive ships. The Great Northwestern Wasteland was where Grand Chen sourced much of its raw materials from for shipbuilding.

Honor Pavilion was a trading company that specialized in supplying lumber. Its headquarters was located in the capital of Huang Prefecture. The branch in Keensight was managed by a Clearing Realm adept. It was said that there was an even larger faction above him that had tasked him to be the face of the branch. It turned out that the faction behind Honor Pavilion was in fact the True Fiend Cult.

As the sun set on the city of Keensight, the lights within Honor Pavilion’s security courtyard flickered and swayed, though nobody really paid attention to their surroundings.

One of the martialists seemed to be napping with his arms hugging his blade tight and head hanging to the side. Another was busy drinking wine and devouring a plate of peanuts. A few other guards nearby partied loudly as they drank and played cards. The sound of cards shuffling and coins jingling blended together to create quite a rhythmic tune.

Given the usual discipline of the guards of Honor Pavilion, most of them would be serious at work even if they weren’t all sharp and alert. However, the recent pressure that they were facing coupled with the fact that they would take part in a deadly battle soon meant that they needed to let off some steam.

Not all members of Honor Pavilion were fiend followers, but people like that had been transferred away from Keensight and replaced by loyal fiend followers long ago. All of them were maniacs who would fight to their deaths and made light of human life, amoral beings that saw killing as nothing more than child’s play.

The only reason they served the True Fiend Cult was due to the sacrifices they offered to make a deal with heavenly fiends long ago. Their lives and everything else that they possessed belonged to heavenly fiends. Those that made the deal had enjoyed years of pleasure and enjoyment in Keensight and felt that it was about time they held up their end of the bargain. Knowing that their time was finally coming, they decided to squeeze out the last bits of fun they could from their lives for one last time just in case they perished in service. If they survived, however, they would be greatly rewarded. Regaining their youth and extending their lifespans wasn’t out of the question!

”Damn, we were truly unlucky this time around,” complained one of the fiend followers in the middle of a card game as he took a swig of wine. ”Our other brothers all went to watch plays and enjoyed the company of women while we’re stuck here playing cards in the cold night breeze!”

”Just let it go. Those madmen know that they’ll have to fight for their lives soon, so they want to make sure to have no regrets. I know they’ll go way overboard. It’s going to end up absolutely disgusting. I don’t know how they can even get it up at all,” said another fiend follower. ”If you ask me, I think boys can hold up much better than girls. I wonder if I’ll get to fuck a few more soon.”

”What’s there to think about? The sooner we die, the sooner we enter the next life!” said another guard as he waved and smiled, revealing his crooked and rotting teeth. ”Let’s not talk about all that. It’s giving me a headache thinking about it. Drink more!”

”Sigh...” The sleeping fiend follower was awakened by the noise and blinked slowly. ”I heard that this ritual will kill the entire city. I’m still smitten by Old Zhong’s daughter. I wonder if I can have my fun with her before the ritual.”

His red, malformed tongue poked out and licked his lips while he was still half-awake. ”That body... that skin... So soft and sweet... If only I can take one bite... Hehehe...”

”All you talk about is eating,” said the others.

”Let’s get it straight. I care about eating my steamed buns, but all of you fuck your buns and then eat them. Don’t you think that’s even more disgusting?”

The fiends continued to make merry in the dimly lit courtyard.

The clouds outside Honor Pavilion were densely packed together, blocking out all moon and starlight. The frosty breeze continued to blow against the window, causing a layer of opaque ice to form.

A figure flashed across the window right as the breeze blew, unnoticed by anyone. Fifteen minutes later, the four pillars in the corner of Honor Pavilion flashed. Suddenly, loud booms could be heard, followed by smoke rising into the sky. A powerful flash akin to that of lightning illuminated every single detail on the streets nearby. The snow that piled up was sent scattering all over the place.

The twelve-story building of Honor Pavilion seemed to slant to one side all of a sudden. Fiend qi leaked out of it and rose into the clouds, forming a ghostly apparition in the frosty winds above. However, this wasn’t one of the trump cards of Honor Pavilion. Instead, it was a manifestation of the disrupted hexes within Honor Pavilion.

”Enemy attack!”

”Save me! My eyes!”

”Who attacked us?! Were those Grand Chen’s lethal-qi cannons?”

Startled cries and howls rang out within and without. The martialists and guards who were still able to move instinctively escaped the damaged building. It wasn’t that they were worried about being buried alive. Instead, they were just reacting blindly, something that would cost their lives.

The strong winds and snow masked the sound of a silenced gunshot. Something flashed red and the guards within Honor Pavilion suddenly heard small objects whooshing by quickly. The fiend follower that stood out the most among the crowd felt a blow, quickly followed by the sensation of a hot shard burying itself into his head, causing it to explode.

”Someone’s using hidden weapons! Be careful!”

Before the headless corpse even landed on the ground, another gunshot could be heard. One of the better-trained fiend followers reacted, looking frantically around in horror and scanning for the hidden-weapon user. There was no way he could even fathom the concept of a sniper rifle, being a native of Void Embrace. A bullet cut through the wind and burrowed into his head, causing his vision to black out without warning.

”Over there!” The fiend followers were no pushovers at the end of the day and managed to trace the trajectory of the bullets even after losing two squad leaders. They immediately raised their crossbows and fired bolt after bolt in that direction. The other martialists escaped to a blindspot and began to flank the shooter’s last-known location.

Right just then, a pitch-black shadow rose without hesitation, casting off the Hidden Earth ability that could have allowed him to safely move about undetected. Like an ink brush on white paper, he traced a trail of black across the canvas of white snow!

What followed were even more explosions! The figure clad in a black mantle ran straight into the crossbow bolts and tossed out a handful of thunder beads. A chain explosion ensued, arcs of lightning tracing randomly across the spot where the fiend followers had gathered and sending more than ten of them blasting off and groaning in pain.

When they landed, only a few remained of the earlier group that had tried to surround the figure. They got up fearlessly and charged at An Jing without regard for any further thunder beads.

What they got instead, however, were flashes of blades to their faces! The first slash swiped across the necks of the two foremost fiend followers, motion as smooth as the swipe of a tiger’s claws. Before the heads landed on the ground, An Jing had sheathed the blades right as blood spurted out from the stumps of their necks.

His pace didn’t break for even a single moment. An Jing leaped into the air before the confused guards could react or assess how many foes they were going up against. Crimson blood lethal qi appeared as An Jing’s eyes flashed, tracing two more arcs of blood on the snowy ground. The smell of blood wafted in the air as yet more fiend followers lost their heads and lives. This was no battle; it was a one-sided massacre.