Destiny in Cinders

”This is a drop of my imperial blood,” You Ruhui said in a weak-sounding but inviting tone. ”With how things stand now, I have learned your true trump card. And even if you know about the secret of the dragonjade I bear, there’s no way for you to prepare against it. Merely knowing about it already puts you in grave danger.

”I feel it’s unfair that I’ve put you in more danger even though you saved me and Madam Huai. That’s why I’ll swear in the name of the Imperial Sky to never reveal your ability that lets you cross the void.

”Through this drop of blood, I’ll be able to communicate with you across vast distances and cast my ability on you just like I did with the dragonjade’s power. You can use it to reach out to me if you need anything. I will stand ready to render you aid.”

”Umm...” An Jing couldn’t really refuse it, so he held out his hand to accept the droplet of imperial blood. He could feel that it wanted to assimilate into his body and become a part of him. A permanent link would likely form between him and You Ruhui to allow them to communicate and her to cast her ability telepathically.

In a way, it was quite similar to the ability that connected him to Cang Linzu, that of a celestial arc and its astral orbiters. It also seemed to mirror the relationship between the bearer of imperial blood and the receiver of a mandate.

He furrowed his brow and looked solemnly at her. ”This is too much... It’s true that we’ve helped each other a lot. In fact, I’ve saved your life a few times already. Even so, I don’t dare to accept this too casually. In fact, what you’re offering is not so different from giving me a child as a political hostage as a guarantee of trust. I believe this will prevent true trust from forming between us. I’m not someone who would offer my own child to others as a guarantee.”

You Ruhui didn’t agree with his analysis, however. ”Perhaps that’s how it seems to you. To me, this is merely a token of my sincerity. Also...”

She sighed as she looked at the hovering blood droplet. ”I can’t guarantee that I will never change in the future. Will my goals change? Will I give up on revenge? Will the me of the future betray my current wish to never to betray you? I don’t have the answer to that, so I want you to be my witness. If I stray from this path and betray you, I want you to teach me a lesson. This droplet can’t kill me, but it can inflict grave heartbreaking pain and deal a huge blow to my vital qi.”

You Ruhui initially thought that An Jing’s lifearc was a miracle arc, but now, it seemed like an unawakened divine arc. Only bearers of divine arcs could do something as unthinkable as crossing the void. This ability seemed connected to the Grand Dao itself! Someone with a divine arc, filled with potential, had saved her. He also seemed like an upright sort who also wanted to resist Grand Chen, making him a natural ally.

In the distant past when she still had the haughty attitude of a king’s daughter, she believed that everyone wanted to jump at the chance to get on her good side and be allied with her. After all she had experienced, she came to understand that nobody who wanted to get on her good side had no ulterior motives. So, to become An Jing’s ally, she had to show what she was worth and make herself someone he could trust, and that came with a cost. She was no longer a princess of Grand Chen, Xuan Mingjing. You Ruhui made her choice.

”I understand.” He nodded, feeling her resolve, and closed his hand around the imperial droplet that contained the power of the dragonjade, or rather, the shard of the Cosmic Heart. When he opened his hand again, the droplet was gone, only reappearing in his sea of consciousness, circling around Yvelbane’s hilt as a crystalline blood pearl.

”Thank you.” She was quite relieved to see him accept it. This was a sign of his trust and their covenant with each other. They knew about each other’s most vital trump cards and had established complete trust in one another. I’ve always been willing to place my trust in others.

An Jing, seeing how relieved she was, didn’t try out what the droplet could do right away. He just wasn’t in the mood to, much like how he didn’t really care too much about the function and nature of the True Talisman at the moment. He focused only on the present. ”Though the matter between us is settled, there’s still much to worry about in Void Embrace. Also, Madam Huai will only live some ten days at most.” ℯℯ𝑙.

”I... there’s nothing I can do about it either,” You Ruhui said, looking sorrowfully at the madam. ”I wanted to find a different yin terrestrial-vein node and ask her to use her lifearc to root herself there. As long as she manages to break through from the Aura Realm, she would probably live another decade or two. However, she’s already made up her mind about dying and no longer has a will to live. I believe respecting her wishes is all I can do.”

”That’s not it,” An Jing said, shaking his head. ”I was more concerned with the demonic cult. Don’t you think they keep tabs on lifearc bearers like her? Even though we’ve escaped Grand Chen and the heavenly fiends, we haven’t severed all ties to the Heavenly Demon Cult yet. Think about it. If I hadn’t been there and you escaped all the way to Keensight without encountering your contact and ended up in Madam Huai’s care, she would’ve been the one to change your fate.

”That’s when you would’ve entered the sights of the Heavenly Demon Cult. If things had proceeded that way, you would’ve been taken away and eventually used to destabilize the order of Grand Chen. You would’ve been a perfect opportunity for them to exploit. Madam Huai might be a good person, but her presence itself represents a link to the Heavenly Demon Cult.”

You Ruhui’s mind raced after hearing An Jing’s explanation. Her eyes widened as understanding dawned upon her. ”That’s right! Wait, so was my original fate meant to steer me into joining the Heavenly Demon Cult?”

”No, that was only one of the possibilities.” An Jing was the one who had the clearest view on the situation. ”There are many different possibilities. You could either be captured by Grand Chen, captured by the True Fiend Cult or taken in by the Heavenly Demon Cult. Or, you could’ve followed through with your father’s original plan and reached the contact you were supposed to meet to Dustdawn.

”Those are all possibilities. Destiny represents a choice between different options. Depending on your choices, you will embark on different paths. If you wish to, you can always pick one of the options that are offered to you. In the same vein, you can also abstain from picking anything among the available options. For instance, you don’t have to choose between Grand Chen or the True Fiend Cult.”

There was always the option to create a brand-new possibility outside of the predetermined few. The choice of ”none of the above” was always there.

”I see...” You Ruhui said.

An Jing continued to ponder this. Only by doing so will my Seven Ruins Arc gain the most feedback. I see, so this is what it means to overturn everything. I understand now. Perhaps all the bearers of this arc in the past had chosen the wrong path. It’s not just about rejecting the current order and taking what’s theirs as one’s own. Instead, it’s about forging one’s own destiny, a brand-new path unrelated to what could have been.

He looked at You Ruhui, not expecting her to understand this point right away. For most people, destiny was that which guided everything in their lives, something ephemeral. It was such an all-encompassing term that applied to all the options that appeared in one’s life, even the ones created by oneself.

Yet, the most crucial part of destiny was choosing oneself. Perhaps this was the reason why lifearc martialists often chose to venture into the world to form their own countries or sects. Even as they bore the weight of their lifearcs, they still strove to live out their lives in a way true to their own nature.

”Madam Huai’s fate is not ours to worry about. She’s much more aware of what it is than we are and knows better what she wants,” An Jing said, smiling. ”Even if she only has some ten days of life yet, I believe she will make the choice that is truest to her wishes.”

”What do we do now, then?” You Ruhui still felt rather restless. ”You said we can only remain here for three days. Surely, we can’t just sit around and do nothing. There must be something I can help you with.”

”Indeed there is. And it has to be you.”

”Oh? What is it then? What can I possibly do in this world that nobody else can’t?”

”Shopping for a house.”