Destiny in Cinders

”Me?” An Jing raised a brow, feeling somewhat surprised. ”How can I be of help?”

”Draw attention away from us,” Ming Guangchen said, smiling with his eyes closed. ”Don’t forget that your public identity isn’t that of a traitor of a demonic cult of a tribe member of Dustdawn. Instead, you’re my genius disciple, and I’m a sage of Dustdawn’s Brightmirror Sect! I will take you back to Keensight and request that you be allowed to see the divine armament for a chance to gain some insight. That will cause everyone’s attention to turn to you.”

”It doesn’t sound like a bad deal,” An Jing said. It was a decent opportunity to see if he could awaken wonders related to the Evenstar by observing the divine armament. Ming Guangchen had done his part to make it possible by holding Overseer Cao to his word. ”But this would be too dangerous for me. If something happens, I’d be the first to bear the brunt of it.”

”I will make sure you’re well compensated for it,” Ming Guangchen said. ”Naturally, you’re free to refuse as well. I’ll transport you out of Huang Prefecture so that you will completely become untangled from matters here.”

”How would you do that?” An Jing sensed that this was something he should pay attention to.

”Using a void art. If you want to go farther, I can even transport you to the city of Yinzhou.” Yinzhou was the capital of South Han. It was practically a whole region away from Keensight.

An Jing took a deep breath and said, ”Then, are you able to send me straight to North Han? If you are, then I’ll go along with your plans.”

”What a filial son you are.” There was no way Ming Guangchen didn’t know what An Jing meant. Given the boy’s capabilities, even if he reached the Fortification Realm the next day and ran nonstop, it would take him months to travel from Xishan to the South Han Circuit. If he got into trouble along the way and got held back or didn’t have enough supplies, it would take even longer.

His ultimate goal was to head to North Han. Even though the conditions there were getting better, with the barbarian tribal conflict cooling down due to the snow calamity, it was still a warzone. Who knew how long it would take him to cross that trouble-filled region? If he wanted to get to his mother as soon as possible, Ming Guangchen’s void art could save him months to half a year of travel time.

”Very well,” Ming Guangchen agreed. ”No matter what happens, I will send you to North Han. For now, we should go our separate ways. There are some things I have to tell Mingjing in private. I also have to talk to that Heavenly Divine Cult member.”

He looked at Madam Huai, who was walking away from the carriage. Ming Guangchen lowered his head and caused some dim, ripple-like patterns to appear behind him. Then, the vast, infinite ocean gradually slowed to a halt, its waves disappearing into a calm, tranquil surface that looked like a precious mirror that was black as nether, reflecting the countless stars up in the sky. As the stars turned gloomy, a bright sun rose into the sky and illuminated everything. Once the light from the stars fizzled away completely, the lonesome sun that was reflected on the black yin surface turned into an arcane corpus that looked identical to Ming Guangchen. This was his ability, Mirror Me.

”Seeing the void in the mirror, seeing the self in the mirror! This is a foundational ability and arcanum of the Brightmirror Sect, the Voidsight Selfsight Solemn Wonder Mantra!” Xuan Mingjing conveyed to him through the imperial blood droplet. She was surprised, but didn’t want to let it show on the surface. Instead, she began to fangirl wildly using telepathy.

”An Jing! This is the fundamental ability that is core to the dao pursued by the Brightmirror Sect! It’s easy to learn, but hard to master. In the beginning, all you’ll be able to do is manifest a shallow fractured echo. The echo can be loaded up with some spirit attribute of a spell that the cultivator already knows, working in tandem with the cultivator. Full echoes will be able to carry the dao attributes of abilities themselves, which will allow you to double up on a single ability!

”That’s not all of it. Mirror Me isn’t just a normal support ability. Once it achieves a full mirror surface on its own, it’ll be able to form another Mirror Me that can inherit all of its abilities and techniques just like Uncle Ming! The reflection’s level and combat capability are identical to the original’s.

”Once a cultivator masters this ability, they’ll have proven to be able to conquer mortal tribulations and turn their divine treasures into a divine altar, reaching the Altar Sanctification Realm! Since it’s a fundamental ability of the Brightmirror Sect, it also holds the potential of transforming into a grand ability. It’s too bad that the imperial court’s records don’t have any information about it at that point. This is one of the best-kept secrets of the five Dustdawn Sects.”

Xuan Mingjing’s awe was completely genuine. ”People say that Sage Mystic Mirror is the most likely cultivator in this generation to reach the Altar Sanctification Realm. I thought that this was an exaggeration at best, but it turned out to be completely true!”

Ming Guangchen had talent never before seen and heard of and the right kind of reputation to match it. Perhaps his amazing talent was why King Jing saw him as such a valuable comrade.

Thanks to Xuan Mingjing’s explanation, An Jing came to understand quite a bit about the ability. In its initial stages, it was only good for support, allowing the cultivator to use the same techniques or spells twice in quick succession. Later on, that expanded to using abilities twice and even allowed one to create a mirror clone! It was a double force multiplier without restrictions. One would even be able to fight synergistically with the clone to unleash abilities more powerful than the sum of their parts! It definitely deserved to be classified as a fundamental technique.

Now that he understood how good the ability was, something else occurred to An Jing. If the powerful Sage Mystic Mirror couldn’t even call himself a true ally of King Jing, who was the one he referred to? Why was he unable to help King Jing out in his time of trouble? Couldn’t Ming Guangchen have saved Xuan Mingjing when it happened instead of letting her flee on her own until he found her? It seemed that those secrets had to wait until Xuan Mingjing was willing to reveal them to him. Ming Guangchen probably couldn’t have predicted that Xuan Mingjing would already tell An Jing so many secrets just like that.

”Come, let’s go back to Keensight first.” The mirror clone patted An Jing on the shoulder and manifested a halo under his foot, carrying him into the air. While the members of the convoy panicked, they followed An Jing’s earlier instruction to turn back to Keensight. They would return at their own pace.

The wind howled loudly as they soared through the sky far above the mountains. ”To be honest, I really wanted to kill you at the start.”

An Jing could feel bone-chilling killing intent from the sage’s words. However, he never feared killing intent alone, let alone one directed at his past rather than current self. ”Wanting to do something and actually doing it are lifetimes apart. Sage, if you really wanted to kill me, you wouldn’t have bothered to go out of your way to get me a chance to observe the divine armament. I bet you’re actually quite fond of me. Not to mention, I already know why you felt that way. You were worried that I would get in Xuan Mingjing’s way or doubted me because I was part of the Heavenly Demon Cult. What I’m more curious about is what about me made you stay your hand.”

”Well aren’t you quite the calm smartass? You’re not panicking even at a time like this,” Ming Guangchen said with a less gentle tone now that Xuan Mingjing was no longer around. He sounded colder and calmer. ”Do you think I wanted to kill you because of Mingjing? You’re mistaken. I won’t kill you for her sake. By the same notion, I wouldn’t spare you in consideration of her feelings either. It seems that you don’t understand what the title of ’Divine General Carnage’ represents. Your birth bears the destiny of ruin. Your presence alone ensures that a ruinous disaster will unfold somewhere, somewhen. The effects can span as wide as a region or a continent. You are like a disaster sent by the heavens. This is the kind of chaos that your lifearc embodies. You are destined to cause countless chaotic upheavals that will result in bloody disasters in the human realm. That is the reason I wanted to kill you. The reason I didn’t was a personal one.”

The sage paused and chuckled. ”That’s because the circumstances of your birth are like mine. An Jing, you truly are quite strange. The moment I saw you, I felt like I was seeing another me. Just like me, you came from an evil cult and betrayed it. In your case, it was the Heavenly Demon Cult. As for me, I escaped from the True Fiend Cult’s gu fiendlands.[1]

”While you carry the divine arc of Pyrestar Warden and are burdened by celestial ruin, mine is the Unshining Sun and Moon lifearc. If I had to compare our lifearcs, mine’s slightly milder than yours in terms of lethal ruin. What’s even more amazing is how lucky I was to meet Mingjing’s father, King Jing, who helped me escape the shadows of my past and allowed me to cultivate at Voidsight Mountain. In your case, it seemed that you needed Mingjing’s help to walk upon a different path in life. How could I not recognize the parallels?”

1. The ”gu” 蛊 here refers to a kind of poison or poisonous insect, a typical trope in wuxia/xianxia. Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu_(poison) ☜