Destiny in Cinders

Their suspicions were correct, for Princess Mingjing had indeed been sent away with Ming Guangchen and An Jing’s help. Not to mention, she was in the possession of some incredibly important key and information.

While Shrouded Dust didn’t reveal any sign that he knew about it, he did feel rather unsettled throughout. Granted, it wasn’t to the point where he would let out any cold sweat, since Ming Guangchen hadn’t left any evidence behind.

Then again, since when did Grand Chen need any evidence before taking action? Not to mention, while Ming Guangchen’s void altar had collapsed, there were people who had witnessed the scene themselves. Though they could use the excuse of sending An Jing to the northern frontier to seek out his mother, it didn’t change the fact that this was done within Grand Chen’s borders. It was difficult to say how this would turn out if there were those who would pursue this matter to the end.

The Brightmirror Sect didn’t dare to stir the pot too much, knowing that they were somewhat in the wrong. Shrouded Dust only wanted things to be over with, given how fatigued he was by the proceedings. Then again, this wasn’t something they could just haphazardly rush through.

To avoid showing weakness to Grand Chen and the other four sects of Dustdawn or revealing their guilty conscience, Transcendent Rising Light took the initiative to break the silent stalemate that had settled on Whitemountain Pass. ”King Cheng, do forgive me for asking for your guidance on a matter or two.”

As the oldest among the three transcendents of the five Dustdawn Sects, Rising Light appeared incredibly slender in his flowing robes. His eyes were long and thin, complete with white, cloudy head and facial hair. The impression he gave off was no different from that of a kind old man.

But the moment he stood up at the negotiations table and got ready to engage in an age-old tradition to settle their differences, a ”dao dialogue,” everyone felt a fearsome pressure that was worthy of a peak Pure Yang cultivator nearing the end of his lifespan.

Not a trace of sun and moonlight from the sky of the northern frontier could be seen. Instead, there was only a massive mirror up above, congregating all the essence of solar illumination. The incredibly refined yang qi turned his white hair black, seemingly restoring his appearance to that of his prime.

”I would not dare refuse an invitation from an esteemed elder.” King Chen was rather surprised and had expected that the one to make the move would either be Transcendent Posterity Swamp of the Grandnight Sect or Transcendent Grand Martial of the Poolsea Sect. Rising Light was far too old and the Brightmirror Sect in recent times didn’t look like it deserved to be the leader of the five-sect alliance. Even so, he accepted the invitation all the same.

Curiously, when Transcendent Rising Light issued a challenge to King Cheng, Transcendent Grand Martial was the one who stood up to be the duel spotter whereas the Seated Mirage Sect kept their distance from the Poolsea Sect. It wasn’t surprising, considering that Sage Heart Beckon had perished, while Sage Turbid Wave’s life was spared. Even though Ming Guangchen only did so because he couldn’t be bothered to kill him, that nonchalant act of mercy was the first push that tipped the balance of the status quo slightly.

The Grandnight Sect’s transcendent, on the other hand, was indifferent to this matter. In fact, this middle-aged-looking man seemed all too happy to be sidelined and was more than willing to let Rising Light take the spotlight.

On that day, Rising Light of the Brightmirror Sect challenged the Northwestern Sentinel King of Grand Chen, King Cheng, to a duel of the dao. Countless people across the northern frontier looked at the sky where miraculous sights unraveled. Countless shooting stars fell for three days straight. Astral radiance rained down all over the place as if the milky river beyond the nine firmaments itself leaked into the realm of man.

The sheer scale of the duel caused the natural levels of spirit energy in the environment to rise by thirty percent. When their duel carried the both of them beyond the skies, they stopped fighting each other.

Transcendent Rising Light held his mirror like a hilt and used light as his blade to slay a feral beast from beyond the skies before returning with its corpse. The feral beast didn’t fear fiend qi in the slightest. In fact, it seemed much more aligned with chaos itself. It looked like a massive bull with four horns and a dense coat of fur, a sign of its extraterrestrial nature.

It was an incredibly powerful beast, comparable to peak-level cultivators of the Sanctification Realm or even ancient feral wraiths of the Pure Yang Realm. The mountain-like carcass of the beast was dropped near Whitemountain Pass. Then, a waterfall of blood rained down from the sky and stained the entire Whitemountain blood red. Only after that did everyone else see the massive celestial sword that had skewered the beast, which Transcendent Rising Light used to drag the carcass back.

Nobody knew what kind of interaction Transcendent Rising Light and King Cheng had beyond the skies. All they knew was that this magnificent beast had been made into a sacrifice to bind the agreement between the Dustdawn Sects and Grand Chen.

The Flowlight Sect never had issues with this arrangement while the Seated Mirage and Poolsea Sects were in too awkward of a position to comment on it. As for the Grandnight Sect, they gave their silent assent despite being able to veto the agreement, not wanting to stir up any more trouble. Just like that, the stiff tension between both sides got resolved. They agreed to no longer send martialists from either side to each other’s territories.

As for the war that was happening at the North Han Circuit, the transcendents and sentinel kings drew a large circle on a large atlas that encompassed the entirety of the North Han Circuit and some large pastures to the southeast of Dustdawn, stipulating that the conflict would only be allowed to take place there and not spread beyond those bounds. The side that emerged victorious would occupy the land for three centuries. If a land dispute persisted after that period, the losing side would be free to start another war for it.

This was not so different from how the expeditionary army of Grand Chen took that territory away from the five Dustdawn Sects all those years ago. In the previous conflict, Grand Chen won and was able to expand their borders. If they lost this time around, they would have to return what they took.

Even though Grand Chen was an empire, it still had to play by the rules of the martial world. That was the only way to maintain order in a world where powerful martial elites could single-handedly change the course of history. But with agreements such as this, nobody could complain about the natural course of things. They would return to their respective territories to observe how the karmic chain of events played out.

”That old thing really had quite a few moves left!” King Chen said on the trip back home through the void. The relatively young-looking man scratched his stinging chest and shook his head. ”At the end of the day, these people from the five Dustdawn Sects are all folks who escaped the fiendgod tribulation in the Hallowed Grand Court’s time with precious legacies. They have a decent foundation of power and skills as well as a deep understanding of dao to match. They’re far harder to deal with than the feys of Taiyuan or the true spirits of West Ocean. It was a tricky fight and I was really beyond my depth.”

”It’s rare to hear you praise others,” said the much older-looking King Su as he shook his head. ”How is it? Did you manage to tease it out of him? How far away is Rising Light from the threshold?”

King Cheng fell into deep thought. ”Hmm... It’s really hard to say with this fellow.”

Apart from investigating Xuan Mingjing’s whereabouts, King Cheng had also come to test out the power of the five Dustdawn Sects who had been relatively quiet as of late. Their initial target was Transcendent Posterity Swamp of the Grandnight Sect, the most likely one to reach the Soaring Realm. However, they didn’t expect Transcendent Rising Light to rise to the occasion. Though King Cheng had been disappointed at first since there wasn’t any point in fighting and learning about a transcendent that was near the end of his natural lifespan and wouldn’t stand much of a chance to reach the Soaring Realm, the duel did give him more to think about.

”Rising Light’s power is indeed just shy of the Soaring Realm. He’s definitely comparable to the Deific Fey of Taiyuan in power, so I won’t be able to defeat him. In fact, he held back slightly against me. Otherwise, the wound on my chest wouldn’t merely result in slight damage to my Grand Dao divine essence. He could’ve opened a hole in my body that would take a whole century to recover. It would’ve pierced through the sky of my internal formation world.”

King Cheng gave his evaluation in an objective manner. ”Then again... Though it looks as if he’s only a hair’s breadth away from reaching the Soaring Realm, there’s absolutely no chance of him doing so.”