Destiny in Cinders

Time passed rapidly in Riverside. Even with hundreds of martialists and over a thousand staff, the Bejeweled Traders Guild’s leader and core Fortification elites were defeated all at once. The surviving Aura martilists scattered like headless flies while a handful of them were captured by Xu Tai and Bai Qinghan to serve as evidence of the guild’s tyranny over the common people. The rest fled Riverside, spreading An Jing’s formidable reputation far and wide.

Most households in the city had a few days of supplies left. They patiently awaited the food distribution An Jing had promised and were eventually rewarded for it. Starting the very next day, they witnessed massive automata hauling heavy grain carts, distributing food from door to door. The grain was plentiful and of superior quality. Although some of it was sealed in a strange durable, translucent material, the packaging could easily be cut open with scissors. Better yet, being able to clearly see the grain gave everyone a peace of mind. No one knew the origin of these automata or this obviously imported grain. However, they had no desire to look into it too deeply because it was tied to a divine-arc bearer.

”As expected of a sage’s disciple!”

”Truly, divine-arc bearers are unfathomable...”

”With City Lord An here, Riverside will finally have peace!”

On the third day, an announcement echoed throughout the city. Speaking as the city lord, An Jing had every household send at least one representative to the city center for an announcement. Once the notice was given, the simple-minded debated who would go while the more cautious families began to dissect An Jing’s motives behind the city-wide gathering. Massing a large crowd in one place risked triggering a riot. It was a situation even the Bejeweled Traders Guild would have carefully avoided. Their speculation yielded no answers, yet An Jing’s request was really a command, one they had no choice but to obey.

The weather had cleared somewhat over the past few days. Even without divine armaments, the major terrestrial-vein formation was still capable of deflecting the wind and snow. With the city’s icy roads already cleared by the automata, the citizens began converging on the city center, each harboring their own hidden thoughts.

When the earliest arrivals reached the heart of the city, where the guild once stood, they froze in their tracks, staring blankly at the mountain towering right before their eyes. It was composed entirely of food, sacks of grain and crates of oil all piled to the sky.

The ruins of the guild had already been cleared away. In place of the former government office, nothing remained but a single pillar slowly burning with blood lethal qi, proof of An Jing’s oath. Behind the pillar, a small mountain of meticulously stacked rations stood five to six stories tall. It was so immense that it completely dominated their field of vision. Flanking the mountain of rations stood four automata painted with striking black-and-red warning signs. A small team of martialists from the Hanlang Wayguard Logistics was speaking, projecting their voices with their aura through a strange amplification device.

At first, no one could make out a single word they were saying. These people had been plagued by food shortages and pushed to the brink by the fear of starvation. And now, they were entirely transfixed by the mountain of food before them. For a fleeting second, someone instinctively reached out to pull a sack from the pile, but his hand was instantly smacked away by the person next to him. The man glared with anger, only to meet an even harsher look of warning that directed his attention toward the side of the mountain. Around eight battered figures hung in plain sight, two of whom were already dead.

”THIEVES WILL BE PUNISHED, SABOTEURS WILL BE EXECUTED.”

Those eight words were written in blood-red strokes across a massive wooden board. Each person, whether living or dead, had a heavy wooden sign slung around their neck, explicitly detailing the crimes they had committed.

”Fugitive Bejeweled martialist who attempted to burn the granary. Executed.”

”Fugitive Bejeweled martialist who attempted to poison the grain. Executed.”

”Grain thief who attempted to steal a thousand jin of premium grain. One hundred lashes and hung on display for three days.”

”Grain thief...”

No one dared to reach out. An enormous security automaton scanned the area with its single crimson eye. Its formation programs allowed it to instantly track the movement of anything larger than a cat. Drawn perhaps by the fragrance of the grain, a few people unconsciously crossed the cordon. The giant automaton unleashed a burst of agility and speed that defied its sheer size, its semi-mechanical limbs of iron and evergreen wood hoisting the men up and tossed them aside like ragdolls. As they went sprawling and groaning into the snow, the surrounding crowd watched the automaton with deeper awe.

Within Skysource, such a rudimentary bot would be considered a poorly made knockoff. It could only track moving targets, was essentially blind to stationary objects and incapable of seeing through invisibility techniques. But here in Riverside, the fact that this repurposed piece of junk could move at all made it a high-tech marvel.

It was at this moment that the crowd finally heard what the wayguards were shouting through their megaphones. ”For the duration of one month, supplies shall be allocated as needed! One box per household, to be collected every three days! Do not worry about running out of food! This mountain of food is enough to sustain the entire city until summer! Come forward to register. No registration, no food!”

On the other side of the mountain of rations, a group of martialists dressed in white set up eight counters to handle registrations. Once registered, citizens received a black-iron token that allowed them to collect a box of food every three days. Behind these martialists of unknown origin were eight large wooden signboards.

”An announcement to the people by An Jing, Interim City Lord of Riverside.”

”To each according to their own needs—none shall suffer from hunger.”

”Conserve food and do your part for Riverside.”

”Act with discipline. Uphold the laws and policies of our city.”

”Do not steal. Consider yourselves forewarned.”

”Zero tolerance for hoarding. Let’s stabilize prices in Riverside.”

”Illegal black-marketing will ruin your future.”

”Answer the call. Lend your strength to Riverside.”

It was obvious that these martialists weren’t used to both the booming positivity in the slogans and the mundane task of registering citizens. But since the command came directly from the goddess and divine general, even the martialists of the Heavenly Demon Cult were forced to play the part of hardworking public servants. Furthermore, they couldn’t help but admire the young divine general who had come up with these incredibly catchy slogans. He was so young; how on earth did he think of something like this? Perhaps this was what they called true cultural depth.

An Jing never made an appearance from beginning to end, but that didn’t matter in the slightest. As the city lord, he didn’t need to, and shouldn’t involve himself in the day-to-day operations. A rare appearance to make his presence known was more than enough. In Void Embrace, a city lord’s duty was to provide military protection. His real job was to cultivate his own strength.

Moreover, an operation of this scale and order, the sudden appearance of these martialists and automata, as well as the vast supply of grain proved one thing. And that was that this divine-arc bearer was far more than just a formidable fighter. He was entirely capable of taking over a major city at any moment, maintaining public order, and enforcing the law. He wielded both the sword and rule, the mark of a true ruler!

They hadn’t seen An Jing, and that was exactly the point. The fact that order could be maintained without him ever having to show his face gave the people of Riverside an unprecedented sense of security. The underlying fear and panic sown by the actions of the Bejeweled Traders Guild was gradually smoothed over by the steady hand of order.

”Not bad. No chaos. Looks like I won’t be needed after all.” Amidst the overhead clouds, An Jing looked down at the mountain of rations and orderly registration lines from his hoverbike with a slight nod of approval. ”I must thank Bejeweled. If not for them, they wouldn’t be half as cooperative.”

Although An Jing never planned to show himself, he was still prepared to step in and stabilize the situation during the first city-wide announcement. But as it turned out, there was no need for that. Grand Chen’s citizens were accustomed to compromise. Because the Bejeweled Traders Guild had set the bar catastrophically low, An Jing’s automata as well as the prisoners and corpses on display suddenly seemed welcoming.