Destiny in Cinders

Chapter 37: Warden? Or Something Else?

”Pyrestar Warden... Pyrestar Warden! There are no starruin arcs more fierce or lethal than this!” The manor lord’s heart skipped a beat at the thought of such a possibility.

This arc was so calamitous that it spelled death for any individual who encountered it, obliteration for armies, and annihilation for entire nations. Its arrival marked the end of an era and the birth of chaos.

The arc was lethal, and its bearer more ruthless still. For such an individual to achieve success, his path would inevitably cut through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. It was a glory built upon the bones of many.

It was fitting, and truly so...

It was only right that he should become Divine General Carnage, leading the Heavenly Divine Cult in conquest of the world!

After fully awakening his lifearc, An Jing seized the opportunity when the fiend qi had been dispersed. With partial control of the Imperial Sky Starslaying Grand Ritual and his connection to the others, he sent a single message, a memory, to every disciple present. ”My fellow disciples, there’s something you need to know. Direlife Manor isn’t an ancient, hidden sect that they claim to be. They’ve been the Heavenly Demon Cult all along! Our eliminated brothers and sisters weren’t sent away for lacking talent. They were turned into ingredients for a medicinal brew to be consumed!”

An Jing’s consciousness swept across the formation as his voice echoed in the minds of all sixty-six survivors. But not everyone could process his words right away. Many were still dazed and disoriented from the battle with their inner demons.

In an instant, the space echoed with the voices of the boys and girls.

”I’m free from my inner demons? No... wait, what happened?”

”Hahahaha! I survived! I did it! Mama, Papa, are you watching?”

”Big Sister Liu?! Don’t die, just hang on! Please... please don’t leave me...”

”I... I think I was dreaming. Did we do it? Did we succeed? Wait... what’s this? These memories... That’s—”

After breaking free from their inner demons, they all reacted differently. The more resilient ones might have snapped out of it on their own, but without An Jing’s intervention, they never would have awakened their lifearcs. They immediately noticed the lifeless bodies of the children who had failed beside them and were shaken to the core.

Some had been on the brink of being swallowed by their inner demons. Even after An Jing pulled them back, the shock was still too much for them to process. Flooded with emotions, they were close to losing their grip. However, others noticed the loss of their companions right away and were so consumed by sorrow their souls were crying out.

Soon, they heard An Jing’s voice and were hit by a flood of memories. One rainy night, lightning flickered across the obsidian sky. An Jing’s journey became theirs. They sprinted through the downpour and scoured the manor. Their hearts cried out for mercy from the heavens and even the demonic cult, but their minds knew better. With a courage born of pure desperation, they forced themselves to lift the stone cover.

Then the floating bone came into view, followed by the tragic fate of the missing children. They witnessed the dungeon’s interior, the site of the horrific butchery where bodies hung.

Silence.

A crimson light illuminated An Jing’s heart as the altars tethered his soul to the others. He could feel the pulse of every heart. Some were turbulent, raging like storms, while others were heavy with unbearable grief. Some were as cold and rigid as ice, while others remained eerily calm, simmering with unspoken doubt.

Then came their response.

”No, it can’t be...”

Some of the boys and girls who had been so sure Direlife Manor was their savior muttered incoherently, ”They wouldn’t do this to us... The instructors and lecturers... they’re so good to us...”

”No way... Ah Zhu...” Some even recognized the names in An Jing’s memories and broke down instantly. ”No, that’s impossible! Ah Zhu isn’t dead! We’re meeting at the foot of the mountain! Senior Brother, you’re lying... You’re making this up, aren’t you?”

The ones who reacted hadn’t been fully indoctrinated by the cult just yet. The shock shattered them. Their friends died next to them, while those who supposedly went down the mountain had been reduced to a medicinal sludge.

But it didn’t just break them. It stripped away the masks they had worn to conceal their true emotions, revealing their frantic, unraveled state.

Some didn’t even care. They had already been corrupted by the cult. The deaths of their companions meant nothing to them. Although many of them had died, wasn’t everyone already mentally prepared for this? Didn’t they know the stakes when they were sold?

They were the winners. The dead, even those turned into medicinal sludge, were simply the losers. Why should the successful pity the failures?

However, An Jing had anticipated this. His own humanity had nearly been stripped away by the cult, so how could he blame these children for their coldness? He couldn’t deny that the cult had bought and paid for them, but he would resist. Like a trapped rabbit or a crab bought from the market, he would keep biting and snapping.

So An Jing cut straight to the point. ”Open your eyes and take a good look.”

He pointed his sword at the bodies of their peers who had failed to survive the ritual. Crimson wisps of vigor bled from their corpses and drifted upwards like smoke before it was drawn in by the formation, appearing as if it was about to solidify into something in the distance.

Drawing from the altar’s power, which seemed to originate from the sword soul, An Jing activated the formation. He guided the consciousness of the boys and girls toward the streams of vigor. Almost immediately, their vision snapped back to Direlife Manor, soaring up to the fifth floor of the apothecary, straight into the manor lord’s study.

They saw a dark gold dish. The crimson wisps coalesced within the dish and eventually condensed into smooth, round pills. These pills were perfectly transparent and flawless inside and out, radiating a red glow.

”Blood brew pills.”

As the two apothecaries who stayed to guard the dish watched pure vigor solidify into pills, their faces showed neither greed nor excitement, only a trace of dissatisfaction.

”That’s all?” The younger apothecary eyed the pills in the Vitalboon Dish with a disapproving frown.

”Are there really so many survivors this time?”

”This batch is definitely better than the last.” Gazing thoughtfully toward Direlife Canyon, the older apothecary said, ”I just saw two pillars of starlight bridging heaven and earth. It looks like two people have awakened miracle arcs! You haven’t been at Direlife Manor long enough to know why we split the 108 children into groups of twelve for the Imperial Sky Starslaying Grand Ritual.

”Too few, and no individual can endure the power of the divine sword and heavenly fiend. Too many, and the resulting interference will prevent them from grasping their lifearcs. With every death, the risk of being consumed by fiend qi increases, but so does the chance for survivors to awaken their lifearcs.

”Should an individual of any group possess an exceptionally strong will, two scenarios may arise. In the first, that individual’s will completely overwhelms the others. Their lives are consumed as fuel, paving the way for his own breakthrough.”

The older apothecary clicked his tongue, sounding almost disappointed as he added, ”In the second scenario, one person becomes a towering tree, providing cover for the others so they might survive together. Looks like our two miracle arc bearers this time around are the compassionate sort. Even if there are plenty of rewards coming down from the top, they’ll all just end up with the manor lord and the head instructor anyway. For people like us, we’d honestly be better off with some blood brew.”

”Yes.” The younger apothecary resonated with the older apothecary’s words. ”To strengthen the trunk, the weak branches must be pruned. There’s no need for so many ordinary disciples. Twenty to forty is enough. The rest are worthless anyway. Forget about those without lifearcs. Is it really worth all this effort to nurture the ones with mixed arcs? They’ll only end up in an awkward position, worse off than even us apothecaries...”

Self-flattery aside, the truth was irrefutable. Although possessing a lifearc was necessary to reach the Fortification Realm, merely having a lifearc was no guarantee that one would be suited for the martial path or capable of attaining great heights.

The mixed arcs, in particular, included absurd arcs like the Laundering Immortal, Grilling Immortal, and Culinary Immortal. The latter two gave boosts to roasting food and cooking, skills that could at least land them a job as a chef. But what about the former? Were they actually going to stick the bearer with a pile of dirty laundry?

The apothecaries looked down on these mixed arcs, and the rewards meant nothing to them. They preferred the blood brew. It was a tangible benefit they could hold firmly in their hands.

When the vigor was drained, the vision concluded. The young corpses decomposed rapidly into gaunt husks of skin and bone. Soon nothing would remain but the bare bones they had seen when they first stepped onto the white sands.

An Jing looked at the silent figures, all of them choking back anger and fear at the realization that they were being treated like common livestock.

“From now on,” he declared, “I’m done talking. It’s time for action. Those who want to stay at Direlife Manor can go back, and those who want to join me will come with me.”

An Jing spoke with such authority that no one dared challenge him. They instinctively obeyed.

Perhaps it was a bitter consequence of their own making. An Jing’s brilliance had allowed the instructors at Direlife Manor to grow complacent. He had taken over most of the lessons and training sessions, so it was he who taught and supervised the children.

He trekked across mountains, ate, drank, trained, and sparred right alongside them. He taught them martial techniques, explained the classics, listened to their problems, and comforted them. By this time, An Jing’s authority and charisma had given him a level of control over the others that far exceeded any lecturer or instructor.

”Wake up and take your positions!” An Jing’s orders required no justification or explanation. The moment he spoke, they obeyed.

In an instant, the boys and girls all surface from their inner world, dazed, bewildered, and lost. But when they saw him stand first, a solitary figure gripping his sword, the rest rose and took up their own weapons.