Destiny in Cinders

An Jing went straight to the point, cutting off any avenues for You Ruhui to deflect. However, she never intended to avoid answering the question in the first place.

”I don’t know the details myself,” she said, head lowered as she looked at the print of her palm. Her life line appeared extended and gave off a soft glow. ”But still, I’m not a spoiled princess who’s completely ignorant of what’s happening around me. So, I’ll make some educated guesses. It should have something to do with the imperial throne.”

”Alright, that’s enough,” An Jing said, raising his hand to cut her short. ”That’s all I need to hear.”

It was quite the coincidence that the birth year of An Jing happened to be the year when the Heavenblessed Emperor Xuan Guangshao passed away abruptly at the prime of his health. Compounding the misfortune was the fact that he had been too young and confident about his future prospects that he hadn’t even bothered to appoint a successor this early into his life and reign.

Succession of the imperial throne worked differently in the Grand Chen Empire. Every emperor lived and ruled for more than a thousand years. While most of their descendants that weren’t destined to rule were able to reach the Void Divine Treasures Realm, becoming sages that could live half a century, it still required luck and effort. Even then, the emperor would outlive most of his descendants in the first place. While imperial descendants did stand a better chance to reach the Sanctification Realm compared to the commonfolk, it was far from guaranteed. In other words, the first, second or third generation of an emperor’s direct descendants more often than not wouldn’t live to see the emperor die and pass on the throne.

While this would not be a problem in theory if the emperor kept producing heirs, the number of heirs of one who took up the imperial destiny was limited. Additionally, there could only be a set number of descendants that could truly bear imperial blood. As such, successors of an emperor would be typically selected from among the Eight Sentinel Kings instead, King Jing having been one of them.

Based on what they currently knew, King Jing’s faction failed during the power struggle in the imperial court and ended up purged. The one who ended up taking the throne was King Fu, the youngest of the Eight Sentinel Kings at the time. However, there could be other explanations for King Jing’s demise. From what An Jing could recall, he just so happened to rule over the Hanhai Region and the Baiyuan Region. Could the Hanhai Fiend Calamity have resulted from King Jing’s mistakes? Or was it due to someone else’s scheme?

The reason An Jing had so many guesses were the countless accounts of this event commonly spread among the populace. The authorities didn’t really care about such rumors as long as they didn’t directly slander those within the imperial court. In fact, they were more than happy if those stories bolstered the imperial court’s fearsome reputation among their subjects.

Based on the insights from his previous life, An Jing figured that You Ruhui was being pursued because of some precious treasure she carried, or maybe they just wanted to silence her to prevent the secret from getting out. If it was the former, the treasure was probably so precious that the deaths of millions of people paled in comparison to it.

An Jing got himself together and said, ”No matter what the truth is, it doesn’t change the fact that we have to leave Keensight.”

”Yeah.” You Ruhui turned to the dead Blackguard soldier with a complex look. ”If even they made it all the way here, that means that my whereabouts are completely exposed. I really can’t stay in this city anymore.”

”We have to leave Grand Chen and head to Dustdawn.” An Jing had already opened the window and was about to enter to greet Madam Huai before their departure. But he turned around to You Ruhui and said, ”From what I can see, it’s suicidal for you to go to Dustdawn. At least you’ll be able to hide with your ability in Grand Chen. It won’t work once you reach Dustdawn and they’ll catch up to you in no time at all. I can’t imagine that you’re this foolish, so I think you’re actually waiting for someone in Keensight. Someone strong enough that can watch over you.”

You Ruhui fell silent for a moment. ”Indeed, I—”

Right as she was about to confess, pillars of gray smoke suddenly rose from seven terrestrial-vein nodes in the city. The smoke carried hints of rot and corruption, clearly a sign of fiend qi. Their expressions shifted all of a sudden.

Damn it! I almost overlooked how shameless Grand Chen is. They’re colluding with the heavenly fiends to this extent! An Jing immediately figured it out. If the dead Blackguard soldier’s seals circulated with fiend qi, the same applied to the others that gathered at the other nodes! This temporarily sealed off the terrestrial veins of Keensight and greatly diminished the power You Ruhui could draw from them, leaving her exposed! Since there was no pillar of smoke rising from the eighth terrestrial-vein node at Huai Teahouse, it was plain for all to see where the troublemakers were! No doubt, the Blackguard would soon swarm the location.

”Quickly! We have to leave the city!” An Jing jumped straight into action. But what if... The notion of taking Madam Huai and You Ruhui to Skysource surfaced in his mind. Madam Huai was someone who had helped him quite a lot and exposed the presence of the True Fiend Cult. He also did owe You Ruhui some favors. An Jing wouldn’t allow himself to do nothing and let them perish.

However, he was also certain that he wouldn’t be able to go on the run with You Ruhui and Madam Huai. They were being targeted by the imperial court, after all! This was a matter that concerned imperial blood, and it wasn’t the kind of enemy An Jing could afford to go up against at this point in time.

Even taking that into consideration, the optimal solution to both those issues was still to take them both to Skysource. Not only would Grand Chen lose track of You Ruhui, An Jing would also be able to avoid drawing Grand Chen’s ire and pursuit. Coupled with the many secrets of the empire that You Ruhui knew, some of them no doubt being arcana of the imperial clan, An Jing believed that he stood to gain quite a bit from helping her. In fact, if she could help him appraise terrestrial veins in Skysource, it would be a huge boon to him.

”Okay!” You Ruhui didn’t hesitate in the slightest, fully understanding her current predicament. Trying to stubbornly hide in Keensight when the Blackguard already ascertained her presence there could force them to level the entire city in desperation. She already felt grave regret for the people who died along the way during her escape. If the whole city ended up destroyed because of her, she would really struggle to find a reason to keep living.

”I see... So you are...” Madam Huai muttered with a blank look as An Jing immediately carried her on his back and asked You Ruhui to cast Hidden Earth on them.

”Huh?” Right then, An Jing detected a familiar medicinal scent from Madam Huai. He turned around and wondered, What in the world is this smell? It’s so familiar... Wait, it smells just like... the manor lord?!

Before he comprehended what this meant, a bright golden light rose from the corners of Keensight and hung above in the sky, forming a massive eight-cornered, stone-framed, jade-backed mirror high above. It looked as if a sun had been installed right above the city, instantly suppressing the fiend qi all over the place! This was an ability called ”Hexsun Blacklight Eight Sights Palace!”