Destiny in Cinders

As the cascading ripples of the snow calamity hit the northern frontier, the sky above Huang Prefecture turned completely blotted out, filled to the brim with gray-white snow clouds. It looked as if the boundary between heaven and earth was being eroded, causing them to blend together. There was nothing but darkness under the thick layers of clouds. No matter how brightly the sun blazed, none of its light was let through.

Rising into the air were seven streams of fiend qi, yet, amidst peak darkness, a reflected ray of sunlight scattered the gathering fiend qi. A waterfall of light poured out of the eight-cornered stone-back mirror that high up in the sky. The sunlight that the mirror let out was the real deal. As Keensight basked within it, the temperature within rose to spring levels. Snow started to melt and the frosty breeze stopped blowing.

At the same time the waterfall of light graced the land, eight different massive mountains manifested around Keensight. Though ethereal, they exerted a powerful pressure on all things fiend related. As a result, the fiend qi that had caused the terrestrial veins to act rather erratically was wiped out in its entirety. The city itself seemed to have transformed into a tranquil ashram with six suns.

”Is he really here in the city?!” An Jing noticed the signs and put up his guard. ”Also, this doesn’t just seem like any normal ability!”

This was Hexsun Mystic Mirror, the sage himself. An Jing recalled that he fought the Lord Inspector of the North of the cult during the incident at Direlife Manor and even held the upper hand. They even worked together to push back against the power of the heavenly fiends, wielding so much might that they almost collapsed the center of Direlife Canyon completely, changing the landscape.

This time was different, however. An Jing had seen a few elites of the Void Divine Treasures or Purple Mansion Realms take action. The two sages of Skysource even seemed to muster the power of heavenly phenomena. Even then, they didn’t seem as terrifying as Sage Mystic Mirror, who was so mighty that he was able to transform the entire area into his own ashram domain! No doubt, he was holding back when he fought at Direlife Canyon.

Meanwhile, combat was taking place in the distance. Across the river at Keensight’s border, black streams of fiend qi began to pour out of the territories of many Dustdawner tribes. They were black as ink and dripped from the sky, quickly spreading like miasma across the land, which then turned into shades of heavenly fiends that ravaged the tribespeople. Cries of pain and sorrow could be heard everywhere.

Those heavenly fiend shades were demonoids, tribespeople who had been corrupted by heavenly fiends. They came about as a result of powerful martialists of tribe leaders holding fiendish sacrificial rituals in exchange for wealth and lifespan. That was why the tribes had agreed to not interfere in Keensight’s matters while the True Fiend Cult went about their business. In a way, they were enabling the cult!

The tribes couldn’t go up against Grand Chen directly, after all, so they chose subtler forms of cooperation, such as keeping a lookout for You Ruhui. Had she foolishly left Keensight for Dustdawn, she would’ve been discovered and captured by the allies of the True Fiend Cult.

With the sacrificial ritual in Keensight ruined and the True Fiend Cult failing to nab its target, all those plans had fallen apart, causing the fiend shades in hiding to manifest and swarm toward Keensight. Since you didn’t like the easy way, we’ll do it the hard way. Sage Mystic Mirror won’t be able to kill us all before he exhausts all his spirit power!

The dark hand of a greater heavenly fiend could be seen among the fiend shades, looking like absolute trouble. Even sages of the Void Divine Treasures Realm would have a hard time going up against them alone.

All of a sudden, a beam of light shone in the sky east of Keensight. Then, a large cut appeared in the fiendish black clouds above. A deep and dark power, deeper and quieter than the night itself, spread out among the fiendishly black clouds. Following that, brilliant-white arcs of lightning spread across the entire sky in the form of a blooming flower.

Profound lightning mixed with a dark-gold blaze that burned brightly among the dark clouds. This was another sage, one from the imperial court of Grand Chen!

”Overseer Cao!” You Ruhui saw the profound lightning in the sky and subconsciously lowered her head, feeling the urge to run away with her stealth ability. However, she forced down her fear and turned to An Jing. ”This overseer of the court has been on my tail. He’s almost here! He must’ve detected me!”

”Don’t worry. Worrying is pointless,” An Jing said as he watched the sages fight in the sky. He was no longer worried about small matters like the girl’s pursuers. If Overseer Cao really knew You Ruhui’s whereabouts, he would’ve just come to fetch her and ignored the heavenly fiends. Instead, the overseer joined Sage Mystic Mirror in banishing the heavenly fiends. Perhaps he only had a rough location but couldn’t pinpoint the girl exactly.

Taking all that into account, An Jing fashioned a plan. ”This could be an opportunity.”

The cloud of heavenly fiends up in the sky hadn’t expected to be assaulted by two sages at the same time. They didn’t even know where they were attacking from. Yet, profound lightning from far in the distance locked onto them with surgical precision and relentlessness, filled with a deep, arcane intent.

Sage Mystic Mirror, who had been clearing up the fiend qi above Keensight, changed his focus, causing purifying light to rain down endlessly on the cloud of heavenly fiends. The pincer attack of the two sages cost the cloud army half its number.

Noticing that they were ambushed, the fiend shades tried to turn around to escape. Clearly, the overseer of Grand Chen and Sage Mystic Mirror had discovered them much earlier and were waiting for a chance to ambush them to wipe out the unstable element from the situation in one fell swoop.

Eventually, the fiend stragglers were absolutely eradicated and turned into dust and smoke that got blown away by the frosty breeze of the snow calamity. Nothing but bubbling mystical qi remained in their wake. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

Following that, a lightning bolt arced across the sky in an unpredictable trajectory, demonstrating immense power that completely transformed the skyscape. A middle-aged officer covered in a black feathered cloak came close to Keensight and began to collect half of the mystical qi, with Sage Mystic Mirror collecting the other half.

”Let’s go,” An Jing said after witnessing the eradication of the second wave of heavenly fiends. The chaos in Keensight would soon come to an end. ”Ruhui, use your ability on yourself. Don’t worry about me and the madam.”

The plan changed yet again. Fortunately, he was prepared for it.