Destiny in Cinders

An Jing’s train of thought was incredibly clear. He had used up the power that his master had lent him and was still recovering from earlier injuries. Only a fool would enter into what amounted to a staring competition against another adept in that state! If Bo Zongshan didn’t chase him down, he would just find a place to cultivate and recover. If Bo Zongshan persisted, he would simply slip into Skysource and recover there.

However, something unexpected happened. Less than a few seconds after he turned tail to run, he suddenly heard Bo Zongshan cry out in pain. An Jing was tempted to think that the adept had decided to play dirty, ignoring his pride by making an odd sound to draw his attention and slow him down, but he could tell how genuinely agonized Bo Zongshan sounded. The shriek came from the depths of his soul, and this was from a man who didn’t so much as grunt after taking two explosions and a flying sword to the face.

What in the world could’ve made him squeal? An Jing took a deep breath and turned to look behind him, only for his eyes to widen in shock: The ghostly figure that had scattered from the unleashed ability token reappeared without warning behind Bo Zongshan’s head. Then, he stretched out his ghostly tendrils and plunged them into all of the man’s facial orifices!

”Guu... aaaahhh!”

”Phew... Ahh... I thought that An Jing from back then would be a wonderful enough feast, but I didn’t expect to run into another delectable one...” The ghostly figure was easily able to subdue Bo Zongshan, who had taken too many powerful hits to resist. The man’s head slumped weakly for a moment. When he looked up again, unquenchable greed and bloodlust flashed across his eyes. ”You are powerful indeed, Jing Xuan, both your lifearc and your capabilities... I will never let you slip away from me!”

”Lord Inspector of the West!” An Jing wasn’t blind. Ming Guangchen had shown him the inspector’s appearance and told him about his abilities. The ghostly figure had either been a manifestation of the inspector’s own ability or something he achieved by working with some other party. It didn’t matter, for that alone wouldn’t be able to stop An Jing from escaping!

He didn’t give it another look and immediately ran toward the city outskirts. He frequently changed directions and used the buildings as cover. However, he could hear a terrifying screech behind him, which was followed by the smell of blood. Lots of blood spilled and turned into birds that tracked him down from above.

This was the miracle arc Blood for Blood. The Lord Inspector of the West just knew the location and other information about anyone who had harmed him within a specific timeframe and distance. If the inspector managed to kill the marked person, he would be able to absorb their lifearc power! It was through this lifearc that he managed to track down Ming Guangchen once he emerged from the void.

An Jing didn’t turn back. He didn’t seem to care that he was marked and continued to run frantically.

”Run... Run all you want.” The Lord Inspector of the West let out a sinister laugh. He had intentionally charged into the ability that An Jing unleashed from the token to take the blow and mark him with his lifearc. The fact that Bo Zongshan had used his own ability token and hit the ghostly figure was a welcome surprise. This also gave the inspector the opening to rob the body of the martialist who harmed him and use his body as material for his own blood-lethal-qi corpus.

He Wuchang stretched out both hands as he felt his newly formed body comfortably. Bloody lethal qi poured out gradually from the orifices on his face and all his pores to form a brand-new face, replacing that of the dead martialist. He then stepped forward as Bo Zongshan’s withered skin fell away, eyes flashing red and baring his grotesque, bestial teeth.

The blood-colored birds flew down and gathered around him. Upon closer inspection, those birds had humanoid faces, all of which belonged to the martialists An Jing had killed at Blessed Virtue Garden earlier.

”Blood Phoenix of the Western Abyss, Nineheaded Ghost Carrier, Xishan Inspector...” He Wuchang looked in the direction An Jing fled in with a trace of self-satisfaction. ”Not bad. I only came here on a whim, yet it seems that fate has other plans and brought me such nice ingredients. I thought that you were nothing but a sacrificial lamb of the Brightmirror Sect from how unimpressive that Mirror Me looked, but it turns out that you’re truly Ming Guangchen’s disciple. You have your own path and life to live out. Seems like I wouldn’t need that young divine general, An Jing, to reach the Sanctification Realm any longer!”

Well... either way, you got the right person, An Jing thought. The Lord Inspector of the West had discerning taste. Even though he hadn’t figured out the truth, he did sense that there was something out of the ordinary about ”Jing Xuan.” The inspector’s only mistake, however, was that this wasn’t the fortuitous encounter that would send him to the Sanctification Realm. Instead, it would send him to the next life!

At that moment, the sound of the bell reverberated across Keensight. He Wuchang and An Jing both turned to look at the administrative offices. The divine armament had sensed the activation of sage abilities within the city and gradually awakened, causing the mirage of a dark-gold bell to rise from the terrestrial veins. The ground itself began to pulse as the divine armament’s power spread across the city. An Jing and He Wuchang felt it sweep across them, but they were completely ignored.

What followed were a few agonized cries and bloody explosions of flesh across the city. Clearly, some other party had tried to sneak into the city during the chaos and was up to no good, only to end up as corpses once the divine armament’s power wiped them. It was likely that only a sage from a proper sect like Ming Guangchen would be able to suppress a divine armament that was fully tapped into the city’s terrestrial veins.

”What? Why didn’t it work?” This had been the reason An Jing ran off to buy time. The power of adepts alone wasn’t enough to awaken a dormant divine armament. But using the ability token of a sage would cause it to activate no matter what to suppress unruly actors within the city. He would’ve been spared as he had a proper defense talisman issued by the city. Not to mention, he was a known quantity as far as the divine armament was concerned. But why was He Wuchang ignored too?

”Hehehe, you tried to use the divine armament’s power against me, huh? Very smart!” He Wuchang laughed nonchalantly at the commendable attempt. ”Think, boy. Who do you think I’m working with?”

An Jing’s expression shifted when he realized what the answer was. Fuck, Grand Chen! This dogshit, rotting empire should just go to hell! You worked with the fiend cult and risked your own subjects’ lives, and yet again you’re forcing me to go on the run! Agitated though he was, An Jing couldn’t honestly say that he was caught completely by surprise. He just didn’t think that He Wuchang would be given complete free reign to act in Keensight.

”Yvelbane! I don’t have any more tricks up my sleeves. Even the Olden Heavenly Father himself would praise me if he sees how well I’ve been holding up against three adepts. Do you have any tricks that I can use against the Lord Inspector of the West?” An Jing asked as he continued to brainstorm.

”To think that the celestial arc’s trials would be so difficult...” Yvelbane seemed just as surprised with how dire the situation got. ”The strongest human tribulation I’m aware of would only have one go up against a single pursuer, at most a realm stronger. Yet, the celestial arc sent three times that number to you!”

Three times doesn’t even begin to describe it. The Lord Inspector of the West is a sage! He’s two realms stronger! At the very least, he isn’t at his full strength after my master beat him up! ”Aaggh... Let’s not waste any more words. I almost overcame the tribulation even with the triple difficulty. Aren’t you an immortal sword? Give me some pointers! How can someone of the Qi Refinement Realm escape from a Purple Mansion cultivator that’s possessing the body of a Foundation cultivator?!”

”You’ve already done your part perfectly. If I were in your shoes, I probably wouldn’t achieve even close to what you have,” Yvelbane said honestly. ”I’ve never had such a close call like yours, especially when you managed to kill the martialist from the Seated Mirage Sect using the insight you gained into Heavenly Fiend Dissolution on your own. The people I know of who are more talented than you number only a very few.”

”So that was Heavenly Fiend Dissolution?” An Jing was shocked that this was a thing. He had merely used some martial theories that he learned in his previous life to gather all the energies he had, both internal and external, into a concentrated point before unleashing all of it in an instant. When he thought about it, Heavenly Fiend Dissolution was probably developed by someone who was in just as desperate of a situation.

”That’s right. Your mastery of it was pretty high too. As for the Lord Inspector of the West, I do have a way to deal with him...”

An Jing could hear that Yvelbane was speaking more as the immortal that wielded the sword even if it wasn’t too sure about that itself. Immortal Yvelbane was far easier to talk to and came across as much more reliable while Sword Soul Yvelbane had more of a mischievous streak. ”The Keensight Bell already acknowledges you because you helped it with its recent breakthrough. You should use this opportunity and seek it out. Try to interface with it and see if you can borrow some of its power to protect yourself.”