Destiny in Cinders

”Hmm, I don’t think there’s a need to rush,” An Jing calmly said with a furrowed brow. ”Riverside is sealed off because of the beast tide. In theory, they need volunteers like you to deliver all kinds of supplies. However, I believe that the attack on your convoy by the fiendspawns wasn’t a coincidence.”

An Jing knocked on the table and asked, ”Wayguard Xu, are you sure that the things you’re transporting only include rations and medication? Nothing else?”

”I—” Xu Tai was about to say he was certain as he had personally inspected every parcel of rations to check whether any of it was missing or mixed with stones and sand. Yet, the fact that An Jing questioned it brought doubts to his mind. ”Don’t tell me that I really ended up bringing something we didn’t account for without anyone noticing...”

Had that not been the case, why would the fiendspawns attack them?

”It isn’t hard to check if this is the case,” An Jing said as he finished his warm water, put the cup down and stood up. ”Come with me to the spot where you’re attacked. The fiendspawns are all dead, and they had been chasing you before I killed them, so I doubt that they damaged your cargo. If the fiendspawns were being commanded by people who want your cargo, then what’s left must have been looked through or ransacked. This way, we can be sure that somebody out there orchestrated this attack. But if this was really just a coincidence, we’ll come back and get the others to come with us and continue to transport the supplies to Riverside. This would only be a minor setback to your mission.”

”That can’t be...” Xu Tai shook his head even harder and said in a serious tone, ”If someone really sicced those fiendspawns on us, they must either be from the True Fiend Cult or some madman who’s been secretly researching fiendish techniques! Going back might get us ambushed!”

”I know,” An Jing said, unfazed. ”In fact, I’m worried they wouldn’t even try to make a move. It’s not like I’m going there without a plan. I’m no fool.”

He took out the drone from his void artifact. Since Yvelbane already said that the appearance of those particular fiendspawns was highly abnormal, it wasn’t likely to be a natural occurrence. It was either the True Fiend Cult, or...

An Jing narrowed his eyes as he recalled the Blackguard, who had cooperated with heavenly fiends, as well as what his master had said about the ambiguous relationship the Grandnight Sect had with heavenly fiends. There were quite a number of rotten factions in Void Embrace that worked with heavenly fiends.

An automata technique. The young hero already has a plan all along. I was being far too cautious. Xu Tai wasn’t the least bit surprised at the sight of An Jing taking something out of the void. He was a divine-arc bearer apprenticed to a sage, after all, so a void artifact was only expected. He did, however, find the metallic contraption rather peculiar. ”This artifact looks rather exquisite. The Brightmirror Sect’s technical prowess is truly impressive.”

”Indeed.” Since he could fall back on Ming Guangchen and the Brightmirror Sect, An Jing no longer had to hold back on using the many things in his arsenal. He calibrated the drone for a bit before letting it fly off.

Stonegate wasn’t that far from where Xu Tai and the rest had suffered the attack. Not too long ago, An Jing had purchased a drone unit from a company called North Firmament. It was a high-speed lightweight reconnaissance drone with infrared scanning capabilities that allowed it to see through rudimentary optical cloaking. The drone took point while An Jing and Xu Tai followed behind.

After some time, An Jing smiled. ”Aha! Bingo.”

Through the drone’s feed, he saw that the carriages carrying Xu Tai’s cargo were completely ransacked. All of the rations and medication had been taken. There was also a tall pile of snow with a vantage point that allowed one to see Stonegate. Martialists clad in white were spotted hiding within that pile, presence withdrawn. Even the vital signs and the heat they gave off had been dampened to the level of a little animal’s. Martialists who hadn’t reached the Clearing Realm would struggle to detect them.

Alas, the technology An Jing had access to allowed him to spot them. Even if their bodily temperatures had been lowered beyond that of snow, the drone would still be able to spot the contours of their bodies that inevitably kept giving off heat.

”Somebody’s there,” An Jing said as he took off the drone goggles. Xu Tai watched in surprise as the youth openly stepped ahead with his massive blade drawn.

”Boss! Somebody did come back to check on the wreckage!” whispered one of the white-clad martialists. ”He doesn’t look like one of the wayguards. That young man is openly approaching us!”

”Alone?” The slender martialist raised a brow in surprise. ”A young man, at that?”

”Indeed.”

”Looks like Mister Good as Gold is less shiny than his reputation let on. I didn’t think he’d trick a young kid to come to check on the situation alone.”

”Do we kill him?” ℯℯ𝑙.

”Yeah,” said the slender martialist mercilessly. ”I was gonna wait to see if they had any more hidden tricks, but they don’t. Once we kill the kid, we’ll wipe out the rest of the wayguards. We can’t let these people—”

”Boss!” cried the scout all of a sudden, much to the slender martialist’s shock. The leader glared at him right as the scout said, ”That kid’s running straight at us! He’s way too fast!”

”What?!” The slender martialists snapped upward, breaking their cover without concern as he looked ahead. He saw a blade-wielding figure running rapidly across the snowfield, accelerating more and more to the point that the slender martialist struggled to keep track of him!

”Loose the arrows!” It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the youth was far more powerful than they had imagined. Given the unyielding trajectory of the kid, the slender martialist knew that he was definitely the target! However, he didn’t show any hint of fear. ”Kill him!”

The martialist drew his own blade and led his men in a charge toward An Jing, figuring that a youth with that level of power was probably a wandering disciple of some sect. While he was no doubt powerful enough to be able to fight multiple opponents at once, there was no way he would be able to keep up against veterans like them who had truly tasted blood in many deathly situations!

At that moment, a burly man in gray burst out like a storm, following the youth closely. He charged like a tiger leaping down its mountain, galloped like a horse and agilely avoided the rain of arrows. Xu Tai’s mouth was agape when he saw An Jing’s charge, but he had no choice but to keep up. He kept a close guard on An Jing’s flank.

Noticing this, the slender martialist said, ”Ah, so that kid was counting on Good as Gold’s presence! How laughable!”

The edge of the blade he wielded glowed an eerie dark blue as he ran, giving off a distinct, pungent smell of spice. The slender martialist’s cultivation technique of frost and yin toxins happened to be the perfect counter to Xu Tai’s fire and wood cultivation technique. The blade techniques he wielded were also among the more treasured teachings of his cult. With a swing of his blade, he could easily cut a massive, hulking boulder in half and freeze them up with frost and toxins!

He’s a good man indeed, An Jing thought when he sensed Xu Tai make a move. He didn’t need any help in this fight, but when he gave it more thought, he probably wouldn’t be able to keep any of his enemies alive if he went all out. If he held back, on the other hand, he would struggle to assess the true extent of his current capabilities. Since Xu Tai decided to fight, he would be able to take on a few of those mysterious martialists, allowing An Jing to fully focus on his own foes and go all out.

Let’s go. I’ll use Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal’s ability and Temporal Grasp to speed up. When An Jing was less than a hundred chi away from the slender martialist, he raised his blade and suddenly vanished.

The next thing that entered the slender martialist’s senses was an explosive clang, followed by a flash of silver in his vision. The blade attack that had been charging up with frost and toxins was neutralized just like that. The blade itself exploded into shards that proceeded to embed themselves in his body. Behind him, An Jing had sheathed his blade, his entire body giving off white steam.

”How did you—?!” Still confused as to what happened, the slender martialist’s rage surged. Right as he was about to turn around, he felt his entire body spin in the air; no, the world itself had flipped and the ground rapidly closed in on him. Then, he collapsed.

A bloody line had been traced across his upper abdomen, out of which blood and grime spurted, generating enough thrust to propel the severed upper abdomen backward until it fell to the ground. Though he had wanted to say something, his lungs had catastrophically collapsed from the clean cut through them. There was no longer any air that his vocal cords could muster, resulting in a strained, raspy attempt at speech.

The other two martialists beside who joined the charge didn’t even manage to cry out in pain as blood seeped out of the fine line on their necks before ultimately spurting out. A few others couldn’t even react in time and were still charging toward Xu Tai. Even after their upper bodies or heads toppled to the ground, their lower bodies still comically continued to run ahead a dozen steps before tripping over. The five martialists that Xu Tai was busy holding back also froze with blank expressions as they witnessed the flabbergasting sight. Then, they began to howl in abject terror.

”Aaaaaagh!” Those that were still alive quickly scattered in all directions.

”Capture them for me,” An Jing said, turning around calmly to the stunned Xu Tai. ”I’m not that good at keeping foes alive. I have a few questions for them, so I need some of them to still be capable of speech.”