Chapter 34: Seven Fates

  The so-called Seven Fates are Evil (恶), Eerie (异), Mixed (杂), Fual (本), Strange (奇), Divine (神), aial (天).

  Celestial Fate and Divie could never exist unless ohe reination of an immortal or a deity, sheltered by the will of Heaven itself.

  Therefore, the most precious Heaven-Ordained Fate in this mortal world recisely the 【Strae】.

  Among these Straes, there were further distins such as “Heavenly Gang ahly Fiend, Mountain and Sea, Star and Heaven.”

  The fate Bai Qinghan had obtained was exactly the most revered among the numerous Star Fiend Straes: the 【Dark Yin Star Fate】!

  ——The Grand Rite had only just begun, and already a Dark Yin Star Fate appeared. Even if everyone else died afterward, it would still be worth it!

  Although these words stirred up a storm in the Medie Manor Lord’s heart, he did not speak them aloud.

  He knew very well that this bataterial” was of unimaginably high quality. Having produost precious 【Heavenly Star Fate】 did not mean there could not be a sed oer!

  One must know that the 【Imperial Heaven Star Fiend Grand Rite】 borrowed the power of extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons and the righteous gods of Imperial Heaven, causing the recipients of the rite to fall into a tribution of demonic disturbahen, relying on the divirength of Immortal Heavenly Gods to break through it, the chaotic, still-undefined Primordial Qi would ect to one’s fate. It was a secret ritual that sought the Dah demons, used death to give life, and preserved one’s spirit through camity.

  This Hanging Fate Valley recisely the pce where, during the camitous era of Huaixu, a Sword Immortal subdued demons and overcame evil—naturally infused with the i of both gods and demons, as well as star-fiend energy. It erfectly suited to enhahe power of the ritual!

  In su iwining of yin and yang, a cycle of life ah, the recipients of the rite had a certain ce of entering various states of Dao prehension. Should they ehey would awaken their Heaven-Ordained Fate!

  “Bai Qinghan…”

  Gng at the registry and firming the name of the individual who had just awakened a Heaven-Ordained Fate, the Medie Manor Lord nodded in satisfa. “As expected of that orphan fished out of Hanhai. Surviving the demonic catastrophe ten years ago until now truly proves she’s extraordinary.”

  “tinue!” At this moment, his spirits soared. He slit his hand with a jade dagger, scattering a spray of fresh blood. “Pay homage to Imperial Heaven, to illuminate Heaven’s Will!”

  All the other ritual offits also maintaihe ceremony. “Pay homage to Imperial Heaven, to illuminate Heaven’s Will!”

  Beh the white sandy ground, the radiance of the ritual array flickered. It was as though it formed mountain-sea cloud patterns traced in blue ink, and everyone’s vital energies were wholly iwined with the rite. Those who succeeded would help maintaiual, redug its overall ption.

  Those who failed and died—mere “expendables”—would have their blood, spirit, and everything else refi the end of the rite to bee potent Great Blood Pills, returo the offits who had presided over the ceremony, thereby increasing their cultivation aending their lifespans.

  This was also why they diligently and selflessly nurtured these youths. The successful ones and those lucky enough to survive would bee part of their ranks; the failures would likewise be absorbed as a “part” of them.

  ——Heaven’s Will is close to the Dao: it sacrifices all things, depleting what is in excess and replenishing what is g.

  Right now, the fresh blood they scattered was the “depletion offered as sacrifice.” The feedback after the ceremony would be the “replenishment granted by the sacrifice”!

  And so, the Grand Rite went on.

  At the same time…

  Withiual array, An Jing sank into his memories.

  He remembered his entire life.

  When An Jing was born, his father, An Father, was in the midst of his third imperial examination. On the day An Father finally gave up pletely after another failure and prepared to return home to i the family estate, the demonic catastrophe in Hanhai erupted, cutting off the Northern Direct Road.

  An Father journeyed back from the Divine Capital by a winding, grueling route. There was o dwell on the hardships. By the time he arrived, his son An Jing was already two, a bright and alert child. Seeing a tall, bearded stranger eheir home, the boy immediately called upon neighbors aives to tackle him to the ground.

  Ohe townspeople released this “talented schor of Gufeng ty,” whom they all thought had died in the demonic catastrophe, An Father—covered in dust—did not mind at all. Instead, he burst out ughing, sweeping up in one arm his wife, An Shen Shi, who was fiercely ping his waist, and iher the child he had left in the womb before departing, who had finally survived this disaster. He cried out that this child was indeed just like him.

  He was overthinking things, for An Jing was far smarter than he.

  The An of Gufeng ty had inally been a family of martial skill. Their aors had respoo the Great Founding Aor’s call to open new frontiers in the north and had gone as frontier warriors. They owned a hundred mu* of fertile nd, plus additional highnd fields and orchards, as well as urban properties. Otherwise, they could never have afforded An Father’s repeated attempts at the imperial exams.

  Having relinquished his literary pursuits to i the family estate, An Father grew busy but still spared time to read aexts. An Jing would sit by his side, wobbling his head in imitatioing along with his father.

  At first, An Father assumed his child was just making a show of it. But he soon discovered that An Jing not only seemed able to uand what he heard but could actually read it himself.

  Amazed, An Father casually pulled out a copy of the《Glorious Heavenly Annals》, ope, and poi the text. “ you read this?”

  An Jing gnced over the words, and tless pieces of information surfaced in his mind. It was as though he had read them before. Although some characters looked slightly different, he could still reize them. So he began to recite fluently:

  “When Heaven ah had yet to take shape—silent and expansive like wings spread in reverence,deep in unending brightness, shining through the void;he was called the Great Illumination.”

  He read more and more smoothly, until by the end he was swaying his head as he recited, pletely absorbed.

  An Father felt both eted and troubled—his child seemed to have been born knowing, like a star desded from heaven, far surpassing the father in intelligence.

  Great revered destiny, and stories of stars inating into mortal bodies were not unheard of. So the An did not suspeything amiss. Still, while An Father did have modest aplishments in literature, with a minor academic title, that hardly qualified him to teach su innately gifted “celestial star.” As for martial arts, though he himself had poor aptitude and had trained for some thirty years to only reach “Internal Breath Like Rivers” at the threshold of Internal Energy cultivation, the family possessed deeply profound martial cssics—rumored to ect straight to the 【Hundred Branches Martial Veins】. He could certainly y a strong foundation for the boy and ter send him to a martial academy.

  In the Great realm, both martial and legal disciplines were held as pilrs of the world, just as literary endeavors were. Uain about which path was best, An Father decided to wait until An Jing’s body matured before deg. Until then, he would give his son every possible advantage.

  Gufeng ty y ireme north of Great , on expansiolement uhe jurisdi of Xuanzhu State in the Northern Huan Region, and was now prosperous enough to be deemed a ty. Further north y the frontier, as well as Qingyu Pass, which guarded Great ’s northern border and the gates to the savage wilderness beyond.

  By then, the local savage beasts and demonic beasts around Gufeng ty had beeerminated nearly two turies prior by An Jing’s forefathers and the Frontier Martial Army. Hence, An Jing’s childhood passed iive peace.

  When An Jing turned six, border trade flourished. Serving as a midpoint along the trade route, Gufeng ty grew more prosperous. An Father joihe erd grew busier, so An Mother, An Shen Shi—herself the daughter of a martial family with equally limited aptitude—handled his early martial training. Yet for rudimentary instru, her abilities sufficed.

  The An of Gufeng steadily prospered, life grew ever better, and An Jing’s physical foundatiorong; he could also read the cssiside and out. The local schors all excimed that such a son of a provincial “litiate” would surely someday ehe Divine Capital’s highest exams, rise high on the golden honor roll, and then be granted a decree for loy—achieving the Immortal Path.

  As, good fortune did not st. When An Jing was nine, on a certain summer’s day, the border trade market tly shut down.

  No easy business could be done. With no other choice, An Father led a caravan toward Qingyu Pass.

  He had not been gone long when news arrived from the north: war had broken out.

  Thirteen Northern Barbarian Kings had assembled an army of three huhousand, raising their banners beh clouds as bck as ink and bearing down on the frontier.

  By imperial and, the Great ’s Northern Marshal led troops to repel them, hooves thundering against the sky ah. From Qingyu Pass to Bailu River, from Yungu ty to Mingshan City, nowhere in the 120 cities north of Xuanzhu Mountain was free of war.

  In uwo years, both sides had ground dowire northern pins to ruin and exhaustion. An Father vanished without a trace.

  Then came a on-a-millennium Frost Camity, pounding the woes of the already beleaguered northern popuce. Their misery was beyond words.

  In truth, the signs of this Frost Camity had been evident for some time.

  Setting aside the earlier Hanhai demonic disaster, folk in the savage nds beyond the northern borders had noticed winter growing colder every year, their harvests and herds ever diminishing. The prior trade boom had been their st stand. Having exhausted every reserve yet still uo survive, the various Northern Barbarian tribes had no choice but to unite as one, with reat avaible; they threw everything int south.

  The An deed the entire Gufeng ty—soon deed at breakneck speed.

  Wartime taxes grew oppressive. Army scriptions took everything. The Frost Camity crept south, freezing the crops.

  It never rained, only endless snow. Coupled with the Northern Barbarian invasion, everyone fell into despair.

  Before they fully ran out of rations, Gufeng ty had no choice but to abandon the ty and flee as refugees.

  Fleeing famine was brutal.

  The st grain was sooen. Uhe Frost Camity, even wild vegetables were o be found, f them to gnaw tree bark or break ice for roots. Even “Guanyin Cy” was too scarce to eat.

  Thee each other’s children, or boiled bones for fuel.

  ibalism.

  As cruel and direct as that. In times of catastrophic famine, people turned on each other for food.

  The An household, though not yet reduced to such, fared little better.

  After all, most of their wealth was in nd and livestock—assets that the army had requisitioned. Moreover, An Father had eagerly spent much of their fortune on colleg old books and martial texts.

  In peaceful times, that was how one elevated the family’s standing and nurtured its heritage. If they had enjoyed awenty or thirty years of normalcy, produg a martial master of Internal Fortification or an officially reized schor who received the imperial decree for loy, they would have bee a major the Northern Region.

  But with war and disaster erupting simultaneously, rank and property became mere illusions. The livestock went to the troops, the fields froze, the martial texts turned worthless, and farmnd carried no value whatsoever in those circumstances.

  Retives who could not bear to part with the aral nd—cultivated by blood, sweat, and lives across geions—chose to die at home.

  Others among the scattered in wave after wave: some robbed by horse bandits, some scripted by soldiers, until nearly none remained.

  Ultimately, by the time they reached the great northern river known as Huai River, the once-flourishing An had all but vanished.

  An Jing and his mother fought their way through tless dangers—whether from roving refugees, brigands, mounted bandits, or human traffickers—each they overcame. At st, at the cost of her sustaining grievous wounds, they reached the outskirts of Mingshan City, the nerve ter of the Northern Region.

  That was his life so far.

  A series of memories flowed through An Jing’s mind like flickering lights and shadows.

  In the haze, a profound darkness spread before his eyes.

  No light, no shadow, no star, y—nothing but emptiness, vast and silent, utterly muddled.

  In that total murkiness, a voice sounded:

  【What is your Heavenly Fate?】

  (End of Chapter)