They Were Hungry

"Uh... it was my fault." An Jing suddenly didn't know what to say. He could only apologize, and got a soft "Mm" in reply from Bai Qinghan.

Indeed, Bai Qinghan wasn't stupid. On the contrary, she was incredibly clever, and could even be called the most talented among the one hundred and eight, aside from An Jing. Why would she reveal these secrets?

If she hadn't been speaking to An Jing, who knew the Demonic Cult's true nature as well, she wouldn't have said a word.

The reason Bai Qinghan had thanked An Jing earlier was that she'd sensed from his movements and state of mind that he was completely at ease.

He was confident he could subdue me without hurting me.

You can fight without killing.

After An Jing had planted three solid punches and knocked her down, Bai Qinghan had instead felt a lightness unlike anything she'd ever experienced. The reason she'd instinctively struck with such force before was that she'd been afraid.

She'd been afraid that if she didn't kill the others, they would kill her.

That thought had made her tremble all over, and left her completely unable to control herself.

But after being defeated by An Jing, a peer her own age, she'd finally woken from that dream of killing or being killed. She could face everyone she sparred with in a normal state of mind.

After that, Bai Qinghan often came looking for An Jing to talk.

Most of the time, she asked him about martial arts techniques and how to hold back and conserve strength.

She was intensely curious about this kind of "nonlethal" martial arts. It was like someone who'd eaten rice all their life suddenly taking a bite of dumpling and developing an interest in this different staple food.

Since only An Jing could keep Bai Qinghan in check, and nobody else wanted to spar with her, the others weren't particularly curious about their conversations or their sudden sparring matches. They just marveled that An Jing truly lived up to the title of "Senior Brother"—he really was capable and responsible.

Except for Gu Yeqi.

"Be careful, Brother An! Who knows what that girl is plotting!"

She was quite wary of Bai Qinghan, always thinking that the dangerous, wicked girl meant to do An Jing harm. In truth, this was what most people thought of Bai Qinghan. They always assumed she kept pestering An Jing because she was waiting for a chance to avenge her defeat.

They were seriously overthinking it.

An Jing wasn't going to lose!

And so, whenever she had time, Bai Qinghan came to chat with An Jing and the others. She even joined them for training. Though they weren't in the same group, they often acted together.

Eventually, even Gu Yeqi accepted Bai Qinghan joining them.

She still often complained that this "gloomy," "taciturn," "porcelain-doll-like," and "two-faced" girl definitely had some ulterior motive. But ever since Bai Qinghan let Gu Yeqi borrow her long, black, straight hair to "play" at braiding it, the two of them had gotten along much better.

The rare, peaceful days passed in a flash.

All this time, An Jing kept trying to make his way to Xuanming Valley and search for the Sword Spirit's second fragment.

Unfortunately, for some reason, security at Xuanming Manor had grown much tighter recently. Wandering around inside the manor was one thing, but leaving was absolutely impossible.

An Jing and the Sword Spirit guessed that something might be happening in Da Chen beyond the manor. Supplies to Xuanming Manor had dwindled a lot lately, and An Jing's meals had gotten smaller too. It wasn't that they wouldn't give him more; there simply wasn't any.

Perhaps that was an opportunity as well, so An Jing continued to train.

He had to be ready, build up his strength, and prepare to unleash it at the most critical moment.

An Jing knew very well that he couldn't save every disciple who called him "Senior Brother."

Many of them had already gone down the demonic path, with evil spirits inside them. The madness in their eyes was plain to see.

If he'd encountered them before meeting the Sword Spirit, he probably could only have looked after himself. Now, with the Sword Spirit, he might be able to save Cang Linzu and Gu Yeqi, or perhaps even more people.

But with dozens of instructors and lecturers at the Internal Breath stage, and Vice Envoy Yao at the Internal Strengthening stage, he couldn't save everyone. It wasn't a matter of how much strength he had. It was a matter of whether a miracle could happen.

But... An Jing would do everything he could.

He would do everything he could to save anyone he was able to.

If he could save one, he would save one.

The final days came quickly.

One day.

Bai Qinghan once again came to see An Jing, who was practicing a combined attack with the other members of his group.

"Hey, Qinghan, can't you see we're practicing? Are you trying to spy on our tactics?"

Gu Yeqi was a little displeased and stepped in front of An Jing. This was what most of the boys and girls thought. Xuanming Manor had taught them battle formations and combined attacks, so they would surely test their results. Each team was pushing itself to train harder for the "competition" that might come later.

The instructors knew the children were getting ahead of themselves. But if they could get them to train hard on their own without needing to be urged, why bother telling them the truth?

So, with the instructors' tacit approval, rivalry between the twelve groups had already begun to take shape.

Bai Qinghan was the leader of Zuozi, the third group. Unlike in a fight, she was a leader who put her teammates at ease. After all, who wouldn't want a captain who dared to charge into danger?

Gu Yeqi knew that, which was why she was a little annoyed and stopped Bai Qinghan. Playing together outside training was one thing, but the leader of Group Three kept coming over during practice. She really was trying to spy on Group One's tactics!

"I'm just looking for Senior Brother."

Bai Qinghan merely shook her head slightly at Gu Yeqi, then walked past the braid-haired girl, who looked utterly confused. She calmly addressed An Jing, whose expression had turned grave. "They're hungry."

"Senior Brother, they're all hungry."

"Now?"

Unlike the members of Group One, who looked completely confused, An Jing heard her words and furrowed his brow solemnly. Then he nodded to Bai Qinghan. "I understand."

After Bai Qinghan left, An Jing cautiously turned to look at the pavilion beside the training grounds.

"Keep practicing!" He let out a long breath, then called out gravely and gestured for the others to follow his lead. "Don't slack off. Focus!"

Medicine Pavilion.

"The quality of this batch... is far better than the last."

From the top floor of the Medicine Pavilion, Vice Envoy Yao and Instructor Li looked down at the nearby training grounds.

The grounds looked perfectly ordinary, just a layer of packed earth. In fact, they had been carefully built in five layers: earth, crushed stone, earth, sand, and another layer of earth, all packed down. This was called Five-Fold Earth.

A surface like this was durable and sturdy, and made it less likely for beginners to injure themselves when they fell. The Tianyi Sect had put a great deal of effort into carving out a manor deep in the mountains and building such a training ground.

Watching dozens of people in padded armor shout and spar, even Vice Envoy Yao, whose face usually looked lifeless, couldn't help but smile. "I wonder how many 'brethren' these materials will produce."

Behind him stood the one-eyed Instructor Li, surveying the grounds. He spoke with certainty. "With all one hundred and eight of the Tiangang and Disha gathered, covering the Twelve Earthly Branches and Nine Luminaries, this is far better than previous attempts that only had Tiangang, Disha, or the Sixty Cycle. And they're all survivors of the disaster, not the low-grade stock bought from those gangs."

"Forget the Miscellaneous Fates and Strange Fates. This time, we'll produce at least one true 'Star Fate' or 'Sha Fate.'"

"And on top of that, there are the five formal disciples who had already awakened their 'Fate Grid' when we found them... Heh, the Northern Patrol Envoy will surely be delighted!"