Seven Fates

The Seven Fates were Evil, Strange, Miscellaneous, Original, Extraordinary, Divine, and Heavenly.

Heavenly Fate and Divine Fate could never be possessed unless one was the reincarnation of an Immortal or God, or enjoyed the Heavenly Will's protection.

Thus, the most precious Fate Grid in the mortal world was the [Strange Fate].

Among Strange Fates, there were also distinctions: "Tiangang and Disha, mountains and seas, stars and heavens."

The Fate Grid Bai Qinghan had obtained was none other than the most exalted of the many Star Fiend Strange Fates, the [Mysterious Yin Star Fate]!

—The moment the ritual began, someone already had the Mysterious Yin Star Fate. Even if everyone who came after her died, it would still be worth it!

Though these words surged through Manor Master Yao's heart, he did not say them aloud.

He knew all too well that this batch of materials was of astonishing quality. The appearance of the most precious [Heavenly Star Fate] now did not mean there wouldn't be a second one later!

One had to understand: the [Grand Ritual of Imperial Heaven Star Fiend] borrowed the power of the extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons and the Orthodox Gods of Huangtian, plunging those undergoing the ritual into the calamity of demonic persecution. Then it used the power of the Orthodox Gods of Immortal Heaven to break through that calamity, linking their Destiny to the chaotic, still-unformed Xuanyuan Qi. It was a secret ritual of seeking the Dao through demons, gambling life for Fate, and preserving the spirit through tribulation.

This Xuanming Valley was where a Sword Immortal had subdued demons and suppressed evil during the Huaixu Calamity. It naturally held the intent of Gods and Devils, stars and fiends, making it the ideal place to enhance the power of the Ritual Sacrifice!

With Yin and Yang interwoven and life and death revolving, those undergoing the ritual had a chance of entering different states of enlightenment. If they could overcome the ordeal, they might awaken their Fate Grid!

"Bai Qinghan..."

After glancing at the register to confirm the name of the one whose Fate Grid had awakened, Manor Master Yao nodded with satisfaction. "No wonder she was an orphan dredged up from Hanhai. To have survived the Devil Calamity ten years ago and lived to this day—she truly is extraordinary."

"Continue!" His spirits soared. He cut his hand with the Jade Dagger once more, scattering a spray of blood. "Honor Huangtian, and make the Heavenly Will known!"

The other ritualists also maintained the Ritual Sacrifice. "Honor Huangtian, and make the Heavenly Will known!"

Light from the grand array flickered beneath the entire White Sand Plains, like mountains, seas, and clouds outlined in strokes of azure ink. Everyone's qi was completely linked to the ritual. Those who succeeded would help maintain it and lessen the cost.

The souls, blood, and qi of the failed "consumables" who died—all that they were—would become Blood Pill Great Medicine after the ritual and be returned to the ones presiding over it. It could increase their cultivation and extend their lifespans.

That was why they diligently trained these boys and girls without holding anything back. Those who succeeded, along with the lucky ones who survived by chance, would become one of them, while the failures would become part of them.

—The Heavenly Will was close to the Dao. It offered all things as sacrifice, taking from what was abundant to replenish what was lacking.

The blood they were spilling now was the "taking" of the sacrifice; the rewards after the ritual would be its "replenishment"!

And so the grand ritual continued.

Meanwhile,

within the Ritual Sacrifice array, An Jing sank into memories.

He remembered his life.

When An Jing was born, Father An was sitting for his third imperial examination. The day he failed once more, finally gave up, and prepared to return to his hometown to inherit the family business, the Hanhai Demonic Calamity happened to cut off the Northern Straight Road.

Father An had made a long and arduous journey back from Shenjing. The hardships of the trip aside, his son An Jing was already two years old. Quick-witted and sharp, the boy saw a tall, bearded man he didn't recognize appear at home and immediately called out to the neighbors to pin him to the ground.

Once the villagers let go of the Gufeng County prodigy they had thought dead in the calamity, Father An—dust-covered and bedraggled—didn't take offense. Instead, he burst out laughing. With one arm, he held his wife, An Shen Shi, who was digging her fingers hard into his waist; with the other, he held the son she had conceived before he departed, but whom the disaster had kept him from meeting until now. He cried out that the boy took after him.

He had thought too highly of himself. An Jing was far cleverer than he was.

The An Family of Gufeng County had once been a martial household. Their ancestors had answered the founding ancestor of Da Chen's call to expand the realm, serving as pioneering warriors who opened up the northern frontier. The family owned a hundred mu of good farmland, with dry fields turned into orchards, as well as property in the city. Otherwise, they could never have afforded Father An's repeated attempts at the imperial examinations.

Though Father An had abandoned the civil path for martial arts and returned to inherit the family business, he remained busy. Still, he made time to read ancient books, and An Jing would sit beside him, nodding and swaying as he recited along with his father.

At first, they thought the child was simply joining in for fun. But Father An soon realized that An Jing seemed to understand what he was reading. In fact, the boy didn't merely understand—he could read it, too.

Amazed, Father An casually pulled out a copy of Honglie Astronomy, opened it, and pointed to the page. "Can you read this?"

An Jing swept his eyes over the text, and all manner of information surfaced in his mind. It seemed he had read these words before. Some of the characters looked a little different, but he could recognize them all, so he recited the passage as written: "Before Heaven and Earth had taken shape, all was surging and swirling, dark and obscure; thus it was called the Great Beginning..."

The more he read, the more fluent he became. By the end, An Jing was even swaying his head as he recited.

Father An was overcome with the happy frustration of a man whose child seemed to be a Heavenly Star reborn, born knowing everything—and far cleverer than his own father.

Da Chen believed in Heavenly Fate, and tales of stars descending into the mortal world were common. The An clan did not find anything suspicious about it. Father An himself had achieved some modest success in letters and earned a degree, but his abilities were only so-so. He was hardly fit to teach a Heavenly Star with Past Life Wisdom.

As for martial arts, Father An lacked talent. After twenty or thirty years of cultivation, he had only just glimpsed the basics and was still at the Internal Breath Like a River stage. But the family's collection of Martial Classics was profound; it was said to lead directly to the [Martial Meridian]. He could lay a solid foundation for the child, then send An Jing to study at a Martial Academy.

Da Chen had established itself through martial strength and maintained itself through law. Both the civil and martial paths were righteous ways in this world. Unable to decide, Father An planned to wait until An Jing had grown before choosing.

Before then, he would give An Jing every possible foundation.

Gufeng County lay in the far north of Da Chen. It had once been a frontier settlement under Xuanque Prefecture in Hanbei Province, but it had since grown prosperous enough to become a county. Farther north lay the borderlands, along with Qingyu Pass, which guarded Da Chen's northern frontier against the wilderness.

The demons and savage beasts around Gufeng County had been completely wiped out by their ancestors and the conscripted Martial Army two centuries earlier, so An Jing's childhood was relatively peaceful.

When An Jing was six, border trade flourished, and Gufeng County grew ever more prosperous as a stop along the trade route. Father An joined in and became busier, so An Jing was placed in Mother An's care.

Mother An was a daughter of a martial family, too. Though she lacked talent, she was more than capable of teaching the basics.

The An Family of Gufeng County gradually prospered, and their days grew brighter. An Jing built a solid physical foundation and learned to read the classics fluently. Every teacher in the area marveled, saying that he truly was the son of a successful candidate in the imperial examinations. In the future, he was sure to reach Shenjing, place high in the examinations, and then receive Register Conferment and attain immortality.

But good times never lasted. One summer, when An Jing was nine, the border-trade markets suddenly shut down.

With the easy business gone, Father An had no choice but to lead a caravan to Qingyu Pass.

But before he had been gone long, word came from the north that war had broken out.

The Thirteen Kings of Northern Barbarians gathered an army of three hundred thousand and invaded, unfurling their banners as black clouds seemed to press down upon the frontier.

By imperial decree, the Great General Who Pacifies the North led the army in a punitive campaign. The thunder of their hooves shook heaven and earth.

From Qingyu Pass to the Bailu River, from Yungu County to Mingshan City, every place among the 120 cities north of Xuanque Mountain became a battlefield.

In less than two years, both sides had ravaged the entire Northern Plains, leaving it desolate and exhausted. Father An had also vanished without a trace.

As if that weren't enough, the once-in-a-thousand-years Frost Calamity struck. The people of the Northern Frontier, already barely holding on, were plunged into unbearable hardship.

In truth, the Frost Calamity had shown signs long before.

Even setting aside the Hanhai Demonic Calamity, the tribes beyond the Northern Frontier had already noticed that every winter was colder than the last. Their harvests and herds were growing fewer and smaller.

The trade that came before had been their last desperate struggle. With their savings exhausted and survival still out of reach, the Northern Barbarian tribes had no choice but to unite. They had nowhere left to retreat, and would throw everything they had into a southward invasion.

The An Family, and indeed all of Gufeng County, quickly fell into decline.

The cause was wartime taxes, the army's requisitions, and the Frost Calamity sweeping south and freezing the crops to death.

A long drought, then an avalanche of snow from the heavens... With the Northern Barbarians invading on top of that, everyone was plunged into despair.

Before their stored grain ran out, the whole county had no choice but to flee.

Fleeing famine was hard.

Their food stores were soon gone. Under the Frost Calamity, there were no wild vegetables, either. They could only gnaw at tree bark and break the ice to dig up roots. Even Guanyin Soil was hard to find.

And then... came the swapping of children for food and the splitting of bones to fuel the cooking fire.

Cannibalism.

It was that simple, that brutal. In those days, "the harvest failed, and people ate one another."

The An Family had accumulated quite a bit over the years, so they had not fallen quite that low. But they hadn't fared much better.

After all, most of their wealth was tied up in land and livestock. Father An had also been passionate about buying ancient books and texts, which had cost the family a fortune.

In the past, this had indeed been a way to raise the family's standing and nourish its future. If they had enjoyed another twenty or thirty years of peace, they might have produced an Internal Strengthening martial master or a civil official granted Register Conferment, enough to make them a prominent family in the Northern Frontier.

But when war and disaster came together, family wealth and status were nothing but dust. Their livestock was taken by the army, their crops died in the drought, their books and Martial Classics were no better than wastepaper, and land was worthless in such times.

The elders of the family couldn't bear to abandon the fields and holdings their ancestors had carved out with their blood, sweat, and lives. They chose to die in their homeland.

The clansmen who remained were scattered in one raid after another by horse bandits and one conscription after another by the soldiers.

Finally, by the time they reached the Huai River, the great river of the Northern Frontier, the An Family of old had been scattered to the winds.

An Jing and his mother fought their way through wave after wave of encirclement. They broke through the ranks of refugees, robbers, horse bandits, and traffickers alike. After a long and grueling journey, they finally reached the outskirts of Mingshan City, the hub of the Northern Frontier—with his mother gravely wounded.

That was the life he had lived before.

A string of memories drifted through An Jing's mind like scenes in a lantern.

In a haze, he saw a darkness so complete it swallowed everything before him.

Neither light nor shadow, neither stars nor gods—only emptiness and desolation, a swirling chaos.

Absolute darkness flowed before his eyes.

Then it spoke.

[What is your Heavenly Fate?]