Yinghuo Guarding the Heart? Or...

"Yinghuo Guarding the Heart... Yinghuo Guarding the Heart! Even among all the Fates of the Star Fiend, it could be called the most ominous and perilous!"

At the thought of this possibility, Manor Master Yao's heart skipped a beat.

This fate was so ominous that any person who encountered it would die, any army would be defeated, and any nation would fall. The moment it appeared, the realm would be overturned and the world plunged into turmoil!

An ominous fate, and an ominous bearer! Anyone who carried this fate, if they wanted to achieve greatness, would inevitably tread a path strewn with mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Truly, one general's success was built on the bones of ten thousand men!

It was only right, only right...

For him to become the Heavenly Sha Divine General who would lead their Tianyi Divine Sect in its future conquest of the world!

Meanwhile.

"Brothers and sisters, while we have this chance, I want to tell you the truth."

An Jing had fully awakened his Fate Grid and gained control of part of the Grand Ritual of Imperial Heaven Star Fiend from within. As the demonic qi was dispersed, he seized the instant when his soul connected with all the boys and girls in the Ritual Sacrifice to send them a message, along with a memory.

He held nothing back. "Xuanming Manor isn't some hidden legacy, as they claim."

"Their true identity is the Tianyi Demonic Sect."

"Our other junior brothers and sisters weren't sent away from the manor and forced to go down the mountain because they lacked talent. For various reasons, they became ingredients for the Demonic Cult's alchemy."

"They were eaten."

An Jing's thoughts swept through the entire formation, his voice echoing in the hearts of all sixty-six survivors.

But at first, not everyone could understand what An Jing had just said. They had only just escaped their Inner Demons and were still dazed and at a loss.

For a time, the entire Ritual Sacrifice rang with the clamor of boys and girls.

"I broke free of my Inner Demon? No... Wait, what happened?!"

"Haha... Hahahahaha! I survived! I did it! Mother! Father, did you see that?!"

"Sister Liu?! Don't die, don't die! Please... don't leave me behind..."

"I think... I had a dream. Did we pass the trial? No, what is this memory... This is, this is..."

After breaking free of their Inner Demons, everyone reacted differently.

Some were sharp enough that they might have escaped their Inner Demons even without An Jing's help, though they wouldn't have awakened their Fate Grids. They immediately noticed the bodies of the other children who had failed and died beside them, and were struck with shock.

Some had nearly been swallowed by their Inner Demons. Though An Jing had rescued them, they still trembled with lingering fear. Their emotions surged, and some were driven almost to madness.

Some realized at once that their friends and companions were dead. Overcome with grief, they wept in anguish, though they were only souls.

But soon, everyone heard An Jing's words and received the many memories he had sent them.

A dark, rainy night. Lightning tore through the silence.

They felt as if they had truly lived through everything An Jing had experienced: running through the downpour, searching the manor, their hearts filled with fear of the truth, with the weakness of begging Heaven and the Demonic Cult for mercy, and with the truth they already knew deep down. With courage close to despair, they had lifted the stone lid.

They all saw the bone drifting there.

They saw the person who had disappeared.

Then they saw the dungeon, and the slaughter within it: the hanging husks and corpses.

Silence.

Chihuang's radiance illuminated the sea of hearts. Through the altar, An Jing's Divine Soul connected with everyone.

At that moment, he could sense the emotions in everyone's hearts. Some surged like storm-tossed seas, some were engulfed in grief, some were as cold and lifeless as ice, and others were calmly silent, merely confused.

Then came one response after another.

"No, that's impossible..."

Some boys and girls who had believed Xuanming Manor was their second family could barely form their words. "They couldn't do this to us... The instructors and teachers treated us so well..."

"How could this be, A-Zhu..." Some had seen a familiar name in An Jing's memories, and their emotions instantly spiraled out of control. "It can't be! A-Zhu isn't dead. We'll meet again down the mountain! Senior Brother, are you lying to me?! You're lying, aren't you?!"

They were the ones who reacted. The Demonic Cult's influence had not yet seeped too deeply into their hearts. Faced with such a violent emotional shock, seeing some of their closest companions dead beside them and learning that the friends they thought had merely gone down the mountain had long since been turned into medicinal paste...

The shock had certainly shattered them, exposing their panic and helplessness. But it had also smashed the masks they had worn to hide their hearts all this time.

Yet others had already been twisted by the Demonic Cult into utter indifference.

No one's death stirred them. Though they had lost many companions, everyone had known what they were getting into, hadn't they? When they risked their lives, hadn't they considered this possibility?

They were the survivors, and those who had died—even those turned into medicinal paste—were the failures.

Why should the successful empathize with the failures?

But An Jing had expected this.

He had nearly been twisted by the Demonic Cult's methods himself. How could he blame these indifferent boys and girls? Besides, the Demonic Cult had indeed "bought their lives." Even he couldn't deny that.

Still, he would fight back. Like a rabbit caught in a trap or a crab bought at market, he would bite or pinch whoever had caught him.

So An Jing spoke bluntly.

"Open your eyes and look."

An Jing raised his sword and pointed at the junior brothers and sisters who had died after failing to awaken their Fate Grids. Thin strands of black-red qi seeped from their corpses. It was blood qi, the pure life essence of the boys and girls. It gathered in the air, then was collected by the enormous ritual formation, which was using it to condense something far away.

Drawing on the power within the altar, most likely originating from the Sword Spirit, An Jing activated the formation and guided the consciousness of every boy and girl along those strands of blood qi, tracing them back. In almost no time at all, their vision returned to Xuanming Manor and arrived at the fifth floor of the Medicine Pavilion, in Manor Master Yao's study.

They saw a dark-golden vessel.

Within it, the dark-red qi gathered and finally condensed into plump, rounded pills, glowing crimson and gleaming with pure, translucent clarity.

[Blood Pill Great Medicine]

Two alchemists had been left behind in the study to guard the vessel. Watching the pure blood qi condense into pills, they weren't excited or greedy. Instead, they seemed...

A little dissatisfied.

"Why are there so few?"

A younger alchemist frowned at the Blood Pills in the Life-Nurturing Vessel, looking somewhat displeased. "So many survived this trial?"

"The quality really is better than before." The older alchemist gazed toward Xuanming Valley, deep in thought. "Just now, I saw two beams of starlight rise from the earth and pierce the heavens. I fear two people awakened [Strange Fate]!"

"You're new to Xuanming Manor, so you don't know why the Grand Ritual of Imperial Heaven Star Fiend divides the one hundred and eight people into twelve groups. With too few people, one person's heart can't withstand the power of the divine sword and the Heavenly Demon. With too many, they interfere with one another and can't clearly distinguish the self."

"During the Ritual Sacrifice, every death in a group increases the others' chance of being invaded by demonic qi by one level, while also increasing their chance of comprehending their own Fate Grid by one level."

"But if someone in a group has an exceptionally strong mind, one of two things can happen."

"Either everyone's minds but his are seized by him, and they all die, becoming nourishment for his success."

The older alchemist smacked his lips, sounding a little regretful. "Or his heart is like a towering tree, shading the others, and they all survive together."

"Looks like the two masters with Strange Fate are the friendly sort this time... Though the people above will reward them handsomely, it'll all go to Manor Master, the Chief Instructor, and the other lords."

"For us, the Blood Pills we might get would be far more useful."

"Exactly." The younger alchemist committed the older man's words to memory, thoroughly agreeing. "Pruning the branches strengthens the trunk. We don't need so many ordinary people surviving. Twenty or so, forty at most, is enough."

"The rest are no use even if they survive. Forget the commoners without Fate Grids. Even ordinary Miscellaneous Fates—why should our manor go to all that trouble to raise them? In the end, they're neither here nor there, no better than us alchemists..."

There was some self-congratulation in their words, but they weren't wrong. A Fate Grid was necessary for a martial artist to achieve Internal Strengthening, but having one didn't mean a person was skilled at martial arts or capable of achieving Internal Strengthening.

Miscellaneous Fates in particular covered all kinds of things. Some were baffling Fate Grids like Laundry Immortal, Roast Meat Immortal, and Cooking Immortal, which enhanced one's ability to do laundry, roast meat, or cook. The latter two could at least make a person into a cook. But the first... were they really supposed to make someone do laundry?

The alchemists looked down on these Miscellaneous Fates. And the rewards from their superiors were vague and uncertain, while the Blood Pills were solid benefits they could hold in their hands.

The blood qi dissipated, and the vision ended.

The corpses of the boys and girls whose blood qi had been drained quickly began to decay, becoming dried-out husks of skin and bone. Before long, they would turn into pure white skeletons, just like those they had seen when they first arrived at the White Sand Plains.

An Jing looked at the silent souls of the boys and girls, who were suppressing their fear and anger as they realized they were nothing more than livestock raised for slaughter.

"From here on..."

He said, "I won't talk. I'll act."

"Afterward, you can return to Xuanming Manor if you wish, or follow me if you wish."

No one dared object to An Jing's declaration. They obeyed him instinctively.

Perhaps this was the bitter fruit Xuanming Manor had sown itself. An Jing had performed so brilliantly that nearly all the instructors and teachers had grown lazy. He had taken over too many of their lessons and training sessions, explaining, teaching, and supervising in their place.

He had crossed the mountains with them.

He had eaten and drunk with them.

He had trained and fought with them.

He had taught them martial arts, explained the classics, listened to their troubles, and comforted them.

By now, the authority and presence of An Jing, their Senior Brother, and his hold over the boys and girls had surpassed that of all their teachers and instructors.

"Wake up, then form ranks!"

When An Jing gave his order,

there was no need for a reason or an explanation.

Everyone instinctively obeyed his words.

In an instant, all the boys and girls awoke from their dream of Inner Demons. Some were dazed, some still reeling, and some didn't know what to do.

But they saw the figure standing before them, the first to rise and take up a weapon.

So they all stood.

So they all took up their swords and blades.