Xuanming Valley ran straight and deep, cutting across thousands of mountains and peaks. The waterways of every surrounding mountain flowed into it, forming a great river that surged without end.
Along both banks, water overflowed through the cracks between the raised stone shoals. Blue-black water plants spread across the rocks, waiting for the rainy season to come.
Following the Sword Spirit's guidance, An Jing ventured deeper into Xuanming Valley.
The fog grew thicker.
Dark vapor hung in the valley, forming a faint veil over the surface of the gravel and rock walls. The river rushed out of the deep darkness, concealing the sound of footsteps.
Legend had it that during an ancient calamity, a Sword Immortal had slain demons here. The long passage of time had worn away the Sword Qi and demonic energy that once stretched across heaven and earth, hiding them within the mountains, rivers, and Earth Veins.
"Just up ahead."
The Sword Spirit's voice rang out in An Jing's mind. The protagonist of the legend was now with him, and a force enveloped An Jing, effortlessly sweeping away all the dark demonic energy. At most, he could feel wisps of chill.
"Fuxie, where are my junior brothers and sisters now? Are they all right?"
"Right around the altar, in one of the Hundred Sword-Sacrifice Caves from back then. They're doing just fine," the Sword Spirit replied, and An Jing felt a little more at ease.
Bai Qinghan had left with a quarter of all the survivors and almost every Fate Grid Awakened. It had shaken him deeply, but it wasn't impossible to understand.
Da Chen's inaction in the Northern Frontier had truly been... truly inhuman.
But he also knew very well that no matter how terrifying and vile a decaying dynasty might be, it was still a little more reasonable than a Demonic Cult that ate people alive.
...Maybe? Damn it, why were they all so rotten?! How could two heaps of mud and shit compete over which one was filthier?
Truthfully, An Jing didn't want to choose either side, but things had come to this. All he could do was take things as they came.
At least before the Frost Calamity, people in the Northern Frontier hadn't lived in hardship. If anything, their lives had been orderly, and they'd occasionally heard news of the sage ruler governing with diligence... He had no idea what had happened. Da Chen had once been at the height of its prosperity, flourishing with vitality, but had suddenly become so rotten.
An Jing wasn't trying to blame the junior brothers and sisters who had chosen the Demonic Cult, either. Ordinary Children of Calamity would probably meet a grim end there, but Bai Qinghan and the other Fate Grid Awakened were different. They would surely rise to the middle or upper ranks of its leadership.
With status like that, they'd fare far better than wandering from place to place in Da Chen. Choosing the Demonic Cult was only human.
He just hoped Bai Qinghan hadn't done anything to Gu Yeqi, Cang Linzu, or the others before leaving.
Fortunately, she hadn't.
"Brother Jing!"
When An Jing followed the Sword Spirit's guidance to a cave entrance hidden beneath a massive boulder deep in the valley, he saw a graceful figure pacing outside, anxiously watching the entrance to Xuanming Valley.
The moment Gu Yeqi saw An Jing, her eyes lit up. She hurried over, relief washing over her. "You're finally back... Huh, didn't Qinghan and the others come back with you, big brother?"
She had no idea when Bai Qinghan and the others had left. She'd thought they had stayed behind at the outskirts to meet An Jing.
"...They chose the other side."
An Jing spoke as he watched the girl still looking behind him, waiting for the sight of her "best friend." He hesitated, but in the end, he told her the truth. "I killed Manor Master Yao, but Qinghan still chose the Demonic Cult... She and the others left with the remaining instructors."
"What?" Gu Yeqi's eyes widened in disbelief. "You killed the Manor Master?"
At the sound of her voice, Cang Linzu and the other Children of Calamity, who had come out of the cave after hearing An Jing's footsteps, were equally dumbfounded. "Senior Brother, you killed the Manor Master?!"
"Your strength... is it really that incredible?!"
"That's not the point, is it?" An Jing was speechless. He hadn't expected them to care not at all about Bai Qinghan and the others leaving, and instead marvel at his strength.
But then again, it made sense. The Children of Calamity's values had all been twisted. Bai Qinghan left, so what? Hadn't they all seen friends eliminated midway through training? And now that they knew the truth, some had even died along the way.
They'd long grown used to loss, so it was only natural that they valued strength more.
"Maybe it's a good thing, at least Qinghan awakened her Fate Grid..."
Aside from Gu Yeqi, who looked sadly toward the valley entrance, mourning the loss of yet another close friend, the others seemed largely unconcerned.
That was the demonic way. The "mo" of indifference, the "mo" of silence.
Though they had left the Demonic Cult, their minds hadn't yet turned away from its ways... In fact, An Jing realized that they'd been willing to betray the Demonic Cult not only because of its merciless cruelty and the slaughter of their friends, but because, at their core, they trusted themselves more.
They hadn't truly understood An Jing's anger. They were simply following his lead: because he had resisted, they resisted too.
"Don't be too sad. Before she left, she asked me to apologize to you on her behalf... Everyone has their own path."
After collecting himself, An Jing comforted Gu Yeqi, then turned to the others and instructed them, "You'll need to wait here a little longer."
"The Manor's guards are still fighting the Red Armor Guards. Da Chen's troops can't tell whether we're innocent or members of the Demonic Cult, so don't go anywhere until things settle down."
"If the people on Da Chen's side turn out to be no good, I'll find a chance to slip away. There aren't many wild beasts around Xuanming Valley, and there are a few villages nearby. I'm confident I can keep you all alive."
He wasn't speaking empty words. An Jing was a martial artist now, and he had firearm cartridges. The Children of Calamity were all strong, skilled in martial arts, and knew how to work together. As long as they avoided being seen, he could keep them safely in the mountains for a while, with the Sword Spirit to help and guide him.
"Big brother..." Cang Linzu frowned at his words. "Are you planning to do something alone again? Can't you take me with you? I can still be of some help!"
"It's too dangerous. Your strength is impressive, but you haven't reached the Internal Breath realm yet, so you can't come with me."
Cang Linzu was a prodigy, too. His strength was already close to the Internal Breath realm—and if An Jing hadn't weakened the calamity by influencing the demonic energy, he and Gu Yeqi would both have had a seventy to eighty percent chance of awakening their Fate Grids.
So An Jing patiently explained, "There's a dungeon deep inside the Manor on the eastern mountain. Quite a few of our junior brothers and sisters were eliminated and haven't yet been 'dealt with' by the Demonic Cult. I need to check on them. The Manor is on fire, and no one is coming to help them. They'll likely burn to death."
"Once I'm sure you're all holding up, I'll set out to save the others."
After giving them a few more instructions and reassuring all the Children of Calamity, An Jing turned and left.
Gu Yeqi and Cang Linzu both knew that An Jing never went back on his word, so they didn't try to stop him. Instead, as his assistants, they treated their wounded companions and cleaned their injuries.
The Sword Spirit had been right. The altar was beside the cave where the Children of Calamity were staying, in another "crack" concealed by river rocks and water plants.
The crack had formed naturally. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary fissure in the rock wall, but that was only an illusion. It began extremely narrow, then gradually widened into a natural passage.
Ancient murals lined both sides of the passage. Most had been washed away by the river, which periodically surged over them, but An Jing could still make out the tale of an immortal vanquishing demons and protecting the people.
In ancient times, Huaixu had suffered a great calamity. Countless Heavenly Demons descended upon the world from the highest heavens. They brought strife, disaster, and destruction, toppling nations, throwing the weather and seasons into disarray, wiping out countless peoples, and driving people to hate and fight one another in endless wars.
To fight the Heavenly Demons, the immortal gods who had once ascended to Immortal Heaven returned to the mortal world, leading all its people in battle against them.
Among them was an immortal god who wielded a sharp, blue-edged blade and carried out the work of Demon-Subduing and Evil-Suppressing.
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