Child of Calamity

When An Jing returned to the rider camp covered in blood, the nearby refugees scattered in fear, while the one-eyed leader and the scholar in white, who had already heard the screams, both wore expressions of appreciation.

"Not bad."

An Jing saw a shrewd glint in the eyes of the scholar, who had squinted eyes like a Tibetan fox, as he looked him up and down. "Your performance was even better than we imagined."

"You flatter me, sir." An Jing bowed slightly, and with a wave of the one-eyed leader's hand, two riders took An Jing away to change his clothes and clean himself up.

Shortly after An Jing returned to the rider camp in fresh clothes, the gathered number of children reached the target, and the riders shouted as they prepared to depart.

The sun was currently sinking, the black sun returning to the mountains, and the light behind the thick, lead-colored snow clouds grew increasingly dim, leaving the entire world in a hazy, grayish-blue hue.

An Jing stood on the road at the edge of the refugee camp, turned back, and looked up. He saw an endless white wilderness, vast and towering mountain ranges, and a massive city that stretched from the foothills to the mountainside, surrounded by a long river.

The grandeur of the Northern Frontier landscape was truly the best in Da Chen, and Mingshan City, majestic and imposing, was worthy of being the largest city in the north.

But now, it was plagued by the Frost Calamity and man-made disasters.

In An Jing's eyes, those mountains shrouded in wind and snow seemed to come alive; the deep shadows of the peaks were like the bodies of demon gods, supporting the heavens and treading upon the earth, while the lights in the city transformed into thousands of indifferent eyes, looking down upon the common people of the world.

Lowering his head, the parents who had sold their children waited on both sides of the road.

They watched their children with either numbness or tear-filled eyes, sharing their final farewells.

An Shen Shi, who had recovered some strength after taking medicine and eating, was also there, waiting for her child.

"Jing'er."

There were no tears in her withered eye sockets. Across the road filled with flying frost, An Shen Shi and her child locked eyes.

"Survive." She rasped out her final instruction. At this moment, even the strong-willed An Jing could only force a smile: "Mother, you must survive as well."

"If I have the life to leave, I will go south—to Linjiang, Beirui, Broken Blade Mountain... Mother, stay alive and wait for me."

"Wait for me to return!"

An Jing boarded the carriage prepared by the riders, casting one last look at his mother.

The woman stared at the back of the carriage, her lonely figure disappearing into the heavy, swirling snow.

Inside the carriage.

Having parted from his mother, even An Jing, who possessed innate wisdom from a young age and a mind far beyond his peers, felt sorrow.

But he took a deep breath, suppressing all his emotions, his gaze turning profound.

His mother was a martial artist and had eaten a full meal; even if she couldn't sneak into Mingshan City, simply crossing Huai River Pass and heading south would be no problem.

Broken Blade Mountain was still far away, but the surrounding area was rich in produce and untouched by the frost disaster; perhaps she could even find some relatives and establish a foothold.

--Huh, there's incense in this carriage? Are these people that wealthy?

Well, it makes sense; these people were even providing free medical consultations for refugees, so they certainly wouldn't be short on supplies...

His thoughts drifted far, but upon pulling them back, An Jing realized that there were eight people sitting in his carriage, which was much more spacious than he had imagined.

Scanning the group, they were all children around his age, both boys and girls. An Jing even spotted the girl who had been severely frostbitten and treated by the physician.

It seemed they were divided by age.

The children had just left their parents and should have been noisy, but now they all hung their heads, turned their faces away, and remained silent.

After all, they were not ordinary children; they were refugees who had experienced the Frost Calamity of the Northern Frontier and had walked through mountains and wilderness alongside their parents.

The children who wouldn't stop crying had long since died, or had even been snatched and eaten by others.

It sounds cruel, but when it actually happens, how many more words can one use to describe it?

As An Jing recalled this, he couldn't help but clench his fists. The exchange of children for food was one thing, but some refugees would even poach and abduct other people's children to cook and eat.

When a child who had been protected through a grueling journey was snatched away, even the strongest parents would collapse; those shrill curses and wails echoed in the wind and snow for a long time.

He had been busy taking care of his mother at the time. If he had been alone and unburdened, he would have drawn his blade and slaughtered all those animalistic scum—unfortunately, those vermin ran too fast, and he had only managed to kill one.

Collecting his memories, An Jing looked around. The children in the carriage with him had likely witnessed those scenes as well.

Having seen such things, even those who were originally cheerful children were now silent and reserved.

Even after leaving their parents, once the initial sorrow passed, their thinking would quickly shift to the simplest mode.

--Will I be able to eat my fill at the next meal?

At least, I won't be eaten.

Since that was the case, it was better to save his strength to deal with the inspection by the 'wealthy family' later.

Smelling the faint scent of wood inside the carriage and listening to the wind outside, An Jing thought about the style of the carriage he had seen earlier.

This was not a standard wheeled cart, but a snow-sled carriage, which could carry far more people and supplies than a regular cart, making it especially suitable for travel in the snow.

The horses were also extraordinary; they must be the 'Northwest Frost Cavalry' that did not fear ice and snow.

Such carriages could not have been built in a short time; they must have been prepared well in advance. Had these mysterious people foreseen this Frost Calamity?

Was that why they were so well-prepared, waiting for nature to weed out those with 'insufficient destiny' before coming to buy up 'Children of Calamity' like him who had survived the disaster?

As An Jing thought this, he gradually felt sleepy.

Although his physical foundation was excellent and his aptitude was superb, he had been hungry for a long time, and after finally eating a full meal, his body could not help but feel drowsy as it digested...

"Hmm? This doesn't feel like normal sleepiness!" An Jing finally realized with a start that the incense burning inside the carriage seemed wrong. No matter how tired he was, he shouldn't be experiencing this kind of fatigue that felt like a total loss of control over his own mind.

An Jing scanned the carriage again, and upon closer inspection, his expression faltered. No wonder the other children were all silent; they had long since fallen asleep. He was the one who had held out the longest!

But even he could no longer control his eyelids, and he couldn't help but drift into a deep slumber.

Outside the carriage.

A rider looked back at the carriage and remarked with surprise, "Finally asleep. This kid—the Soul-Calming Incense can make an ordinary person sleep as soundly as the dead within two breaths, yet he held out for a quarter of an hour!"

"I finally understand why the masters above value this recruitment drive so much. The aptitude of this Child of Calamity is truly extraordinary!"

"You're telling me."

Another rider chimed in, "I thought these refugees were all just scrap metal, but it seems there really are some good materials here!"

"Quiet," another more experienced rider scolded, shaking his head with a faint, mocking smile. "Those who fail to enter the sect might be our colleagues in the future, and as for those who do enter... heh."

The old rider clicked his tongue and said meaningfully, "If those martial masters remember your casual disdain and arrogance later on, you know what kind of end awaits you..."

He didn't need to say more; the meaningful silence was terrifying enough.

"I-I understand..." The rider shuddered, suddenly jolted awake from his excitement, and returned to his previous state of silent, emotionless indifference.

"Keep it up," the old rider said softly. "Let's keep moving and save our energy."

After that, the entire snowy night remained silent.

Over the next few days, aside from stopping to set up camp and eat, An Jing and the other children continued their journey in a state of constant sleep.

Perhaps this was to prevent them from knowing how far they had been taken or where they were being sent—or perhaps it was simply for easier management. After all, during such a long journey, it was better to let the children sleep until the destination than to look after them.

During this process, many different convoys converged from all directions, some coming and some going, and the scholar in white left midway.

But overall, the entire group continued to gather and grow.

By the later stages, it had become a large caravan of over twenty carriages.

An Jing tried to analyze his location, but even he could only confirm that he was moving toward the southwest, having initially left the reach of the Frost Calamity in the Northern Frontier and switched to carriages with standard wheels.

However, he had no idea which region within Da Chen he had reached.

"The forest back home was a cold-temperate coniferous forest, while the one I saw last time was a temperate mountain coniferous forest."

An Jing wasn't certain. The vastness of Da Chen was beyond his comprehension; after all, this was a world of destiny and martial arts, of great power and longevity. "We shouldn't have completely left the Northern Frontier. Is this the border between the Northern Frontier and the Northwest?"

"Come to think of it, terms like 'cold-temperate coniferous forest'... what exactly was I in my past life?"

Harboring such doubts, in a carriage where his sense of time and space were both blurred, An Jing could only make rough calculations.

About ten days later, the mysterious party's carriage finally reached its destination.

A manor located deep within the mountains and forests.

White mist filled the mountain ridges, and a tributary of an unnamed river flowed along the side of the mountain road, shimmering with rippling light.

As the mountain road continued to stretch, the path began to grow dilapidated, and for days, there had been no sign of inhabited villages.

Soon, the scenery, which had occasionally shown signs of human presence, was gradually replaced by dense vegetation and towering mountain rocks.

They were layered and obstructive, forming a dense forest that covered the entire ridge like a labyrinth. Small but emerald-green shrubs grew in layers upon the steep cliffs like the scales of a dragon or snake, making these towering mountains of the Northwest seem like the body parts of some colossal creature.

The mountain road eventually came to an end.

Before the deepest part of the dense forest, the road that allowed for smooth passage came to an abrupt halt, as if even the laborers who built the road were powerless against this ancient forest. Only narrow mountain trails remained, snaking deep into the woods like blood vessels as a final compromise.

At this point, almost all traces of humanity had vanished, leaving only the most primitive, wild scenery behind.

The carriage jolted as it traveled along this rugged mountain path.

During the journey, everyone had actually vaguely realized that the people who bought them were likely not servants of some wealthy household.

Normal high-ranking families would not transport them using such secretive methods, and even if they had a secret manor, it wouldn't be in such deep, remote mountains.

In Da Chen, even a three-year-old child knew not to enter the mountains.

The mountains held spirits, monsters, demons, and ancient beasts; the mountains also contained countless strange and bizarre places that could influence the flow of geomancy and create many supernatural phenomena.

Within Da Chen, the mountains that had already been cleared were fine; at most, there were some weak, newly born spirits. Da Chen did not discriminate against these spirits either—as long as they followed the laws, respected humanity, and spoke human language, they were treated equally.

But in the border regions... there were too many strange things, too many evil spirits, and too many people who stepped inside never to return.

Upon realizing that they had entered the deep mountains, the slightly smarter children had dark, gloomy expressions, knowing they could never leave this place alive on their own.

Whoever built a manor in such deep mountains, whether they were of the righteous path or an evil sect, was part of a secret organization. They would never be able to return to the human world with a normal identity again.

But no matter what the children thought, the fact remained.

They were already there.

"Get down."

After much jolting, the carriage stopped, and the rider's voice rang out: "We're 'home'."

An Jing let out a deep breath.

The moment had finally arrived. He calmed himself, preparing to face his future 'home'.

An Jing glanced at the seven people in the same carriage who were still dizzy and disoriented, then turned and was the first to step off the carriage.

A mountain manor with a rigorous, standardized layout came into view.

However, before An Jing could observe it in detail, he heard a familiar voice.

"Not bad."

Turning his head, An Jing discovered that the lead rider of his caravan, that one-eyed martial artist, was watching him.

He laughed in a rough voice: "You are the one with the best aptitude among this batch of newcomers."