Chapter 125: Burn It All to Ash
On the map dispyed by Nian Qin’s terminal, only a few spots were marked: the bck market’s designated workpces, a public cemetery, a vegetable market, a grocery supermarket, and one special location beled with a “red heart.”
The location marked with the red heart… was, of course, “home.”
Home.
An Jing thought it over carefully. It had been a long time since he had st considered the very idea of home.
He was born with innate wisdom; in his childhood, those hazy dreamscapes always made him feel that his previous life was his real home.
Yet as he grew older, the days spent living with his parents—those memories of joy or sorrow—made him regard Anjia Vilge as home, even considering it his lifelong hometown.
However, ever since Frost Camity had buried Anjia Vilge of Gufeng County beneath endless snow and ice—forcing his family to abandon the vilge and flee—he had realized that without a miracle, he would likely never return home in this lifetime.
It didn’t matter.
It didn’t matter if his old home was gone. As long as his mother was somewhere, An Jing would consider that pce his home.
That was how he had always seen things, but through a twist of karmic fate and unfortunate circumstance, he and his mother ended up separated anyway.
In the end, An Jing felt that perhaps Hanging Fate Manor could become his new home.
He was willing to accept it, willing to see those teaching instructors and those junior brothers and sisters as family. Even if his past-life memories warned him that it resembled a pyramid-scheme demonic sect, he still relished it.
Humans always long for something to rely on. No matter what, they want a pce where they don’t have to think too much, don’t have to engage in scheming and intrigues, and can be free from such worries.
But then the dream ended—in the cruelest way possible.
Perhaps… precisely because An Jing had sincerely wanted to see Hanging Fate Manor as home—he genuinely had—he found the evil of that Demonic Sect even more unbearable.
“I really don’t want… don’t want to be on edge at home, worrying about whether I’ll be eaten…”
Letting out a sigh, An Jing appeared rather desote. He knew that he no longer had the luxury of a home. Even if he found his mother again, returning to that once-peaceful time would be impossible.
Fortunately, he no longer wished to go back anyway.
After witnessing how accursed this world was, he no longer yearned for peace.
He wanted… he wanted…
—He wanted to burn it all to ash!
An Jing sped through the darkness.
In the dead of night, Xuanye City’s streets were filled with new checkpoints.
Fully armed soldiers of Xuanye City, cd in armor, patrolled and scanned every suspicious pedestrian. Some tried bribing them with money, only to be punched down and hauled into a nearby vehicle for questioning.
Meanwhile, those who obediently submitted and were allowed to pass were still monitored by drones until they reached their residences.
An Jing silently circumvented the crowded streets, sometimes traveling through the sewers, sometimes racing over rooftops. With the Sword Spirit’s shielding and the power of his Mysterious Steps, these soldiers—who at best possessed Qi Refining strength—had no way of detecting him.
Passing through what looked like a slum or a suburban vilge, An Jing spotted a colossal steel puppet over twenty meters tall. It resembled a Yellow Turban Warrior but was even more angur, radiating a powerful aura on par with a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
A heavy machine gun was mounted on its shoulder, spraying bullets across the street.
An Jing had no idea who its targets were—perhaps the penniless who had snuck into Xuanye City without an entry permit, or the local slum-dwellers, or maybe gang members hiding among them.
Regardless of who they were, survival seemed unlikely. An Jing saw vehicle after vehicle carrying corpses out of the area, each body examined one by one to verify its identity.
Some were old, some young; there were even entire families among the dead.
As long as the world was in turmoil, no household could find peace. When Heaven and Earth were chaotic, there was no tranquility for any family.
Then it began to rain.
Purple-blue raindrops fell from the sky. Laden with Baleful Qi and corrosive acid, they ate away at both streets and corpses. If left unattended, only bare bones would remain by morning.
In a nearby alley, a man with an anxious, irritable expression activated a Focus Talisman. He pressed the talisman paper to his forehead, and only after his demeanor gradually settled did he straighten his clothes and open the apartment door with a smile.
In a darkened corner, three or four cultivators wearing gang attire gathered, ingesting strange pills. Some wore foolish grins, others dispyed rage or glee, and still others assumed lewd, obscene expressions before colpsing amidst bck garbage bags.
What kind of hallucinations were they experiencing?
Rumble…
A massive roar echoed across Xuanye City. An Jing looked up to see that majestic Immortal Path Grand Void warship, resembling a floating city, taking off.
It shot straight into the heavens, tearing the cloud yer apart and causing the rain to stop briefly. But soon, the sky sealed up behind it, unleashing an even heavier downpour.
However, An Jing noticed that in the pitch-bck night sky—shrouded by endless dark clouds—there was no moon. There were only countless stars, spinning and shooting about in a frenzy.
A deranged starry sky, a world brimming with Demonic Qi, soldiers on patrol, and a colossal steel puppet firing at crowds.
“Why isn’t that Golden Core True Person coming out to look for the True Talisman?”
“He can’t act. This city has three True Monarchs who’ve attained Immortal Achievements, and two of them are far from friendly.”
“I see… no wonder Luofu is furious. The power struggle between these groups has reached a boiling point…”
An Jing murmured to himself. He wasn’t surprised—if circumstances were different, he’d never have escaped with the True Talisman. In fact, from a conspiratorial perspective, its disappearance might well have been tacitly permitted by that Golden Core True Monarch.
Heh, who knew? This city truly was dark as midnight—perfectly befitting the name Xuanye City.
Sneaking his way forward, An Jing arrived near his intended destination.
He stood on one side of the street, amid tightly packed buildings, gazing up at the tallest structure in Xuanye City—a grand, towering edifice abze with neon Immortal radiance, rising straight into the sky.
【Luofu Immortal Ptform】
An Jing fixed his gaze on the Immortal Ptform, then turned, slipping back into the darkness.
Someday… someday… he would stand somewhere higher than that tower. And just as they judged others’ life and death, so would he judge theirs.
Mighty Sea Major District, Twelfth Street in the city’s southern zone.
Unit 601, 59th floor, Tanyu Apartments.
This run-down apartment building was covered in graffiti, advertisements, and illicit fliers. Along both walls, illegal holographic ads flickered with suggestive pink lights, offering “Ultimate Ecstasy: Customize Your Virtual Dao Companion,” and simir enticements.
In the shifting glow, soft bodies and pretty faces were dispyed to stir human desire, while the steel front door remained firmly shut.
An Jing pressed the doorbell.
A few seconds ter, the surveilnce camera powered on, focusing on the young man whose face was concealed by a gas mask.
【May I ask who you are?】 A voice that was overly young—almost childish—spoke, its gentle tone accompanied by a faint electronic distortion.
“Your mother asked me to tell you something.” An Jing paused, as if unsure how to continue.
But in the end, he decided and said, “She had to go on a long trip for the company. There’s no need to wait for her to come back.”
【…Is that so?】 The youthful voice fell silent for a moment, obviously downcast. 【I understand.】
Then, to An Jing’s surprise, there was a soft click, and the door unlocked.
“Thank you for going out of your way to inform me of my mother’s death.”
Beyond the door stood a thin boy in white who looked about eleven or twelve. His brows were gentle, his bck hair glossy, yet his pair of blue eyes carried a startling sharpness, like dawn over the sea, piercing through any facade.
—So he was like Nian Qin, with a bloodline ocur technique?
A fleeting thought crossed An Jing’s mind. His lie was exposed, but he showed no embarrassment and simply shook his head.
The boy bowed slightly to An Jing and said softly, “If you don’t mind, please come in for a cup of tea. It’s just… about my mother… could you tell me what I’m allowed to know?”
“Heavenly Spiritual Root?” At that moment, the Sword Spirit—looking through An Jing’s eyes at Nian Qin’s son—excimed in surprise, “He’s actually a Heavenly Water Spiritual Root!”
“Surging Azure Dawn Eyes, a Heavenly Water Spiritual Root… This is a Heaven-bestowed external pill talisman seed!”
(End of Chapter)
