Destiny in Cinders

"No, Master, please calm down." Ming Guangchen felt somewhat speechless, but he knew why his master, Shrouded Dust, was so impatient.

The Brightmirror Sect had a transcendent of the Pure Yang Realm and eight venerateds of the Sanctification Realm, putting them at the top of the list of the forty-nine intermediate sects on the Northblack Sacrifice Continent. Even some of the upper sects had no more than a single transcendent; the only thing holding back the gradual decline of their sects was a legacy left by a previous empyrean.

This Brightmirror Sect was faced with a delicate situation. The current transcendent of the sect, Grand Elder Rising Light, was nearing the limit of his lifespan and spent ninety out of a hundred years cultivating within the shard of the Brightsky Mirror. Even though the Brightsky Grotto was able to slow the transcendent's aging, spending time there meant not being able to steer the affairs of the world and lead his sect, which consequently caused his lifearc to deteriorate. While seclusion alone wouldn't cause the power he already acquired to fade away, it completely cut off any and all possibility of making progress. Doing so meant waiting aimlessly for death to come.

As for the other eight peaks, only three of them were occupied by new blood; venerateds who reached the Sanctification Realm in the past three centuries. The other five peaks were occupied by elders who had hit their primes eight to ten centuries ago. If the Brightmirror Sect wasn't able to nurture more promising successors as their final flame burnt out, they risked falling to the bottom of the forty-nine intermediate sects once the elders passed away, leaving only three living venerateds to lead the sect.

That was why promising young seeds like An Jing, even if they had a history with the demonic cult, were welcome as long as they showed enough potential. Yet, things simply weren't that simple. Ming Guangchen relayed to his master about the relationship between Xuan Mingjing and An Jing, especially the part about her having shared imperial blood with him.

"To think that he's that closely tied to the imperial court too..." Even though Master Shrouded Dust didn't know about Endmost Sky, he knew that his disciple had powerful backers and tricks of his own. Over the years, he had also learned that his disciple and King Jing's relationship was significant to say the least. "Xuan Guangyun managed to reach the Sanctification Realm at such a young age and would have reached the Pure Yang Realm had he lived another century. Who could've expected him to die at the hands of his own people..."

Master Shrouded Dust sighed. "We can't afford to protect his daughter. Even during the golden age of our sect, we were only able to barely hold our own against a single one of the Eight Sentinel Kings. The empire has many more transcendents than we do venerateds. If they discover that we offered shelter to the fugitive princess, Grand Elder Rising Light himself might have to make a trip there to apologize to them."

"That's right, which is why I plan to send Mingjing to a friend on another continent," Ming Guangchen said. "She is also a close comrade of Brother Guangyun. Without her help, I wouldn't have found Mingjing."

"The youth of your generation have unique connections indeed." Master Shrouded Dust understood the full scope of his disciple's worries. "While we aren't able to take the daughter of the late King Jing under our wing, we can still make an argument for taking in a potential divine general of the demonic cult, even if he's connected to her in some way. We just need to ensure that they are no longer entangled. It is somewhat risky, but it's worth a try."

Master Shrouded Dust rose, causing the illusory buildings on Dawnlight Peak to disappear. He had made up his mind. "I will report to the grand elder and have him registered. But Mystic Mirror, my disciple..."

The old man's tone sank even deeper. "You should watch yourself too. Do you remember Senior Uncle Hidden Shadow's beloved disciple?"

Ming Guangchen recalled the past and nodded. "Junior Brother Lucid something? That battle maniac that I knocked out during the previous Grand Sect Tournament? I don't remember his full name, but he was impressive indeed. Just... he was a bit too bloodthirsty and almost shattered my vital-origin mirror, so he got beat up by his master. What about him?"

"He's dead," Master Shrouded Dust said calmly. "Lucid Stain was a promising sage with three divine treasures like you who stood a chance of becoming a venerated. He was the hope for the Brightmirror Sect's future. Yet, he was killed by heavenly fiends under mysterious circumstances at the Northmost Snowfields.

"The heavenly fiends should be tied down in the nether realm by their conflict with the fiendgods. How were they able to break free to cause chaos in the corporeal world? But even after Hidden Shadow begged Grand Elder Rising Light to leave seclusion to investigate the matter with the heavenly mirror, they were unable to discover the reason. It was as if things had been swept under the rug to 'that place' behind you."

Ming Guangchen fell silent, knowing what his master was talking about. Master Shrouded Dust had taken a drugslave of the True Fiend Cult like him as his own disciple and taught him how to live like a proper human. He was both Ming Guangchen's master and father figure, so he didn't want to hide the existence of Endmost Sky from him if he had the choice.

However, Endmost Sky's origins were anything but ordinary. Even the transcendent grand elder using a shard of the Soaring Realm mirror wasn't able to see through it in the slightest. There was no point in telling Master Shrouded Dust about it either since he wouldn't even be able to remember the conversation.

Master Shrouded Dust's warning, however, was quite important. A fellow promising venerated candidate died by some unknown means, and it might have something to do with the conflict within Endmost Sky. As the sole remaining hope for the Brightmirror Sect and an Endmost Walker, he was a thorn in the eye for many intermediate and even upper sects, as well as some factions within Endmost Sky itself.

It was worth noting that the Grandnight Sect of Voidgod Mountain were able to control fiendgods of the netherworld. It wouldn't be a stretch for them to be able to control a few heavenly fiends that have appeared in a confined region.

"I will be careful," Ming Guangchen said, bowing to his master. "I am currently at Keensight. I will teach An Jing the secret core teachings and the destiny-honing arcanum while I wait for my friend to come pick up Mingjing. Aside from that, I will not do anything else. Once things die down, I will return to the mountain and enter seclusion to make an attempt to reach the Sanctification Realm so that you'll have less to worry about, Master."

"Very well." Master Shrouded Dust stroked his beard. "This might be heavenly will. Research on the Renaming Destiny arcanum has stalled for quite some time. Those who are mirrored are inverted, yet the reflection in the mirror is still that of a person. Mystic Mirror, you were able to master Mirror Me because you managed to use Renaming Destiny to grasp a completely opposite life for yourself from the very same source as your original one. You were able to face your own reflection.

"Evil is me, good is me, dao is me, fiend is me, so is the me reflected in the mirror. The void is also a mirror, just as the mirror is itself void. Why would there be a need to distinguish whether the reflection or the reflected is truly hollow?" The old man had just recited the core precepts of the Mirror Me ability. "This celestial-disaster divine-arc bearer came from the demonic cult, yet he abhors evil with an intense fury. Perhaps that's what makes the two of you so compatible. He might be able to use the foundation you built to convert this arcanum into a proper lifearc ability!"

"I have your guidance to thank for that, Master," Ming Guangchen said earnestly.

The old man shook his head and waved him off humbly despite the smile on his face. "Now, go. You only ever come to me when there's trouble. Now that you got what you wanted, begone. I will have to see the grand elder."

"I will make sure to visit you with a gift next time, Master," Ming Guangchen said with a smile right before his projection faded away.

"An Jing..." Master Shrouded Dust repeated the name and smiled. "It is a good name indeed. When the foundations of our sect are shaking, we need someone who's able to pacify the mirror."[1]

The promising disciple in question was on his way back to the city. But when he reached the four-walled compound, he saw a few people from the administration there waiting for him.

1. This is a pun based on An Jing's name 安靖. The phrase used here is "安镜之人," one who pacifies or brings peace to the mirror. ☜