Destiny in Cinders

Within an unremarkable building at the south of Keensight were four people of differing builds, presences and statures, all seated around a square table. The only person who sat upright at the table was a bulky middle-aged man, but he was dressed in scholarly attire. He was fully focused on reading the letter in his hand.

He was the Flame Wine Devil, Xia Xi, one of the pirates of Lake Chang in Luan Prefecture, infamous for his might and wit. He was also surprisingly resourceful, often getting his hands on supplies and intelligence from who-knows-where and helping his mates escape Grand Chen's purges. Unbeknownst to others, that was because he was a member of the Heavenly Demon Cult.

After the pirates were eventually commissioned and became privateers, Xia Xi gradually faded from the limelight. His mates back then had said that he must have gone back to somewhere rural to live out his life as a rich tycoon.

Only Xia Xi knew that he was so committed to the martial path that it would be impossible for him to live out a life of pure luxury. Not only that, his ambitions were so large that he aspired to make it big as a high official. He wanted to reach the apex of martial achievement and authority! While that was a pipe dream in normal times, it was far from impossible at the volatile northern frontier.

The guardian adept of Keensight and altar master of the divine cult, Shu Zheng, died fighting a heavenly fiend. Grand Chen wasn't the only faction that was troubled over finding a suitable replacement for him; the demonic cult faced the same problem.

Shu Zheng was a Clearing Realm adept who had potential to become a sage. He had mastered Sunpiercer Majesty Yang Fist at a young age and bore the Midsky Sun miracle arc, a rare yang-aspect lifearc. Since he became the guardian of the city, he gained considerable authority, which sped up his cultivation even more.

Prefect Chen Haoshan of Huang Prefecture noted Shu Zheng's potential and had been planning to groom him as his heir. The demonic cult, on the other hand, hoped that Shu Zheng would eventually rise through the ranks in Grand Chen and expand inland so that the cult would be able to spread their influence across Periphery Wastes. His death might seem like the mere loss of a single adept, but it was also a wrench in the plans Grand Chen and the cult had for Huang Prefecture.

To Xia Xi, a direct subordinate of the Lord Inspector of the West who knew about what went on in the background, Shu Zheng was someone who didn't understand his rightful place. He didn't know the extent of his own abilities and often decided to take matters into his own hands, which led to his untimely death and suicidal takedown of the heavenly fiend. If Xia Xi were in his shoes, he would allow the heavenly fiend to consume a few more villages to build up a horrific reputation to justify borrowing the terrestrial-vein divine armament to exterminate it. Not only was that in line with Shu Zheng's lifearc, he would also gain even more recognition from his superiors for taking down a serious threat as well as the admiration of the people in the region. Collecting the mystical qi of the heavenly fiend was also a great plus.

Had the Keensight Bell broken through successfully under his custodianship, Shu Zheng would absolutely be evaluated well by the imperial court and perhaps even be bequeathed a dao mandate to become a rare double sage. It would also come with a promotion, which would grant him even more authority, allowing him to reach the peak of his life. Alas, Shu Zheng carelessly gave his life away in such a laughable manner. But then, the others had him to thank for the opportunity to slurp up some leftover soup for themselves.

"Listen up! Our mission is to wipe out every trace of the True Fiend Cult in the area and reestablish a cooperative relationship with our people in Keensight," Xia Xi said to the other three, putting the letter down. "The cult isn't able to send an adept out to take Shu Zheng's place. So, if we do a good job, one of us might even get promoted to be the acting altar master. You all know what that means: we'll get an allocation of precious medication that'll help us break through to the Clearing Realm, giving us the chance to become one of Grand Chen's adepts in reserve!"

Keensight used to be in the firm grip of the Heavenly Divine Cult. However, not every member of the divine cult knew that they were actually serving it. They merely did what their cult-affiliated superiors told them. It still didn't change the fact that the cult had an established network of collaborators in the region. Xia Xi and the others' task was to reach out to them to get things going again.

It was quite the troublesome mission indeed. For starters, they would have to consider how to get those contacts into the fold once more. Xia Xi felt a headache welling up at the mere thought of it and shook his head. "Remember! Don't just go around killing people for no reason! We are not in the deep mountains. We can't do things like we usually do at Lake Chang. This is Keensight, and our contact here worked quite hard to get us proper identification. We must take care to not waste it!"

"Roger that, Boss!" said a tower-like man that was eight feet tall and almost five feet wide to the right of Xia Xi. He was pitch black from top to bottom. The only splashes of color were his large, bell-sized bloodshot eyes. The hulking man chuckled and asked in a deep voice, "But Boss, us mates don't really do gentle well. What if those lasses don't do what we want them to? Can't we just slice them up?"

"No," said an old, pale-looking martialist to Xia Xi's left. "If you really have to kill someone to make an example of them, behead them like how Boss does it. I know you like to eat hearts, so just go straight for it. Don't make a mess and pluck off their arms and legs unnecessarily."

The old martialist stopped lecturing the hulking man and turned to a deathly thin youth who smoked so heavily that the entire room was filled with smoke. "And you. Stop fucking smoking already. We're here as officials. We can't afford to leave a bad impression."

"Hehe..." The smoking man didn't seem annoyed in the least. He put his pipe away and leisurely took out a betel nut to chew on.

"Darn it..." Xia Xi's headache was in full swing. "These old crooks are a pain to deal with."

The pirates of Lake Chang mostly went their own way after Grand Chen commissioned them to become privateers. The only ones that decided to keep following Xia Xi were the most unruly oddballs of the bunch.

The massive dark man was called Wei Gu. Even though one could mistake him for a gentle giant, he had always been a troublemaker since childhood and loved to kick cripples and widows when they were down, rob the poor and bully the quieter kids in his hometown. He truly became an outlaw at the age of twelve when he accidentally killed an orphaned kid during one of his many bullying attempts. After getting his first real taste of evil, he lost all restraint and went on to kill the kid's grandmother and bedridden grandfather before robbing them clean and leaving for the mountains.

The older man among them was not known by his real name. Instead, everyone called him Old Cook. According to his own account, he used to be a grain merchant who was forced into outlawhood after rioting peasants broke into his warehouses during the Hanhai Fiend Calamity. Xia Xi, however, knew that the real reason that he lost his family business was his excessive greed. Apart from selling necessities like food at unconscionably high prices, Old Cook once said after many drinks that he used to offer predatory loans as well.

The smoking outlaw was also nameless, but he never really talked much. His story was a common one about a smoking and gambling addict. His gambling problem was bad enough that he lost his wife and children over it. His sanity also left when his family did, causing him to fall into an eternal daze-like state in which he could barely recall what he used to be called.

All three of them had their own quirks and specialties. They even had lifearcs and were the cream of the bad crop, making them rather stellar crooks. Having no place to belong to, they eventually threw in their lot with the demonic cult. If not for the amazing teamwork they had developed after years of pillaging and shenaniganry, Xia Xi wouldn't have insisted on taking them into the city on this mission.

As for Xia Xi himself, he was born in a bandit den and destined for a life of banditry. He didn't have any odd habits apart from his penchant for collecting the heads of the people he killed. He didn't enjoy torturing his victims and preferred to behead them cleanly, making him rather decent by crook standards.

"Alright, listen up. Apart from reestablishing a cooperative relationship with our local contacts and their subordinates, we also received a special assignment from the Lord Inspector of the West himself. We are to track down the troublemaker behind the great escape of Direlife Manor, An Jing, and capture him alive!"