Destiny in Cinders

Without a single word, An Jing lowered his head and took a bite of the meat. The initial bite felt tough and rubbery, but with minimal effort, he tore through the charred fibers to find incredibly tender meat that burst with flavorful juices and grease. The wonderful, chewy texture provided immense satisfaction.

He could feel the meat being rapidly digested and transformed into immediate sustenance. It was a sensation that quickly gave way to insatiable greed, making An Jing instinctively reach for more. He polished off the meat in a flash, leaving behind only white bones that had been gnawed clean.

What beast did this come from?

An Jing's face was flushed crimson as he sat in his chair. A burning wave of heat surged from his chest, radiating outward through his torso and limbs, reaching every extremity down to his fingertips and hair roots. A strong impulse came over him, as if urging him to stand and roar to release the mysterious heat he felt. In fact, the other children were doing just that. Suddenly, the dining hall was less a room and more a jungle, alive with the roars and shrieks of feral beasts, echoing an untamed mountain landscape.

What sort of test is this now?

Taking a deep breath, he fought the growing urge within him and noticed that not everyone present was consumed by this strange feeling.

At this moment, Zhang Ying was howling like a wolf. The sound was so eerie it sent shivers down the spine. However, Gu Yeqi was curled up on the side and clutching her stomach, determined not to utter a sound.

It was an almost even split between those enduring the impulse in silence and those who gave in, with the latter group outnumbering the former by only a handful. Were they going to let them carry on this unbridled release?

With several deep breaths, An Jing quickly subdued his instinctive urges. He then began to observe his surroundings, making sure to pay attention to the instructors, lecturers, and servants of Direlife Manor. They remained close by, watching everything with rapt attention.

About fifteen minutes later, both the children exhausted from howling and those enduring the heat had mostly returned to their normal state. The servants then brought them cups of thick herbal brew. As Gu Yeqi had said, the main ingredients were iron stems and ice mango flower seeds, which could focus the mind and calm the spirit. Zhang Ying and Gu Yeqi were both right.

An Jing drained the cup in a single gulp. The taste was intensely bitter, yet strangely refreshing. The ice mango flower seeds, which had swelled after boiling and cooling, were soft and tender. Biting into them released a burst of cool sensation in his mouth.

As the heat from the meat faded, An Jing closed his eyes. After a few deep breaths, he opened them again and he was calm once more. But that heat, that energy, wasn't an illusion. The meat was definitely not ordinary. It couldn't have come from common wild animals.

Most of the other children also paused to rest after drinking the herbal brew. They appeared somewhat dazed, as if lost in thought about their previous behavior.

"Alright, everyone's a bit excited today. Go and get some rest." Stepping forward, the manor lord said kindly, "You'll rest tomorrow morning. Morning training is suspended so you can all sleep in a little. As long as you perform well, you'll all have meat to eat. The better you do, the more meat you get."

There was no night training, so everyone returned to their dormitories and went to bed early. They usually fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillow, but tonight was different. Everyone was restless, tossing and turning, unable to find sleep. As was typical of a dormitory, they all started chatting before long.

"I don't know why, but I felt like I couldn't control myself earlier..." Zhang Ying's complaint came from An Jing's left, muffled by the bamboo wall. "I don't know what that meat was, but it made me feel like a giant wolf that needed to howl! It was delicious, but so weird! I've never eaten anything that made me feel so... so energetic!"

"Yes, it's extraordinary." Ye Xiuyuan, on An Jing's right, had a refined, scholarly way of speaking that reflected his family background. "I've seen this sort of meat at my family's ancestral rites. It must be the flesh of a feral beast."

"A feral beast!" Zhang Ying's voice rose. "The same beasts that could take on a peak aura or Fortification Realm martialist? That's impossible!"

His astonishment was completely justified. Hunting a single feral beast was a massive undertaking even for hunting teams in the northern frontier, often costing lives in the process. Encountering multiple feral beasts could lead to the annihilation of the entire hunting team.

However, its flesh, hide, bones, and tendons were all treasures, serving as materials for numerous precious medicines, rare tools, and spirit artifacts. Both the government and the common folk paid a high price for them. Successfully hunting just one feral beast could make a hunting team prosperous for an entire year. Not even Zhang Ying had ever tasted the flesh of a feral beast.

"This is precisely where my confusion lies. During the Ye clan's grand ancestral rites, sacrificial offerings amount to little more than a slightly larger cut of feral-beast meat, supplemented by ordinary cattle and sheep. The amount given to each of us is simply unbelievable," said Ye Xiuyuan.

"Who cares about all that?" Zhan Feng's voice boomed. He had barely opened his mouth before everyone quickly shushed him to avoid attracting the instructors' attention. So he lowered his voice and said dismissively, "Anyway, it's much better than being a refugee. I've had enough of being hungry."

Zhan Feng was originally a beggar in the city of Brightmont. Because he was too tall, people wouldn't give him money, and because he was too young, no one would hire him. The old beggar who had raised him froze to death during the snow calamity, while he survived the ordeal simply by eating whatever he found. Luckily, he hadn't eaten anything poisonous.

He thought highly of Direlife Manor. The grueling training didn't matter as long as he could eat his fill. In his mind, being well fed was the greatest fortune he could ask for, even if he trained to the point of collapse.

The others agreed with him. Coming from refugee camps, they had all experienced severe hunger and gone long periods without meat or rice. But at Direlife Manor, they could eat until they were full, enjoy satisfying meals, and even gorge themselves, just as they did today. In their eyes, Direlife Manor was perfect; their only fear was that the kindness was too good to be true and wouldn't last.

"I'm just worried this good life won't last." Cang Linzu smacked his lips, still reminiscing about that delicious taste. "Isn't that how those hidden sects operate? They put you through test after test and toss out the weak ones. When that happens, we won't be disciples of Direlife Manor anymore, but just servants like those uncles and aunties... These good days won't last forever!"

After spending so much time together, everyone knew that Cang Linzu's family had once paid a fortune to send him to a martial academy, only for him to be sent home after two years due to his "poor bone structure."

But how could that be? His bone structure was rated second only to An Jing's. This left Cang Linzu bitterly indignant, and led to incessant grumbling that the greedy instructor had expelled him for not paying him more. He dreamed of nothing more than mastering the techniques of Direlife Manor, returning to his hometown—should it still stand—and beating up the instructor who had brought him shame. Cang Linzu wasn't worried about meeting the standards; his only goal was to acquire more martial techniques at Direlife Manor.

"Indeed." Ye Linxuan agreed with Cang Linzu. "I wonder how many will make it to the end... Though Brother An Jing is a given."

"That's right, Brother Jing!" The other children chimed in. "We might get kicked out, but you're sure to stay."

"The test might have already begun..." An Jing typically avoided such discussions, but he felt compelled to speak since they mentioned him. Rolling onto his side, he said, "Our enthusiasm for training, self-discipline, physical fitness, height, weight, how much we eat, what time we get up, the consistency of our exercise—all these factors might be relevant to our assessment."

Then, he rolled over again, closed his eyes, and said calmly, "Go to sleep. There must be a reason the manor lord gave us half a day off tomorrow. Rest well and enjoy the extra sleep, but don't be late for the afternoon training."

"Yes."

"Alright."

"Got it, Big Brother."

Such was An Jing's prestige that the room fell silent the moment he spoke. Soon enough, the quiet was replaced by snores, teeth-grinding, and sleep-talking.

A tide of weariness and sharp hunger rose in An Jing. He hadn't lied to the apothecary. At the sight of the meat, his body instinctively knew it wasn't enough, that he wouldn't be satisfied. His stomach was full, and the meat was filling, yet he remained unsatisfied. It only offered temporary reprieve but failed to satiate him.

Caught between a confusing mix of fullness and hunger, An Jing drifted into a deep slumber.

The next morning, the first rays of the rising sun bathed the mountains in a fiery golden-red hue. An Jing rubbed his eyes and drew back his covers, realizing he had likely slept two hours past his usual time.

This was highly unusual. Despite turning in early the previous evening, he had still managed to oversleep today. No wonder the vice apothecary cancelled the morning training. It seemed most of the children wouldn't be able to get out of bed this morning. The meat of a feral beast could perhaps have such an effect.

Overeating and excessive nutrition can cause drowsiness. Maybe that's what's happening, he thought as he sorted his garments and put on his training attire.

The dormitory housed thirty children, all of whom, An Jing observed, were still in a deep sleep except for him. This was likely due to their slower digestion, or perhaps An Jing hadn't consumed enough.

But none of that mattered. There was still time till noon, so An Jing planned to fit in some training to recover his physical strength. He was about to exit the dormitory when a sudden realization stopped him cold—Zhang Ying was gone.