Destiny in Cinders

Frost, ice and snow swept across the wilderness. The heavy snowfall had yet to lighten up after a whole year.

Clouds hovered between the vast swathes of sky and land, through which a silver falcon flew. It swerved through the dense, dark clouds and braved the turbulence to reach a roiling mountain range before finally perching on an abandoned, decrepit tower, looking down at the masses. One would be able to see a massive, black path across the pure-white snowscape like an arrow, filled with merchants and travelers.

Eastward of the ancient tower was the mountainous borderland of Grand Chen where the city of Keensight was located. A young man clad in a black mantle that kept half his face hooded up could be seen walking along the path to the city.

An Jing was frequently labeled as a badlander in Skysource due to his unfamiliarity with common-sense technical terms and bureaucratic norms. In Void Embrace, however, he was educated in scholarly and martial matters and hailed from a mercantile family that was well informed on world affairs. He knew everything about his hometown, which allowed him to craft a perfect cover story and play his role incredibly well. His cover identity would be that of a Dustdawner, someone who hailed from the Dustdawn Region far north beyond Grand Chen's borders.

One could not mention Dustdawn without first understanding the Northblack Sacrifice Continent as well as the landmasses of Void Embrace as a whole. Void Embrace was a massive world that contained five colored and five directional continents. The Northblack Sacrifice Continent was so named as it was the continent that represented the color black.

Unlike other continents whose populations were split into many different factions, with the lofty heavenly sects watching aloofly from on high as many countries warred endlessly, half of all of the Northblack Sacrifice Continent was ruled by the local heavenly sect. The Grand Chen Empire was one of the Ten Heavenly Sects, also known by their more formal name, North Chen Empire.

Countries in Void Embrace were considered subordinate to sects, with most of them being ruled by powerful lifearc martialists who sought to realize their personal philosophies or fulfill their lifearcs. Whether their attempt to found a country succeeded or failed, they would eventually ascend to join sects, leaving the countries they founded to their descendants, who would go on to become the ruling class of those countries. The sects that their founders joined would become an affiliate of the countries as a consequence.

Grand Chen, however, was different. It was a country founded on true martial principles, a rare exception in Void Embrace. Though factions like countries that passed down their power and legacy through a bloodline seemed much more vulnerable compared to the more decentralized way of passing down legacies of sects, bloodline factions had far more centralized authority. Their policy of conferring titles to promising officials was also so effective that it was mimicked by many large factions.

The bloodline that descended from the North Chen Emperor was akin to the line of succession of a large sect. The descendants of that bloodline were known as the Xuan clan of True Martial Mountain. The entirety of Grand Chen could be considered to be the domain of the heavenly sect of True Martial Mountain. The whole country had an affinity for the color black and the water element.

Northblack Sacrifice had thirty-six regions in total, including the islands spread across North Ocean, West Ocean and South Ocean. Grand Chen ruled over fourteen of those resource-rich regions. Apart from the divine capital and the Chijiang Region, each of the other twelve regions had three circuits, and each circuit was subdivided into seven prefectures.

The empire had 255 prefectures in total, including the three autonomous prefectures of Chijiang and the thirty-six circuits spread across the other regions. It was a massive faction whose territories spanned half of the Northblack Sacrifice Continent.

The Xishan Region was one of the northwestern regions of Grand Chen. Taiyuan bordered it at the west, Minhai at the south, Yandao at the southeast and Hanhai at the northeast.

Both Xishan and An Jing's hometown of North Hanhai were part of the domain outside Grand Chen's borders, called Dustdawn. The domain was named after the white layer of frost that covered the entire domain of dawn like fine dust. It was the home to the many northern barbarian tribes. According to the folk of Grand Chen, it was a lawless and undeveloped wilderness whose peoples didn't accept the rule of a monarch or follow a religion or sect.

But as someone who lived at the borderlands from a clan that engaged in regular trade with the northern barbarians, An Jing knew full well that Dustdawn was no wilderness. There were many famous rivers and mountains across the domain. Though the barbarian tribes were relatively less developed than Grand Chen, they had their own tribal structure and culture. There were also many martial sects that moved deep into Dustdawn as they refused to fall under Grand Chen's rule, with a few famous sects situated at Voidsight Mountain, Voidgod Mountain, Slumberplume Mountain, Frightabyss Mountain and Floodfloat Mountain.

Among them, the Brightmirror Sect of Voidsight Mountain was the sect from which the sage who fought the Lord Inspector of the North hailed. It was also the faction in Dustdawn that had the best relations with Grand Chen.

Given that there were martial sects in Dustdawn, there would also be small countries or tribes that associated themselves with those sects. These myriad factions weren't isolationist and also had contact with the outside world. Keensight's most important role was to facilitate that contact, serving as the central hub between the domains.

The many black water flags that were flown above Keensight fluttered loudly in the strong gale, making the totem on it look almost alive, radiating some power that made the snow-covered city warmer and more temperate.

There were many lines leading into the city. An Jing disguised himself as a member of a tribe near Voidsight Mountain, dressed in the tribal style of black outer layers and white inner layers, clean as a mirror. He would claim to be a young martial Dustdawner on a solo journey. He had actually met someone that fit this archetype back in his hometown before and was so confident in his disguise that even real Dustdawners were unlikely to see through it.

He joined one of the lines leading to the registration counters up ahead, staffed by yawning guards. Eventually, it was his turn.

"Name?"

"Jing Xuan."

"Dustdawner?"

"Voidsight Mountain!" he announced, widening his eyes and feigning anger. To the people of Grand Chen, barbarians and sect members were simply lumped together as foreigners. However, Dustdawners frequently fought with one another. None of them liked to be lumped in with the rest.

"Alright, fine... Voidsight Mountain." The guard seemed used to reactions like An Jing's. In fact, he had intentionally said it just to fish for an agitated reaction from him. "Jing Xuan, your entry toll will be..."

An Jing handed over a chunk of silver. It was something that he had bought for cheap from Skysource. Metals like this silver without spirit properties were worth less than twenty merits per hundred liang. The exchange rate between currencies of the different worlds was rather stark.

"Alright, get in." The guard took the silver and let An Jing in. Neither he, his fellow guards nor the Dustdawners around them took note. An Jing's performance was perfect from his reaction down to his accent. He gave off the impression of having spent his last ten-odd years in Dustdawn.

"Okay!" An Jing didn't drop his act in the slightest after gaining entry, though he did feel relieved. Well, I knew it wouldn't be tough to begin with, but it's still not something to take for granted. I'm much safer now that I've made it to Keensight. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Being a border city, Keensight was defended by an adept of the Clearing Realm who could use the city's divine armament. People would think thrice before trying to cause trouble there, so the citizens lived stable and peaceful lives. Even if informants of the demonic cult lived among them, they wouldn't be able to act openly. Tracing ability or not, they wouldn't be able to find An Jing among a crowd like this.

With such thoughts in mind, he continued along the city's roads, taking in everything before him. Not long ago, he had to brave the cold and frost. But now, he was immersed in the rustle and bustle of the city.

"Steaming hot flatbread! Baked sweet potatoes!" yelled a middle-aged man as he fanned his food in hopes of attracting hungry customers with its fragrance.

"Silk from the divine capital in any color you would like! They're sturdy and last a long time!" yelled an old woman.

"Snow ginseng from White Mountain! Good for your kidneys! It'll restore and stabilize your qi, good for young and elderly alike!" cried a shopkeeper of a medicine store with a leather hat and a cleaver.

"Meatball soup! Spicy soup!" Many more hawkers could be heard in the distance, advertising their goods. Apart from hawkers or shopkeepers, there were also many street performers. One could find anything from charcoal, flowers, fruits, dried food, fried noodles and even artisan sugar blowers that crafted intricately shaped snacks!

The stalls on both sides of the street sold everything from food, clothes and even curios. For instance, there was a pearl that emitted light during the day, porcelainware that changed colors, metallic rocks that hovered, and many more.

This all-too-common sight of the busy streets pulled at An Jing's heartstrings for some reason, almost making him tear up. After surviving the snow calamity, leaving the wilderness, selling himself into service to a demonic cult and emerging alive from their pursuit, only to then get wrapped up in the conflict of a different world entirely, he had finally returned to normal civilization.