Chapter 141: End of the volume, Fate hangs in the balance (Thanks to the alliance leader Buqi Shixian!)

Chapter 141: End of the volume, Fate hangs in the balance (Thanks to the alliance leader Buqi Shixian!)It was like the gathering and scattering of clouds and mist, the flitting of wind and rain. A feeling of a severed cause and effect arose within Cang Linzu, prompting sudden memories of friends within the manor. Zhang Ying, Zhan Feng, Ye Xiuyuan, Zhao Yong’an, Xie Pinglan... —I am not a match for An. Cang Linzu thought to himself. He couldn’t recall all his friends’ names, even their faces were becoming blurry; his memory was excellent, so there was only one reason for his forgetfulness—he had already begun to let go. But did he truly want to forget? In the past, he could soothe himself with thoughts of "we will meet again in the future," but now, knowing that they had long been dead, turned into corpses, white bones, and great medicines... Ha ha. Cang Linzu thought calmly, "An seems to be quite troubled. He’s probably wondering if it’s a bit too much that he wanted to defy the master but dragged us into it." "But do we qualify to say we were ’dragged into it’? Just because it could bring us disaster, does Big Brother have to blame himself, should good people be threatened with a sword?" "No... this world... no one is innocent." "Everyone can kill or be killed, including myself." Accepting this, Cang Linzu entered into visualization with unparalleled calm. But this time, what he visualized was not the Rusty Sword. It was... The shadow of the Stars. A shadow enough to cover the stars, casting a darkness as if eclipsing the sky—shadow of the daylight darkening the stars! Outside the camp, Cang Linzu’s figure was suddenly engulfed in shadow. A dim star appeared, enshrouded in pitch-black shadow, bobbing amidst countless dark dust particles. The myriad shadowy dust circled, eventually forming a dark wheel behind his head, exuding quiet and peace, embodying the intention of remaining immovable. "Hmm?" The soldiers who had been monitoring the Children of Calamity noticed this scene and were immediately astonished, their eyes widening: "A Fate Pattern awakening? At this very moment?" "The Demon Sect’s methods didn’t succeed, yet he’s awakening on his own now?!" "These Children of Calamity, indeed, all have potential!" "The Demon Sect’s magic couldn’t awaken them, but it’s happening here with us—that’s the protection of Heaven’s Will!" Without any hesitation, they called out the formation, encircling the camp to avoid accidents or any outside disturbances. Meanwhile. Within the landscape of his mind, Cang Linzu saw a figure bathed in silver Sword Light amid pure darkness. The figure was incredibly familiar; Geng Metal Sword Light swirled around him, and behind his head flowed a river of Blood Fiend. He was walking at this moment, seemingly towards the distant horizon. An inexplicable connection linked Cang Linzu to that silhouette. "An?" "Hmm?" Snow covered the mountains, fierce winds churned, turning the forest into a river of white dust, as if waves were surging in the vast ocean. An Jing walked through this blizzard’s waves, silent and resolute. But he suddenly stopped, as if sensing something. An Jing looked around, murmuring to himself, "Cang?" There was no answer, just a faint feeling. "What’s going on?" An Jing immediately wondered. He stood in the snowstorm, quickly buried up to his ankles by the heavy snow, but An Jing didn’t care, "I’m sure I just heard Cang’s voice, it’s not an illusion!" "I just felt your ’Heavenly Mandate’ tremble a bit." The Sword Spirit’s perception was even clearer. It pondered, "That is the tremor produced by resonance between Fate Patterns—but what’s odd is, aside from a few special Divine Destiny Star Fates, what other Fate Patterns could resonate with the Heavenly Mandate?" "An Jing, what did you feel just now?" "I felt..." An Jing pondered carefully, then came to an answer, "It felt like there was something on Cang’s side, resonating with something I have yet to possess." "Hmm..." The Sword Spirit also fell into contemplation, speaking slowly, "Indeed, your ’Seven Luminaries Seven Fiend’ Heavenly Mandate has not yet fully awakened." "Not to mention ’Sun Emperor and Moon Monarch’, your ’Five Stars’ has not yet been completely gathered, only ’Mars’ and ’Taibai’ have awakened." "However, I’m not sure if you’re aware that the concept of the ’Seven Luminaries’ is not the only one. Beyond the Seven Luminaries, there are also the ’Nine Luminaries’ and even the ’Eleven Luminaries’." "Oh?" An Jing became interested: "Eleven Luminaries... I vaguely remember something like that, it seems to be called—" "’Seven Governing Stars and Four Surplus.’" The Sword Spirit said, "Yes, that’s it. This is one of the few concepts I can think of that could be related to the Heavenly Mandate." "The Four Surplus are Rahu and Ketu, Purple Aura and Comet." "Rahu and Ketu, the dimming of celestial light, are the surplus of Fire and Earth." "Purple Aura and Comet, the movement of Star Mansions, are the surplus of Wood and Water." "Taibai Gold, for its concentrated own power has a Fiend, has no surplus." An Jing somewhat comprehended: "So you’re saying, beyond the Seven Luminaries and Seven Fiends, there are actually four more stars?" "No." He couldn’t help but say: "Why so many?" "Each star is a power of your Heavenly Mandate, the more the better." The Sword Spirit was indifferent: "Moreover, the Seven Fiend Life doesn’t specifically speak of surplus energy, which proves that the Four Surplus are likely not a power from your Fate Pattern itself." "But are... ’companion stars’ that are born with you!" Just as when the dragon and the snake rise from the land, a True Dragon ascending the imperial seat is sure to raise countless subsidiary dragons, ministers of celestial contributions. If we say a True Dragon is a star, then it must be the sun surrounded by countless Star Mansions. A True Dragon has ministers, both scholarly and martial, to assist him; in the Seven Luminaries and Four Surplus, the Four Surplus have such a relationship. "So I speculate." The Sword Spirit said, "Very likely, your little companion inherently possessed a talent that was not low, but the time for awakening had not arrived. Now, because of your Heavenly Mandate, one of the Star Lives—Rahu or Ketu, Purple Aura and Comet—has awakened." "It’s just that your own Heavenly Mandate hasn’t fully awakened, and you haven’t matched with the other’s awakened Fate Pattern, so you only connected for a moment and couldn’t establish a stable link." "That does sound possible." An Jing pondered thoughtfully. Taibai has no surplus; the surplus energy of the Mars fire is Rahu. It seems Cang Linzu has awakened one of the three stars, Rahu, Purple Aura, and Comet. "That’s quite good." He began to smile: "If in the future I acquire one of the Seven Luminaries corresponding to Cang, perhaps I’ll be able to communicate with him over a distance... That would be quite convenient." "If only others could also make such contacts." "How could that be possible." The Sword Spirit sighed: "Cang Linzu is your good friend, connected to you by fate, with talent that is not inferior. He was already capable of awakening a Fate Pattern, so he has such destiny... He must have done something beneficial to you, something that can help your Heavenly Mandate grow, affecting many destines. It’s your Heavenly Mandate’s feedback that caused him to awaken." "Hm." An Jing was unsurprised: "Cang has always been very reliable. Having him and Little Gu leading the junior brothers and sisters, I’m very reassured." "However, right now, I still can’t go back to find them... I need to become stronger." "Strong enough to take hold of my own ’Heavenly Mandate’." Before his words fell, An Jing took another step forward. A step forward. At the end of the First Year of the Jingchang Era, a Frost Calamity rarely seen in a thousand years erupted in the Hanhai Domain of the Da Chen Dynasty, alongside the Northern Barbarians’ assembled armies moving collectively southward, decimating the seven provinces of Hanhai’s northern route, leaving millions of common people displaced, ultimately disappearing into the vast expanse of pale nothingness. In the Second Year of Jingchang, Ming Mountain City—Baihe Province’s great city in Hanbei Domain—fell to the increasingly terrifying Frost Calamity and Northern Barbarian invasions. Millions of refugees headed south, bursting through Da Chen’s official checkpoints, plunging the seven provinces along the Hanhai Route into turmoil. Many outlaws and Demon Sect cultivators ran rampant, with the area outside the city becoming a mortal hell. At the end of the Third Year of Jingchang, in the northwestern frontier of the Western Mountain Domain, within Hanging Fate Valley, an ancient Heavenly Demon long sealed away was unleashed, and the Frost Calamity’s chill winds finally reached this place, sweeping over the sixty-three provinces of Da Chen’s northern three domains. The belated response from Shenjing dispatched many disaster-quelling emissaries, mobilizing an army northward to contain the chaos of the three domains. The young-emperor in his naive guilt ascended True Martial Mountain to pray earnestly and changed the era’s name to Yanping. A chaotic great age was on the horizon. The First Year of the Yanping Era. A young Martial Artist, who had always been fleeing from disasters, avoiding calamities, who had escaped from Hanging Fate Manor but still hung by fate to heaven, made up his mind. With the sky sealed by heavy snow, he walked through a field of dismal white. He faced it all head-on. At the beginning of the First Year of the Yanping Era, An Jing, a deserter from the Heaven’s Will Demon Sect, returned to the human world he had long been away from, arriving in front of ’Kanming City’—the only major city in the northwest frontier. He was about to take the first step of a completely new life for himself. The first step of the journey, the first step of freedom. The first step to change the world... The first step. ——Volume One: Hanging by Fate to Heaven·End