Chapter 41: Dark Yin Divine Maiden

  “Escape… from Great ?”

  For a moment, An Jing did not prehend the meaning of these words. Bai Qinghan raised her eyes, and within her dark, abyss-like pupils shone a deep blue-green glow.

  Those quiet eyes and her skin—paler than snow—made her look like some spirit emerged from a painting, or a young fawing in m dew, harmless and evoking pity.

  Yet it recisely this fairy-like girl who uttered words brimming with hatred.

  “I hate Great .”

  Under An Jing’s astonished gaze, Bai Qinghan turoward the north. With the calmest of tones, she voiced her most sihoughts: “My homend suffered a demonic camity, and no one came to save us. My parents both ‘died.’ No one came to save them.”

  “Great sealed off the entire southern region of Hannan’s three prefectures, refusing anyo, not even giving me a single drop of water… The guards threw sto me, calling me a ughable wild monkey.”

  She had never spoken so many words. The girl turned her head, looking into An Jing’s eyes. In a quavering voice, she shared the feelings buried deepest in her heart.

  “That wicked ghost wao boil me alive, but I was born unafraid of scalding water.”

  “Perhaps because he felt a shred of pity, or maybe he only wao see if I was ‘cooked’… At that moment, I poured boiling water on him, killing him. Only then did I live through that winter.”

  “It was the Heavenly Will Divi who saved me. The Heavenly Will Divi gave me new clothes, let me eat my fill, let me sleep at ease—when I woke, I no longer had to fear being tied to a pyre before I could open my eyes.”

  “Senior Brother, only you and the Heavenly Will Divi have treated me kindly.”

  At this point, Bai Qinghan’s eyes shimmered like a full moon, filled with perplexity. “Has the Heavenly Will Divi not treated you well, too?”

  “Why… ’t you stay?”

  She raised her hand. At once, water from the river that coursed past Hanging Fate Valley rose into the air, flowing straight into her palm.

  In the instant, at Bai Qinghan’s crisp shout, that current, now radiating a faint green-white glow, turned into a sharp arrow and shot toward An Jing!

  g!

  Uo dodge in time, An Jing lifted his sword in defense. His wooden bde was instantly smashed apart, and the lingering force struck like a four or five-meter-tall bear’s paw, f him back several paces before he could dissipate its strength.

  But it was not meant to wound him… and not eve to attack.

  It was meant to make him stay.

  “This?!”

  Barely managing to block it, An Jing saw the remaining fragments of his sword hilt gzing over with a biting chill. White frost spread across it, as though an icy hand tried to snatch hold of him, freezing around his wrist.

  He discarded the broken hilt. His expression was plicated as he looked at Bai Qinghan. “A Divine Ability…!”

  “Dark Yin shaping—transmute with but a thought!”

  Meanwhile, upon uanding Bai Qinghan’s true i, the Medie Manor Lord watched with brilliant green fire in his eyes. Ecstatic, he praised, “That is 【Divine Ability】! You just awakened your Heaven-Ordained Fate, and already you wield a Divine Ability!”

  “Qinghan, you are our 【Dark Yin Divine Maiden】!”

  At that moment, Bai Qinghan stood motionless, wind and frost swirling around her. Cold air and shards of ice rose and fell, as if her form were half-cealed by a haze of darkness.

  This was exactly what it meant to have a 【Divine Ability】.

  Oneone awakeheir Heaven-Ordained Fate, it gradually nurtured powers uo them—like the ability to wield lightning or fire, or wrestle lions and tigers with pure strength.

  Among those with Fual her-level Fates, they might even develop a “Divine Ability”.

  Most people, after awakening their Fate, ime and practice to trol any new powers—rarely did they achieve seamless mastery right away.

  But if one could instantly ma superhuman abilities or Divine Abilities upon awakening, it meant that their Fate and essence were perfectly aligned, surpassing ordinary awakened individuals by an enormous margin!

  The sudden appearance of such a “holy maiden” thrilled the Medie Manor Lord more than he could have dreamed. Hanging Fate Manor was merely one of the Heavenly Will Divi's many outposts i ’s northwest, not even among the more valued branches.

  Now, with the manor under surprise attack, its tury-long reserves would likely be destroyed in a day. Even if the Medie Manor Lord escaped alive, he would certainly be punished. But if he gained a true Dark Yin Divine Maiden, it would not matter if An Jing got away or if a hundred—no, a thousand—Hanging Fate Manors burned. Even the Heavenly Will Divi’s main temple would not bat an eyelid; instead, they would greatly reward him!

  An Jing, however, merely felt helpless.

  The expressions on the faces of those standing behind Bai Qinghan—people who pinly shared her ses—showed that her views were hardly unusual.

  If ohought carefully, was it really se?

  After all, An Jing himself had fled the northern frontier, only to be barred from Mingshan City and the checkpoints along the two rivers. He could her travel south er the city, forced to remain in a refugee camp with his gravely injured mother, awaitih.

  No assistane stalls. No charitable medical care. Not a shred of pity.

  Great ’s authorities made no respoook no steps at all to address the Frost Camity, and even tighteheir exploitation, leaving the froo be ravaged by horse bandits—little more than the brutal pawns of lodlords.

  Those officials, who collected taxes and cimed to protect all citizens of Great , so casually permitted the disasters in the bordernds, allowed the gentry to capitalize on natural camities to seize the assets ees and te their nd. How was that any different from dev human flesh?

  But… did one really have to choose a single side here? Among a horde of fools, did you have to pie that was slightly less hateful? Could you not simply kill them all?

  Could it not be done another way entirely?

  An Jing saw several more water arrows rise from the river behind Bai Qinghan, h in midair. Bowing his head, he spoke quietly, “So, you’ve chosen the demonic sect? A sect that devours people as well?”

  “They’ll eat you too…”

  “I’ve already eaten human flesh. Shouldn’t I be eaten iurn?”

  Bai Qinghan looked toward the Red Armuards st into the manor from afar, seeming bewildered. “Besides, the Heavenly Will Divi actually purchased my life. At least they spent money ohey truly take care of me.”

  “It’s all oppression. If I must be oppressed, I’d rather be oppressed by the Heavenly Will Divihan by Great .”

  Turning back to An Jing, she extended an ear invitation: “e with me, Senior Brother.”

  “The Medie Manor Lord hasn’t acted against us yet, because he knows Hanging Fate Manor is already finished. He doesn’t want to sughter those friends of ours ireat, driving you te and making you leave food.”

  “He just wants to take us away.”

  “Senior Brother, those ordinary people who aren’t like us have already fled and hidden. If you and I leave together—if we join hands—could we not gain a high station in the Heavenly Will Divi?”

  “And once you no longer want to be oppressed by the sect, then you ge it, you not?”

  Even the Medie Manor Lord could not help adding, “Indeed, An Jing. I’ve held back for your sake, letting you have your way!”

  “As long as you bee a Demon War General or a Sect Master, you’ll be able to make ges! At that point, your value would outweigh that of all those who died, many times over. Even the Heavenly Will Divi would ge for your sake!”

  “Great oppresses as well, and on a far rger scale. They don’t do it one by ohey subjugate eies, entire provinces!”

  “To be frank, we oppress fewer—and only wheruly o. But the outside world will only grow more rotten.”

  “You’ll e to uand: only by overthrowing Great , toppling this entire realm, there be a better world!”

  (End of Chapter)