Destiny is ashes

Chapter 3 Farewell
When An Shen saw An Jing carrying a whole box of food and medicinal herbs back to the shack, she understood everything and burst into tears.

She had more experience than An Jing. After seeing the convoy and the white-robed scholar who came to observe, she felt alarmed and roughly guessed the other party's intention of coming to observe her.

Now that An Jing has returned with boxes full of medicinal herbs and food, how could she not know that it was her child who was appreciated by those big shots and sold himself to get the money to buy his life?
"Jing'er." She wanted to sit up. An Jing quickly put down the box, hugged her mother, and slowly helped her sit up. An Shen said in tears: "It's me who hurt you... It's me who hurt you..."

"My son is from a good family in the Northern Frontier. If these people are really from a wealthy family, that's fine. But if they are some evil gang members who bought you while I was weak because of your talent, I... I would rather die!"

"Mother." An Jing's tone softened, as he rarely did. He sighed, "Without you, how could I have walked through the wilderness safely?"

"If it weren't for you, I would have died several months ago, died by the Huai River, died in the ruins of Anmin County, died at the hands of the bandits in the wilderness!"

"Why would I care about my own life if I could save my mother's life? Not to mention, if these people are really some evil party and want me to harm the world, I will never agree. At most, I will pay him ten or a hundred times the money and food, and save his life in the future."

"I will find a chance to escape and will never go along with them and betray the integrity of my An family's ancestors!"

"Don't think about this for now. Look, this box is full of herbs that nourish the lungs and soothe the qi, as well as blood-activating pills and lung-healing pills... Take them quickly. By tonight at the latest, you will be able to regain your inner energy and return to the realm of a warrior!"

Gently trying to comfort her distressed mother, An Jing had already taken out a small porcelain bottle from the supplies and was looking at An Shen expectantly. No matter how sad the woman was, she could only take out a light red pill and swallow it under the gaze of her child.

Seeing his mother taking the medicine, An Jing smiled slightly and earnestly said, "Mother, after you get these medicines and food and regain your strength, head south and bypass the checkpoints. Don't stop."

"This frost disaster is much bigger and more swift than in the past. The area north of Broken Blade Mountain is not safe. Mingshan City... is probably doomed as well."

"It will be too late if we wait until then. If all the millions of people in Mingshan City become refugees, the entire Hanbei Province will be unsafe. We must continue to head south to Broken Blade Mountain and the riverside... Go earlier. With your strength, mother, you will definitely be able to gain a foothold."

"I know." An Shen also nodded slightly. This child has been smart since he was young and has always had his own ideas. Even his father often listens to many of his suggestions. Even part of the An family's business comes from An Jing's suggestions. Naturally, she would not despise it.

"But what about you?" As a mother, An Shenshi never thought about her own future. She looked at her child with great concern: "Jing'er, what about you?"

"Me? Don't worry."

An Jing had anticipated his mother's worries, and he answered smoothly: "No matter who these people are, whether they are really wealthy families buying slaves, or government sects training assassins, they all need people alive."

"The fact that they are willing to give these herbs as money to buy his life is proof that people like us may have 'important value' that we don't even know about. The child still has a chance to survive."

At this point, An Jing was suddenly stunned.

They themselves don't know the important value? What is the value of the children in this refugee camp? Will they be exchanged for children and become rice and meat in the pot of other refugees, or will they become a burden to the family?

I am fine, I do have some abilities, but do the other children have any other characteristics besides being tough?

Hard life...

Yes, I have a tough life... I have a tough life!
An Jing suddenly understood.

In this Huaixu era, in the Great Chen Kingdom, everyone believes in the saying that destiny has been bestowed upon one's body and that the stars have descended to earth.

An Jing's parents regarded him as a wise star because of his innate wisdom since he was a child. They took him very seriously. Since Dachen established its country by military force and ruled its country by law, and both civil and military affairs were the right way in this world, An Jing was taught to read and practice martial arts since he was a child, laying a solid foundation and helping him develop into the good physique he has today.

[Fate] is the core of [Martial Arts].

Martial arts are flourishing in Dachen. Even shepherds in remote border areas can practice a few free-hand fighting techniques, but most of them are just country moves.

Even if there are occasional folk masters who have mastered a martial art, they are still outside the realm of martial arts. Without perfect "mental and physical skills", they are still some distance away from comprehending "inner energy" and becoming true warriors.

An Jing's mother is a true warrior, having reached the state of "internal breath like silk". His father is even better, reaching the state of "internal breath like a river", and can release his internal breath to injure people and touch their bones.

As for the one-eyed leader and the white-robed scholar, whom An Jing could not see through at all, they were at the pinnacle of the inner breath realm, 'inner breath like the tide', and were already perfect and difficult to detect.

That is the end point of mortal martial arts.

If one cannot awaken and use [Fate] to cleanse the blood and Qi in the body, then one will not be able to break the limits of [Three Inner Breaths], which will allow the body to undergo a miraculous transformation and enter into [Five Inner Strengths], let alone the many realms that follow.

An Jing was born in the Wu family, so he knew all this, so his doubts were immediately resolved: "Could it be that these people want to use the disaster to select children who may have the potential to awaken their 'fate' and train them?"

Thinking of this, An Jing's expression suddenly became serious, and he held his mother's hand: "Mom, you must survive."

"The northern barbarians invaded, and my father disappeared in Qingyu Pass, but his death has not been confirmed. Although I sold my body, I may still be able to walk around in the future." "Survive. No matter what, survive first."

"Only if you survive can you have a future and meet again!"

Having said this, An Jing hugged his mother deeply.

After being released, the young man stood up and searched for rice in the box. He smiled and said, "The leader asked me to come back so that I could have one last meal with you... unexpectedly a bit humane?"

"Mom, have a good meal."

An Shen looked at the children in front of her who had already started preparing to light a fire and cook rice. She felt an indescribable sadness in her heart, but also a sense of pride.

——This is the son given to me, Shen Mubai, by God!
Her heart was filled with emotions, and the pill she had swallowed earlier also took effect. Her blood was surging, and An Shen suddenly vomited a mouthful of black blood - that was the congestion in her damaged lung veins, proving that her lung injury had improved.

This medicine is so good and effective that it is incredible.

Seeing this scene, An Jing was also very happy - his mother's strength was actually stronger than his own. Now that her lung meridians were unblocked and her internal energy was restored, ordinary robbers could not get close to her!
But recovery also takes time...

An Jing narrowed his eyes, looked around, and felt a lot of prying eyes.

As the aroma of rice spread, it attracted many hungry refugees nearby to look in.

Mingshan City had long been blockaded to the refugees, and the relief porridge stalls had long been closed. The reason why the refugee camp still existed was because the water areas of the Huaihe River and Cuijiang River had been blocked by checkpoints. The refugees had nowhere to go and could only stay here and slowly starve to death.

This may be the result that the gentry of Mingshan City and the officials of Hanbei Road wanted.

But life always has its own way out, even if some of the ways out are destined to be dead ends.

Among the peeping refugees, a few who were too bold or too hungry to think straight had already raised their wooden spears and were quietly approaching the shed where An Jing was.

They had cooked a pot of 'meat soup' before and thought they could fill their stomachs today, but the meat was trampled and crushed by the group of riders, and the meat paste was snatched away by other refugees.

Now, this consumptive woman and the skinny boy actually got so much food from that team of riders, which made their hearts completely filled with resentment, jealousy and hunger.

But before they could attack, An Jing stood up.

——Jackal.

An Jing looked indifferently at the refugees who were gradually approaching with green eyes.

In his eyes, these figures holding wooden spears were like jackals and winter wolves that were gradually surrounding him. The fishy saliva, crazy eyes, and uncontrollable malice were blowing towards him like a cold wind in winter.

But he was never afraid.

An Jing drew out the knife from his waist that he had taken from the horse bandits, leaped out, and without hesitation, chopped down the nearest refugee with the knife!

"Ahhhh!!!"

With a shrill scream, a ball of blood burst out from the shoulder of the greedy refugee, and the whole person staggered backward, and the wooden spear in his hand fell to the ground - but An Jing had no mercy at all. He took a step forward and kicked the refugee in the chest, trampling him to the ground, then holding the saber in reverse, and slashed his chest and abdomen with force!
The sound of flesh and internal organs being cut was heard, and large amounts of blood and smelly dirty fluids flowed out, quickly solidifying under the ice of the frost disaster.

In the end, An Jing cut off the refugee's head with a knife. He grabbed his hair and held the head up. Amid the screams of other greedy refugees who fled in all directions, he hung the head with his own wooden spear on the side of the shed.

"This head is enough to buy you time to recover your strength."

When they returned to the shed, the rice was just cooked. An Jing looked at An Shen, who was full of satisfaction, and didn't care at all about the blood on his face and clothes.

"This way, mother won't worry about you getting hurt." An Shen looked at her son tenderly and somewhat sadly, reaching out to wipe the blood off An Jing's face: "Sit down and have this last meal with mother."

"Ah."

Amid the fearful gazes of others and the smell of blood, An Jing and his mother slowly finished their last meal in this refugee camp.

Then, we parted.

(End of this chapter)