Destiny is ashes

Chapter 4: Son of Disaster
When An Jing, covered in blood, returned to the riders' camp, the surrounding refugees immediately separated in fear, while the one-eyed leader and the scholar in white, who had heard the screams a long time ago, smiled in appreciation.

"good."

An Jing saw the scholar with narrow eyes like a Tibetan fox, with a shrewd light in his eyes, looking him up and down: "Your performance is better than we thought."

"Thank you for your praise, sir." An Jing bowed slightly, and the one-eyed leader waved his hand, and two riders took An Jing to the camp to change clothes and clean their bodies.

Soon after An Jing, wearing new clothes, returned to the riders' camp, the number of children collected was sufficient, and the riders shouted and prepared to leave.

At this moment, the sun is setting in the west, the light behind the thick leaden snow clouds is becoming dimmer, and the whole world is a hazy gray-blue.

An Jing stood on the road at the edge of the refugee camp. He turned around and looked up. He saw an endless white wilderness, endless towering mountains, and a big city that stretched from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside and was surrounded by a long river.

The magnificent scenery of Northern Xinjiang is the best in Dachen, and Mingshan City is majestic and majestic, worthy of being the largest city in Northern Xinjiang.

But now, frost has brought disaster to mankind.

In An Jing's eyes, those mountains shrouded in wind and snow, looming in and out of sight, seemed to come alive. The deep mountain shadows were like the body of a demon, holding up the sky and stepping on the earth. The lights in the city turned into thousands of indifferent eyes, overlooking the countless creatures on the earth.

With their heads down, parents who had sold their children were waiting on both sides of the road.

They either looked at their children numbly or with tears in their eyes, saying their final farewell to them.

An Shen, who had recovered some strength after taking medicine and eating, was also there, waiting for her child.

"Jing'er."

There were no tears in her dry eyes. Across the frosty road, An Shen looked at her child.

"Survive." She spoke her last words hoarsely. At this moment, no matter how strong An Jing was, she just forced a smile and said, "Mom, you must survive too."

"If I am allowed to leave, I will go to the south, to Linjiang, Beirui, and Broken Blade Mountain... Mother, stay alive and wait for me."

"wait me back!"

An Jing got on the carriage prepared by the riders and looked at his mother for the last time.

The woman stared at the back of the carriage, and her lonely figure disappeared in the heavy snow.

In the carriage.

Even An Jing, who had been very smart since childhood and had a much higher intelligence than his peers, felt sad when he parted with his mother.

But he took a deep breath, suppressed all his emotions, and his eyes became deep.

My mother is a warrior and I have eaten my fill. Even if I can't get into Mingshan City, it will be no problem for me to cross the Huaihe Checkpoint and head south.

Broken Blade Mountain is quite far away and the surrounding areas are rich in resources. Even a frost disaster would not affect it. Maybe we can find a few relatives and gain a foothold.

—Hey, there's incense in this carriage? Are these people so rich?

Yes, this group of people will open free clinics and treat illnesses for the refugees, so they must have no shortage of supplies...

After a long period of thought, An Jing realized that there were eight people sitting in the carriage he was in, which was much more spacious than he had imagined.

Glancing around, he saw children of about his age, both boys and girls. An Jing also saw the girl who had severe frostbite and was cured by a doctor.

It seems that they should be divided according to age.

The children had just left their parents and should have been making a lot of noise, but now they all hung their heads, turned their faces to the side, and kept silent.

After all, they are not ordinary children. They are refugees who have experienced the frost disaster in the northern border and walked through the mountains and wilderness with their parents.

Those noisy children had already died or were even caught and eaten.

It sounds cruel, but when it really happens, how many more words can you use to describe it?

An Jing couldn't help but clench his fists when recalling the past. It was not enough to exchange children for food, but some refugees would even poach and kidnap other people's children and cook and eat them.

No matter how strong the parents are, they will collapse when their child, whom they have worked so hard to protect all the way and who has finally survived, is kidnapped. The miserable curses and cries will echo for a long time in the wind and snow.

He was taking care of his mother at that time. If he were alone and free, he would have drawn his sword and killed all those beasts and scum - unfortunately, these insects ran too fast and he only had time to kill one.

Summoning his memories, An Jing looked around. These children who were riding in the same carriage as him had probably also seen those scenes.

After seeing those things, even if they were cheerful children before, they are now silent.

Even when leaving your parents, after the initial sadness, your thinking will quickly switch to the simplest mode.

——Will I be able to eat enough at my next meal?
At least, it won’t be eaten.

In this case, it is better to save some energy and deal with the inspection of the "rich family" later.

Smelling the faint fragrance of wood inside the carriage, An Jing listened to the sound of the wind outside the carriage, and thought of the style of the carriage he had seen before.

This is not an ordinary wheeled vehicle, but a snow-track covered vehicle similar to a sled. It can carry far more people and supplies than an ordinary wheeled vehicle and is especially suitable for traveling on snow.

Those horses are also extraordinary, they must be the "Northwest Frost Riders" that are not afraid of ice and snow.

Such a carriage definitely cannot be built in a short period of time, or at least it has been prepared in advance. Did this group of mysterious people foresee this frost disaster a long time ago?
That's why they are so well prepared, waiting until nature has screened out a group of those with 'lack of destiny', and then buy 'sons of disaster' like themselves who have escaped from the catastrophe and survived?
As An Jing thought about this, he gradually felt sleepy.

Although he had a very good physique and excellent bones, he had been hungry for a long time after all. After a long time of not having a full meal, his body could not help but feel tired while digesting...

"Hmm? It doesn't seem like normal sleepiness?!" An Jing finally realized that there seemed to be something wrong with the smell of incense in the carriage. No matter how sleepy he was, he wouldn't be so tired that he couldn't control his thoughts.

An Jing looked around the room again, took a closer look, and was slightly stunned. No wonder the other children were all silent, it turned out that they had fallen asleep a long time ago, and he was the one who had stayed awake the longest!

But even he couldn't control his eyelids at this moment and couldn't help falling into a deep sleep.

Outside the carriage.

One of the riders looked back at the carriage and said in amazement, "He finally fell asleep. This kid, the soul-soothing incense can make ordinary people sleep as deeply as if they were dead within two breaths, but he lasted for a quarter of an hour!"

"I now understand why the superiors attach so much importance to this recruitment of new members. The talent of this child of disaster is really extraordinary!" "That's right."

Another rider interrupted, "I thought these refugees were just scrap metal, but it looks like there's some good stuff!"

"Shut up." The more experienced rider on the other side shouted, shaking his head and sneered: "Those who can't get in may become our colleagues in the future, and those who get in... hehe."

The old rider sighed and said meaningfully: "If those martial masters remember your careless contempt and arrogance in the future, what will happen to you..."

He didn't need to say much; the meaningful silence was scary enough.

"Xiao, I know..." The rider shuddered, suddenly waking up from his excitement and continuing to maintain his previous silent state without any emotional inclination.

"Keep it up," the old rider said softly, "Keep going and save your energy."

Then, the entire snowy night was speechless.

In the next few days, except for setting up camp and eating, An Jing and the other children continued to move forward in their sleep.

This may be to prevent them from knowing how far they are being sent or where they are being sent - or it may simply be to make it easier to manage. After all, it is better to let them sleep all the way to the destination instead of taking care of them during a long journey.

During this process, many different caravans gathered from all directions, some coming and some going, and the white-robed scholar left halfway.

But overall, the team is growing stronger and stronger.

By the end, it had become a large convoy of more than twenty vehicles.

An Jing also tried to analyze where he was, but even he could only confirm that he was now moving towards the southwest. He had initially escaped from the impact of the frost disaster in the northern border and had switched to a normal wheeled carriage.

But he didn't know which specific area in Dachen they had reached.

"The forest in my hometown is a cold temperate coniferous forest, and the one I saw last time was a temperate mountain coniferous forest."

An Jing was not sure. The vastness of Dachen was difficult for him to comprehend. After all, this was a world of destiny and martial arts, great power and immortality. "It should not have completely left the Northern Frontier. Is it the border between the Northern Frontier and the Northwest?"

"By the way, the term 'cold temperate coniferous forest'...what did I do in my previous life?"

With such doubts, in the carriage where the sense of time and space was confused, An Jing could only make rough estimates.

About ten days later, the mysterious man's carriage finally arrived at its destination.

A manor located deep in the mountains and forests.

White mist filled the mountains, and tributaries of unnamed rivers flowed on one side of the mountain road, sparkling with ripples.

As the mountain road continued to extend, it began to become dilapidated and no inhabited villages were seen for several days.

Soon, the scenery that originally vaguely showed human habitation was gradually replaced by lush vegetation and towering rocks.

They are layered like a maze, forming a dense forest covering the entire mountain range. Small patches of short but green shrubs are like the scales of dragons and snakes, overlapping on the steep cliffs, making these towering mountains in the northwest seem like part of the body of some huge creature.

The mountain road eventually ends.

Before the deepest part of the dense forest, the smooth road came to an abrupt end, as if the workers who built the road were powerless to do anything about this ancient dense forest. Only narrow mountain paths were left that penetrated deep into the forest like blood vessels as the final compromise.

At this point, all traces of humanity have almost disappeared, leaving only the most primitive and wild scenery.

The carriage jolted along the rugged mountain road.

On the way, everyone actually vaguely realized that those who bought them were most likely not servants of wealthy families.

Normal wealthy families would not use such a secret method to transport them. Even if they had a secret manor, it would not be located so deep in the mountains.

In Dachen, even a three-year-old child knows that one should not enter a mountain.

There are monsters, demons, evil spirits and ancient beasts in the mountains. There are also countless strange and bizarre places in the mountains that can trigger the trend of feng shui and create many magical things.

In the territory of Dachen, those mountains that have been cleared are still okay. At most, there are some incompetent and newly born monsters. Dachen does not discriminate against these monsters. As long as they abide by the laws, respect humanity and speak human words, they will be treated equally.

But in the border areas... there are too many weird things, too many evil spirits, and too many people have stepped into them and never returned.

When they realized that they had entered the mountains, the smarter kids all looked gloomy, because there was no way they could leave this place alive alone.

Those who would build manor facilities in such a deep mountain are all secret organizations, no matter whether they are righteous or evil, and it will be difficult for them to return to the world with a normal identity.

But no matter what the kids think, that's the reality.

They are already in it.

"Come down."

After a long bumpy ride, the carriage stopped and the rider's voice rang out: "We're home."

An Jing let out a deep breath.

The moment finally came, he calmed down and prepared to welcome his future 'home'.

An Jing glanced at the seven people in the same carriage who were still dizzy, then turned around and was the first to get off the carriage.

A strictly-structured mountain manor comes into view.

However, before An Jing could observe carefully, he heard a familiar voice.

"good."

Turning his head, An Jing found that the leading rider of his team, the one-eyed warrior, was staring at him.

He laughed gruffly and said, "You are the best among these new recruits."

(End of this chapter)