"Haha, choose for yourselves!"
Hearing this, even An Jing could not help laughing inwardly.
He did not believe the Demon Sect was lying on this point—the remaining one hundred and eight youths were all elites. Even if they failed to awaken a Destiny Pattern, they would eventually achieve an Inner Breath Like Tide on par with Instructor Li's, more than sufficient to form the core lower-to-middle ranks of an organization.
Even if they failed, the Demon Sect would not do anything to those who survived.
These words sounded upright and magnificent, but in truth they trivialized the gravest danger, making death seem like a remote probability while emphasizing the glory of the "successes" and the safety net guaranteed to those who failed.
As for the rhetoric of "choosing for yourselves"...
While Manor Lord Yao was speaking, An Jing caught the scent of an unusual fragrance.
The scent was exceptionally faint; had he not merely been feigning rapt attention while in fact remaining alert to his surroundings, he never would have noticed it.
Not long after smelling this strange fragrance, An Jing noticed his heart rate speeding up. His courage swelled as though bolstered by wine, and an audacious, absurd notion even began surging in his chest: *Stand up, curse Manor Lord Yao out, and expose the Demon Sect's plot!*
Right now, not a single person would believe him; he could change nothing, and people would only think he had lost his mind—yet An Jing felt just such an impulse and boldness welling up inside him!
*They actually drugged us!*
If even An Jing could barely resist it, what chance did the other children stand? The moment Manor Lord Yao said, "Whether you are willing to take part or not is entirely your own choice," everyone shouted in unison: "We are willing!"
An Jing also shouted along without hesitation—and he noticed that Bai Qinghan did the same.
Indeed, she might have lacked book learning, but she was by no means stupid.
"Very good."
Seeing all the children act in complete unison, Manor Lord Yao smiled in satisfaction. "Then let the ritual begin!"
"Pay homage to the Exalted God of Imperial Heaven! Disciples, offer incense!"
Accompanying the intoned chants, the one hundred and eight nominal disciples across the twelve squads began burning incense around their respective altars, paying homage to the Exalted God of Imperial Heaven—also known as "Azure Heaven," "Lord Heaven," and "Heavenly Father."
Not only the Tianyi Sect, but many other sects—and even the state sacrifices of Great Chen—worshiped Imperial Heaven and Sovereign Earth, so none of the disciples found anything amiss. Nor was such an act of worship a mere formality; it served to unite the crowd, instilling a sense of belonging, accomplishment, and pride in all who took part together.
Imperial Heaven possessed no concrete form, though when the mortal world built temples and statues in His honor, He was usually depicted as a benevolent elder. Yet the rites of the Tianyi Sect, like the imperial sacrifices, strictly forbade any physical likeness, offering veneration only to Azure Heaven itself.
Yet such a sacrifice signified a ritual of the highest tier. Without a unique terrain and station, attempting to direct a ritual toward the "truly authentic Azure Heaven" rather than a "Heavenly Father confined by idols and statues" was like a single person's shout trying to awaken everyone asleep in an entire world.
Suspended Fate Manor happened to occupy just such a rare, extraordinary terrain!
After the incense was offered, archaic patterns lit up across the jade altars.
"Disciples, take your positions! Activate the rites, open the Fate Valley!"
The chanters were the Lecturers who taught scriptures at Suspended Fate Manor. Their voices were grand and ethereal. An Jing and the others sat cross-legged atop the jade platforms in turn.
Sitting on the jade platform, An Jing immediately felt that his mind had linked with the other eight in his squad. After their rigorous training, they had already been capable of coordinating through movement alone with hardly any words.
Yet after the incense offering caused the jade altar to glow with a faint luster, he could distinctly sense their emotions!
Longing, curiosity, fear, confusion, calm, the desire to perform well and draw notice, the fantasy of mastering supreme martial arts as Formal Disciples and returning home in glory to fetch their parents...
Emotions and desires of every kind surged like a torrential river.
In An Jing's own heart, desires were stirred as well.
He wanted to live—and to help everyone who wished to live survive alongside him.
Unlike all the other boys and girls, he saw the purpose behind every move the Demon Sect made; he knew the sinister intentions masked behind their gentle veneers.
He believed in his own abilities and discipline, but he did not know whether proceeding down this path step by step would truly allow him to survive. He still wanted to reunite with his mother, he still wanted to find his father, and he still wanted to keep his friends alive so they could walk toward the future together...
An Jing desired greater power, to master his own destiny, and then...
To determine the direction of his own life.
*He wanted to live—to live freely!*
It was at this very moment, as the minds of all one hundred and eight youths across the twelve squads linked and a sea of desires churned—
With the twelve jade altars at its core, pale green patterns of light illuminated, spreading from the platforms across the ground and even into the air until they linked together, forming a colossal ancient formation pattern that slowly revolved above the altars.
At the head of the ritual, Manor Lord Yao stepped forward, slit his hand with a jade dagger, and splattered his blood, crying aloud: "Blood as talisman, soul as sacrifice!"
"We invite the Exalted God's orthodox method!"
Surrounding the altars in a configuration that faintly formed an even greater array, the Lecturers and team leaders all cut their hands with jade daggers, flung their blood, and shouted in chorus:
"We invite the Exalted God's orthodox method!" "We invite the Exalted God's orthodox method!" "We invite the Exalted God's orthodox method!"
For a time, like a mountain landslide and a raging sea, the vast, tumultuous swell of voices merged with a sudden surge of gale-force winds, instantly causing the white mist around Fate Valley to sink as dark clouds gathered. Though it was broad daylight, the world plunged into gloom.
Amidst this chaotic fog where heaven and earth blurred and day could not be distinguished from night—
A hazy, murky colossal hand, seemingly composed of pure black mist, reached out slowly from the depths of Suspended Fate Valley.
Then, it descended gently over the twelve jade altars.
*Clang!*
Provoked by this intrusion, all twelve jade platforms burst into brilliant light at once.
Unlike the demonic hand from the valley, these jade altars were authentic divine ritual artifacts imbued with supreme sword intent. Now stirred by the aura of the heavenly demon, they unleashed a razor-sharp sword intent in response.
Instantly, streaks of jade-green sword qi surged from deep beneath the white sand, clashing in a dead heat with the murky giant hand reaching from the valley, bursting with flares of starlight and Killing Aura that illuminated the sky above the canyon.
"It is done! Baleful demon and sword god—heaven's will turns!"
After finishing all this, everyone, including Manor Lord Yao, looked haggard and spent, yet the old man's eyes blazed with intense excitement. "Now it all depends on the fortune of these materials!
"Life or death, it rests entirely on Heaven's Mandate!"
Before Manor Lord Yao's voice even faded, due north in the grand formation, from within the Juzi squad, a radiant star abruptly rose.
That star originated from a young girl sitting cross-legged on the jade platform. She was young, slender, and frail, looking as if a gust of wind might blow her away, yet her eyes were tightly shut, her mind sunk deep into her inner realm, her expression resolute beyond measure.
The star above Bai Qinghan's head shone as bright as the moon, waxing and waning unpredictably as it radiated jade-white brilliance, suspended between the sword qi and the demonic hand.
A beam of moon-white starlight lit up behind her head, cycling into a loop and forming a halo behind Bai Qinghan's skull.
This jade-white halo rotated, manifesting a totem of waxing and waning moons that cast an indescribable hue of Mystic Yin chill. Wisps of Mystic Yin intent spilled out, condensing profound patterns in the surrounding air and coating Bai Qinghan's altar and the surrounding ground in a ring of white mist and frost.
"This is..."
At first Manor Lord Yao did not grasp what he was seeing, but ecstasy quickly overcame him. "Good, good, good! One of the Seven Destinies—the Star Baleful Extraordinary Destiny!
"A celestial star phenomenon, a dao pattern totem; the Southern Dipper in mid-sky, housing Taiyin within the body!
"This is the pattern where Yang Dies, Yin Arises—the Mystic Yin Celestial Star Destiny!"
Chapter 33