Was he really the best-qualified one in this batch?
Raising an eyebrow, An Jing looked around and found it was just as he thought.
In front of the manor was a treeless clearing about two hundred chi across. It had presumably been made to guard against invasion by mountain beasts and evil creatures, and also to keep the manor's people from escaping.
Twenty or thirty wagons were parked in the clearing, and many more were still approaching through the mountain forest—the very large convoy he belonged to.
And he was the first person to climb down from any of the wagons.
The others were still dizzy and unwell, and frightened at arriving in a completely unfamiliar, remote, closed-off place. It was only natural that they hesitated to get out.
That was what An Jing thought, but he did not keep a low profile afterward.
"Thank you for the praise, my lord."
He openly studied the manor before him and replied to the One-Eyed Leader's praise: "Is this where we'll be living from now on?"
The manor, set among uninhabited mountains, gave off an air of grim severity. It stood towering amid encircling forests and ridges, and its incongruous strangeness was not an eerie haunting but a grand, imposing menace.
It was like looking down into an abyss from a steep, perilous cliff—even with no ghosts or monsters, one would still feel afraid.
But An Jing narrowed his eyes slightly and found the source of that grim feeling: the plaque over the manor gate.
Suspended Fate Manor.
The characters on the plaque were vigorous and forceful, faintly conveying a soul-subduing divine intent that shook the heart.
"Man is born of Earth, and his fate hangs from Heaven; when Heaven and Earth join their qi, it is called man..."
Many associations surfaced in his mind, and An Jing murmured to himself, "Fate is bestowed by Heaven alone, and so it hangs from Heaven..."
"Heh, so he really is a scholar."
Looking at An Jing, who seemed drawn in by the manor, the One-Eyed Leader was in a fine mood, feeling he had found a treasure.
For this Frost Calamity in the Northern Frontier, they had sent out nine groups to gather eligible disaster-stricken children in various places.
By custom, whoever discovered a child who ultimately awakened a Destiny Pattern would receive a generous reward.
But children who could awaken a Destiny Pattern were rare.
In all the trials so far, those who finally awakened a Destiny Pattern had never exceeded the fingers of one hand. He himself had failed his own trial years ago.
Often a team would gather twenty or thirty eligible children and not a single one would awaken a Destiny Pattern; apart from the regular pay, the whole team received no extra reward.
But An Jing was different.
He was extraordinarily gifted, exceptionally sharp-minded, and dared to bargain with them.
To save his mother, he had dared to sell himself, and dared to kill wicked people and use their heads to intimidate others.
His body was tough, able to withstand a full quarter-hour of Soul-Calming Incense.
Now An Jing was the first to withstand the jolting and the drug's effects, to overcome the fear of arriving in a strange place, to dare step out of the wagon ahead of the rest, and to gaze without fear at the two characters "Suspended Fate" written in the Northern Inspection Envoy's own hand.
That ruthlessness toward himself in his bones, that merciless cruelty from the bottom of his heart, his peerlessly gifted body, and that spirit daring to contend with Heaven for his fate—his chances of awakening a Destiny Pattern were far greater than those of the other children.
The One-Eyed Leader felt that after so many unlucky years, he at least had something guaranteed this time.
Not to mention, the boy might become his superior someday, so naturally he should be a little more cordial.
About half a quarter-hour later, other children began to straggle out of the wagons.
Most were stiff and cautious. After nervously surveying their surroundings, they lowered their eyes to their feet and did not dare move freely.
An Jing counted calmly from the side. Once everyone had assembled, and before anyone came from inside the manor to open the gate, he arrived at a number: "Two hundred and fifty-three people..."
The total number of children gathered in this batch was two hundred and fifty-three.
A few of them were special: a group of riders had "escorted" them down from the wagons. They wore black clothes of a uniform style, and they gave An Jing a peculiar impression, set apart from the ordinary children.
Their status was clearly higher than the riders', and even a leader like the One-Eyed Leader was quite respectful to them.
"Have they already awakened a Destiny Pattern?" An Jing wondered as the manor's main gate opened.
"Vice-Envoy Yao!"
The newcomer was the manor's lord, an old man people called Vice-Envoy Yao.
He stood perfectly straight, his face pale and his gaze cold and sinister. His appearance had the gaunt, withered thinness peculiar to the dying, and the tips of his white hair gave off a faint green glow, exactly like the light deep in his pupils. A casual glance from him made one's whole body go cold.
All the leaders bowed respectfully to him, then stepped forward to report their name lists and other routine matters.
After confirming the lists, Vice-Envoy Yao nodded in satisfaction. He raised his eyes and swept them over the children before him.
At once, fear rose in every child's heart. It was like seeing some brightly colored venomous creature: if they moved carelessly, it would leap into their arms. In an instant they were drenched in sweat, not daring to breathe.
But this was only instinctive intimidation; Vice-Envoy Yao had not meant to frighten anyone.
On the contrary, he even forced out a smile that had nothing to do with kindness, nodded to them all, and only then waved them inside.
"First wash up, then change clothes. After roll call, you'll eat. Once everyone has recovered, I'll have the Medicine Hall examine you all again... You'll rest for a time, and when you're confirmed to meet the requirements, training and the trials will begin."
Because An Jing had been the first to step down from a wagon, he stood at the very front of the line, behind only the five rider leaders and Vice-Envoy Yao—a kind of "leader" in a certain sense.
So his overly keen senses let him hear Vice-Envoy Yao giving instructions to the servants nearby, and the arrangements being made for him and the others.
Wash and change, eat and rest... and then training and the trials.
The earlier parts were all normal. The trials... so this really was some mysterious organization's process for selecting members?
But what did it actually mean?
While An Jing was pondering this, Vice-Envoy Yao, at the very front, suddenly stopped and turned to look at him. "Is this the one with the best aptitude in this batch?"
An Jing was caught off guard and stared blankly at the old man, but soon, without fear, he smiled and replied, "Greetings, Elder Yao."
"Heh." The old man stared at An Jing and let out an ambiguous laugh.
In the end, Vice-Envoy Yao did not respond to An Jing's greeting; he merely stroked his beard and walked on.
After this interlude, An Jing sensed many gazes fixed on his back.
The children did not know where they had come or what they would face, so naturally they instinctively focused on the "best-qualified" An Jing.
They wanted to see just who had drawn the manor lord's special attention.
An Jing's appearance was indeed good. Long months as a disaster refugee had left him too thin, but his frame was excellent and held his shape well. Seen roughly from behind, he resembled a young, lean tiger or an agile leopard—worthy of the name of first.
But not all of it was goodwill or mere observation—everyone knew that once someone became first, whether truly or not, there would always be people who wanted to take his place.
Scanning from the corner of his eye, An Jing found several gazes that held a little more hostility or desire to challenge him.
"Heh, there's always someone who won't accept it."
Feeling the many gazes of different kinds converge on him, An Jing raised his eyebrows. His nature had never had anything to do with humility; at most he was cautious, unwilling to expose himself for an empty reputation.
Before acting, he concealed himself; once he acted, he went all out.
Since he was already exposed, why not take the empty reputation? Besides, in the training and trials to come, being first might bring quite a few extra benefits.
He would take things as they came.
Chapter 5