The Ashes of Fate - Chapter 1: An Jing

Translator – SynthSoon

The clouds and mountains were of one color, both the wind and frost were freezing, everything was coated in white as far as the eye can see.

Miles of flying snow fell from the sky, and even the century-old pines were swaying with layers of white frost, as if the snow was trying to bend the backs of every living being.

The great river meanders and undulates endlessly, but when it was frozen in frost, it was like a silver dragon trapped in a cage, unable to stretch its wings and forced to prostrate itself under the continuous white mountains.

Hoo…

The sound of a cruel wind came from the far north, wobbling the wind and clouds, pummeling the people.

While the snow fell mistily from the sky, covering the fields.

It brushed over the distant mountains, deserted towns, crimson battlefields and the corpses strewn about… Finally, it enveloped a procession running on the ice road.

Accompanied by the rolling thunder of hoofbeats, a team of riders escorting a few large carriages galloped.

The snow was like a knife, always sharp and bright, but also cold to the bone. Although the forests on both sides of the river are covered with such ice crystals, they still stood tall.

As the riders broke through the snow, the ice crystals trembled and fell, joining the quiet of the sunset.

Their goal was the large mountainous city in front of them – the northern border, Ming Shan City.

Outside of Ming Shan City, a camp of vagrants.

A few withered stragglers were gathered around a campfire, staring blankly at the cauldron roasting on the fire.

The water inside the pot was close to boiling, releasing a burst of meaty aroma, attracting passers-by and greedy eyes.

The people squatting by the campfire chatted about mundane topics, if they saw someone approaching, they would shout at them, and if they dared to talk back, they would stand up.

A few held sharp wooden spears in unison, their eyes glowing green like dire wolves, so most avoided this area.

The pot of soup boiled and the smell of meat became stronger and stronger, the eyes and movements around the campfire grew more and more eager, gulping and salivating.

But with the ground tremors, it seemed the dark shadows galloping in the distance were coming closer and closer.

When these hungry people lifted their heads, the hooves of the iron wrapped horses had already trampled the simple wooden fences and leapt over the crude shacks to reach them.

The vagabonds screamed to avoid it, but the pot could not. The horses’ hooves stamped down, extinguishing the fire, overturning the pot, and splashing the water.

The pot of broth tumbled to the side and spilled all over the floor.

A slab of meat tumbled from the pot, soft and crumbling, from the size of the bones it was a child’s hand.

Then it was trampled into mush by subsequent gallops.

Rumble rumble rumble ……

Not far away from the shack, a thin figure with a surprisingly strong frame, as if he was a starved tiger, perked up his ears.

He was originally concentrating on a tile pot sitting on a simple stove, some basic herbs were scattered around, and the medicinal juice boiled in the tile pot exuded a bitter flavor.

After hearing the sound of the horses’ hooves, he slowly stood up and looked in the direction where the sound came from.

The young man’s hair was disheveled, and he had a sword hanging from his waist. His thin flesh and blood stuck to his fine bones, even though he looked like a skeleton, he still had a jagged and sharp look to him.

His eyes were extremely sharp, his breathing was steady, and his fists were clenched, etched with tiny calluses.

An Jing watched the caravan of riders that had broken into the camp with rapt attention.

The horses were tall and beautiful northwestern warhorses, they had long necks, powerful legs, and chest muscles and hooves strong enough to crush any being that dared to stand in their way.

As they stepped into the center of the camp, the riders dismounted, and then began to carry down the wagons of supplies to form a simple camp.

“Jing’er, ahem, what are you looking at?”

A woman’s voice came from behind An Jing.

“Mother.”

An Jing turned around and looked at his mother.

She was a tall, elegant woman. In the frost-ravaged Northern Territories, it was hard to find a person who wasn’t thin and decadent, even though she was thin, her eyes were filled with spirit.

However, this spirited woman could only lie under a blanket, and she had to gasp and cough to even speak a word

She wasn’t always this weak. Five days ago, on the way to Ming Shan City, their party encountered horse bandits, An ShenShi killed seven of them, but during the final fight with the bandit leader she faltered, wounding her pulmonary artery.

Luckily, An Jing had finished off his own opponent and pounced onto the bandit leader. He strangled him to death and cut his head off with one swift motion, scaring off the bandits.

But it was too late, An’s mother was seriously wounded, her internal breathing was so disorganized that she couldn’t breathe well, she wasn’t certain how many more days she can last in this camp with no medicine and no food.

“I’m going to see if I can get some food.”

An Jing turned his head and looked at the caravan, subconsciously licking his lips, however his cold and cracked lips weren’t moistened by saliva, instead they blossomed and bled with blood.

He licked off the blood and said in a slow, but determined tone, “There’s food in that caravan. It’s rice.”

“Maybe there’s even medicine.”

“I’m afraid I can’t ……” An ShenShi’s eyes were bleak, she knew her son was trying to find a way to save her.
But she was also very familiar with her situation, she knew if there wasn’t healing medicine for the lungs and heart to straighten her Qi veins, she would only hold out for three days at most.

In this northern border of frost, cold and war, even if there were kind-hearted people willing to help, they wouldn’t have that kind of medicine.

She didn’t want her child to waste his time in vain, and hoped that he could stay with her for a little while longer during her last hours.

However, An Jing had an idea of his own, and seeing his mother’s intention, he interrupted first by picking up a bowl, “Mother, drink this bowl of medicine first.”

“Chopped White Spotted Grass and boiled with Old Qi Root, although simple, it can more or less replenish your lost Qi and blood, it’ll stabilize your condition.”

An ShenShi took the bowl from An Jing’s hand and drank it all in one gulp, although it was bitter, she did feel a bit more refreshed after the hot herbal juice went down her throat.

When she put down the bowl, An Jing had already taken a step in the direction of the caravan.

An Jing was no ordinary boy from the Northern Territories.

Ever since he was a child, he often had strange dreams.

He dreamed of tall buildings, spreading like a forest of trees, made of steel and concrete, each one taller than all the houses in the county put together.

He also dreamed of iron birds called airplanes, which went straight into the clouds and crossed the sky in ten directions, faster than all the birds in the mountains combined.

Or some terrifying bombs that exploded like the sun.

Thousands of such suns once shone onto the earth, almost burning up the whole world.

The DaChen Realm was all about fate, and sometimes it was said the stars would come down to the earth. Having awakened a part of his innate wisdom, An Jing performed extremely well since he was a child, and naturally, his family regarded him as a star from heaven. They gave An Jing the best education, both in literature and Martial Arts.

However, no matter how strong a mortal’s wisdom or power is, it couldn’t stop the devastating Frost Scourge that swept across the entire northern border and the Northern Barbarians that came down in large numbers to the south.

As a child, An Jing was still unable to do many things, and his mother’s injury was a result of his powerlessness.

But human effort can achieve anything.

Even if there was only a small possibility, An Jing would try to cure his mother.

When he got close to the riders’ camp, he heard an announcement.

“Listen up!”

Among a group of riders on tall horses, a brightly dressed one-eyed rider was shouting.

Beside him, the other riders were all armed with swords and armor, and had solemn and murderous attitudes. They looked around with indifference at the surrounding vagrants who didn’t dare approach.

The one-eyed rider shouted: “My family’s lord is compassionate and kind, he cannot bear to see you all waiting for death outside the city, that is why we are now buying servants with food !”

“Teenagers under fourteen years of age are the best, but if you meet the qualifications , those at sixteen years of age or less will also be accepted!”

“If the requirements are met, one person will be paid one bucket of rice!”