All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 284 - 145 Do You Know about the Heavenly Mandate? (1/3)

Chapter 284: Chapter 145 Do You Know about the Heavenly Mandate? (1/3)

Half a month passed, and the Great Void Altar once again began to operate, and it would probably be able to store full energy by noon tomorrow.

With the plan on the verge of success, everyone was rather relaxed. Mingguang Dust brought some of the Bright Mirror Sect’s Spiritual Wine and began to drink with Jin Yanhua.

An Jing too was forced by Jin Yanhua to drink a cup of low-concentration—unexpectedly the Spiritual Wine was refreshing, but upon entering his stomach, a wave of heat arose, spreading a cozy warmth that made him involuntarily hold his breath in tranquility, circulating his Spiritual Power, digesting the vitality brought by the unknown Spiritual Wine, and dispersing the recent accumulation of stagnation and fatigue from his intense period of cultivation.

In the end, he used his Pathogenic Qi Swordsmanship to directly expel the muddled alcoholic fumes, piercing through the ground.

"Oh? You’ve already gained an understanding of Spells from Divine Skill?"

Witnessing this scene, Jin Yanhua, more lively than usual due to the alcohol, raised an eyebrow: "I’ve encountered many geniuses from the Central Continent in the East Sea, quite a few of whom could comprehend Divine Skills upon awakening their Fate Patterns, indicating a high affinity with the Great Dao."

"But those who can comprehend Art of Magic from Divine Skills in three years are few and far between... it requires pure imagination and creativity!"

Saying so, Jin Yanhua pointed at Mingguang Dust and laughed: "Of course, it doesn’t matter if you don’t comprehend it. Your master doesn’t have much imagination, but he is a steadfast cultivator. Those Daoist Disciples and Heaven’s Chosen, if left to rely on themselves without the resources of their family background, would never be able to compete with him."

"You flatter me," said Mingguang Dust, drinking another cup of wine. His expression was steady, but his tone grew somewhat bolder: "Although I can’t compare to those from the Upper Gate’s Heavenly Ancestor Sects, among the Middle Gate... I dare say I can indeed vie for first place."

Jin Yanhua snapped her fingers, flicking a cup of wine toward Mingguang Dust: "No guts! As an Endless Heavens Traveler, why should you and I compare ourselves to ordinary people!"

With a hundred transformations of Liuguang in his hands, he caught the wine cup, Mingguang Dust helplessly drank it down and shook his head, "Sister, you are the daughter of the Dragon God, I’m just an ordinary person without so many grand ambitions. Leading the Sect to greater heights is already the limit for me."

"No backbone!" "Would you, missy, stop yelling."

After bickering for a bit, she and Mingguang Dust gave some encouragement to An Jing and You Ruhui, then they began to discuss the political situation of the two continents.

It was all fine until they touched upon politics. Once they did, the two went on a ramble, scolding the Shangxuan Sect for its inaction and the internal conflicts within Da Chen that complicated the situation in North Mysterious Sacrifice Continent, and griping about the diminishing ling fish in the East Sea. With fishing sects lacking progress and not improving cultivation techniques, they needed an iron fist to spur change and so on...

Watching this scene, An Jing felt an itch in the depths of his soul, as memories of middle-aged people gossiping over drinks seemed to revive within him.

It was in the midst of this banter that An Jing learned about the specific duties of Mingguang Dust and Jin Yanhua.

Mingguang Dust was a True Transmission of the eight peaks of the Bright Mirror Sect, the active vice Peak Master of Dawn Brightness Peak, the master of the Dawn Light Palace, and an elder of the enforcement hall, eligible to listen to Lord Cheng Guang’s teachings at Bright Mirror Peak—an essential core of the Bright Mirror Sect.

His daily responsibility was to oversee the borderlands of Dust Li in the south, which was the northwest area of Da Chen, a position that was laid back yet powerful, thus he had the opportunity to come to Da Chen, to join hands against the Heaven’s Will Demon Sect, and to support You Ruhui.

Jin Yanhua’s responsibilities, however, were much heavier.

"I am the Divine General in charge of the Eastern Sea Campaign against demons for the Dao Alliance of the Central Continent, tasked with exterminating the Man-Eating Demonic Spirits and Four Seas Demons, protecting the safety of Thousand Islands, and assaulting strongholds of Demon Sects like the Heaven’s Will Cult," revealed Jin Yanhua, her position befitting her temperament: "Actually, to outsiders, I am currently in a temporary stronghold undergoing secluded cultivation. Short term is fine, but if it exceeds ten days, and if I’m unable to return a message to the East Sea military headquarters, things will get a bit troublesome."

"Fortunately, I had already dealt with the target, the stronghold of the Heaven’s Will Demon Sect, so even if I didn’t respond, the military wouldn’t give me too hard a time, considering I have the Ancestral Dragon Hall at my back,"

"The stronghold of the Heaven’s Will Demon Sect? In the Central Continent’s East Sea?"

Hearing this, An Jing couldn’t help but feel there was something strange: "Wasn’t it said that the Shangxuan Sect had already driven the forces of the Heaven’s Will Demon Sect out of the Central Continent? How do they still have so many strongholds?"

"The insect with a hundred legs doesn’t stiffen when it’s dead, let alone the Heaven’s Will Demon Sect that is alive and well. If one is destroyed, another appears. It’s an endless cycle,"

Jin Yanhua took a sip of her drink and chewed on a piece of Iron Essence, which was a snack she used to replenish the Weapon Fiend inside her body. She said somewhat indistinctly, "The enemy I actually faced in the East Sea was not the Heaven’s Will Demon Sect but the Blood Sea Demon Sect... It’s also a blessing that the Demon Sects often brawl amongst themselves, which saves me some trouble."

An Jing had never imagined that the forces of the Heaven’s Will Cult could actually span continents... But thinking about it more carefully, it made some sense since they only had some strongholds in the ancestral homeland, which was still reasonable.

Unlike the Shangxuan Sect that even had several Daoist temples within the territories of sects like Da Chen.

"Don’t underestimate the Upper Gate,"

Jin Yanhua swallowed the Iron Essence and said earnestly, "Each Upper Gate has its own contingency plans, and they have all contended with the Heavenly Ancestor... And the Heavenly Ancestor has its weak moments. Even the Shangxuan Sect has experienced decline, and the Heaven’s Will Demon Sect separated during one of those times."

"However, the Shangxuan Sect managed to be reborn from the ashes, turning misfortune into a blessing, and has survived several major tribulations, but other sects haven’t been so lucky."

"Speaking of which,"

Jin Yanhua, buoyed by the liquor, spoke in a way that made An Jing perk up: "Do you know about the Heavenly Mandate?"

"Ah, the Heavenly Mandate,"

An Jing kept a composed look but was entirely tensed up, and he naturally responded, "Of course, I know... but only that it exists, I’m not clear on the specifics."

"Heh, there are four Heavenly Mandates, but they are known by five names!"

After drinking, Jin Yanhua seemed to transform into another person, becoming like an old soldier in the military formation, starting to boast and show off: "And the more common ones are the ’Nature Master,’ ’Lord of the World,’ and ’Seven Fiend Tribulation!’"

"Among them, the Nature Master is one who widely transmits a technique, paving new paths, and founding new doctrines, like the Daoist Disciple from Tianji Mountain forty thousand years ago, who observed ants controlled by fungi and created the Puppetry path, giving martial cultivators another route to pursue."

"The Lord of the World is a bit more special, as it is a Heavenly Mandate that is granted only after one achieves great feats... The holder was the founder of the ’Divine Court’ from your North Star’s previous generation of sects. He unified the North Mysterious Sacrifice Continent, the heavens responded, the Heavenly Mandate was bestowed, and for nearly ten thousand years, the North Mysterious Continent lived in harmonious and peaceful times, free from the demonic miasma of great calamities, and the Divine Court developed to its pinnacle under his reign."

"Both the Shangxuan Sect and the Da Chen Dynasty want to obtain this Heavenly Mandate by uniting this continent... As of now, it seems Da Chen has no chance,"

At this point, the Dragon Lady clicked her tongue, expressing a subtle tone: "Although the Shangxuan Sect is indeed fair in its actions, if the ’Heavenly Court’ is forged and our Ancestral Dragon Hall integrates into it, we might manage to rule over the southeastern seas, but we wouldn’t be able to relax and enjoy ourselves as we do now..."

"What about unifying Embracing the Void?" An Jing, deeply interested, inquired further: "To rule a continent is to be the Lord of the World, so what kind of Heavenly Mandate would be bestowed for unifying Embracing the Void?"