All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 353 - 3 Divinely Commanded An Jing (3/3)

Chapter 353: Chapter 3 Divinely Commanded An Jing (3/3)

On the other side.

"Don’t stop! Shimen Town is just ahead!"

In the snow, a man clad in gray was shouting loudly, encouraging his brothers not to fall behind, "The residents just moved away recently. We can rely on the town’s defenses!"

"Even if the demon monsters catch up, don’t be afraid, I will cover our retreat!"

Hearing his words, everyone, who was already extremely exhausted, somehow mustered up their energy and continued to press forward with effort.

The Head Escort of Hanlang Escort Agency, Xu Tai, had the Fate Pattern "Forge a Path Wherever the Mountain Stands". He had an extremely renowned nickname, called ’A Promise Worth Thousand Gold’.

When he had just returned home from the Martial Arts Academy, he had cleared out a band of longstanding bandits for his mountain hometown, crushing their stronghold and becoming famous from that battle. He became a locally renowned martial artist and used the bandits’ hidden gold as the foundation to start his own escort agency.

At first, Xu Tai’s reputation wasn’t that good because he had a strange habit: if the pay wasn’t enough by his expectations, he would absolutely refuse the job, and if forced to accept, he never guaranteed the delivery.

Whenever people criticized him for this, Xu Tai would retort, "Don’t you know how valuable your goods are, and how much they’ll attract robbers?" "How much money do you think your father’s life is worth?" "You get what you pay for; the compensation you give is exactly what effort you’ll get."

For a time, he was even called ’Money Ghost’, and the entire Hanlang Escort Agency couldn’t receive any contracts.

Until one time, a widow and her orphaned children desperately sought help to get from Hanhai back to Hongjiang.

At that time, the head of the family had been a well-known lawyer in White Mountain City, who had helped a woman win a case against a martial artist accused of rape. The opponent, a son of a locally renowned martial master, had displeased the local martial arts academy.

The lawyer himself died in a river accident, his eldest son was mysteriously killed by a carriage, and his daughter disappeared without a trace, likely meeting a tragic end, leaving only the widow and her children behind.

Because the martial arts academy was powerful, even boasting members close to the ’Grandmaster’ level of Martial Meridian, with the potential of having a Grandmaster emerge at any time, no escort agency in surrounding towns dared to take on this escort task.

Xu Tai was willing to do it, but he quoted a price of 1,500 silver.

1,500 silver, how could they gather such an amount? Although a lawyer earned well, the family had many expenses. The widow and her children scraped together everything they had, including jewelry and silver notes, amounting to less than 500 silver.

Xu Tai did not refuse them, "In that case, I can only guarantee your son’s safety."

"That is enough," said the weary and gaunt woman with a bitter smile, knowing well that her family had nearly no chance of survival and was only struggling in desperation.

Xu Tai didn’t say much after that, just led his team to set out. Knowing the dangers ahead, he repeatedly set up diversions, split the paths for disguise, and even led his men to move out alone. However, they were discovered midway and were surrounded by a group of masked martial artists in the forest.

This group of martial artists were skilled fighters and had hired loca bandits to attack with arrows. The woman died early on to a flurry of arrows, but her young son was always protected in Xu Tai’s arms.

He suffered from nine arrows and four knife wounds, single-handedly fought his way out of the encirclement, and trekked thousands of miles into the city. They were caught up again on the outskirts of the city and he broke through four Divine Abnormalities in the midst of battle, then took a boat heading south.

On the Hongjiang River, he fought a fierce battle with the last of the pursuing martial artists, eventually blasting him down the river and successfully delivered the young boy safely and healthy back to the woman’s parental home.

Since then, Xu Tai’s reputation soared and he was regarded as the martial artist most likely to break through to the level of Grandmaster around Broken Blade Mountain.

He was still the same person, delivering equivalent effort for each penny paid, but no one called him ’Money Ghost’ anymore, instead they called him ’A Promise Worth Thousand Gold’.

Everyone knew that as long as the money was paid and a promise obtained, Xu Tai would do his utmost to complete the task, even if it meant traveling thousands of miles or crossing numerous rivers and multitude of streams.

But this time, Xu Tai didn’t take any money for the task.

Due to the Frost Calamity, the strange beasts and ferocious beasts, demons, and bizarre creatures of the Broken Blade Mountains began to migrate southward in a huge wave, an event known as the "Beast Tide".

However, unlike in the stories, the beast tide avoided major human cities and would not actively attack. At most, it trampled the farmland along the way and destroyed some unprotected villages, but any small town with even a slight wall was safe from invasion.

Still, just by their presence, they could block roads, making it difficult to transport goods into cities, and because these ferocious beasts migrated in batches, the blockages could last a long time.

Linjiang City was blocked by the beast tide, and many locals from Linjiang City and the surrounding villages pooled money to purchase supplies to support Linjiang City—only needing experienced martial artists to time the waves of the beast tide correctly to bring these supplies into the city, addressing urgent needs.

Being a native to the outskirts of Linjiang City, Xu Tai naturally was entrusted with this task. This time, he didn’t take any money, just muttered, "Consider this labor fee a donation to my hometown," and then started working with his team.

This shouldn’t have been dangerous at all; with his strength, avoiding those ferocious beasts was the plan, but even if they came across a migrating horde of ferocious beasts, Xu Tai was confident he could carve a path through—unless they encountered demonic spirits as powerful as a Martial Meridian in the mountains, Xu Tai was confident.

Indeed, it seemed as if the beasts sensed that this team was not to be trifled with and skirted around them, but unexpectedly, Xu Tai and his men encountered the unexpected.

They were attacked by demon creatures.

"Demon creatures are not unusual... but why are there so many, and so strong?"

Sensing the malicious gaze behind him, Xu Tai felt like there were thorns on his back. This burly man, disheveled with a beard and a scar running from his forehead across his nose to his chin, now furrowed his brows, and even the scar on his face twisted as he cursed, "Damn it! There’s plenty of ferocious beast meat over there, why don’t they go eat that!"

In his vision, he could faintly see about a dozen strangely-posed, swiftly running bizarre demon monsters.

These demon creatures still maintained their eroded animal forms, but they were ash-gray, having lost all color, and their features collapsed into a hole. Deep in the hole, a dim light flickered, like fire or stars, sending chills down one’s spine.

These demon monsters, they ought to be "Corroded Demons," the most commonly seen demon type, originating from normal creatures corrupted by demonic Qi. Their strength varies from being less than an ordinary person to comparable to that of a martial artist with Inner Strength.

Xu Tai could handle a few without problems, but these demons were ferociously fearless, taking advantage of other demons engaging in battle to charge forth regardless of their injuries. Although Xu Tai was formidable, he too feared those with no regard for their own lives. Moreover, he was not alone this time, but accompanied by more than a dozen brothers. Naturally, he could only abandon the goods and temporarily flee.

"Strange!"

Xu Tai clenched his teeth; he was, after all, a professionally trained martial artist at the Martial Arts Academy. How could he not know the habits of these demons? Although the number of these corrupted creatures was sizable, they were randomly turned demons, and theoretically, it should not be possible for them to gather together and coordinate an attack on them. There surely was a conspiracy behind this!

Whether it was the True Demon Sect or some other, or perhaps some madman or lunatic, he didn’t know... And what they were transporting was merely ordinary food and some medicines; what was there to conspire over?

Unable to figure it out, Xu Tai suddenly felt his heart skip a beat, then without thinking, he drew his sword and turned around, lifting it diagonally. With a series of clangs, he knocked down five ice spears that carried a biting cold wind with them.

But fragments of the ice spears still grazed his cheek, leaving a trail of blood.

From afar, the demons emitted weird cries. The cold air around them swirled with their cries, forming spirals in mid-air. Within the air masses, sharp ice blades and ice spears were condensing.

They aimed at Xu Tai and his group from afar and then fired simultaneously.

"Damn it, these demon monsters can even use magic skills?!"

Xu Tai, skilled in martial arts, sustained minor injuries even when focused on in a surprise attack. His brothers from the escort agency were not so lucky. As a volley of ice spears was fired, although most managed to dodge using their martial arts, one of them got an ice spear through his thigh. The martial artist screamed as he fell, blood gushing out, his face deathly pale from the pain.

In the throes of severe pain, and relying on the visual power of a martial artist, the injured martial artist faintly saw another cold light condensing in the distance, aiming straight for his head.

Boom, boom, boom...

That muffled sound arrived, seemingly his heartbeat, or perhaps the booming of his blood rushing.

"It’s coming!"

Xu Tai also heard this sound as he faced the demons. Initially, he thought it was the rumbling caused by the demons charging together, but soon, he realized something was amiss: "Wait, this sound..."

The noise wasn’t coming from in front of him, but from behind, slightly to the side...

Boom!

But before Xu Tai could figure it out, a silver-white phantom, swift as lightning, charged from behind him, shattering all the ice spears and blades. Then, without slowing down at all, like a galloping chariot, it charged into the group of demons!

No! Xu Tai’s eyes widened as he saw the silver-white phantom abruptly disappear just before it would have collided with the demons. What appeared in its place was an extremely young figure.

This figure drew a long blade. Then, the blade flowed like water, turning into a silver arc of light that swept through the five demons in front of him.

"A master!"

Xu Tai instinctively shouted out, fully aware of the quality in that single strike from the figure.

The eyes of ordinary people, in fact, cannot see high speeds. Forget powerful crossbows or arrows, even the faster moving birds or the front ends of quickly swayed sticks and swords are unclear. What they see is a connected afterimage, a flowing streak of blade light.

But it was different for martial artists. In their eyes, ordinary powerful crossbow arrows move as if in slow motion, just like trying to catch a falling snowflake.

But even Xu Tai, a martial artist with four Divine Abnormalities, could only see a streak of blade light, proving that the figure’s sword drawing and striking speed had reached a realm— the realm of Thunder Sound!

Crack, crack, crack—Boom!

Loud as thunder, then followed by short, crisp sounds of bones snapping. Just that one arc of light, and the heads of five demons soared into the air. These demons, still puzzled, looked down as if they didn’t understand why they were separated from their bodies.

But the figure did not stop, with his body riding the momentum of the blow, he took a step forward, transforming into a silver-white whirlwind, and dashed into the demon group, cutting relentlessly, leaving a trail of severed limbs and blood.

All members of Hanlang Escort Agency were stunned, even the martial artist with a wounded thigh stopped crying out, pressing down on the wound, staring blankly as the figure effortlessly dispatched the demons that had been chasing them.

It took less than five snaps of a finger, all the demons were wiped out.

Then, the figure sheathed his blade and picked up the body of a demon, observing it while walking towards the group from Hanlang Escort Agency.

A few people twitched, as if wanting to turn and run, or perhaps instinctively to draw their swords, but Xu Tai bellowed, then threw his own sheathed sword to one side and stepped forward to greet them, calling out loudly, "I am Xu Tai from Hanlang Escort Agency. May I ask who you are, sir, and what brings you to us?"

If there’s no ill intent, the martial artists would introduce themselves. The figure raised his head, shifting his gaze from the demon, revealing a young and heroic face: "An Jing of Hanbei, heading to Linjiang City. Could you please point me in the right direction?"

"An Jing?"

At that, all those present burst into an uproar, and Xu Tai, leading them, his face scar twitching, stared at this young martial artist fitting all descriptions, almost in shock, exclaimed, "The Divinely Commanded An Jing?!"

"Yes."

An Jing assessed the reaction and knew he must be famous by now. Calmly he responded, "That’s me."