All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 557 - 159 A Flawless Plan (3200, Additional Release)

Chapter 557: Chapter 159 A Flawless Plan (3200, Additional Release)

"No. It was very early."

The You Patrol Envoy shook his head, and An Jing could sense a clear sentiment of regret from Da Chen and the Taiming Sect side—it seemed that the progress of the You Patrol Envoy’s experiments was of concern to many: "However, the essence of a Strange Mandate can still be understood."

"All those with Strange Mandates possess power beyond their Lifebound, extra abilities from the mountains and rivers, the stars, and the lakes and seas, allowing them to naturally harness the power of Heaven and Earth and control the Divine Power. The same goes for those whose Lifebound evolve into a Strange Mandate, capable of controlling the related natural forces."

"This point has always perplexed our predecessors—where exactly lies the specialty of a Strange Mandate? Abnormal Fates aspire to become more than human, so does a Strange Mandate aspire to be like Chen Xingchen and desire the mountains and seas?"

"I have conducted detailed experiments for many, many years, and in the end, I found that those with Strange Mandates possess willpower and aspirations that are completely different from ordinary people."

"Ordinary people, when oppressed by their parents or bullied by others, say they will remember for a lifetime, but in reality, they forget after a few years. Common folk aspiring to Martial Arts, regardless of their family’s conditions, if they don’t see clear progress, will completely give up after at most seven or eight years."

"But Strange Mandates are different. They remember their hatreds and love; they say they will practice martial arts or study and can continue for decades without change. Those who contempt and question them always think they will forget halfway, but in reality, once those with Strange Mandates set a goal, they will not change it for their entire lives."

At this point, the You Patrol Envoy made his judgment: "The mountains and stars represent not natural powers, but a will that can endure a long time without changing. When a Strange Mandate awakens their Fate Pattern, it’s quite like they have gone through Enlightenment. It is the Heavenly Dao valuing their perseverance and will, directly granting them power which they have realized themselves."

"In some Small Worlds, a Strange Mandate would be enough to be considered as having Heaven’s Will, qualifying as a Heavenly Mandate. No matter how bizarre the duties given by the heavens, or how many difficulties and dangers, as long as they are willing to accept, they can truly persevere. This is an extraordinary quality, which is ’firm belief’."

"Actually, the Lifebound is the same; they too have a firm belief in what they persist in. However, besides having firm belief, those with Strange Mandates have an extremely clear and unprecedented goal."

"A Lifebound Divine Craftsman simply wishes to forge. A Lifebound Divine Chef aims to cook delicious food. A Lifebound of a Thousand Troops seeks to carve a path through myriad armies—but what about a Strange Mandate? Do they certainly have to forge a Divine Weapon?"

Saying so, the You Patrol Envoy spread his arms, and An Jing saw that this envoy from the Tianyi Demon Sect was not human—his arms were a peculiar kind of translucent white Ghost, yet they had the texture of a solid body, with purplish-blue blood vessels flowing through it like dawn light, outlining layers of Formation Patterns: "No, Strange Mandates are not that simple. Any Great Craftsman with a Strange Mandate aims to do ’what has never been done before’!"

"They want to create a completely new type of weapon, a new Magical Soldier structure, a new smelting method—Lifebound is merely minor Skills, while Strange Mandates seek to establish new laws!"

"Unprecedented, impossible by others, extraordinary, incredibly unique—possessing pioneering and breakthrough developments, only such can be considered a Strange Mandate!"

"I am such a Strange Mandate."

The You Patrol Envoy made eye contact with An Jing, those were dazzling eyes, like purplish-blue starry skies, and calmly said: "Do you understand now? Strange Mandates can still be understood. But Divine Mandates are entirely different."

"Every cause and effect is converging towards you. The Mountain Patrol Envoy wants to devour you; his Fate Pattern [Blood for Blood] represents being immovable like a mountain, enduring karma, then retaliating. But in the end, he chose to act directly, violating the essence of his Fate Pattern as well as his heart. His desires are no longer ’to strike back at all who oppress him’ but have become someone who oppresses others. Having been twisted by the Divine Sect and the ways of the world, he is doomed not to become a Divine Mandate, and he cannot achieve Great Heaven’s Sanctification."

"Conversely, the Wind Patrol Envoy, whose Fate Pattern [Borrowing Energy to Reincarnate] aims to erode rocks like the wind, to gradually convert the force of a huge object into her own strength, to become her likeness. Therefore, she has chosen Da Chen as her target. As long as there exists a power stronger than hers in the world, her Fate Pattern journey will not stop."

"Strange Mandates are already nearly impossible to proliferate and cultivate, and Divine Mandates are more like a directly-named selection, a recognition and achievement by the Heavenly Dao: You may even directly receive the legacy and power seeds given by Cangtian without any education or assistance from others, and can grow and become powerful on your own. What exactly is the essence of a Divine Mandate, I truly wish to know."

"You are wrong."

Facing the You Patrol Envoy’s unabashed, nearly naked gaze, An Jing simply shook his head: "According to what you’ve said, you are now just waiting for geniuses to emerge and become Strange Mandates?"

"That’s too foolish. You need to give geniuses fertile ground, let everyone know what the predecessors have already achieved, educate them with knowledge and heritage, let them stand on the shoulders of giants—otherwise, even the talented will keep doing things like reinventing the wheel, their brilliant ideas nothing more than what the predecessors have already imagined, their creations and inspirations just a repetition of the accomplishments of the past, and thus, they can never become a Strange Mandate."

"As for Divine Mandates, although I am one, I’m not so sure myself, but I think it may be as a force at some critical historical divergence, to determine the future of the human world, which should not be in the same sequence as Strange Mandates. Only a powerful Strange Mandate, if they accomplish their goals and feats, can like a Divine Mandate, change the future course of Heaven, Earth, and all beings."

The You Patrol Envoy was silent for a while, thoughtful, and then deeply bowed to An Jing: "Worthy of being the first Divine Mandate, what you said is immensely enlightening... I see, it seems we have wasted quite a few Strange Mandate seeds in the past. Imperial Heaven will be very pleased."

The You Patrol Envoy somewhat scrambled in his self-talk, but in the end, he looked at An Jing again: "Soldier Master, An Jing. Are you willing to help me, to become a part of this great research? Although you might die, I promise, once you become stronger than me, and I become a Divine Mandate, you can use me as a test subject."

"I am already half-dead, I don’t mind sacrificing everything for the future."

—Lunatics. Why are there so many lunatics in the Tianyi Demon Sect?

An Jing’s mouth twitched slightly; he could see that both Da Chen and the envoy from the Taiming Sect had their gains. They probably invited the You Patrol Envoy expecting that he would reveal his research details in an attempt to invite An Jing, thus they could sneak a bit of understanding, but as for himself, it was absolutely impossible to accept the other party’s invitation.

Even if research was needed, it was necessary for him to oversee it—how could the You Patrol Envoy take command!

By now, the situation was clear.

All three parties harbored ill intentions; Da Chen’s side was ambiguous, unclear if they were from the Imperial Court or wenwu officials, or perhaps a privately acting Town King. Still, it was certain that they had come to capture him—to what end, An Jing did not believe they were inviting him for simply soup and tea.

Taiming Sect’s attitude towards him could be summed up in a single word: ’kill’. And the so-called research proposed by the You Patrol Envoy was likely to make him a test subject.

"I understand the goodwill of all three of you."

Taking a slight step back, An Jing instead smiled: "But obviously, I am but one person and can’t accept all three invitations at once."

"This ought to be an issue among yourselves, not for me to choose, right?"

Indeed, this was a problem.

The three parties formed a triangle, firmly encircling An Jing. Aside from sealing him off, they also were indeed wary of each other, clearly not on good terms.

Nevertheless, despite this, they maintained a superficial balance and did not show any flaws or emotional fluctuations in response to An Jing’s provocative words. The envoy from Da Chen’s side—even perhaps the incarnation of some mastermind behind the scenes—smiled thoughtfully: "You are not panicking. You still have a trump card. Let me think. You should be able to use your Thunder Sword Intent by now. And the Divine Power Token you got from Zuohuan Sect, you have been hiding and not using it—others might have forgotten by now, but we will not."

"If we show even a slight flaw, you’ll definitely have a chance to escape and turn the tables... but we will not give you such an opportunity."

"You might as well try now, An Jing, to see if your Divine Power Token is still functional."

There was no need for him to say.

From the very beginning, the moment An Jing saw the first shadow, he had already been trying to activate the Primordial Spirit Sword Lotus, to see if he could use the Annihilation Sword Intent to slice through this trap space and call for help from Chenyinzi.

Unfortunately, the nature of the Divine Power Token is to utilize the surrounding Heaven and Earth Power, transforming it into specific Divine Powers. Essentially, it’s like a printing plate; as long as it has ink, it can print the same Skills and Divine Powers. Some Divine Power Tokens are one-time use, wearing out to a blur after one impression, and never capable of being used again.

The Annihilation Sword Intent imprinted in the Primordial Spirit Sword Lotus is profound. To the point that under the care of Subdue Evil, it is nearly indestructible, becoming an integral structure of the Primordial Spirit Sword Lotus, continually growing stronger with its growth. Even so, the printing plate is still a printing plate—without the ink of Heaven and Earth Power, it cannot be used like a Divine Repository True Person who can activate Divine Skills with the power within his own Formation Realm.

An Jing suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Kneeling on one knee, murky Thunder Light flowed out with golden-red blood from his seven orifices, dripping onto the ground bit by bit.

"Haha, no need to try."

Seeing this, Da Chen’s envoy laughed happily: "This place is a fragment of the Netherworld formed when the Divine Court was annihilated by the Demon Disaster, forbidding Divine Skill. Even a Divine Skill True Person can only use power from within their own Formation Realm."

"It surprises me you can vomit blood; this shows you can exert some force... What is your Divine Abnormality, that before reaching Martial Meridian you can faintly draw upon the Heaven and Earth True Intent? Is this the Emperor’s Divine Mandate? Truly remarkable!"

"But this is a flawless plan, and you can hardly escape."

"Hmph..."

The Taiming Sect side watched An Jing, sneering lightly: "Go ahead and try. It is futile."

"The longer you stay here, the weaker you become. Divine Mandate requires the support of heaven and earth, and in this place, you will have no such support."

Really no support?

An Jing did not know this because he was of the Heavenly Mandate, not Divine Mandate, and at the same time, the Great Void stirred waves of fluctuations, causing a slight shock among all three parties present, and An Jing also looked up, somewhat surprised, towards where the Great Void fluctuated.

Unfortunately, the arrival was not the reinforcements he hoped for.

It was the Immaculate Wood and Weng Cuiyu.