Behind every coincidence was the mystical workings of fate. Due to the snow calamity, An Jing ended up joining the demonic cult, only to successfully elude its grasp. Majesty Yang Fist ended up killed by the vilespawn fiend that was hunting An Jing down, resulting in the city closest to Direlife Manor losing its guardian adept. The scholar-official that was stationed there to be the adept's aide didn't dare to make sudden moves and chose to withdraw and maintain a stable position, no longer interceding in government affairs or tapping into connections, giving rise to opportunities for other parties in Keensight to act. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

An Jing arrived at Keensight as chaos continued to build up there, only to end up involving himself in the mess. Though he no longer feared anyone in the city given his strength, he maintained caution and wanted to see whether the scholar-officials of Grand Chen were involved with the slavers.

The reason Grand Chen was able to dominate the Northblack Sacrifice Continent was largely due to this system of mandates that gave scholar-officials power and responsibilities. Common knowledge dictated that without a lifearc, one's path on the martial path ended at the Tide Aura Stage. They would still be decent martialists, but be unable to command real change and advance to the Fortification Realm. However, there were many smart and talented martial practitioners among the populace who didn't have lifearcs. Surely, there was a way for them to keep advancing.

That was where Grand Chen's institution of mandated literati came in. Grand Chen used examinations both scholarly and martial to filter out talented people. Then, with the might of the imperial court that commanded the will of the people, they gathered the power within the sky, sea and terrestrial veins to grant landscape titles, in other words, dao mandates, to these people to lengthen their dao path, granting them wondrous abilities. By extending their dao path, the imperial court earned the loyalty of these grateful literati, who in turn served the court most faithfully. That was how the imperial court was able to expand their empire and thrive for ten thousand years.

Just like how lifearcs had different grades, the same applied to dao mandates. The equivalent mandate for the Fortification Realm was the mountain-water mandate. Martial-officials received mountain mandates while scholar-officials received water mandates. The grade above had peak mandates and river mandates which could help their bearers reach the Clearing Realm and awaken abilities. Even higher were the eight wastelands and four seas mandates, granted to intermediate officials of the court. Bearers of these mandates were equivalent to sages of the Void Divine Treasures Realm.

Naturally, there was a limited number among the mandated literati, which was distributed unevenly across Grand Chen. The closer one was to the divine capital, the more mandated literati there would be. Border regions like where Keensight was located often had a lifearc bearer as the leader that was aided by a mandated official, which created opportunities for the demonic cult to infiltrate the institutions.

"So, it seems that sects of this world either help people awaken their lifearcs or grant them powers through something like mandates to strengthen them," Yvelbane said. "In my time, arcana could be used to help regulate the five phases of people without spirit roots. If they're lucky, they would develop spirit roots too, but it's far too inconsistent and requires large numbers of spirit items. Even large sects only did it sparingly. The only advantage of that method is its relative safety.

"More unsafe ways include how the demonic cult borrowed the remnant traces of power left behind by my fight against the heavenly fiends to usurp the workings of fate to stimulate the awakening of lifearcs. Naturally, other factions have access to similar methods. Perhaps the martial and scholarly examinations are nothing but large rituals that the entire realm participates in. By the same logic, if the demonic cult or other large factions don't have an equivalent of the mandate system, they'd be eliminated."

"It's just like what you told me. While one's heavenly destiny is important, one's earthly position and human agency also play huge roles," An Jing said. "But still, their methods can't possibly measure up that well against Grand Chen's mandate system. It's the very foundation that the empire is built on."

He understood a bit about it as his father used to be a local official in his hometown and had a minor mandate as well. "Keensight's mandated official is able to utilize the power of the terrestrial veins under the city to summon deities of the landscape and use all sorts of abilities. But all that requires time to put into motion. As long as we pay attention to the terrestrial veins and plot an escape route beforehand, normal landscape mandated officials won't be able to capture us."

An Jing made these preparations just in case the mandated official was the same person as the mastermind in the background that plotted against him and Madam Huai. If they weren't, then it wouldn't be an issue, but things would be even worse in that case. Who in the world would target vagabonds or people living in solitude and show interest in the terrestrial veins of Keensight at the same time?

***

It was night time at the administrative offices of Keensight. A chubby official of Grand Chen wiped the sweat off his forehead. Zheng Mo stared intently at the scale model of Keensight that was formed with water vapor as he muttered, "It's over... The snow calamity spread to the northwest during such a crucial time and those bastards of the demonic cult are still prowling around.

"Yet, Guardian Shu's lifelight was extinguished at a time like this! If word of his death gets out, it'll cause great panic. Not to mention, there's the task that those above want me to do... Someone with black sclera and golden irises... How would I even dare to look for that? Then again, I have no choice! Am I enough to accomplish all that?"

Typically, martial-officials had the final say in border cities like Keensight. However, the former guardian adept of Keensight, Majesty Yang Fist Shu Zheng, had a strong personality and micromanaged all military affairs while Zheng Mo only wanted to spend his days in relaxation rather than tending to busywork. This was an arrangement that benefited both sides.

But then, Shu Zheng suddenly left more than a month ago alone to hunt wild beasts. It didn't take long before his lifelight shattered. His death was certain, and Zheng Mo was so terrified that he immediately locked the lightroom off and petitioned his superiors for reinforcements while he remained at the major terrestrial-vein formation, not daring to leave it for the slightest moment.

Something that can kill an adept of the Clearing Realm has to be a feral wraith or fiend! If the city gets attacked, he was the only person who could've done anything about it! Fortunately, Zheng Mo's worries subsided somewhat. The results of the investigation showed that while Shu Zheng was killed by the heavenly fiend, he most likely took it down with him. It was quite unlikely that Keensight would be faced with another similar threat anytime soon.

This came as quite a relief to Zheng Mo, but it didn't last long. His superiors received word and answered that an incredibly crucial operation was being undertaken near the city, something that he wasn't privileged to be informed about. As such, they weren't able to send an adept to his aid. Shu Zheng's absence without leave and subsequent death had greatly ruined the aforementioned plans. The typical punishment for such an infraction was a demotion or firing, but he was already dead so nothing could be done about it.

Zheng Mo, having not advised Shu Zheng against doing what he did, was just as accountable for the state of affairs, but he managed to keep that position and mandate as Grand Chen was stretched too thin to spare another official to take his post. Instead, they hoped that he would render enough merit to make up for his mistake. Zheng Mo, who ended up bearing the blame and almost lost his position out of nowhere, really wanted to complain about how unfair it was. But nobody was there to lend him an ear.

Fortunately for him, he was allowed to learn about what kind of mess that the death of Shu Zheng had caused. It was a mission that kept more than twenty prefectures near the west of Hanhai on edge. They were to locate a teenage girl with black sclera and gold irises.

"Heavens! Old Shu, why did you die? Why did you die so soon and escape the blowback for all this?!" He drew a cold breath the moment he heard about the details. He knew exactly how serious all this was. Only those from the imperial house of Grand Chen, the Celestial True Martial Xuan Clan, had peculiar eyes like those!