The Bright Mirror Sect, after all, is a grand faction with a long history, having produced some Divine Mandates in great calamities, and thus, they are somewhat knowledgeable about the secrets of Divine Mandates.
First and foremost, though Divine Mandates are powerful, they absolutely cannot lead a ’peaceful’ life.
Every Divine Mandate is a seed most concerned by the Heavenly Dao. If Mortal Fates are randomly assigned numbers and Strange Mandates are the elite that emerge from those numbers, then every Divine Mandate has a title, along with a specific chain of tasks and objectives.
Moreover, the people chosen by the Heavenly Dao are always those who are obsessive and determined, first-rate Martial Artists who are dedicated to accomplishing great things. Even if by chance a common person were chosen, the Heavenly Dao would have plenty of ways to turn a mediocre pawn into a person determined to stir up the winds and clouds.
Therefore, when An Jing brought nearly a thousand traitors back to the sect and cast their skulls into the Capital Observatory, many of the upper echelons of the Bright Mirror Sect were not particularly surprised.
Jiuli Commanding General, well, normal, normal. If he had returned without killing anyone, everyone would indeed find it a bit odd.
This is how it should be, beheading to cast the Capital Observatory, this is the fearsome Fiend Destiny they are familiar with!
As for the subsequent phenomena of the Divine Mirror, though it startled other sects, the upper echelons of the Bright Mirror Sect were mentally prepared.
—If this child is truly the Man of Destiny for the future of our Bright Mirror Sect, the Haotian Mirror Fragment will certainly react... perhaps even become unusually active.
The Haotian Mirror is dormant most of the time in the deepest part of the Bright Mirror Cave Heaven, guarded by Lord Cheng Guang. Even if Lingxiao made a move, he might not be able to break through this line of defense before the Bright Mirror Sect has a chance to send away the Haotian Mirror Fragment.
As long as it remains unmoved, there will be no flaws.
But if the Haotian Mirror Fragment awakens due to An Jing and begins to operate proactively, then it will inevitably become the center of the Cave Heaven Formation of the Bright Mirror Sect, which could be influenced by some ’Dark Hands’ within some sects and formations.
This, indeed, is the opportunity for those numerous inside agents.
So, what will this Divine Mandate do next?
Will he challenge other True Transmission members within the sect, or announce his intention to join the ’Purification Action’, actively hunting down the inner sect traitors?
Much like the Haotian Mirror Fragment, if it remains still, there are no flaws; once it moves, opportunities arise. An Jing is the same. If he stays under the protection of the main peak, indeed no one dares to take action, but if he takes the initiative, he will expose his weak points and create opportunities to strike.
And a Divine Mandate is almost certainly the type who will not remain inactive, so although the sect may appear calm now, in truth, everyone is quietly waiting for An Jing to make his move.
—Will he challenge the True Transmission of the Eight Peaks, aiming to defeat the younger generation of the Bright Mirror Sect entirely, or will he go to the Hall of Dharma Transmission, to comprehend the ancient ultimate skills that have remained unmastered for hundreds or even thousands of years?
—Will he join the purification, find our inside agents’ flaws? If he really finds them, how will we respond?
Some are nervous, even on edge.
Some inside agents are swallowing hard, clenching their fists, waiting for An Jing’s choice and ’verdict’; others have designed various traps, preparing hooks and conspiracies, from ’brainless provocateurs’ to ’gossipy villains’, just waiting for An Jing to take the bait!
Hehe, considering An Jing’s age and youthful temperament, encountering the wretches and villains they have prepared to provoke him, he would definitely not hold back, leading to numerous contradictions and conflicts, making the already chaotic situation of the Bright Mirror Sect even more disordered!
Everything is prepared, just waiting for An Jing to press the start button.
An Jing: Haha, I won’t move. I will plant trees.
This choice confused many people.
At first, some people thought An Jing was creating a false front—saying he would plant trees, but merely for appearances, as if disguising and practicing, surely preparing for something significant behind the scenes. How could someone who kills a thousand people upon entering the sect do nothing but plant trees after joining?
But, even after a few days, even the most determined ’An Jing is preparing for something significant’ supporters had to admit that An Jing was indeed seriously planting trees.
Each of the fifty Children of Calamity on Mingguang Peak chose a place they liked and deemed suitable and planted their ’Evergreen Wood Seedlings’.
This Spirit Plant didn’t seem particularly precious, and its Spirit Qi reaction wasn’t significant, but it was surprisingly easy to cultivate.
From current observations, all fifty seedlings survived, even those planted in cracks in the stone took root and grew happily, completely different from those Spirit Plants that wither immediately upon being stepped on in the medicinal garden by careless Spirit Plant farmers.
And it was apparent that An Jing wasn’t playing around. He seriously monitored these seedlings every day, even applying fertilizers based on different circumstances and different planting locations, observing all the growth data of the seedlings.
No one knew where these seedlings and fertilizers came from. According to An Jing, they were all left by his master, Mingguang Dust, but listening to this, anyone who believed it was a fool.
[Can we get hold of this seedling? A leaf would suffice]
Finally, someone couldn’t hold back and prepared to take action, namely the inside agents aligned with the Taiming Sect. They absolutely did not believe An Jing was just planting trees for no reason: [I must see what’s special about this Spirit Plant!]
[It’s very difficult. An Jing never leaves Mingguang Peak, the Great Formation is always operational, it’s impossible to sneak in]
The Taiming Sect Martial Artist coordinating with them was also troubled: [If An Jing wasn’t around, it wouldn’t be a problem, but he has already gained the authorization of the Peak Master of Bright Mirror Sect, there’s no way for us to act around him]
[There will always be a way]
The inside agent fell into deep thought.
Besides the Evergreen Wood, there were also fifteen Engineering Puppetry that many were interested in.
As a large organization, the Bright Mirror Sect naturally had a hierarchy, with many outer sect disciples maintaining the normal operations of the sect, performing physical labor, such as mining Spirit Stones, collecting Spiritual Materials, forging Magical Soldiers and Artifacts, creating talismans and elixirs, and maintaining various sect facilities.
The inner sect disciples held more important roles, responsible for maintaining the Great Formation, assisting in research in the Pill Palace and Talisman Hall, and performing physical labor. After all, outer sect disciples couldn’t access crucial areas within the sect, so reliable individuals were needed for some tasks.
Only True Transmission disciples had enough freedom to either oversee work, manage areas, sit in the hall for research, or carry out Martial Arts improvements or new Magical Soldier and elixir developments.
Clearly, for a sect, only the inner sect and True Transmission were the true core strength. The outer sect disciples were mostly a talent pool, their work not only lack significance but also severely drained their cultivation energy, delaying talents that needed seclusion for achievements.
However, employing common people for work within the sect was impractical due to their weakness, who couldn’t even withstand the spirit pressure from Spirit Land, rendering the sect full of holes, not really a good option.
Under such circumstances, Engineering Puppetry were the best choice.
They could free up the time for outer sect and inner sect Martial Artists, allowing more people to focus on cultivation, thus producing more Martial Artists, efficient, without concerns of betrayal and leakage, truly a multiple-benefit matter.
Currently, because of technological immaturity, Engineering Puppetry prices remained high, preventing widespread adoption.
But the Engineering Puppetry An Jing possessed seemed like they came off an assembly line, extremely orderly, completely different from those handcrafted Puppetry.
Just as some people were interested in the Evergreen Wood, some inside agents were more interested in the Puppetry technology: [Need to find an excuse to enter Mingguang Peak to observe these Puppetry closely... but how to get in?]
At this moment, the inside agents of the Taiming Sect also thought of a solution, chuckled: [Since An Jing doesn’t move, won’t come to us, then we’ll go to him!]
[The True Inheritance Competition is about to start, I imagine many True Transmission disciples within the sect would like to meet their ’peer expert’!]
[At that time, there will be ample opportunity to figure out what our Chief An is up to!]