Destiny in Cinders

Even though the bell looked small and not fully formed, they could see the clear underlying principles. An Jing was actually controlling spirit and lethal qi freely even before he reached the Fortification Realm.

"You're actually able to give form to qi... And it's in the form of golden yang... Is this the Qiform Arsenal ability?!" Overseer Cao said in a hushed voice. "Also, the way you're gathering the qi together does resemble formations somewhat... Did you actually awaken the secrets to this ability when you saw the major terrestrial-vein formation?!"

"Oh, not bad!" Ming Guangchen exclaimed with a laugh. "Forming a weapon with the yang aspect and giving it form with the metal aspect! I had thought that the insights you gained were related to martial cultivation. Who knew that they were actually related to the divine armament's formation instead... Qiform Arsenal. That's good!"

"You flatter me too much." An Jing smiled as he scattered the bell in his hand. He had already thought of a way to bluff others about the true nature of his awakening when he heard that others misunderstood that his insights were from witnessing the major terrestrial-vein formation. Qiform Arsenal would link his insights to the divine armament, while a part of Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal's power would carry echoes of a formation and its many seals. It wasn't hard for him to put these together in a convincing manner. He had much to thank his lifearc for too, with how it allowed him access to blood lethal qi and Evenstar qi. The combination of fire and metal could just barely pass as the solar aspect of yang.

"You found an amazing disciple indeed," Overseer Cao said with an exasperated sigh. "Take him away."

"Huh?" Ming Guangchen raised his brow and asked, "Why would I need to take him away?"

Just let me go man! If you do, I'll call you Uncle! An Jing really didn't want to be scrutinized so heavily by either of those sages. Alas, this was not his decision to make. All he could do was quietly wait. He also had a feeling that Ming Guangchen had something in mind that wasn't necessarily bad for him.

As expected, Sage Mystic Mirror had a convincing explanation. "Even though my disciple came to look into heavenly fiends at Keensight at my instruction, he managed to kill many fiend followers on his own accord. He should be rewarded for that, don't you think? Also, you promised me earlier that if Jing Xuan's dao insights had something to do with the divine armament, you'll borrow it and let him take a look."

Then, Ming Guangchen feigned surprise. "Wait, don't tell me you weren't intending on keeping your word in the first place?!"

"Hmm... Very well." Overseer Cao regretted running his mouth earlier. Then again, while the divine armament wasn't his, it would be fine as long as he wrote Zheng Mo a slip about borrowing it. Shaking his head, he said, "You're just as miserly as the rumors make you out to be."

Overseer Cao traced a talisman sigil in the air. Lightning appeared in the surrounding environment and formed into a pulsing talisman, which he tossed at An Jing. It turned into a plain light-green lightning talisman.

"I have other things to attend to, so our conversation ends here." Overseer Cao turned back to Ming Guangchen and warned, "Consider you and your compatriots warned. Do not interfere."

This wasn't a matter that the five Dustdawn Sects could dip their hands into unless they were ready for full-on conflict.

"Voidsight Mountain wishes our friends of Grand Chen our best regards," Sage Mystic Mirror said with a smile.

Overseer Cao scoffed at the nonbinding promise and disappeared into a bolt of lightning, leaving Sage Mystic Mirror there.

"What are you waiting for?" Ming Guangchen told the frozen convoy members. "Continue on your way."

The convoy resumed their travels while Ming Guangchen rode a horse next to An Jing.

What an interesting person. Far too many things had happened that day for An Jing to feel weirded out by Sage Mystic Mirror's actions. The man had proven them no ill will so far.

Yvelbane, however, did let him know something from within his sea of consciousness. "An Jing, I feel a familiar presence from this person."

"Familiar? Does he have something to do with a fragment of yours?"

"No. It's a different kind of familiarity. This person seems to traverse the void often. It's not merely like how sages of the Void Divine Treasures or Purple Mansion Realms step through the nether realm. Instead, it's more like he traverses the void between one grotto to another, crossing vast distances. I believe he at least crosses from one continent to the next, or perhaps from one world to another. Sage Mystic Mirror is not your average sage! He might be able to sense that we can cross the void too!"

An Jing was well aware that the sage was far from typical. Yvelbane's remarks only affirmed the man's mysterious intrigue. An Jing wasn't one to remain silent and directly asked, "Master, didn't you say you were going to take me back to Keensight to claim Grand Chen's reward and get me a chance to see the divine armament up close?"

"Oh? Do you want to go back?" Ming Guangchen said, turning back with a smile. "I thought you couldn't wait a moment more to leave that forsaken land. If I had known better, I would've left you in Overseer Cao's care and not gotten in the way of his investigation."

"Surely you jest, Master. I was only following your instructions, remember?" An Jing's expression didn't change in the slightest at what the sage left unsaid. "Didn't you say you had your own matters to deal with? Isn't that why you remained in the wilderness after defeating the heavenly fiends? Why are you wasting time by following your disciple on a tedious and thankless assignment? It's such a waste of time."

"Oh, but it's not a waste of time in my book."

As they spoke, the convoy already reached the border between Grand Chen and Dustdawn. The sage had his horse speed up and An Jing followed suit. By the time the two of them were some distance away from the convoy, Ming Guangchen took out a plain-looking mirror in a leisurely manner. "Even though the world is filled with unpredictable things, fate works in mysterious ways. People with mystical abilities and destinies, no matter how unrelated they appear to each other, have a way of encountering one another by the workings of fate."

A dark-gold halo began to revolve in the mirror before it turned into a point of rainbow light.

"An Jing!" You Ruhui's voice entered his mind through the imperial blood droplet in his sea of consciousness, filled with joy and elation. "The protective talisman my father gave me lit up! My contact just took out the token!"

"Hahaha!" Ming Guangchen sighed with relief and began to laugh, seeming much more relaxed than before. He looked straight at An Jing. Though his hair was graying, he still appeared quite young for a sage.

"Jing Xuan, Dustdawner genius, I know that your true identity is that of the little troublemaker that betrayed the Heavenly Demon Cult. You are An Jing from the An clan of Hanhai's Gufeng County as well as a Walker of the Endmost Sky. Does that sum it up?"

An Jing managed to ascertain the sage's identity at the same time. Even though he didn't know what Endmost Sky was, he kept his gaze affixed on the sage without letting his emotions show. "And you are a sage of Voidsight Mountain's Brightmirror Sect. Your objective is the fugitive of the imperial court, daughter of the late King Jing, Princess Mingjing. Does that sum it up?"