Destiny in Cinders

In the northwest of Grand Chen's territory, there were people who chose to join the demonic cult to make a living. They were considered traitorous subjects by the officials of Grand Chen and had to be dealt with harshly. But to the locals, it was just another normal career path. Grand Chen might rule over them, but their influence waned the farther they were from the center of governance. The locals saw nothing wrong with finding a better faction to be their backers for the sake of survival.

However, even these open-minded locals of the northwest wouldn't choose to join the True Fiend Cult. Only the truly insane and vile scum of society with no other option would stoop so low. The citizens of Keensight had suffered a lot under the True Fiend Cult, including some children, who had been kidnapped and heavily injured, some of them heavily debilitated or disabled. The medical supplies in the city alone would not be enough to treat all those ailments. If they were allowed to fester in their sorry state, they would be living reminders of the fiend cult's influence.

Overseer Cao, however, didn't let this happen. His status as a sage allowed him to gather medical resources and practitioners to fully treat the victims of the True Fiend Cult. Even those who lost body parts from the affair were given prosthetics newly forged by the overseer himself! With all the good reputation he had built up from leading the local officials against the heavenly fiends, saving the people, weathering the snow calamity and crushing the plot of the True Fiend Cult, Overseer Cao wouldn't be punished for failing to capture You Ruhui. He would even gain merit for his many good deeds.

"It's still early. What in the world is he planning to do?" An Jing, however, knew more than what most others did. He was all too aware that Overseer Cao had known about the True Fiend Cult's ritual and had planned to wait it out so that the terrestrial veins could be corrupted, something he needed to find You Ruhui's whereabouts. Whether he was about to let the people perish from the fiend cult's actions or ended up saving and healing them after the fact didn't make a difference. He only ever saw the citizens of Keensight as tools rather than living, breathing people.

Illnesses could be prevented or treated. First-rate medical practitioners prevented ailments before they even had the chance to form, while third-rate practitioners used harsh medication after the fact. By that analogy, Overseer Cao was one of the lowest of the third-rate medical practitioners. In fact, from An Jing's point of view, the overseer was the one who created the problem that resulted in victims whom he had to treat later. Was it right for them to feel thankful for what he did?

Either way, An Jing had to admit that he was surprised that someone so brutal for results like Overseer Cao would even do such a perfunctory act of kindness, choosing to view it as an opportunity to render merit rather than complaining about the hassle. At the very least, he still knew how to pretend to be human and deserved acknowledgement for it unlike some animals who focused only on the ends, no matter the means, sacrificing everything along the way. That kind of person deserved a swift beheading.

Apart from that, Keensight was also filled to the brim with people, especially after the Dustdawners came fleeing from a fiend calamity. There were many tents of skin and fur all across the streets. Different Dustdawner tribes with their own unique tribal attire could be seen all across the city.

As the city garrison was patrolling the grounds, the Dustdawners were rather well behaved. Then again, those that didn't know how to remain ordered and calm would have been tempted by the heavenly fiends long ago. The ones that remained had been filtered out by the heavenly fiends and were reasonable people.

While that wasn't a big deal in itself, An Jing was well aware that his identity as a Dustdawner was just a made-up cover. Even if he could still claim to be a member of a large tribe under the jurisdiction of Brightmirror Sect, things would go south if someone from that area asked him for specifics.

That was why when the owner of Blessed Virtue Garden, Cheng Guangwu, came to him to discuss the terms of their cooperation, An Jing brought up one request. "If you want to advertise your establishment with my name, I'm completely fine with it. My recent breakthrough allowed me to gain enough insight to overcome a significant bottleneck, however, so I need to remain in seclusion for an extended period of time. Don't let anyone disturb me in the meantime."

"Consider it done," Boss Cheng said. "That doesn't even count as a condition. Jing Xuan, my friend, surely there's something else you need from us. Blessed Virtue Garden isn't a large establishment by any means, but we can still pull some favors in Keensight."

An Jing gave it some thought and said, "I wonder if you're able to help me procure an aspectless spirit water? I have spirit water of different aspects that I can trade for it."

"That's no problem at all!" Boss Cheng laughed heartily and agreed.

The next day, An Jing found clarion stilldew delivered to the rear yard outside his private room. "Wow, I didn't think you'd go so far for me, Boss Cheng."

He was quite stunned by the quality of the spirit water. Then again, the boss was a famous chef who had worked in the divine capital before coming back to Keensight to retire. It wasn't out of the ordinary that he knew some people from high places. Not to mention, the owner didn't even ask for anything in return.

"Consider it a token of friendship," he said with an excited look just like Madam Huai's. His chubbiness gave him a generous, happy-go-lucky quality too. "Please do not refuse this gift. I would never have a chance to give something like this to a genius who's able to comprehend dao on his own accord in the divine capital even if I tried. By accepting this, you'll be fulfilling this old man's years-long wish."

"Very well. I will graciously accept your generosity." There was nothing An Jing could say at that point, so he accepted it. Clarion stilldew wasn't a particularly valuable spirit water anyway. It was plain and had no particular aspect, an intermediate spirit water typically used for enhancing eyesight or improving the functioning of one's organs. However, it was also the perfect spirit item to cultivate True Spirit Eyes with.

The owner definitely wouldn't be losing out from this transaction either. Two days after An Jing entered seclusion, Blessed Virtue Garden brought out a large sign that read "Our fengshui is so good that a martialist entered the dao-comprehension state in our establishment!" This sign was an amazing advertisement that drew in many martialists, some who came all the way from other cities, to attempt to bask in the fortune of the genius who had only recently been in the restaurant.

Jing Xuan, the rich Dustdawner, was quite recognizable, so the advertisement was independently verified by many other people who had witnessed it in person. Some people even began to bid to have the privilege to dine at the window where An Jing had entered the dao-comprehension state. The cost of reserving that seating alone was tens of liang of silver.

When the shopkeeper of Fullyield Pawn Shop came out publicly with a testimony of how Jing Xuan defeated seven people single-handedly, killing seven martialists of the True Fiend Cult, it became even more believable than before. Not only that, his actions led to the rescue of many kidnapping victims.

When word of that got out, Grand Chen used it to push their latest agenda of maintaining good relations between Grand Chen and Dustdawn. Jing Xuan was made out to be the paragon Dustdawner youth and a friend of Grand Chen. Zheng Mo even wanted to personally reward An Jing for his efforts, but held back when he learned that he was cultivating in seclusion. As for An Jing, he wasn't foolish enough to actually go to claim the reward. Once the commotion died down, he would disappear without a trace.

While being in seclusion was helpful as an excuse, he was actually using that time to cultivate. Since Temporal Grasp was a wonder that he had to spend lots of time nurturing, he chose to focus on True Spirit Eyes instead.

Right as he entered the seclusion room, he took out the golden bottle containing the clarion stilldew. As the aspect of metal had a generative relationship with the water aspect, bottles of pure gold were the perfect vessels for storing spirit water.

An Jing followed the arcanum's instructions and infused his qi essence into the spirit water, siphoning away at its spirit qualities drop by drop and refining it until it became two dew droplets. He then placed one droplet into each eye and began the process.