Destiny in Cinders

Ah, so it's Little Gu's clan... It had become clear to An Jing. So, her clan must have some kind of relationship with King Jing as well.

Sage Mystic Mirror's main task was to secure Gu Yeqi. In the meantime, he could also be on the lookout for You Ruhui. Little Gu is only part of a distant branch family that was left to fend for themselves though. I bet King Jing's incident was why the Gu clan decided to track her down with such urgency.

It wasn't just that. An Jing had some other theories about what happened. As King Jing had stewardship over the Hanhai Region, An Jing suspected that the Hanhai Fiend Calamity was either a plot against King Jing or the faction he belonged to. This was what caused An Jing and the others around him, like Bai Qinghan, Gu Yeqi and You Ruhui, to get wrapped up in all this, as if they were linked together by invisible chains.

That raised other questions like what faction King Jing belonged to, how the Hanhai Fiend Calamity affected them, and what kind of clan was the Gu clan. An Jing hated how he hadn't shown any interest in politics at all. The books he had read in his childhood were only about martial practice. He didn't care about anything that was unrelated to martial knowledge, causing him to have no idea what to make of this uncanny string of incidents. Agh, a man should at least know something about politics at the end of the day!

Right as An Jing tore himself apart about his cluelessness about Grand Chen's affairs, You Ruhui left the convoy. She had been hesitating about showing herself directly since she sensed Ming Guangchen take out the token. Then, she saw how smoothly An Jing and the sage were conversing and felt that she had lost her chance to come out, lest she interrupted their conversation. She only came rushing out when the sage gave An Jing a "friendly test."

"Mingjing..." Ming Guangchen regarded the worry-filled face of the princess with a complex expression of his own. "I remember how I carried you in my arms on the day you were born. Ten-odd years passed in a flash. You've grown so much. I'm sorry..."

He took out a mirror that gave off a hint of dragonjade essence. He closed his arcane eyes and said in a deep, regretful tone, "I failed my responsibilities as a comrade and didn't save Guangyun. This was our fault."

"No..." Princess Xuan Mingjing didn't know what else to say and bit her lip. She didn't know how she should face this trusted friend of her father that she knew almost nothing about. It didn't take long for her to get her feelings in order, however. "It's not your fault. My father's plans shouldn't have been discovered in the first place. Yet, someone found out about it. He must have erred in some way. That day when Sixth Uncle brought armed guards to surround the palace, I saw how frightful my father was. I've never seen him like that. He seemed like he had been caught completely off guard. It's not anybody's fault."

She took a deep breath to steady her tone. "Uncle Ming... I hope I can address you as such... What I want to say is... if I am to place my trust in you, I ask that you do the same for An Jing too. Without him, I would have been captured by the True Fiend Cult or Heavenly Divine Cult long ago. The Blackguard might have found me too if not for his help. The entire city of Keensight would've been erased by the fiend calamity if not for him. He isn't someone you should suspect."

"You're more than welcome to call me Uncle Ming." Ming Guangchen turned to An Jing with a surprised look before he smiled. "Is that so?"

While he had observed An Jing for quite a while, he wasn't aware what he was up to with You Ruhui as he couldn't detect her while she used Hidden Earth. Not to mention, An Jing was pulled into the arcane domain soon after his assault on Honor Pavilion, so he had no idea how the True Fiend Cult in the city got eliminated. However, You Ruhui's testimony helped him figure out a few things.

"Direlife Manor... Honor Pavilion... Hahaha! Who knew that you're such an accomplished cult eradicator? I know I already apologized earlier, but it wasn't sincere enough. How about this? I'll fulfill one of your requests as an apology for doubting and testing you."

"Alright then. It would be rude to refuse your sincerity." An Jing felt quite relieved as he agreed to it.

At the end of the day, Ming Guangchen was a trusted friend of King Jing and an all-round good guy who felt sorry about what Xuan Mingjing had experienced. If not for his good nature, a sage like him would easily have squashed An Jing like a bug, let alone test him in such a roundabout manner.

An Jing didn't really mind any of that. However, he was quite curious about what Ming Guangchen meant when he called himself King Jing's comrade. Did the two of them serve the same cause in the past? Did they perhaps go on missions together?

Xuan Guangyun, known better by his title of King Jing, sent a distress signal to his old comrades to take care of his daughter. He didn't know who would come, but they were all good friends of his who knew of his plight. Otherwise, he wouldn't have entrusted his daughter to them.

Before An Jing could figure out how they were related, however, he was shocked by how Xuan Mingjing came to his defense. Girl, you should be thankful that Sage Ming has a good temper. If it were someone else, your words would have only spurred them into reducing me into ash and dust. There's no way they'd allow a stranger of questionable background to influence the precious daughter of their cherished comrade to this extent!

"Let's go back to Keensight for now," Ming Guangchen said, not minding it one bit. "Overseer Cao is already done with his investigation here, so the northern frontier is safe now. The heavenly fiends still run rampant at Dustdawn, so many people will have their eyes peeled. It wouldn't do for us to leave in such a hurry."

And so the convoy set out again, but this time, their course was no longer set for Dustdawn but back to Keensight instead. None of them were against it. As long as the sage willed it, they would even jump off a cliff. It wasn't like they could actually go against his wishes.

"Will Overseer Cao really not come back?" Xuan Mingjing still seemed worried. "If he secretly returns and sees An Jing's convoy heading back to Keensight, wouldn't he figure something out?"

"Putting aside whether he'd be able to return without me sensing him with my ability, Mingjing, you're severely underestimating him." Ming Guangchen opened his arcane eyes and looked at the clouds above, shaking his head with a smile. "Even though Brother Cao is a bit of a worrywart, he has a good head on his shoulders. He's capable too. Did you think he was oblivious to the signs that you were in Keensight and how suspicious my actions were? If he really didn't care for anything else, he would've performed the blood sacrifice on Keensight himself and blamed it on the True Fiend Cult just to track you down. Do you think you actually stood a chance to slip away?"

Xuan Mingjing froze when she heard that, but the sage continued, "Do you get it now? He doesn't actually want to find you unless he can do it under perfect, untainted circumstances. He almost managed that by letting the fiend cult go through with their sacrificial ritual. But he missed out on that opportunity already, so there's no longer a reason for him to get involved with a troublesome person like you unless he's itching to give the imperial court a reason to demote or dismiss him. Not to mention, there are two schools of thought when it comes to you in the imperial court. But that's quite a complicated topic that I'm not too familiar with myself."

An Jing reacted slightly at the mention of that and interrupted the conversation. "Forgive me for speaking out of turn, Sage, but can you tell me which faction in the imperial court King Jing supported?"