Destiny in Cinders

An Jing had done all that in less time it would take him to snap his finger ten times. When the martialists from the authorities arrived and learned from the witnesses that he had killed the troublemakers, An Jing was already back home making an inventory of his sword case, rifles, bulletproof mantle and thunder beads. He brought them with him and wore the alloy shield on his back, armed to the teeth.

When the authorities reached his doorstep, he had been moving a box of odd objects which contained all the firepower he had brought from Skysource. He had more of that back at the warehouse in Hilltwixt, but he made sure to have a stash of explosives and mines in Void Embrace as well.

Since the name of Jing Xuan got famous, An Jing couldn't keep using the sword case that was associated with his real identity. If possible, he shouldn't even use gunpowder weapons or thunder beads. But if push came to shove, he wouldn't hold back in the slightest. He would show them what a former elite veteran soldier was made of!

"Y-young Hero Jing!" The one who came was a familiar face: Constable Wang who had initially wanted to detain An Jing all that time ago. An Jing didn't hold any ill will toward him. In fact, he understood why he felt like doing what he did. Still, there was an awkward air between them.

Given how urgent the situation was, the old constable immediately let him know what was going on in the city. Zheng Mo had left for the prefectural capital after the divine armament broke through under his custody. Keensight had emerged safe from the snow calamity under his watch, not to mention the aid he gave to surrounding allies. He would eventually be transferred to the divine capital to train for a future promotion.

Before he was transferred away properly, a martial-official of the Clearing Realm from the nearby city of Skybless should have come to take over the grand terrestrial-vein seal. If he possessed the seal, the martial-official would be invincible to anyone under the level of a sage. If he used the divine armament, he would be able to fight off sages to protect Keensight and maintain order. Little did they know that things would go wrong during the tiny window of the seal's handover!

"The adept from Skybless is dead! He got killed by a group of unknown martialists on his way here, led by two other adepts." Constable Wang couldn't believe the absurdity of his own words. Even though they were in the frontier region, how could a mandated official of Grand Chen get ganged up on and killed just like that?

That in itself wasn't that big of a deal. Even though it was an uncommon occurrence even at the frontier, old grudges often found new ways of surfacing. Officials weren't unkillable, so it was a matter of finding new blood to replace the ones who were killed.

This time around, things were different. It was clear that a group was plotting against Keensight, targeting strategic figures at key moments. Currently, there was no mandated official in the vicinity of Keensight that could interface with the divine armament and activate the major terrestrial-vein formation. In other words, Keensight had become a lawless land! It was during a time like this that martialists from the Poolsea and Seated Mirage Sects arrived to hunt Jing Xuan down.

"We should hurry! Here's a divine-walk talisman and a stealth talisman. If you need anything else, please let me know!" Constable Wang handed the talismans to An Jing, looking somewhat ashamed. "Once you leave, we will announce to the public that you're no longer in the city."

An Jing read between the lines and knew what the constable meant. They were no fools and could clearly tell that "Jing Xuan" and his master, Ming Guangchen were the true targets of this mysterious faction. If a fight broke out in Keensight when there was no guardian adept, the streets would end up littered with corpses!

The right thing to do was to get Jing Xuan to leave Keensight to draw the conflict away from the city, yet this was tantamount to chasing out the good guy. In a way, only good people would be worried about getting others involved with their troubles. So, Constable Wang tried his best to make up for it and acquired some talismans from the treasury in hopes that he could help Jing Xuan flee farther and survive.

"I understand your predicament. You don't have to feel bad about this. If I were you, I'd make the same choice to ensure more people survive." An Jing smiled and accepted the talismans before giving the constable, who dared not meet his gaze, a firm pat on the shoulder. "You feel bad because you have a kind heart. Trust me, old man. You are in the right. However, there's something I need you to think about. Do you think that they would go out of their way to kill the adept from Skybless if I were their only target?"

"Hmm..." This was the question that troubled the constable to no end as well. In theory, even if they were concerned about Zheng Mo's presence, it wouldn't really matter if they could send an assassination squad to infiltrate the city to kill the young hero. There was no need to do something as outrageous as killing an adept of the empire.

"Their true target must be Keensight," An Jing said firmly. "If you ask me, you should be evacuating the citizens while we still have good weather conditions. There are quite a few settlements nearby that can accommodate quite a lot of people. At the very least, I'm quite certain that the aftermath of the upcoming fights won't spread far beyond the city."

"But that's just your guess..." Constable Wang's voice sounded shaky. It was no surprise, since people often preferred simple and direct solutions and neglected the bigger picture.

However, An Jing was certain that this went far beyond him. His celestial arc was meddling with the workings of fate, pulling distant threads and weaving them together wherever he happened to be. Just because he left the region wouldn't mean that those threads would unravel.

He addressed the old man sternly. "Constable Wang, I'll leave the decision to you. Even though a mass evacuation will cause a big fuss, it might end up saving all the citizens here. Or, you could ask me to leave and pray that the problem resolves itself."

Constable Wang didn't say a single word as he left, but An Jing could tell that he had made his choice. An Jing stood at the entrance of his home and sighed in deep thought. No matter what, he couldn't leave Keensight even if all the citizens were gone. The void altar was still there serving as the marker for Ming Guangchen to find his way back. While An Jing didn't know why those people came looking for him, it was a good sign as it showed that the enemy believed that Ming Guangchen would return to this location sooner or later.

He gave the camouflage formation and void altar a troubled look. "Now that they've come straight to my doorstep, it's only a matter of time before the void altar is discovered. Oh well. The problem now is that I can't get in touch with Master. Why didn't he give me an artifact I can use to communicate with him?"

"Perhaps he did," Yvelbane said. "Look at the token that Ming Guangchen gave you."

An Jing blinked as he took it out. He noticed something odd about the stone-framed mirror. A wisp of golden light could be seen on the reflective surface, gradually expanding.

"Look. That's a sign that the caster of the ability contained in the token is nearby. The ability is resonating with him," Yvelbane said. Even though its memories were filled with holes, it sometimes managed to recall a surprising amount of knowledge, even for the most obscure topics. "I believe it won't take another day before Ming Guangchen returns to Keensight."

"Phew..." An Jing finally exhaled in relief. Even though he had an inkling that his master would return by analyzing the enemy's actions, Yvelbane's reassurance helped a lot. "The enemy must've set a trap of some sort for my Master, probably something he couldn't avoid. But I'm sure he'll deal with it just fine. Things will get better once he's back!"

"That master of yours is actually rather decent," Yvelbane praised. "Unlike typical martialists, he's more like ability cultivators from my time. He has a firm dao foundation and incredible mental and spiritual capacity. While he doesn't seem as specialized, having five wonders, it also means that he's able to deal with a variety of situations. Mind you, having more wonders isn't necessarily a good thing. In the hands of a true genius, four wonders alone would be enough to derive the four symbols on top of yin and yang to encompass everything!

"Not to mention, the abilities he cultivates are really profound and have strong dao attributes. There's no doubt that he can form a goldcore. In fact, I think he'll go on to form a nascent soul. Perhaps he can even try for the Primordial Deity Realm!"