Destiny in Cinders

An Jing quite liked being labeled as the disciple of the sage that managed to enter the dao-comprehension state on his own. He had built a reputation of being a generous patron from Dustdawn as well from his reckless purchases of cultural goods and many other miscellaneous objects.

All of those carefully crafted impressions were for the sake of one of his core goals: to openly form a trading group so that he could buy and sell things without raising eyebrows! This was made even easier after his relationship with Ming Guangchen was established and he obtained the honors certificate, cementing his residency status in Grand Chen.

"Young Hero Jing, are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?" Zheng Mo asked.

"Oh, I really can't, City Manager Zheng. I need to go back to report to my master." An Jing refused the invitation with a firm excuse.

Zheng Mo seemed rather crestfallen and said, "It's a shame indeed. Please do give us a chance to host a banquet for you if you can find the time!"

"I will next time, for sure." An Jing breathed a sigh of relief when he finally left the bureau. Putting aside the amazing progress he made on the martial path, Ming Guangchen had done him a huge favor by smoothing out the awkward points of his cover identity as Jing Xuan. Thanks to him, nobody found it odd at all that An Jing's convoy returned on the same day they left.

"My master wanted me to continue my training in Grand Chen while meeting all kinds of people and experiencing the local culture!" This was the line An Jing intentionally spread around when he was socializing with the people on the streets. It almost sounded like he was bragging. "Sigh, I know what my master truly meant by that. He probably feels that it's just better for me to stay here with how messy things between the tribes in Dustdawn are getting. That aside, my friends, do you know a better place I can stay at? Ideally, I want a place with storage space and a shopfront."

While An Jing was doing his crowd work, Xuan Mingjing and Ming Guangchen were secretly watching from the sidelines. "Is he always like that?"

"Yes..." Xuan Mingjing felt second-hand embarrassment when he saw An Jing speaking and behaving somewhat like a buffoon. "Well, he's not really lying. He's just trying to shape the environment to be beneficial to him, so don't get angry, Uncle Ming."

"Why would I be angry?" Not only was Ming Guangchen fine with An Jing throwing his name around to make things easy for himself, he was actually impressed. "He's a rare talent indeed. It's a shame that you won't be able to do something like that, Mingjing. Back then, your father and the rest of us... Well, I'll save you the story and go straight to the moral. Being convincing and persuasive is an important skill to have while you're out adventuring."

Ming Guangchen sighed and smiled in resignation. "I'm starting to feel my age, what with me constantly reminiscing about the past."

They fell silent for a while. Then, Xuan Mingjing saw An Jing secretly wave at them.

"What is it?" she asked when she approached him, cloaked by Hidden Earth. She didn't know why he didn't just contact her telepathically through the imperial blood droplet and insisted on asking her to come.

"I want to buy a house. Can you evaluate the terrestrial veins for me?" An Jing said.

"Oh! I've seen all of the terrestrial-vein nodes in Keensight. Do you have any requirements?" Xuan Mingjing said confidently.

"I need somewhere large enough but hidden."

"Alright!" She was itching to give it a go. "I'll get back to you when I come up with something!"

An Jing was quite glad to see her so excited. Friendship wasn't just about helping one another. It was also knowing when to ask each other for help. A true friend would not hesitate to offer their aid. Thanks to Xuan Mingjing, he would be able to easily select a property that suited his needs just like back then in Skysource.

When he made it known that he wanted to stay in Keensight for an extended period of time, quite a number of influential local merchants said that they had something suitable with negotiable prices. Not that Jing Xuan cared about the price! He feigned some anger and chewed out people who tried to offer him discounts for daring to insult his purchasing power, making things rather awkward. All this was part of building his character as a Dustdawner martial genius that was a tad awkward and naive when it came to social dealings, completely ignoring the princess who was so embarrassed on his behalf that she wanted to find some place to bury her head in.

In less than two days, An Jing managed to find a place and get the papers processed. He purchased a four-walled compound at the southeast of the city. "This way, the two of you will be able to set up your altars."

An Jing had already learned about how they would send Xuan Mingjing away from Grand Chen without alerting anyone: Ming Guangchen's void altar. The method Ming Guangchen used to cross the void probably had something to do with Endmost Sky. However, it needed a proper altar to execute. While the sage himself had the requisite equipment and materials, he needed a quiet place to set it all up.

"You seem to be excellent at solving these kinds of problems on top of your talent in the martial path." Unlike Xuan Mingjing, who was simply impressed, Ming Guangchen fully understood how valuable An Jing's problem-solving capabilities were. "Even though my senior or junior disciples back at the mountain are geniuses when it comes to cultivation, they aren't able to handle actually navigating society. They'd no doubt be overwhelmed by all its complexities. Only those who know how to get things going on their own can achieve true success in life."

"Is that so? Does being able to do all this have something to do with growing lifearcs?" An Jing was rather taken aback by the high praise. He laughed and bowed to Ming Guangchen. "Come to think of it, Master, while I've studied the martial way for quite some time, most of what I know pertains to techniques that don't involve lifearcs. I'm quite lacking in a lot of common knowledge. Could you teach me what I lack, Master?"

Ming Guangchen seemed rather surprised. "Are you really willing to take me as your master?"

"What?" An Jing feigned shock and disbelief. "Master, don't tell me you're not willing to take up the mantle to teach me what I so desperately need to learn?"

"Hahaha..." Ming Guangchen nodded. "If only Mingjing could learn a thing or two from you too."

Xuan Mingjing didn't know what she did to get caught in the crossfire.

Actually, the idea to acknowledge Ming Guangchen as his master wasn't An Jing's idea but Yvelbane's instead. The sword soul often didn't have much to say about martial cultivation, so he encouraged its wielder to learn as much as he could from someone who knew what they were doing. "An Jing, this person is a powerful expert with regards to the martial path of Void Embrace. He knows more than me at the very least! The more you learn from him, the more I'll come to understand how the martial path works. That way, I can plan an even better dual regime for you!"

An Jing didn't really believe that something so perfect could exist, but Yvelbane was right about one thing. Where else would he find a talented and knowledgeable sage who was also friendly to him and would take him as a disciple? Learning the martial path was the key to a stable future, so humbling oneself to ask for tutelage wasn't shameful in the least!