Destiny in Cinders

”So they finally reached out.” An Jing breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the letters, but when he recalled how almost two months had passed since he took over Riverside, he couldn’t help but vent. ”They should’ve done so long ago! Brightmirror Sect aside, have the officials of Grand Chen really abandoned the northern frontier?!”

Had An Jing been a member of the empire’s administration, he would’ve immediately reached out to the new city lord that popped out of nowhere, either to acknowledge their legitimacy or demand them to desist and send people over to take back control. At the very least, those were their minimum obligations. Yet, all An Jing had gotten from the empire was a short conversation with the Dragon General and not a single peep out of those who ruled the northern frontier.

There’s no way that the northern frontier’s administration is so messed up that they don’t have a single high official who can take charge, right? Even if they don’t respond on the prefectural level, what about the circuit administration? Or the region’s administration or sentinel king? Not to mention, this missive was signed by a sentinel king personally rather than anyone serving him. Does he not have any reliable subordinates? Those doubts surfaced in An Jing’s mind when he read King De’s letter.

The contents were rather plain. King De asked how An Jing was doing and expressed that he was aware of the actions he took and Riverside’s state of affairs. He said that he was sorry for the hardship that the citizens had to endure and supported An Jing’s rule over the area, praising him for being such a civically responsible young man and a paragon of the northern frontier. He closed off the letter by saying that he would send a messenger to discuss some details about Riverside’s administration with him and encouraged him to work on his cultivation to be able to better serve the empire.

”Why was this letter personally penned by King De?” An Jing was utterly stunned. ”Don’t tell me he doesn’t actually have any subordinates. The way he writes sounds just as casual as Ruhui...”

”Is that so weird?” Yvelbane said, a deep well of vast and uncommon experiences. ”The many royal families that were subordinate to the sects back in my day were all weirdos one way or another. Writing letters personally is nothing. Some even like to visit different locales incognito and try out their local delicacies.”

Shaking his head slightly, An Jing opened the letter from the Brightmirror Sect. Hah, this one’s penned personally by Grandmaster Shrouded Dust. I must be so blessed to have two venerateds write to me personally.

Master Shrouded Dust’s message was rather simple too. He stated that he was Ming Guangchen’s master and was aware of the relationship his disciple had with An Jing. He also said that he knew about An Jing’s circumstances, so he wouldn’t force him to return to the sect. However, as An Jing was a core successor of the sect brought in by Ming Guangchen, who had been given the honors of a venerated, the sect would thus provide him with cultivation support. Their merchant convoy would arrive in a few days, bringing with them some signature tomes of the sect that An Jing desperately needed as well as lots of cultivation resources. Master Shrouded Dust encouraged him to try learning those techniques and even offered to guide him remotely.

”This sounds good. My grandmaster is quite the reliable sort, it seems.” An Jing nodded in acknowledgement of his grandmaster who had provided tangible help in the form of supplies unlike King De who could only run his mouth. He just so happened to need techniques and supplies. While heaven purification radiance could help him progress along his main technique, it was a bit of a waste to use them for typical cultivation rather than overcoming bottlenecks. He was already talented enough to make progress as long as he had normal supplies.

As for the tomes, he did look forward to learning about the Brightmirror Sect’s techniques. Yvelbane had already given them a stellar review given what it knew about them so far. An Jing already had a firm physical foundation from Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal and the all-purpose wonders, Temporal Grasp and Heaven’s Child Art. He could definitely supplement them with something more specialized.

”Sounds like good news all around.” He put the letters away and turned to Xu Tai. ”Who was the one who delivered this?”

”His Majesty King De’s letter appeared on your desk out of thin air. The Brightmirror Sect’s came out of a mirror.” Xu Tai was incredibly nervous. Having attended a martial academy, he held a subconscious reverence to officials of Grand Chen and other powerful martialists like Master Shrouded Dust. The fact that An Jing was able to draw the attention of two such personages wasn’t that out of the ordinary, especially since Master Shrouded Dust was his grandmaster by lineage. King De’s letter, on the other hand, was a different matter. It represented the first time An Jing had been officially recruited, not to mention legitimizing his status as a temporary city lord! There was no way Xu Tai wouldn’t be alert and nervous about it!

”I see...” He looked down in deep thought. ”While the Brightmirror Sect has withdrawn their martialists in Grand Chen, they still have their ways. How wondrous... It’d be really convenient if I learn how to transport objects through mirrors one day.”

Still, it was clear that this method had its restrictions. It was probably only limited to transmitting information. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they just send the supplies through mirrors too? I also have to expedite the fiendmolt extermination. He knew that he had to deal with the problem at Palespirit Cave before King De and the others arrived, lest Yvelbane’s fragment drew even more attention.

”Let’s make some preparations,” he said to Xu Tai. ”We have to sort out a few of the warehouses and clean up the streets. We should also fix up the archer towels on the city walls. Now that word of me has spread out, King De and my grandmaster might not be the only guests coming our way. There might be some unwelcome ones too.”

”Understood.” It was perfectly apparent to Xu Tai that there were as many, if not more, who meant ill toward An Jing compared to those that meant him well. For starters, those behind the Bejeweled plot definitely wouldn’t let him be recruited by King De so easily.

Then again, there weren’t many things they could do to target him specifically. Regardless of the faction, none of them could send a proper sage to kill An Jing, not only for the fact that this would incur the wrath of the Brightmirror Sect that might even prompt Master Shrouded Dust himself to take action, but even more so because sages were no mere subordinates that could be ordered around for dirty work like that. They were typically legitimate local players in their own right with their respective affiliations and agendas. They wouldn’t act on behalf of a faction just to play a part in their plot.

In the borders of Grand Chen, the strongest forces that could be mobilized were Clearing Realm adepts. Anyone stronger would not allow themselves to be ordered around so carelessly. Since three adepts had already died by An Jing’s hand, any faction that was plotting to send adepts to kill him would have to think thrice about whether they would be willing to lose them.

Since going after An Jing personally wouldn’t fly, they could simply target Riverside as a whole, perhaps go for sabotage to ruin his good name. Fortunately, Xu Tai, the chief wayguard, was familiar with such tactics and could come up with countermeasures against them, patching up quite a lot of exploitable loopholes.

Once Xu Tai left, An Jing went to check on his mother. While he believed that even his enemies wouldn’t actually go out of their way to harm her—a divine-arc bearer with no lingering attachments was outright invincible compared to one that still had some—he still had to prevent her from being spirited away quietly under his nose. The best he could do was have Little Cang stay by his mother’s side. The little squirrel fey would be more alert to threats given its sensitivity to metals. Not to mention, Bai Qinghan wouldn’t be too far off from Shen Mubai at any given time, so there wasn’t much to worry about.

By the time all that was done, You Ruhui finally transmitted the content summarized from the tomes about True Dragon Spine through the imperial blood connection.