Destiny in Cinders

The malice and hostility from the constables seemed to stem from resentment of the rich in addition to general xenophobia. Granted, they did actually receive orders from superiors to cause him trouble.

Keensight's authorities have been infiltrated indeed. He stared at the two constables coldly, causing them to shut up. Then, he filled up the temporary residence form and tossed it their way.

"Wait, there's something else—" They reacted too late. By then, An Jing had disappeared from their sight. "How did you let him get away?!"

"He didn't say a single thing!"

The shorter constable who was the leader of the two angrily smashed the registration form on the ground and groaned. "Didn't Constable Chen order us to stop him from leaving before noon? We're supposed to find some reason to keep him pinned down!"

"I... I don't know," said the taller of the two constables as he watched An Jing vanish into the corner of the street. "I thought I saw a sword pointing at my eyes earlier. That kid is more than meets the eye!"

"That's exactly why we have to keep an eye on him! Why would we bother if he was just some normal kid born with a silver spoon?" the shorter constable snapped. "Forget it. He'll have to come back to the inn anyway. We'll deal with him tomorrow!"

After the constables left, An Jing stepped out of the shadows. Seems like I've been marked.

Those constables weren't the end of it. As long as An Jing stayed at any particular location for too long, some unsavory people would begin to follow him. They thought they hid themselves well, but An Jing was completely aware of their intent. They wanted to attack him once he went somewhere quieter, but An Jing led them around in circles before vanishing from their sight. It didn't help, though, as more people began to tail him soon enough.

He felt rather troubled by the situation. All I did was spend some money and sell some talismans! Do they really need to send so many people after me? Who's that Constable Chen anyway? Isn't he worried that I'll kill him in his sleep?

He had no idea why a mere constable would go through so much trouble to bother him. It wasn't uncommon near the northern border of Hanhai for people who threatened martialists to find the heads of their horses or dogs next to their pillow the next day. If the warning was ignored, their heads would be next! Annoy not the martialists! Such was the maxim many near the northern border lived by.

As for the kidnapping attempt, An Jing figured that they were probably after a ransom, which scions of big tribes tended to fetch. But it could only go so high. Beyond a certain amount, the tribes would rather use that sum to hire adepts to rescue the kidnapped scion or exact revenge.

An Jing's facade was that of a rich kid who spent quite a bit of money. He didn't show any sign of having awakened a lifearc, so his ransom would be around 150 liang of silver at most, at least according to prices three years back. Even if it had inflated beyond that, it couldn't have been more than two hundred. It simply wasn't worth sending up to twenty people to follow him around unless they were sure that he had a lifearc.

Did I really end up taking someone else's misfortune? With that thought in mind, he went to Huai Teahouse to assess the situation, only to find that the peaceful establishment was in a worse state than imagined. The clean building had been coated in splashes of pungent blood-colored paint. There was a group of thugs who were making a commotion at the shop entrance. Quite a number of teaware could be seen smashed across the ground.

The waitress who had brewed his tea days ago attempted to prevent the thugs from entering the shop, to no avail. It didn't take long before she was grounded by a slap and was about to be stepped on as the people made their way in. She raised her hand defensively in anticipation, but nobody ended up stepping on her.

Looking up, she watched as a figure approached and easily took out a few thugs with one strike each to the back of their necks, causing their heads to smash into each other's loudly. They passed out, blood trickling all over on the side of the road where the figure left them. The rest of the thugs screamed and ran off.

"It's the customer from yesterday..." Jing Xuan's appearance was quite decent and left a deep impression on the waitress. An Jing didn't say anything unnecessary and merely chased down the rest of the thugs before disappearing.

"Ping, are you okay?" Madam Huai asked as she stepped out with a bamboo pipe of interesting make. She had been looking for a self-defense tool earlier, but after so many peaceful years, the unused tool ended up buried quite deep. Ping had no choice but to buy her employer some time.

The bamboo pipe seemed really light, yet Madam Huai cradled it carefully as if it was a dangerous object. It was dangerous, in fact. Had An Jing seen the pipe, he definitely would've been on high alert. It was the exact same pipe as the one the vice apothecary of Direlife Manor had carried!

"I'm fine, madam," Ping said, forcing a smile. The red mark on her face was bruised and swollen; the thug hadn't held back during the slap.

The old woman approached with a pained look and took out some ointment to apply it on her face. "It's all my fault for coming out so late... What happened to them?"

"The handsome young man from yesterday chased them away," Ping said. She could feel the stings of pain fade away once the ointment was applied. It didn't take long for the swelling to subside. The ointment worked quite mystically, but Ping was used to it as Madam Huai would use it to heal their injuries when they injured themselves playing as children. It was her own concoction, apparently.

She didn't seem to blame the old lady for it. "Madam, you've been helping my family all this time. It's the least I could do for you. My father is also really thankful to you. If not for the fact that he's out for work, he would definitely come here to help you! This all happened far too quickly. Otherwise, everyone on this street would come to your aid."

As if on cue, a group of youths with hoes and shovels marched to the tea shop angrily. The people in the neighborhood had come to help.

"Madam, what's going on?"

"Is it the folks who wanted to buy out your shop a few days ago?"

"How dare they mess with us?! Do they think they're the only gang around here? They messed with the wrong folks!"

"Darn it. The good fellow that stepped in didn't even break their arms. He let them get off too easily!"

More and more people gathered. There were some who went to report the incident to the authorities. Madam Huai experienced their warmth and said, "Sigh... Thank you all for coming to help."

One of the young fellows smiled and said, "It's the least we can do! If you hadn't brought us some firewood that winter, my sister would've frozen to death!"

Madam Huai never shied away from doing good deeds. After many years, she had gained quite a good reputation in the eastern part of the city. As such, there shouldn't be many who would want to cause such a gentle old woman trouble.

Once Madam Huai calmed the crowd down and told Ping to go home, she went back to the teahouse and closed the door. She sighed from exhaustion and entered the shadows.

"Little Shu still isn't back even when the city's in so much trouble. Something must've happened to him," she muttered with worry. "I thought that they would hold off until two days later. Who knew that they'd strike today? Is the yin node of the terrestrial vein really that important? If not for the fact that I can't leave this place..."

Those in the know would realize that she was talking about the guardian adept of Keensight, Majesty Yang Fist, Shu Zheng! Given how casually she addressed him, they must've known each other for a long time.