Chapter 73: Heaven-Ordained Fate Elevation

  “Many thanks for bestowing this cultivation teique.”

  It was not the time to study the teique. After pg the jade slip inside his robe, An Jing shifted his gaze to Huo Qing, who had just breathed a sigh of relief. There was something peculiar in his expression as he looked at him.

  Although he had teically “saved” Huo Qing’s life, in truth he had merely performed a simple dressing of his wounds; what happened afterward was hardly reted to rescue.

  Huo Qing had goo the city with him and treated him to a meal—something that should have been enough. At most, he might have offered some benevole as thanks, but it was far from the point of handing over a secret cultivation teique.

  His desire to repay the favor felt a bit excessive.

  With that in mind, An Jing also felt that something else about Huo Qing seemed off.

  Huo Qing was not very strong. He was only at the Internal Breath Like Threads level of vital essence—close to Internal Breath Like Rivers—but he had yet to make a breakthrough. heless, his foundation was solid, and he hysically robust.

  Though Huo Qing looked weary and had a dark qi about him, that was due to the harshness of his daily work. If he had not been so sturdy, anyone else living the same way might have dropped dead from exhaustion long ago.

  From that perspective, Huo Qing actually had det cultivation talent, but his time in the gang had held him back. As Master Liu had said, he was not cut out fang life. He was the sort of person who needed quiet study and cultivation to make progress, unlike a genius like An Jing, who could train anytime under any circumstances.

  He was still young, and drifting in a gang was obviously a waste of his potential. Leaving other matters aside, without An Jing’s help this time, Huo Qing might have died quietly in the wilderness.

  Even though his parents had died early, and the uncles who raised him were all gang members, he should not have g so stubbornly to that path. He had his dreams and ambitions—judging from his zeal for food, Huo Qing likely had a vision for his own future. Yet for some reason, he had set it all aside…

  Ah, well.

  An Jing raised his head and said gravely to Huo Qing, “My surname is An.”

  With that, he went back to eating, using the qi circution pattern he had just observed in Huo Qing’s movements to guide his own vital essend digest the food.

  Across from him, Huo Qing was momentarily stuhen he broke into a delighted smile. “Yes! Brother An!”

  He uood An Jing’s true iion: they were no longer bound by a favor; from now on, they could try being friends.

  One bowl of noodle soup was obviously not enough for An Jing, so Huo Qing paid for two more. Though he was short on funds, he could still afford this much; he sidered it a small iment in their friendship.

  “That’s enough.”

  After gulping dow of the soup, An Ji his bowl aside and looked at Huo Qing. “I may have saved your life, but we both know it was mainly because I needed you to ask around for some information iy.”

  “You’ve already repaid that favor with a secret cultivation teique. You don’t owe me anything else—we just see ourselves as friends and acquaintances.”

  He stood up. “, just tell me where I sell these spoils of battle. The ime we meet, if I have enough virtuous merit, maybe I’ll treat you to a meal.”

  “In any case, if fate wills it, we’ll see each ain someday!”

  “All right, that works too.” Huo Qi a bit awkward at first, but he was clearly relieved. “Then, farewell!”

  “As for your spoils, I do know a certain shop owner who buys them—he’s an elder of mine… Huh? What’s wrong?”

  He rose to bid farewell and reend a pce to sell the goods, but noticed that An Jing’s expression had turned very peculiar.

  Right then, An Jing sensed something—from deep within, at the source of his soul, within his【Heavenly Fate’s Sanctum*】—a sudden tremor. It was a small but genuine “feedback”!

  “Fuxie!” At that moment, An Jing murmured in his Sea of sciousness, incredulous. “My Heaven-Ordained Fate just now seemed to improve?!”

  “Yes, indeed!” Even the Subduing Evil Sword Spirit was astonished. He was located in An Jing’s Sea of sciousness, making Him se all the more clearly. “What exactly did you do tthen your Heaven-Ordained Fate? Remember, a Heaven-Ordained Fate is allotted by Heaven itself. O awakens, raising its i essence is extraordinarily difficult. Most people only develop and harness it, building up their cultivation base!”

  Increasing one’s i Fate versus one’s cultivation base was straightforward to grasp. The essence of a Heaven-Ordained Fate could be seen as a multiplier for one’s abilities.

  For example, if you had a hundred points of power, the Fate might triple that, granting you three hundred points. Raising the Fate’s essence would push that triple facther—like going from three times to three-point-three times—while raising your cultivation base would push you from a hundred points to a thousand. In the early stages, it was simpler to focus on building up cultivation, but once you hit a limit, enhang the Fate’s essence provided a more effective power boost.

  “Was it because I saved Huo Qing?” An Jing could not make sense of it. Did Huo Qing’s death inally signify the end of some great camity, aing him live would unleash an enormous disaster? Had saving him stirred the Heavenly Dao to grant a boon to An Jing’s Fate? That clearly did not seem to be the expnation. This irregur phenomeno An Jing uneasy, enough that Huo Qing noticed something was wrong.

  Fortunately, Huo Qing had no time to keep w about An Jing’s mood—because Huo Qing’s own trouble arrived just then.

  “Huh? Ah Qing? You’re still alive?!”

  From dowreet came the astonished, bewildered voice of a middle?aged man. An Jing and Huo Qing turo see a practically obese fellow who stared at Huo Qing with disbelief and amazement. “Heavens, Old Jing and the rest said you got shot and fell off the truck. I ’t believe you’re alive!”

  Several fully armed, fierce-looking guards stood behind him, wearing rain cloaks scorched and singed iheir clothes bore the white tiger emblem—members of the Day?Tiger Gang, clearly of no small status—and they had participated in the previous night’s gang fight.

  “Uncle Daqiang**!” Huo Qing turned with delight, as though to meet him halfway. An Jing, however, narrowed his eyes.

  Perhaps to others, this man’s shod excitement might have seemed like genuine relief at Huo Qing’s survival, but An Jing dised true astonishment—tinged with fear and a kind of “thank goodness” at being able to fix a mistake.

  That feeling…

  “Stop!”

  With a terse and, An Jing raised a hand and triggered his dense Qi into Sword-Fihe chopstick he held shot out like a bullet, whistling through the air and striking the guard behind the stout man—just as that guard was stealthily drawing a short knife from his coat.

  Cck! The short bde was knocked away by An Jing. Huo Qing, who had been about to approach the stout man with open arms, froze, his pupils shrinking.

  “Uncle Daqiang, wh-what’s going on?!” He stepped back, startled, and stared at the guard—known as “Brother Dao”—who now stood there frowning, the short knife fallen from his hand. “Brother Dao, why’d you draw your bde?”

  Huo Qing knew all of these men well, yet now each familiar face looked unfamiliar.

  “Fool,” An Jing snapped as he stepped forward. “’t you see? They’re here to kill you!”

  “What’s happening?” Over at the soup stall, Master Liu and his daughter?in?w emerged, stunned by the standoff. “Daqiang, what does this mean? What did young Huo do that you’d resort to such merciless measures?”

  He went closer, intending to mediate. “Aren’t we all neighbors? Why ’t we—ah!” Before he could finish, Master Liu colpsed, striking his head oone floor, blood trig forth.

  “Too muonsehis is gang business—none of you get a say!” The man called Daqiang shoved Master Liu aside, his expression suddenly savage. “Huo Qing, you’ve messed up! They discovered the shortfall in the gang’s supplies!”

  “If you’d died, that would’ve put ao it. But since you’re not dead, e back with me to the gang and face the sequences!”

  “What are you talking about…” Clearly, Huo Qing had no idea what crime he was supposedly guilty of. Behind Daqiang, the same guard who had drawn the short kepped forward, reag for Huo Qing’s chest.

  It was evident they had no iion of taking Huo Qing back alive… they meant to kill him right then and there! Later, they could cim Huo Qing had died running away in guilt, or that he shot himself seven times in the back—it would all be up to them.

  But the instant the man revealed his murderous i, An Jing struck first!

  Bang!

  He took a siep, appearing as though he had teleported between Huo Qing and the guard. He ched his right fist and unleashed his Armor-Pierg True Force. In that split sed—before anyone else could even respond—his potent Internal Energy and iron-like fist, harder than steel, came crashing down on the guard’s face behind the flimsy facepte.

  (End of Chapter)

  *Literally "Pce Where Heavenly Fate Resides."

  **Daqiang seems to be more of a niame, like how you'd call someone "Big Beard," just that his rao "Big Gun," and "Uncle Big Gun" sounds very... weird.