Chapter 379 - 343: Beicang Rumors, Blessed Land

After leaving Beicang Town, Chen Ping’an concealed his tracks and waited outside for over an hour. He was flanked by mountain forests, making it easy for him to hide. He concealed himself in the crown of an ancient tree, watching the pedestrians and caravans that occasionally passed along the trade route.

When enough time had passed, he saw his chance and leaped down from the treetop, falling in behind a caravan. Blending into the flow of people, he entered Beicang Town.

Upon entering the town, Chen Ping’an followed the rules, registering his entry and paying the fee.

He had discovered the day before that Beicang Town’s registration process was lax, consisting of only a few basic questions and a record of entry. This, of course, left him plenty of room to maneuver.

The reason he went to all the trouble of leaving and re-entering was to create a new registration record at the entrance to Beicang Town. If someone were to investigate him later, they would find a corresponding record here. He wouldn’t just be some person who had appeared out of thin air inside the town.

Otherwise, no matter how foolish the investigator, they would realize someone had changed their appearance and was moving about the town in disguise.

Even if the investigation reached that stage, it wouldn’t necessarily be linked back to Chen Ping’an. However, among the many Treasure Artifacts he had sold, some had connections to his public, true identity. Under close scrutiny, there was no guarantee his real identity wouldn’t be implicated.

To avoid this trouble, Chen Ping’an took this action to further reduce the risk of exposure.

Of course, since he wasn’t stirring up trouble or making enemies in Beicang Town, it was unlikely anyone would be bored enough to investigate these things. But with matters like this, it was best to have no loose ends, and if he did, an extra layer of insurance couldn’t hurt.

The only flaw was that he had fenced the goods *before* registering his entry into the town. But from the control measures Chen Ping’an had observed, as long as both events occurred on the same day, the exact sequence would become blurred. If someone tried to trace his steps later, the specific, minute timeline would be difficult to distinguish.

After entering Beicang Town, Chen Ping’an wandered around various places. When he’d seen enough, it was just about noon, so he randomly entered a tavern.

By the time he left the tavern, he had gathered quite a bit of news. That said, it all boiled down to just a few major topics; the rest was nothing important.

It was worth mentioning that during this time, Chen Ping’an also heard news about himself.

The recently rising new prodigy, Little Five Poison Lan Yingjun, was rejected after challenging Mang Blade Chen Ping’an face-to-face in Qingya Tower!

Mang Blade Chen Ping’an claimed injury to avoid the fight, and is suspected of fearing the name of Little Five Poison!

Mang Blade Chen Ping’an’s Profound Light Middle Realm combat power is now in doubt! Previous rumors may have been inaccurate!

Amidst the crowd’s discussion, Chen Ping’an sat calmly to one side, drinking by himself. It was as if he were listening to gossip about someone else, not himself.

’When people are insecure or lack self-belief, they often lose their composure upon hearing others’ doubts. They can’t help but jump in to argue, or even rush to prove themselves. But they don’t realize that such actions usually just give people more to talk about after their meals. Your so-called rebuttal often devolves into the behavior of a clown.’

’But when a person is full of certainty and confidence, hearing similar words will often just make them laugh it off, as if they’ve just heard a joke.’

’If others have a mistaken perception of you, that’s not your problem! It’s theirs! And since it’s their problem, why get all worked up and jump into a debate?!’

’Of course, if you feel that someone’s words have offended you, then you should...’

’...use your strength to make them shut up! Or even make them pay the price!’

However, to Chen Ping’an, this was just idle chatter in a tavern; he wasn’t about to make a big deal out of it. He simply treated it as a joke, letting it go in one ear and out the other.

Besides these rather negative rumors, Chen Ping’an also managed to hear a rare piece of positive news mixed in.

Chen Ping’an, a rising star of the Garrison Commandant’s Office, current Outer Patrol Envoy of the Long’an Trade Route and Five Peaks Mountain City Commander, has been promoted to Candidate for Commander-in-Chief for his meritorious service in guarding the outer trade route!

A Candidate for Commander-in-Chief! That was a true, legitimate step into the Commander-in-Chief’s system!

Even within a commandery, that was a position in the absolute top echelon!

The promotion of a Candidate for Commander-in-Chief was significant news, even in a major hub like Beicang Town.

The matter sparked quite a heated discussion.

For someone as young as Chen Ping’an to reach such a high position naturally drew the envy of many. Of course, there were also plenty of sour grapes, people who believed it was just a stroke of luck from favorable circumstances.

There are always many people in this world who are adept at attributing others’ success to the word "luck." They use it to deny all the effort others have put in, and to claim that they themselves are merely suffering from a spell of bad fortune. If they had such luck, they could surely do even better!

After coming to this conclusion, they continue to slack off and do nothing, waiting for luck to fall into their laps.

To prove this point about luck, some people even listed several incidents. They claimed that Chen Ping’an’s entire series of promotions was due to the patronage of powerful figures from above. Without that backing, they argued, how could he have been promoted so easily after causing such a huge stir with his past actions? Even if he wasn’t punished, a promotion should have been out of the question!

In their conversations, they completely ignored the fact that Chen Ping’an was on the Rising Star Chart. Sometimes, when someone is favored by their superiors, there are naturally other reasons for it—reasons that are more than what meets the eye.