Non-Contact Scan

Night fell, slowly settling over Wutan City.

Su Chen sat cross-legged on his only piece of furniture, a dilapidated wooden bed, his eyes tightly shut.

Before him lay all the spoils he had exchanged his fortune for today.

The Qi Gathering Powder radiating pure medicinal power, the soft armor of the Profound Tier shimmering with a faint glow, and the two ancient scrolls recording the Boiling Blood Art and the Wind-Following Step.

Nine hundred gold coins had been squandered in a single afternoon.

In exchange, he had gained a heavy sense of confidence.

He did not immediately begin practicing his Dou Qi techniques.

One must eat one bite at a time, and walk one step at a time.

Before officially stepping onto this thorny path of cultivation, he had to first resolve the greatest temptation—or rather, the greatest threat—hanging over his head.

His consciousness, like mercury spilling onto the ground, sank into that familiar void.

The entire space was deathly silent.

Only the ancient Stone Platform in the center looked different from usual.

A phantom needle, formed from countless arcane runes, emitted a faint white light, stubbornly pointing toward a certain direction in the city.

That was the direction of the Xiao Clan.

That was... the direction of the Heavenly Flame.

Su Chen's consciousness hovered before the Stone Platform, motionless.

The battle between fear and greed had long since concluded in his heart.

What remained was only the cold, patient focus of a hunter.

To go directly to Xiao Yan would be no different from seeking his own death.

The mysterious powerhouse lurking within him was a prehistoric crocodile in slumber; any reckless approach would lead to an irredeemable end.

But...

Who said that hunting required getting close to the prey?

A bold plan had been brewing in his mind for the entire afternoon.

He was going to conduct a... non-contact scan.

"Activate."

As he issued the thought.

Hum—!

The entire Stone Platform erupted in light.

The tip of the phantom needle suddenly flared with a more brilliant halo, acting like a radar, silently emitting a special ripple that transcended physical dimensions toward the locked target.

Su Chen poured his entire focus into it.

He was like a top-tier hacker attempting to breach a heavily guarded ancient server.

His mental energy transformed into probing tentacles, following the guidance of the needle, cautiously extending toward that "lighthouse" representing the Heavenly Flame.

This process was extremely taxing on his mind.

Su Chen's complexion turned pale at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Over the next few days, Su Chen's life became highly regimented.

During the day, he would leave his dilapidated courtyard and wander around Wutan City, acting like a genuine, idle youth.

But he never approached any markets or bustling districts.

His range of activity was limited to one place.

The desolate mountain behind the Xiao Clan estate.

He never ventured deep, instead finding a hidden corner in the outer woods where he would stay for the entire day.

He was like the most patient hunter, waiting for his prey to enter the optimal firing range.

Finally, on the afternoon of the fifth day.

The opportunity arrived.

Within his consciousness space, the needle that had always pointed toward the depths of the Xiao Clan estate suddenly shifted.

It slowly moved toward the direction of the back mountain.

And it was getting closer and closer.

Su Chen's heart skipped a beat.

He immediately suppressed all his outward aura, his entire body becoming like a boulder, merging into the ancient tree behind him.

He sank his consciousness completely into the Stone Platform.

Through the "radar" of that pointer, he could "see" clearly.

A thin, youthful figure was walking alone to a secluded cliff at the back of the mountain, where he sat cross-legged and began his day-after-day of dull cultivation.

It was Xiao Yan.

And that brilliant lighthouse representing the Bone Chilling Flame was quietly coiled within his body.

The distance was closer than ever before.

Su Chen's breathing almost stopped.

Now!

"Scan, initiate!"

He pushed his spiritual power to its absolute limit.

BOOM!

The light on the Stone Platform surged instantly!

The tip of the pointer erupted with blinding radiance, and strands of invisible, intangible spiritual power spread out like a giant net, shrouding Xiao Yan at the edge of the cliff.

However, the moment these threads were about to touch Xiao Yan's body.

A faint, yet bone-chilling pressure swept out from within Xiao Yan's body without any warning!

That pressure was not directed at anyone.

It was more like a sleeping dragon subconsciously turning over in its sleep.

But with just that movement.

All of the spiritual power threads Su Chen had extended were instantly frozen and shattered!

Pfft!

In reality, Su Chen, who was leaning against a tree trunk, shuddered violently as a mouthful of blood uncontrollably spilled from the corner of his mouth.

Within his consciousness space, monstrous waves were surging.

The entire Stone Platform trembled violently, as if it had suffered a heavy blow.

"So... so strong!"

Su Chen's consciousness was filled with horror.

That was merely the soul ripple emitted by the other party unconsciously!

If the other party were awakened and launched an active attack...

He did not doubt that his soul would be crushed into powder in an instant!

Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

He forcibly suppressed the trembling deep within his soul, not daring to be the slightest bit reckless again.

He recalled his plan.

Non-contact scanning.

He did not need to invade; he did not need to touch.

What he needed to do was "receive."

Just like standing at the foot of a mountain to receive the light emitted by a lighthouse at the peak.

Although weak, although slow, it was... absolutely safe.

He steadied his mind and reactivated the Stone Platform.

This time, he did not attempt to "touch" the target with his spiritual power.

He switched the Stone Platform's function from "active scanning" to "passive reception" mode.

Hum—

In the center of the Stone Platform, a massive vortex composed of countless runes slowly emerged.

That vortex, like a black hole, began to generate a peculiar suction force.

It no longer released any fluctuations outward.

Instead, it began to forcibly capture, drag, and pull the faint, almost negligible aura emitted by that "lighthouse" itself—which was dissipating into the world—into this void space, thread by thread!

This process was extremely slow.

If active scanning was like using a harpoon to hunt a whale.

Then now, Su Chen was using the finest fishing net to filter the entire ocean, just to collect the insignificant scales shed from the whale's body.

One thread.

Then another.

Those faint light particles representing the origin aura of the Bone Chilling Flame, as if drawn by some fatal attraction, crossed the distance of space and were continuously pulled in by the rune vortex.

As soon as they entered this space, they were instantly decomposed by the Stone Platform, transforming into the purest runic data that represented their very essence.

Then, this data began to slowly converge upon the Stone Platform.

Su Chen was fully focused, not daring to be distracted in the slightest.

His mental energy was being consumed frantically, like a bursting dam.

His complexion shifted from pale to a bloodless, sallow yellow.

Time, at this moment, seemed to lose all meaning.

He did not know how much time had passed.

Perhaps a stick of incense.

Perhaps an hour.

Just as Su Chen felt his brain was about to be completely drained and his consciousness began to blur.

Ding!

A crisp sound, as if originating from the depths of his soul, exploded violently within the void!

Su Chen's consciousness jolted.

He forced himself to rally and looked toward the Stone Platform.

There, in the very center of the Stone Platform.

Those countless shimmering particles and runic data that he had exhausted his heart and soul to capture and drag over, after being analyzed and reorganized by the Stone Platform.

Finally...

They converged into an extremely vague outline.

It was a pale-colored... flame model, no larger than a fingernail!

It had no temperature, no physical form.

It was merely a phantom composed of pure data.

Yet its shape, its structure, and the energy characteristics within it—representing "extreme yin, extreme cold, and the ability to refine the essence of all things"...

Had all been perfectly replicated by the Stone Platform!

The first step of the plan was a success!

"Haa... haa..."

Su Chen abruptly exited his conscious space.

He was drenched as if he had been fished out of water, gasping for air as a violent sense of vertigo made his vision go black.

The aftereffects of excessive mental energy consumption surged in like a tide.

But he could not care about that.

There was not a trace of exhaustion on his face.

Only an irrepressible, near-manic ecstasy!

He looked toward the edge of the distant cliff at Xiao Yan, who was still practicing with his eyes closed, completely unaware that he had just been subjected to a "data theft."

Then, he looked inward at the pale flame model within his conscious space, which represented infinite possibilities.

A bolder, even crazier plan began to sprout wildly in his heart.

The Rock Fire Seed was merely an appetizer.

Next, he would present the entire Wutan City, and perhaps even the entire Jia Ma Empire, with a grand gift... that no one could refuse!