A sickening sweetness still churned faintly in Su Chen's chest.
He leaned against the cold wall. Every breath tugged at the needle-sharp pain that came from the depths of his soul.
He had failed.
The mad experiment to steal a god's authority had ended in utter failure, in a way that had nearly destroyed him.
The backlash from the Heavenly Flame had struck him like a merciless hammer, jolting him awake.
The greed and ambition that had clouded his mind instantly cooled.
He lowered his head and looked at the dark red pool of blood on the ground, long since congealed. The feverish fervor in his eyes was gone, replaced by the stillness of someone who had just escaped death.
Directly copying a Heavenly Flame was not an option for the foreseeable future.
The mysterious powerhouse hidden within Xiao Yan was like an unscalable abyss. Any rash attempt to test him would leave Su Chen shattered to pieces.
So what was his fallback?
Keep selling Rock Fire Seeds?
Su Chen's fingertips wandered unconsciously along the rough edge of the bed.
No.
His source was too limited.
He was like a farmer with only one well. Though its water was sweet, if anyone set their sights on it or filled it in, he would be driven straight into desperation.
The Jialie Clan's venomous stares and Ya Fei's probing gaze were like swords hanging over his head.
He needed a new well.
A well that could spread the risk, a well that could perfectly disguise that "divine well"... a new well.
He slowly closed his eyes, and his mind sank once more into the wreckage of his consciousness.
The Stone Platform's light was still dim.
The failed experiment had drained nearly all its energy.
Su Chen's consciousness did not touch the data model representing the "Bone Spirit Cold Flame." For now, that thing was poison to him.
His thoughts stirred. Tentatively, he slowly extended the Stone Platform's faint perceptive power outward.
This time, he deliberately avoided the direction of the Xiao Clan in the city.
Like a cast fishing net, he swept aimlessly over the vast mountains around Wutan City.
In the past, all his attention had been focused on that brilliant "Lighthouse." He had paid no heed to the faint "candle flames" around it.
But now...
Bzz.
The Stone Platform trembled faintly.
A dim point of light, carrying the aura of fire, appeared at the edge of his perception.
It lay in a ravine thirty li east of the city, its energy mixed and volatile.
"Tier 1 Magical Beast, Fire Rock Lizard."
A line of vague information flashed across the Stone Platform.
Su Chen's consciousness paused.
His perception continued to spread.
Soon, a second point of light appeared, then a third.
"Tier 1 Magical Beast, Blazing Fire Wolf. Moves in a pack."
"Tier 2 Magical Beast, Crimson Flame Tiger. Strong energy fluctuations; likely asleep."
One after another, the points of light representing fire-attribute magical beasts appeared like stars in the night sky. Though dim, they were unmistakable, each one marked on his mental map.
Their locations, their ranks, their general patterns of activity...
All the information mercenaries had to uncover with their blood and lives lay before him like an exam paper with all the answers written in.
Su Chen's breath caught.
The dead darkness in his consciousness seemed to be split open by a bolt of lightning, blazing with sudden light!
A completely new idea—one even more reckless than directly copying a Heavenly Flame, yet far safer—exploded in his mind.
Who said his cheat could only be used to create flames?
Why couldn't he become... an information merchant?
Over the next few days, Su Chen's life settled back into a routine.
By day, he no longer stayed shut indoors. He changed into the most inconspicuous gray shirt, put on a battered bamboo hat that hid most of his face, and wandered through every corner of Wutan City like a ghost.
He spread out the maps of the areas around Wutan City that he had gathered from the Miteer Auction House and various shops in his dilapidated little courtyard.
Then, holding a piece of charcoal, he began his real "work."
Every day, he spent a great deal of spiritual energy spurring on the Stone Platform, systematically "scanning" the mountains within a hundred li of the city.
Then he marked each fire-attribute magical beast point on the crude map, one by one.
In the Black Rock Mountain Range north of the city, a Tier 1 peak Fire Rock Lion occupied Cave No. 3 and went hunting every afternoon.
At Phoenix Fall Slope to the west, a pack of Blazing Fire Wolves numbering around twenty had made its home in a hidden valley overgrown with vines.
To the east...
He worked meticulously, focused and intent.
Each stroke was like the work of a master craftsman, drawing his masterpiece for the ages.
A crude but astonishingly accurate "Magical Beast Intelligence Map" gradually took shape beneath his hand.
This would be the foundation of his second enterprise.
It would also be the perfect cover he had prepared for the mysterious origin of the Rock Fire Seeds.
Dusk.
The blood-red setting sun gilded the silhouette of Wutan City.
In the west of the city, a tavern named the "Crimson Rose" was at its noisiest.
It was a gathering place for mercenaries.
The air was thick with the sour stench of cheap ale, the strange smell of sweat and blood fermenting together, and the grating clang of metal weapons.
A burly man with a full beard had one foot planted on a table. He chugged down a mug of ale, then slammed the wooden cup onto the tabletop.
"Damn it! We came up empty again!"
The burly man's roar was like that of a savage bear roused to fury, silencing the surrounding din.
"That damned Explosive Flame Boar's slipperier than a loach! The boys and I spent three days and three nights camping out on Black Wind Mountain and didn't see so much as a hair! Keep this up and I'll have to pawn my pants!"
Most of the mercenaries around them laughed, though a few sighed in sympathy.
When making a living in these mountains, strength was certainly important, but sometimes luck mattered more.
Just then.
A slender figure passed through the noisy crowd and walked up to the burly man's table.
The figure wore a loose gray cloak and a bamboo hat pulled low over their head. Shadow covered the entire face, revealing only a hard-edged chin.
"Looking for a fire-attribute magical beast?"
A hoarse voice, as if scraped raw by sandpaper, came from beneath the hat.
The voice was quiet, yet it pierced through all the noise in the tavern like a cold needle.
The bearded man turned sharply. His bell-like eyes fixed on the stranger with wary hostility.
"What the hell are you?"
"An information broker."
The voice beneath the hat held not a hint of emotion.
"Pfft..."
The mercenaries around them burst into laughter once more.
"Haha! What kind of swindler thinks he can con our Mad Lion Buck?"
"Kid, get lost! Or Captain Buck will punch you into meat paste!"
A cruel sneer spread across Buck's face.
He had a bellyful of anger and nowhere to vent it.
Yet the figure beneath the hat ignored the jeers around them.
They simply extended a long, thin finger and lightly scratched a mark into the greasy tabletop with a fingernail.
"Eastern side of the Black Rock Mountain Range, third valley."
The hoarse voice rang out again, each word perfectly clear.
"At the entrance is a boulder shaped like a crouching tiger. Go three hundred paces in, and there's a cave on the left, hidden behind a waterfall."
"Inside is a Tier 1 peak Fire Rock Lion."
"It goes out to hunt every afternoon and returns at dusk. It'll be there tonight."
The tavern fell silent at once.
Every face wore an expression of astonishment.
The information was far too detailed.
It didn't sound like hearsay. It sounded as if the stranger had... seen it with their own eyes!
Buck's expression changed as well.
He stared at the mark scratched into the table, shock and doubt filling his eyes.
He had been to the Black Rock Mountain Range more than once, but had never heard of a cave hidden behind a waterfall.
"H-how do you know?"
His voice sounded dry.
"You don't need to know."
The figure beneath the hat slowly raised their head. From within the shadow, two sharp gazes seemed to pierce through the air.
"One gold coin upfront."
"Once the job's done, I want half the value of the spoils."
"If the information's wrong..."
The hoarse voice paused.
"You can come take my life whenever you like."
Buck's heart gave a hard thump.
He looked at the mysterious stranger and their unquestionable confidence. His doubts began to waver violently.
One gold coin in exchange for half the spoils.
It was a gamble...
"Fine!"
Buck gritted his teeth, pulled out a gold coin, and slapped it hard onto the table.
"I'll trust you this once!"
"If you dare cheat me, I'll chop you up and feed you to the dogs!"
The figure beneath the hat said nothing more.
They reached out, slipped the gold coin into a sleeve, then turned and melted back into the crowd without the slightest hesitation, disappearing into a dim corner of the tavern.
Three days later.
It was the same tavern, the "Crimson Rose."
"Mad Lion" Buck was surrounded by a group of mercenaries, bragging at the top of his lungs.
His face shone with irrepressible excitement and delight.
At his feet lay an enormous lion's head, still streaked with blood!
Those fangs and that mane left no doubt: this was a genuine Tier 1 peak magical beast!
"I'm telling you, that place was eerie! It was exactly like the kid said! If he hadn't shown me the way, I could've hunted for the rest of my life and never found it!"
Beneath the envious, jealous stares of the crowd, Buck quietly slipped a heavy purse into the hand of the hat-wearing figure who had reappeared in the corner.
"Brother, if you've got any more good leads, come find me!"
The figure beneath the hat only gave a slight nod.
They weighed the purse, which held fifty gold coins, then turned and vanished silently into the night.
From that day on.
A legend began to spread through Wutan City's mercenary circles.
It was the legend of a mysterious "treasure hunter."
No one knew his name, and no one had seen his true face.
People knew only that he could always find the most secluded spots where fire-attribute magical beasts made their lairs.
At last, Su Chen had created the perfect identity for himself.
A lone wanderer blessed with exceptional luck and skilled at tracking fire-attribute magical beasts...
That way, when he occasionally put a few high-quality Beast Flames or beast cores up for sale, it all seemed...
perfectly reasonable.
Before you continue