Key to Treasure Hunting

A pale flame hovered silently in his palm.

The temperature inside the dilapidated shack had long since dropped to freezing. A visible layer of thick white frost had condensed on the surface of the water vat in the corner, and even the dust motes floating in the air seemed frozen by that invisible chill, their descent slowed to a crawl.

Yet, Su Chen felt not a shred of cold in his palm.

He could clearly perceive that beneath that icy, pale exterior lay a core of flame so pure and so scorching.

This was the first true trump card in his hands.

"Pale Flame."

Su Chen whispered to himself, bestowing a name upon the miracle he had created with his own hands.

He flicked his finger, and the flame vanished silently back into his body. The chill in the room receded rapidly, and everything returned to normal.

But Su Chen's heart could not find peace.

He walked over to the only rickety wooden table and sat down, his fingertips tapping rhythmically against the rough surface.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

This was his habit when thinking.

How could he maximize the value of this "Pale Flame"?

Sell it outright?

The moment the thought arose, he extinguished it without hesitation.

No.

The value of this flame was far beyond that of a Rock Fire Seed. It contained a trace of the true essence of a Heavenly Flame; once revealed, it would inevitably stir up a monstrous storm in Wutan City, and perhaps even the entire Jia Ma Empire.

By then, it wouldn't just be the likes of the Jialie Clan or the Aoba Clan knocking at his door.

The Alchemist Guild, the great families of the Imperial Capital, or even... the Misty Cloud Sect.

Before such true behemoths, his current meager strength was no different from an ant.

More importantly, that would be a one-time deal.

Selling it might bring in a massive fortune, but it would also completely expose the secret that he could "create" flames.

Killing the goose to get the golden egg was not the act of a wise man.

He needed a smarter approach.

A method that could monetize this value while perfectly concealing his core secret, and perhaps even cloak himself in an aura of mystery that no one would dare to provoke lightly.

Su Chen's tapping fingers paused slightly.

His consciousness sank once more into that void.

This time, he did not probe the "Lighthouse" located at the Xiao Clan.

Instead, he carefully condensed his spiritual power into an invisible needle and slowly approached the direction of that "Lighthouse."

Hum.

The moment his spiritual needle reached a critical distance, the "Pale Flame" he had just retracted into his body trembled without warning!

The vibration was extremely faint; had Su Chen's spiritual power not been connected to its origin, he would have barely noticed it.

But this single tremor.

It was like a bolt of lightning tearing through the darkness, violently shattering all the fog in Su Chen's mind!

He jerked his head up, his gaze piercing through the worn walls toward the distant Xiao Clan estate.

Resonance!

Because the origin of the "Pale Flame" was extracted from a trace of the "Bone Chilling Flame."

Therefore, when the two came within a certain distance, they would produce this peculiar resonance born of the same source!

The rhythmic tapping on the table ceased abruptly.

A brilliant, perhaps even insane, business concept roared into shape within his mind.

He would not sell the flame.

What he would sell was... a map to find the flame!

No.

Something even more advanced than a map.

He would sell a key capable of opening the gates to the treasure!

Over the next two days, Su Chen did not engage in any further cultivation.

He poured all of his energy into this brand-new plan.

He first scoured every material shop, large and small, in Wutan City, spending nearly a hundred gold coins to purchase over a dozen fist-sized pieces of the hardest, premium-grade Obsidian.

This stone was pitch-black throughout and possessed an extremely high density; it had a natural insulating effect against energy, making it an excellent material for crafting special containers.

Returning to that dilapidated little courtyard.

Su Chen locked the door behind him and placed one of the Obsidian pieces on the table.

He did not use any tools.

He simply extended the index finger of his right hand, and a wisp of pure spiritual energy at his fingertip, acting like an invisible carving knife, began to slowly glide across the surface of the iron-hard Obsidian.

Sss... sss...

Fine powder continuously flaked off the Obsidian.

Su Chen's expression was focused to the extreme.

He was carving an incredibly complex rune conduit inside the stone, one even thinner than a strand of hair.

This process required a level of control over spiritual energy that was nothing short of perverted.

A fraction too much, and the stone would shatter instantly.

A fraction too little, and it would fail to leave a mark.

A full hour passed.

By the time fine beads of sweat had seeped from Su Chen's forehead, the internal modification of the first piece of Obsidian was finally complete.

He did not rest.

He carefully forced a wisp of flame out from within his body.

The flame was only the size of a grain of rice; it was the "Pale Flame" he had just created.

Holding his breath, he used his spiritual energy to wrap the rice-sized flame into a perfect sphere, then, following the rune conduit he had carved, he pushed it, with extreme difficulty, bit by bit, into the very core of the Obsidian.

The final step: sealing!

Su Chen slammed his hands together, and a powerful surge of spiritual energy erupted, completely sealing the entrance of the rune conduit!

Hum—!

The Obsidian on the table shuddered violently.

A layer of white frost, visible to the naked eye, flashed across its surface before vanishing, returning it to normal.

It lay there quietly, pitch-black and ice-cold to the touch; from the outside, it looked no different from an ordinary stone.

It was a success!

Su Chen exhaled a long breath of stale air, his face showing a hint of exhaustion, but even more so, an unconcealable excitement.

He picked up the seemingly unremarkable piece of Obsidian and held it in his palm.

With a thought.

He once again extended his spiritual energy toward the direction of the Xiao Clan, simulating a state of "approaching."

A miracle occurred.

The moment his spiritual energy probe crossed a certain critical threshold.

The temperature of the cold Obsidian in his palm plummeted!

A bone-chilling cold erupted from within the stone!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

A thick, crystalline layer of white frost rapidly condensed and spread across the surface of his hand holding the stone, visible to the naked eye!

In just two or three breaths, his entire right hand was completely encased in solid ice, as if he were wearing a ferocious glove forged from frozen frost!

And when Su Chen cut off his spiritual investigation, simulating a state of "moving away."

The chill receded like a tide, the ice on his hand melted rapidly, and the Obsidian returned to its harmless, ordinary appearance.

Su Chen looked at his right hand, which had been numbed by the cold, and finally, a genuine smile appeared on his face.

This object had no offensive power of its own.

It could not even be considered a weapon.

Yet, its strategic value was enough to drive every alchemist and every treasure hunter on the entire Dou Qi Continent to madness!

It was not a treasure.

It was a compass... for discovering treasures!

It was not a flame.

It was the spark... that would ignite the fire of "greed" in everyone's hearts!

Su Chen looked at the cold stone in his hand for a long time, and for this masterpiece that was about to overturn the wealth landscape of the entire Jia Ma Empire, he gave it a name worthy of being recorded in history.

"Exotic Flame Sensing Stone."

He knew that once this item was revealed, the sensation it would cause would far surpass that of the previous Rock Fire Seed.

The Rock Fire Seed merely satisfied the alchemists' pursuit of efficiency.

But this Exotic Flame Sensing Stone sold something ethereal, yet fatal... hope!

It was the hope that countless people spent their entire lives chasing—the hope of ascending to the heavens in a single bound and becoming a person above others!

Su Chen slowly clenched his fist.

The cold Obsidian pressed tightly against his palm.

This was the true bombshell he intended to drop during his meeting with Aoba Pa three days later.

It would thoroughly cement his status as a "Mysterious Master."

It would make all the powerhouses in Wutan City, and even the entire Jia Ma Empire in the future, feel awe toward him rather than covetousness.

Because no one would be foolish enough to kill the only canary capable of pointing them toward hidden treasures.

The corners of Su Chen's mouth twitched slightly beneath the shadow of his bamboo hat.

Aoba Pa.

Ya Fei.

And that Xiao Yan, who was undergoing a frantic transformation in the back mountains.

The chessboard had already been set.

And he had finally placed the one piece capable of stirring up the winds and clouds.