Meeting the Smiling Tiger

Miteer Auction House, top floor.

This place is a restricted zone where even ordinary VIPs have no right to set foot.

Thick walls of sound-insulating magic crystal stones completely isolate all noise from the outside world, leaving only a faint, calming fragrance in the air that, like an invisible hand, soothes the visitor's mind.

Ya Fei moves with lotus steps, personally pushing open a heavy door carved from a single piece of Amethyst Wood for Su Chen.

"Sir, please."

Her voice carries a hint of barely perceptible solemnity.

Su Chen nods slightly and steps inside.

Within the secret chamber, a figure has already been waiting for a long time.

The man sits behind a wide purple-wood desk; he is about fifty years old, slightly plump, dressed in a well-tailored brocade robe, and wears a friendly, amiable smile on his face.

In his hands, he is unhurriedly rotating two black iron balls, smooth as mirrors, letting them roll slowly in his palms to produce a dull, rhythmic clinking sound.

This person is none other than the patriarch of the Aoba Clan, the helmsman of one of the three great clans of Wutan City, Aoba Pa.

He looks more like a shrewd and wealthy merchant than a powerful tycoon commanding formidable martial strength.

But the moment Su Chen enters the room, the rolling sound of the two iron balls stops.

Aoba Pa looks up, and a flash of sharp light passes through his eyes—which are always squinted into slits—so quickly that one might think it was an illusion.

He stands up, the warm smile on his face becoming even more sincere.

"This must be the Mr. Su who possesses the wondrous item. A pleasure, a real pleasure!"

His voice is warm and mellow, making one feel as if bathed in a spring breeze.

Ya Fei does not enter; she merely bows slightly at the doorway before gently pulling the door shut, leaving the space to this meeting destined to be extraordinary.

Su Chen walks to the desk and sits in the guest chair that has already been prepared.

He does not remove his bamboo hat, nor does he respond to the other party's pleasantries.

The atmosphere in the secret chamber does not soften due to Aoba Pa's enthusiasm; instead, it falls into a strange, tense silence.

In the end, it is Aoba Pa who speaks first.

He gestures to the expensive purple clay tea set on the table and personally pours a cup of steaming, fragrant tea for Su Chen.

"Mr. Su's 'Rock Fire Seed' is truly a divine object! The alchemists under my command praise it endlessly, calling this fire the best gift from the heavens to an alchemist!"

He pushes the teacup gently toward Su Chen, his posture very humble.

"That fool Jialie Bi has eyes but fails to recognize true value, actually wanting to use such underhanded methods; that is a path to self-destruction."

Aoba Pa changes the subject, leaning forward slightly, his squinted eyes revealing a fervor unique to a merchant.

"I invited you here today, Mr. Su, for only one thing."

"My Aoba Clan is willing to offer a price thirty percent higher than the Jialie Clan's bid to exclusively buy out all the 'Rock Fire Seed' you have in the future!"

"However many you have, we want them all!"

"The price will only go up, never down!"

The final sentence is spoken with resounding force, full of unquestionable boldness and sincerity.

This is a proposal that would drive any faction mad.

Long-term, high-price, exclusive.

Combined, these three terms represent an astronomical figure capable of changing the landscape of Wutan City.

After Aoba Pa finishes speaking, he leans back into his chair, watching Su Chen with a smile, waiting for his answer.

He believes that no one can refuse such terms.

However.

Su Chen merely picks up the teacup, not even removing the lid.

He holds the cup beneath his nose and gently sniffs the swirling tea aroma.

A moment later, a soft chuckle drifts slowly from beneath the bamboo hat.

The laughter is not loud, yet it acts like a cold needle, easily piercing through all the enthusiastic atmosphere Aoba Pa had cultivated.

Su Chen sets the teacup down.

"Does Patriarch Aoba think that I am short on money?"

A flat, rhetorical question.

For the first time, the smile on Aoba Pa's face shows a trace of imperceptible stiffness.

The iron balls rotating in his palms also stop moving.

Su Chen does not wait for him to answer, continuing on his own.

"I have little interest in selling 'Fire Seeds'."

He leans back into the soft chair, adjusting to a more comfortable position, his voice from beneath the bamboo hat carrying a traveler's laziness and spontaneity.

"I prefer... the process of discovering them."

"I am a traveler, one who pursues the flame."

The fleeting glint of light in Aoba Pa's narrowed eyes resurfaced once more.

He was not deceived by this rhetoric; instead, he caught a whiff of something unusual within it.

A traveler?

Discovery?

These two words held far more room for imagination than a simple direct sale.

"Oh? Then what is Mr. Su implying..." Aoba Pa asked, testing the waters.

"The Rock Fire Seed is merely a little trinket I picked up along my journey; it is not worth mentioning."

Su Chen's tone shifted abruptly.

"Although I cannot sell the 'fire seed,' I can sell... information."

Before the words had even faded.

He reached out, withdrew a rolled-up piece of beast-hide map that emitted a faint, fishy scent from his robes, and placed it onto the table with a measured, deliberate motion.

Clap.

A soft sound echoed.

Aoba Pa's gaze was instantly locked onto that beast-hide map.

The material of the hide was rough and ancient, its edges still stained with unprocessed, dried blood.

Su Chen's slender fingers pressed against one end of the map, slowly sliding it to the very center of the table.

"Outside the city, Black Wind Valley."

The voice beneath the bamboo hat was as flat as if he were speaking of some trivial, inconsequential matter.

"In the Lava Nest at the deepest part of the valley, a pair of Rank 2 magical beasts lie in wait."

"Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snakes."

"The quality of their beast fire is far superior to that of the Rock Fire Seed."

"What is even rarer is that these snakes are companion magical beasts. If their male and female Companion Magic Cores can be extracted simultaneously and used to refine the Rank 2 Dragon Strength Pill, the Clan Head should know better than I what that value would be."

The secret chamber instantly fell into a deathly silence.

The smile on Aoba Pa's face froze completely.

Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake!

Rank 2 magical beast!

Companion Magic Cores!

These words were like three red-hot iron hammers, striking his heart one after another with brutal force!

As the head of a clan, he naturally understood what this meant.

It was not merely a high-quality beast fire; it was a massive fortune capable of elevating the strength of the Aoba Clan by an entire tier!

But...

Was this information true or false?

Black Wind Valley was treacherous, and Rank 2 magical beasts were exceptionally ferocious. If the intelligence were incorrect, the experts he sent out might never return.

That was a price his Aoba Clan could not afford to pay.

To go, or not to go?

To believe, or not to believe?

It was a dilemma.

It was also a lethal test thrown at him by this mysterious person before him.

Aoba Pa leaned back against his chair, motionless, his narrowed eyes fixed intently on the primitive beast-hide map upon the table.

Time ticked away, second by second.

The air inside the secret chamber seemed to have solidified into something tangible.

A long time passed.

A very long time.

A smile suddenly bloomed once more on Aoba Pa's stiff face.

It was brighter and far more sincere than before.

"Hahahaha!"

He let out a hearty laugh, his voice filled with the decisiveness and boldness characteristic of an ambitious leader, instantly shattering the silence of the room.

"Mr. Su is truly a master! With a move like this, a piece of trash like Jialie Bi isn't even fit to carry your shoes!"

He did not question the authenticity of the intelligence, nor did he attempt to haggle.

He made his choice.

He chose to gamble!

"This intelligence, the Aoba Clan will buy it!"

Aoba Pa said with ironclad resolve.

"Please, sir, name your price!"

Su Chen's finger, which had been pressing down on the map, lifted gently.

He extended five fingers.

"Five thousand gold coins."

Hiss—

Even though he had long prepared himself to be ruthlessly fleeced, the corners of Aoba Pa's eyes still twitched uncontrollably when he heard that number.

Five thousand gold coins!

That was nearly equivalent to his Aoba Clan's entire net profit for a month!

And all for a piece of intelligence that could not be verified immediately!

This was no longer just a lion's share; it was a blatant extortion.

It was like taking a knife and carving flesh directly from his body!

Aoba Pa's breathing grew noticeably heavier.

However, Su Chen's next words made his bleeding heart skip a beat.

"Of course, that was just a joke."

The voice from beneath the bamboo hat carried a hint of mockery.

"Consider this intelligence a... greeting gift for our first meeting."

Su Chen slowly withdrew his hand.

"I don't want money."

Aoba Pa was completely stunned.

He could not keep up with the train of thought of the young man before him.

These wild ups and downs made even an old fox like him, who had spent half a lifetime crawling through the business world, feel dizzy.

He didn't want money?

In this world, could there be anything more scorching to the touch than that?

"Sir means..."

"I mean that what I truly wish to trade with Clan Leader Aoba is something a hundred, a thousand times more precious than this intelligence."

Su Chen stood up.

He walked to the window and looked down at the magnificent complex of buildings belonging to the Miteer Auction House below.

"But that item requires a stage grand enough, and enough spectators, to bear witness to its value."

Having reached this point, if Aoba Pa still didn't understand, he would have been a clan leader in vain.

His heart began to beat violently and uncontrollably.

Something a hundred times more precious than the intelligence on the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake?

What could that be?

Could it be... the legendary...

A wild thought rose defiantly in his mind!

Aoba Pa stood up abruptly, his voice trembling with excitement.

"Rest assured, sir!"

"As long as your intelligence is true, from this day forward, the Aoba Clan shall be your most reliable friend in Wutan City!"

"If you need a stage, this old man will build you one that no one in all of Wutan City can match!"

Su Chen did not turn back.

He simply raised his hand and waved it gently behind him.

This gesture was his answer.

He pushed open the Gate of Opening, and his lean figure quickly vanished outside.

Inside the secret chamber, only Aoba Pa remained.

He hurried to the table and, with trembling hands, picked up the beast-skin map that still held the warmth of the youth.

His gaze pierced through the map, as if he could already see the two giant snakes coiled within the molten lava, and the two Companion Magic Cores shimmering with brilliant light.

He saw even more... an unimaginable future, filled with infinite possibilities.

He knew.

From this day on.

The sky over Wutan City was about to change.