The Jialie residence, council hall.
A fine celadon teacup was hurled viciously to the ground, shattering into pieces.
"Useless! A bunch of useless fools!"
Jialie Bi's roar echoed through the empty hall like the bellow of a wounded lion. His chest heaved, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at his son, Jialie Ao, kneeling below him.
"That old fox from the Aoba Clan took the money we practically delivered to his door and turned it into a knife that could slit our throats!"
"And you! The young clan leader of the Jialie Clan, and you can't even find a single hair on the head of the man who sold that knife!"
"I raised you all these years just so you could run around outside squabbling with those wastes from the Xiao Clan over women?!"
Every furious rebuke landed like a merciless slap across Jialie Ao's face.
He knelt on the cold floor, head bowed low, his body trembling violently with fear and humiliation.
The news that the Aoba Clan had successfully hunted the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake swept through Wutan City's upper circles like a storm in a single day.
No one was a fool.
Everyone knew that for the Aoba Clan to pull off something like this, they must have struck some kind of deal with that mysterious "information broker."
As one side rose and the other fell, the Jialie Clan's position became more dangerous than ever.
Jialie Ao clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms until thin trails of blood seeped out.
He blamed all his resentment on the mysterious man who had shamed his father and gotten him publicly reprimanded.
"Please calm down, Father!"
Jialie Ao jerked his head up, his eyes glinting with malice and madness.
"Your son... Your son will personally lead people out right now! Even if I have to turn all of Wutan City upside down, I'll drag that bastard out for you!"
With that, he knocked his head heavily against the floor. Without waiting for his father's permission, he got up and stormed out of the council hall, burning with fury and resentment.
* * *
Wutan City, West Street.
The afternoon sun cast its lazy glow across the flagstones.
Jialie Ao wandered aimlessly down the street with seven or eight clan guards, like a pack of vicious dogs looking for trouble.
Frustration and fury simmered inside him with nowhere to go. Everyone he saw rubbed him the wrong way.
A few roadside peddlers had merely looked at him, yet the guards kicked over their stalls, scattering their wares across the ground. The vendors were furious but dared not speak up.
Just as Jialie Ao grew more irritable and prepared to head to a tavern to drink himself into a stupor, his gaze happened to sweep past a street corner.
A slender figure was stepping out of the side entrance of the Miteer Auction House, calmly blending into the crowd.
The man wore an unremarkable gray shirt and a battered bamboo hat pulled low over his head.
He looked perfectly ordinary.
So ordinary that no one in the crowd would give him a second glance.
But in that instant, Jialie Ao's pupils contracted sharply.
He had seen it!
As the man turned, a token at his waist caught the sunlight, flashing with a distinctive purple-gold sheen.
The Miteer Auction House's highest-tier purple-gold VIP card!
There were fewer than five people in all of Wutan City who owned one!
And that man's figure...
The vague outline his scouts had described countless times instantly appeared in Jialie Ao's mind.
Slender, solitary, always wearing a bamboo hat.
It was him!
A burst of elation erupted from deep within Jialie Ao like a volcano!
He suppressed the urge to rush forward and gave the guard beside him a vicious look.
"Follow him!"
"Don't let him notice!"
* * *
Su Chen walked down the bustling street, but his mind had already sunk into his consciousness space, reviewing every detail of his meeting with Aoba Pa.
He didn't notice the ill-intentioned gazes that had latched onto him from behind like maggots clinging to bone.
To avoid the crowds on the main road, he habitually turned into a quiet alley.
It was a dead end.
Damp moss covered the tall walls on either side, and the air carried a faint musty smell.
Just as he reached the middle of the alley, several burly figures suddenly blocked his way.
Su Chen stopped.
He slowly turned around.
Several more men stood at the entrance behind him.
At their head was a haughty young man in fine clothes. He folded his arms and stared at Su Chen with mocking amusement.
Jialie Ao.
The name immediately came to Su Chen's mind.
Troublesome.
The thought flashed through his mind, and his brows furrowed beneath the bamboo hat.
Jialie Ao advanced at an unhurried pace, his leather boots striking the flagstones with crisp taps that rang especially loud in the silent alley.
He stopped three steps from Su Chen and looked him up and down like a merchant inspecting goods.
"Kid, you're pretty good at hiding."
Jialie Ao's mouth stretched into a cruel sneer.
"You made this young master work hard to find you."
Su Chen said nothing, only leaning back slightly into a defensive stance.
"What? Nothing to say?"
The mockery on Jialie Ao's face deepened.
"Don't bother pretending. I know who you are."
"You're the mysterious man who sold the 'Rock Fire Seed,' right?"
Beneath the bamboo hat, Su Chen's body seemed to stiffen for a moment.
That tiny reaction banished the last trace of doubt in Jialie Ao's mind.
His smile grew smugger still.
"Kid, I'm in a good mood today, so I'll give you a chance to live."
He raised a finger and poked Su Chen in the chest.
"Tell me where your 'Kindling' came from—or, better yet, how it's made. Hand it over honestly."
"Then get on your knees and kowtow to me three times."
"Perhaps I'll consider breaking only one of your legs."
The guards behind him burst into laughter. They looked at Su Chen with the pity and cruelty of cats toying with a mouse.
They were all Dou Shi, while the kid before them showed not the slightest trace of Dou Qi. To them, he was no different from a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Su Chen seemed frightened by the sight. He backed up two more steps until his back pressed against the cold wall.
There was nowhere else to go.
"I... I don't know what you're talking about."
A hoarse voice, edged with panic, came from beneath the bamboo hat.
"I'm just an ordinary person."
"An ordinary person?"
Jialie Ao laughed uproariously as though he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.
"An 'ordinary person' who gets personally received by Miss Ya Fei and treated as an honored guest by that old fox from the Aoba Clan?"
His laughter abruptly stopped.
His face twisted into a snarl.
"Looks like you won't tell the truth unless I teach you a lesson!"
He waved a hand at the guards beside him.
"Get him! Break his legs first!"
"Let's see how hard his bones really are!"
Two guards grinned viciously, cracking their knuckles as they advanced step by step.
Powerful Dou Qi surged around them, weighing down the air in the entire alley.
Su Chen seemed genuinely afraid. Leaning against the wall, he waved his hands frantically.
"D-Don't come any closer!"
"Let's talk this out! Whatever you want, I... I'm willing to negotiate!"
His voice sounded full of fear and helplessness.
Seeing this, Jialie Ao's face showed a satisfied smile.
He loved seeing people afraid.
He lifted a hand, signaling the guards to hold off for a moment.
He wanted to savor the sight of the man who had played his whole family for fools begging and wagging his tail before him.
"Oh? You want to negotiate now?"
Jialie Ao sauntered up to Su Chen and looked down at him.
"Fine. First, take off your bamboo hat and let this young master see what kind of creature you are."
Su Chen didn't move.
"What? Afraid?"
Jialie Ao's patience was wearing thin.
"I... I just..."
Su Chen's voice continued to stall.
At that very moment, deep within the unseen consciousness space, Su Chen's mind had already transformed into a cold, invisible probe.
His target wasn't the Dou Shi before him.
It was...
The Top-Grade Fire Attribute Warm Jade worth hundreds of gold coins, which Jialie Ao had deliberately worn at his waist to show off his status!
"Lock on."
"Energy guidance."
"Raise the temperature!"
A series of silent commands was issued in a ten-thousandth of an instant!
Outside.
Jialie Ao was smugly enjoying Su Chen's "fear."
He was about to speak again, using even more vicious words to shatter the other man's defenses.
Suddenly.
Bang!
An ear-splitting crack erupted without warning at his waist!
"AAAH—!"
A bloodcurdling scream that sounded almost inhuman instantly shattered the silence of the alley!
Jialie Ao leaped into the air as if a scorpion had stung him on the backside.
The priceless warm jade at his waist had exploded all on its own!
Dozens of scorching-hot shards, hot as branding irons, had embedded themselves deep in his flesh. The unbearable burning pain twisted his face, and cold sweat poured down his body!
The sudden turn of events left everyone dumbfounded.
The guards who had been about to attack all instinctively stepped back, staring in horror at their screaming young master.
What had happened?
Had the jade pendant... exploded by itself?
In that chaotic instant, when everyone's minds had gone blank—
The slender figure that had been cowering and trembling in the corner moved.
Like a loach pinned beneath a rock, he slipped through the barely half-foot-wide gap between the two guards at an unbelievable angle!
His movements were as fast as a ghost!
By the time the guards came to their senses and tried to chase him, Su Chen had already vanished at the far end of the alley after a few flickers, without a trace.
Only Jialie Ao's pig-slaughtering screams remained in the alley, along with the guards staring at one another in terror.
Enduring the pain, Jialie Ao looked down at the bloody mess at his waist, then at the jade shards on the ground, still giving off wisps of heat.
An indescribable chill shot from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head.
That kid... hadn't moved a muscle from beginning to end!
What kind of sorcery was this?!
Before you continue