Street Provocation

Jialie Mansion, Council Hall.

A fine celadon teacup was smashed violently against the floor, shattering into pieces.

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!"

Jialie Bi's roar, like the bellow of a wounded lion, echoed through the cavernous hall. His chest heaved violently, his eyes bloodshot as he stared fixedly at his son, Jialie Ao, who knelt below.

"That old fox from the Aoba Clan has already taken the money we handed them on a silver platter and used it to forge a blade that can slit our throats!"

"And you! The Young Clan Head of my Jialie Clan, you can't even find a single hair of the man who sold them that blade!"

"Did I raise you all these years just so you could squabble with that bunch of losers from the Xiao Clan?!"

Every word of the scolding felt like a ruthless slap across Jialie Ao's face.

He knelt on the cold ground, his head buried low, his body trembling violently from fear and humiliation.

The news that the Aoba Clan had successfully hunted the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake swept through the upper circles of Wutan City like a storm in a single day.

No one was a fool.

Everyone understood that for the Aoba Clan to have such resources, they must have reached some sort of cooperation with that mysterious "intelligence merchant."

With one side rising and the other falling, the Jialie Clan's situation had become dangerously precarious.

Jialie Ao clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms until blood began to seep out.

He directed all his resentment toward the mysterious person who had brought shame upon his father and caused him to be scolded in public.

"Father, calm your anger!"

Jialie Ao snapped his head up, his eyes flashing with malice and madness.

"This son... this son will lead men to find him personally! Even if I have to turn all of Wutan City upside down, I will drag that bastard out for you!"

Having said this, he kowtowed heavily. Without waiting for his father's permission, he rose and rushed out of the Council Hall, filled with burning rage and unwillingness.

Wutan City, West Street.

The afternoon sun spilled lazily over the bluestone road.

Jialie Ao, accompanied by seven or eight family guards, wandered aimlessly through the streets like a pack of vicious dogs looking for trouble.

With nowhere to vent the frustration and fury in his heart, he found everyone he saw to be an eyesore.

A few street vendors nearby were kicked over by the guards simply for glancing at him; their goods were scattered across the ground, yet they dared to be angry but dared not speak.

Just as Jialie Ao grew increasingly irritable and prepared to head to a tavern to drink himself into a stupor, his gaze inadvertently swept across a street corner.

A lean figure was walking out of the side door of the Miteer Auction House, merging into the crowd at a steady pace.

The man wore the most inconspicuous gray short-sleeved shirt, with a tattered bamboo hat pulled very low over his head.

Very ordinary.

So ordinary that he would not attract any attention in the crowd at all.

Yet, Jialie Ao's pupils constricted violently in that instant.

He saw it!

The moment the man turned, a token at his waist flashed with a unique purple-gold luster under the sunlight.

The highest-level Purple-Gold VIP Card of the Miteer Auction House!

In all of Wutan City, the number of people who possessed such a card could be counted on one hand!

Moreover, that man's build...

The vague silhouette that his scouts had described countless times flashed through Jialie Ao's mind.

Lean, reclusive, always wearing a bamboo hat.

It was him!

A surge of wild joy erupted from the bottom of Jialie Ao's heart like a volcano!

He suppressed the urge to charge over immediately and gave a sinister look to the guards beside him.

"Follow him!"

"Don't let him discover us!"

Su Chen walked along the bustling street, but his mind had long since sunk into his consciousness space, reviewing every detail of his meeting with Aoba Pa.

He did not notice that several malicious gazes behind him had already stuck to him like maggots on a bone.

To avoid the congestion of the main thoroughfare, he habitually turned into a quiet alleyway.

It was a dead end.

Damp moss crawled up the towering walls on both sides, and a faint, musty odor permeated the air.

Just as he reached the middle of the alley.

The path ahead was abruptly blocked by several sturdy figures.

Su Chen's footsteps faltered.

He turned around slowly.

Behind him, at the entrance of the alley, several more men stood waiting.

Leading them was a young man with an arrogant expression and luxurious attire, who was watching him coldly with his arms crossed and a playful sneer on his face.

Jialie Ao.

The name surfaced in Su Chen's mind instantly.

"Troublesome."

The thought flashed through his mind, and his brows furrowed slightly beneath his bamboo hat.

Jialie Ao stepped forward slowly, his leather boots clicking sharply against the bluestone pavement, a sound that seemed particularly jarring in the silent alley.

He stopped three paces away from Su Chen, eyeing him from head to toe with the gaze of someone inspecting merchandise.

"Kid, you're pretty good at hiding."

A cruel, mocking grin spread across Jialie Ao's lips.

"You've made this young master search quite hard."

Su Chen did not speak; he merely leaned back slightly, adopting a defensive posture.

"What? No words?"

The mockery on Jialie Ao's face deepened.

"Stop the act, I know who you are."

"The mysterious person who sold the 'Rock Fire Seed', right?"

Su Chen's body beneath the bamboo hat seemed to stiffen for a moment.

This subtle reaction caused the last shred of doubt in Jialie Ao's heart to vanish into thin air.

The smile on his face grew even more smug.

"Kid, this young master is in a good mood today, so I'll give you a chance to live."

He extended a finger and poked Su Chen in the chest.

"Hand over the origin of that 'Fire Seed', or rather, the method of making it, and do it honestly."

"Then, kneel on the ground and kowtow to this young master three times."

"Perhaps then, I might consider only breaking one of your legs."

The guards behind him burst into laughter, their eyes filled with the pity and cruelty of a cat playing with a mouse as they looked at Su Chen.

They were all Dou Shi, and to them, this kid before them, who lacked even the slightest fluctuation of Dou Qi, was no different from a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

Su Chen seemed frightened by this display, retreating two more steps until his back pressed against the cold wall.

There was nowhere left to retreat.

"I... I don't know what you are talking about."

A hoarse voice, tinged with a hint of panic, emerged from beneath the bamboo hat.

"I am just an ordinary person."

"An ordinary person?"

Jialie Ao laughed exaggeratedly, as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"An 'ordinary person' who can be personally received by Miss Ya Fei and treated as an honored guest by that old fox of the Aoba Clan?"

His laughter stopped abruptly.

His expression turned ferocious in an instant.

"It seems you won't tell the truth until you've tasted some pain!"

He waved a hand at the guards beside him.

"Go! Break his legs for me first!"

"I want to see just how hard his bones really are!"

Two guards grinned hideously, clenching their fists as they closed in step by step.

Powerful fluctuations of Dou Qi rose from their bodies, causing the air in the entire alley to stagnate.

Su Chen seemed truly terrified; he leaned against the wall and waved his hands repeatedly.

"Don't... don't come over!"

"Let's talk this out! Whatever you want, I... I can negotiate!"

His voice sounded filled with fear and helplessness.

Jialie Ao saw this, a look of satisfied pleasure appearing on his face.

He loved watching people look terrified.

He raised his hand, signaling the guards to pause for a moment.

He wanted to savor the sight of this guy, who had been running his entire family in circles, begging for mercy before him.

"Oh? Want to talk?"

Jialie Ao strolled slowly over to Su Chen, looking down at him from a position of superiority.

"Sure. First, take off your bamboo hat and let this young master see exactly what kind of trash you are."

Su Chen did not move.

"What? Too scared?"

Jialie Ao's patience was wearing thin.

"I... I just..."

Su Chen's voice continued to stall.

And at this very moment.

Within the consciousness space that no one noticed, Su Chen's intent had long since transformed into an invisible, icy probe.

His target was not the few Dou Shi before him.

It was...

The top-grade fire-attribute warm jade that Jialie Ao wore at his waist specifically to flaunt his status, a piece worth hundreds of gold coins!

"Lock on."

"Energy guidance."

"Heat up!"

A series of silent commands were issued with brutal force in a ten-thousandth of a second!

Outside.

Jialie Ao was smugly enjoying Su Chen's "fear."

He was just about to speak again, intending to use even more vicious words to shatter the other party's psychological defenses.

Suddenly.

Bang!

An extremely crisp explosion erupted without warning right at his waist!

"Ah--!"

A shrill, inhuman scream instantly tore through the silence of the alley!

Jialie Ao jumped straight up as if he had been stung by a scorpion.

The expensive warm jade at his waist had actually shattered on its own!

Dozens of jade shards, as hot as branding irons, embedded themselves deep into his flesh, and an unbearable, burning pain caused his face to twist instantly as cold sweat poured down!

This sudden scene left everyone stunned.

The few guards who were preparing to strike all instinctively took a step back, staring in horror at their own young master, who was screaming incessantly.

What was going on?

The jade pendant... exploded on its own?

In that moment of chaos, while everyone's minds were blank.

That thin figure, who had been leaning against the corner of the wall shivering, moved.

Like a loach pressed under a rock, he slid out through a gap only half a foot wide between two guards at an impossible angle!

His movements were as fast as a ghost!

By the time the guards reacted and tried to give chase.

Su Chen's figure had already vanished at the end of the alley after a few flickers, leaving no trace behind.

In the alley, only Jialie Ao's pig-like screams remained, along with a group of guards looking at each other in terror.

Enduring the excruciating pain, Jialie Ao looked down at his bloodied waist, then at the jade shards on the ground that were still emitting wisps of heat.

An indescribable chill surged from his tailbone straight to his crown.

That brat... from beginning to end, he hadn't moved a single inch!

What kind of sorcery was this?!