Showing the "Fangs"

Night slowly settled over the sky above Wutan City.

Within a dilapidated small courtyard, Su Chen sat cross-legged on the cold ground.

He was not cultivating.

He simply sat there in silence, his entire being like a lifeless stone statue, merging into the surrounding darkness.

Ya Fei's words were like a boulder cast into a deep pool, stirring up unprecedented ripples in his dead-still heart.

Hiding could only buy a moment of temporary peace.

Blind concession and concealment would only make greedy jackals feel that you were weak and easy to bully.

To truly gain a foothold on this continent where power was supreme, what was needed was not deeper shadows, but a crown dazzling enough that no one would dare to look directly at it.

A long time passed.

Su Chen slowly opened his eyes.

In those pitch-black pupils, there was not a hint of hesitation, only a cold, abyss-like stillness.

He opened his palm.

A stone, entirely black and about the size of a fist, appeared silently in his hand.

It looked like the most ordinary piece of Obsidian, with a smooth surface and hard texture, devoid of any energy fluctuations or even a glimmer of luster.

This was the "key" he had exhausted his mental energy to barely craft.

A key capable of opening the Pandora's Box named "greed" in the hearts of every powerhouse across the Jia Ma Empire.

Exotic Flame Sensing Stone.

Su Chen gripped the cold stone tightly.

He knew he could no longer wait.

Rather than passively awaiting Jialie Bi's next retaliation, it was better to strike first and raise the stakes of this game to a level beyond anyone's imagination.

He stood up and pushed open the creaking, dilapidated door; his lean figure vanished once again into the thick night.

Miteer Auction House, top-floor secret chamber.

A delicate fragrance swirled in the air.

Ya Fei reclined on a soft sofa, toying with an exquisite white porcelain teacup in her hand.

When Su Chen's figure appeared at the doorway again, a trace of surprise flashed imperceptibly through her charming peach-blossom eyes.

How much time had passed?

He had come again.

"It seems that idiot Jialie Ao has caused you quite a bit of trouble."

Ya Fei set down the teacup, her red lips curling into a languid arc.

She assumed Su Chen had come seeking protection.

Su Chen did not respond to her teasing; he walked straight to the seat opposite her and sat down.

The door to the secret chamber was gently closed by a maid, shutting out everything from the outside world.

"I need you to do me a favor."

Su Chen got straight to the point, his voice so steady that no emotion could be detected.

"Oh?"

Ya Fei leaned forward slightly, her eyes growing more intrigued.

"Speak your mind. As long as it is within Wutan City, there is nothing my Miteer Auction House cannot handle."

She was eager to see what kind of novelty this mysterious youth, who always managed to surprise her, would bring out this time.

Was it a higher-tier Beast Flame?

Or intelligence more valuable than the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake?

However.

Su Chen's next action rendered all the guesses she had prepared completely futile.

He did not produce any maps, nor did he summon any flames.

He simply reached out and placed a pitch-black, unremarkable stone gently onto the expensive rosewood table in front of him.

"Clack."

A soft sound echoed.

The stone lay there quietly, utterly inconspicuous, just like a pebble one could pick up by the roadside.

The smile on Ya Fei's face faltered slightly.

She looked at the stone, then back at Su Chen, and for the first time, her intelligent, beautiful eyes revealed a look of pure, unmasked confusion.

What is the meaning of this?

Is he playing games?

Or could it be that this seemingly ordinary stone actually holds a hidden mystery within?

"Mr. Su, what are you..."

There was a hint of confusion in Ya Fei's voice.

Su Chen did not explain.

He simply raised his hand and gestured for her to proceed.

"Miss Ya Fei, why not give it a try?"

"Inject a wisp of your Dou Qi into it."

His voice carried an unquestionable calmness.

Ya Fei's brows furrowed slightly.

The doubts in her heart deepened.

With her discernment, she could naturally tell that this was merely a piece of ordinary Obsidian. This material had a natural insulating effect on energy; it was impossible for it to conduct Dou Qi.

Yet, looking at Su Chen's bottomless eyes hidden beneath the shadow of his bamboo hat, she inexplicably chose to trust him.

She wanted to see what kind of mystery this man was really selling.

Ya Fei took a deep breath, the breathtaking curves of her chest rising and falling with the motion.

She extended a slender, jade-white finger. At its tip, a wisp of pale red, incredibly pure fire-attribute Dou Qi slowly condensed like a docile fire snake.

Then, she carefully pressed that finger against the cold Obsidian.

The very instant the Dou Qi at her fingertip made contact with the stone's surface—

Time seemed to have been pressed on the pause button.

On Ya Fei's face, which could topple kingdoms, all the languor, all the charm, and all the confusion froze instantly in that ten-thousandth of a second!

A feeling that defied description surged from her fingertip and slammed into her body!

It was not Scorching Heat.

Nor was it cold.

It was a sense of absolute dead silence that seemed to originate from the deepest depths of the soul, capable of freezing thought itself!

It was a supreme, ancient, and overbearing presence that seemed to have traversed the primordial wilderness and crossed endless space-time to descend here!

Before that aura, the pure fire-attribute Dou Qi she took such pride in was like an ant encountering a divine dragon; it didn't even have the qualifications to tremble before being instantly suppressed and annihilated into nothingness!

Her blood seemed to stop flowing at this moment.

Her heart seemed to forget how to beat at this moment.

Her soul seemed to be gripped tightly by an invisible hand and dragged into an eternal, icy void!

"Ugh..."

A stifled groan, suppressed to the extreme, escaped Ya Fei's throat.

Her body began to tremble violently and uncontrollably.

That face, usually so charming and moving, was now pale, devoid of any color.

Her peach-blossom eyes, usually shimmering with water, were now wide open, her pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks, filled with unbelievable shock and a fear born from the very instinct of life!

She yanked her hand back as if she had touched the most terrifying taboo in the world.

Because of her withdrawal, the black stone rolled off the table.

Plop.

It landed on the thick velvet carpet without making a sound.

Yet, this sound was like a heavy hammer striking Ya Fei's heart.

She slumped against the back of the sofa as if drained of all strength, her chest heaving violently as she gasped for air. The hair at her temples was already soaked with cold sweat that had broken out in an instant.

The secret chamber fell into a deathly silence.

Only the sound of Ya Fei's rapid, ragged breathing echoed in the empty room.

Su Chen sat quietly in his place, motionless.

He watched Ya Fei's reaction, the corners of his mouth beneath the bamboo hat twitching slightly.

Everything was exactly as expected.

A long time passed.

A very long time.

Only then did Ya Fei's violently heaving chest slowly begin to calm.

She did not look at Su Chen.

Her gaze was fixed, locked intensely upon that pitch-black stone on the carpet, as if it were not a mere rock, but an ancient beast that had slumbered for eons, ready to awaken at any moment.

She forcibly suppressed the tumultuous shock surging within her heart, asking with a voice so dry and strained that it sounded foreign even to her own ears, enunciating each word with great difficulty.

"This..."

"What... exactly... is... this?"

Su Chen picked up the cup of tea on the table, which had long since gone cold, and took a light sip.

Then, he slowly set the teacup down.

In a tone so flat it bordered on cold, he uttered four words.

"Strange Fire."

"A clue to one."

BOOM—!

If that aura from moments ago had plunged Ya Fei's soul into an ice cellar, then these four words were like a bolt of thunder from the heavens, tearing through the sky and exploding violently within her frozen sea of consciousness!

Strange Fire!

Strange Fire!

What did these two words mean to any cultivator on the Dou Qi Continent, especially to an alchemist?

They meant a shortcut to ascend to the heavens in a single bound!

They meant a supreme treasure capable of driving even Dou Emperors and Dou Ancestors to madness!

They meant absolute power, standing high above all living beings!

And this stone before her...

It was actually a clue that could point the way!

A monstrous wave surged through Ya Fei's mind in an instant!

She finally understood!

She finally grasped the true value of this stone!

It was no longer a commodity that could be measured in gold coins!

It was a strategic fuse, one capable of detonating the entire Jia Ma Empire, and even drawing the gaze of those behemoths in the Central Plains!

Ya Fei's breathing became rapid once again.

But this time, it was not because of fear.

It was because of an irrepressible, near-manic... ecstasy and excitement!

She suddenly raised her head.

Her beautiful face, which had appeared somewhat pale from blood loss, now erupted with an unprecedented, dazzling, and astonishing radiance!

She looked at Su Chen, and her eyes had completely changed.

She was no longer looking at a business partner.

She was looking at a deity, one who held the power to change the landscape of the world!

She forcibly suppressed her heart, which felt as if it were about to leap out of her chest.

She knew she had to make a decision immediately!

"This thing..."

Ya Fei's voice trembled slightly from excitement, yet every word was filled with unquestionable resolve.

"Cannot be put into any ordinary auction!"

She stood up abruptly from the sofa and paced back and forth in the room, her fiery red qipao stirring up a sharp, fragrant breeze.

Her mind was racing at an unprecedented speed.

A moment later, she stopped in her tracks, turned around, and stared at Su Chen with a gaze of unprecedented solemnity.

"I must apply to the headquarters immediately!"

"I will hold a grand auction for you, the highest-spec event the Miteer Chamber of Commerce in Wutan City hasn't seen in a decade!"

"I will invite all the long-renowned powerhouses within the Jia Ma Empire! Every major family! I will even personally deliver invitations to the elders of the Alchemist Guild!"

"I will let everyone know!"

Ya Fei's red lips curled into a confident and flamboyant arc; the dominance and decisiveness of the Miteer Family's favored daughter were fully revealed in this moment.

"A supreme wonder that can point the way to a 'Strange Fire'!"

"Passed through the hands of none other than Ya Fei!"