Night slowly settled over Wutan City.
In the dilapidated courtyard, Su Chen sat cross-legged on the cold ground.
He was not cultivating.
He simply sat there in silence, his whole being like a lifeless stone carving, blending into the darkness around him.
Ya Fei's words had been like a boulder thrown into a deep pool, stirring unprecedented ripples across the still waters of his heart.
Hiding could only buy him temporary peace.
Constantly yielding and concealing himself would only make the greedy jackals think he was weak and easy prey.
If he wanted to truly establish himself on this continent, where strength reigned supreme, he needed not deeper shadows, but a crown dazzling enough—so dazzling that none would dare look directly at it.
After a long while,
Su Chen slowly opened his eyes.
There was no hesitation in those dark eyes, only a cold, abyss-like silence.
He spread open his palm.
A pitch-black stone, about the size of his fist, appeared silently in his hand.
It looked like the most ordinary piece of obsidian. Its surface was smooth, its texture hard, and it gave off no energy fluctuations—not even the slightest sheen.
This was the "key" he had painstakingly crafted, exhausting his mind and spirit.
A key capable of opening the Pandora's Box of "greed" in the hearts of every powerful figure in the entire Jia Ma Empire.
The Exotic Flame Sensing Stone.
Su Chen closed his fingers around the cold stone.
He knew he could not wait any longer.
Rather than passively waiting for Jialie Bi's next act of revenge, he would strike first and raise the stakes of this game all at once—to a level no one could imagine.
He stood up, pushed open the creaking broken door, and his slender figure disappeared once more into the thick night.
The top-floor private room of the Miteer Auction House.
A delicate fragrance curled through the air.
Ya Fei reclined against the soft sofa, idly turning a fine white porcelain teacup in her hand.
When Su Chen appeared in the doorway again, a flicker of surprise passed unnoticed through her alluring, peach-blossom eyes.
It had barely been any time at all.
And he was back.
"Looks like that fool Jialie Ao has caused you quite a bit of trouble."
Ya Fei set down her teacup, her red lips curving into a languid smile.
She thought Su Chen had come seeking protection.
Su Chen did not respond to her teasing. He simply walked straight over and took the seat across from her.
A maid gently closed the door to the private room, shutting out the world beyond.
"I need your help with something."
Su Chen got straight to the point, his voice so steady that it revealed no emotion.
"Oh?"
Ya Fei leaned forward slightly, her interest piqued.
"Go ahead. If it's something the Miteer Chamber of Commerce can manage here in Wutan City, we won't turn you down."
She was eager to see what new and unusual thing this mysterious young man, who always managed to surprise her, would produce this time.
A higher-grade Beast Flame?
Or information more valuable than the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake?
But then,
Su Chen's next move made every guess she had prepared fall flat.
He did not take out a map, nor did he summon any flames.
He simply reached out and gently placed a pitch-black, utterly ordinary-looking stone on the precious rosewood table in front of him.
"Tap."
A soft sound.
The stone lay there, completely unremarkable, like any pebble one might pick up by the roadside.
The smile on Ya Fei's face faltered slightly.
She looked at the stone, then at Su Chen. For the first time, her clever, beautiful eyes showed pure, undisguised confusion.
What was this supposed to mean?
Was he putting on an act?
Or did this seemingly ordinary stone hold some secret?
"Mr. Su, what is this...?"
A note of confusion crept into Ya Fei's voice.
Su Chen offered no explanation.
He simply raised a hand and made a gesture inviting her to proceed.
"Miss Ya Fei, why not give it a try?"
"Infuse it with a wisp of your Dou Qi."
His voice was calm, with an unquestionable certainty.
Ya Fei's brows knitted slightly.
Her doubts deepened.
With her discerning eye, she could tell this was merely a piece of ordinary obsidian. The material naturally blocked energy; it should have been impossible for Dou Qi to pass through it.
But when she looked at the deep, unfathomable eyes hidden beneath Su Chen's hat, she found herself inexplicably choosing to trust him.
She wanted to see what this man was up to.
Ya Fei took a deep breath, her breathtaking curves rising and falling with the motion.
She extended a slender, jade-white finger. At its tip, a wisp of exceptionally pure Fire Attribute Dou Qi, pale red in color, slowly gathered like a docile serpent of flame.
Then, with great care, she touched the cold obsidian with her fingertip.
The instant her Dou Qi made contact with the stone's surface,
time seemed to freeze.
All the languor, all the allure, all the confusion on Ya Fei's stunning face froze in that fraction of a second!
A sensation beyond words surged through her fingertip and crashed into her body!
It was not scorching heat.
Nor was it cold.
It was an absolute stillness, born as if from the deepest part of her soul, powerful enough to freeze thought itself!
It was an ancient, supreme might—unyielding and overbearing—like something that had crossed the primordial wilderness and endless reaches of time to descend upon this world!
Before that aura, the pure Fire Attribute Dou Qi she had always been so proud of was like an ant that had glimpsed a divine dragon. It did not even have the right to tremble before it was instantly suppressed and annihilated without a trace!
Her blood seemed to stop flowing.
Her heart seemed to forget how to beat.
It was as if an invisible hand had seized her soul in a crushing grip and dragged it into an eternal, icy void!
"Ugh..."
A stifled groan escaped Ya Fei's throat.
Her body began to tremble violently against her will.
Her once alluring face was now deathly pale, drained of all color.
Her usually limpid, peach-blossom eyes were now wide open, her pupils shrunk to pinpoints. They were filled with incredulous horror and the instinctive... fear of a living being!
She yanked her hand away, as if she had touched the most terrifying forbidden thing in the world.
As she pulled back, the black stone rolled off the table.
Tap.
It landed on the thick velvet carpet without making a sound.
Yet that tiny moment felt like a heavy hammer slamming into Ya Fei's heart.
Her body went limp, and she slumped heavily against the back of the sofa. Her chest heaved as she gasped for breath, while the hair at her temples was already soaked with cold sweat.
A deathly silence fell over the private room.
Only Ya Fei's rapid, ragged breaths echoed through the empty chamber.
Su Chen sat motionless where he was.
Watching Ya Fei's reaction, he let the corner of his mouth twitch slightly beneath his hat.
Everything was going exactly as he had expected.
After a long while,
a long, long while,
Ya Fei's heaving chest finally began to settle.
She did not look at Su Chen.
Her gaze was fixed, unrelenting, on the pitch-black stone on the carpet, as if it were not a stone but an ancient ferocious beast that had slumbered for ages and might awaken at any moment...
She forced down the tumultuous shock within her and spoke in a voice so hoarse it sounded unfamiliar even to her. With difficulty, she asked, one word at a time,
"This..."
"What... exactly... is... this?"
Su Chen picked up the cup of tea on the table, long since gone cold, and took a small sip.
Then he slowly set it down.
In a tone so calm it was almost cold, he uttered four words.
"Heavenly Flame."
"A lead to one."
Boom—!
If that aura had just sent Ya Fei's soul plunging into an ice cellar,
then those four words were like a thunderbolt from the highest heavens, cleaving through the world and exploding across the frozen sea of her consciousness!
Heavenly Flame!
Heavenly Flame!
What did those two words mean to any cultivator on the Dou Qi Continent—especially to an alchemist?
They meant a shortcut to the heavens!
They meant an unrivaled treasure powerful enough to drive even Dou Emperors and Dou Zongs mad!
They meant absolute power, standing above all living things!
And this stone before her...
It was actually a lead that could point the way!
A mighty storm surged through Ya Fei's mind!
At last, she understood!
At last, she understood the stone's true value!
It was no longer a commodity that could be measured in gold coins!
It was a strategic match capable of setting the entire Jia Ma Empire ablaze—and even drawing the attention of the colossal powers in the Central Plains!
Ya Fei's breathing quickened once more.
But this time, it was no longer out of fear.
It was because of an irrepressible, almost frenzied... joy and excitement!
She abruptly lifted her head.
Her lovely face, still pale from the loss of blood, now blazed with a brilliance unlike anything she had ever shown before!
She looked at Su Chen, and her gaze had changed completely.
She was no longer looking at a business partner.
She was looking at a deity holding the power to reshape the world!
She forced down the pounding of her heart, which seemed ready to leap out of her chest.
She knew she had to make a decision at once!
"This thing..."
Ya Fei's voice trembled slightly with excitement, yet every word carried an unshakable resolve.
"Must never go to an ordinary auction!"
She sprang up from the sofa and paced back and forth across the room, her fiery-red qipao stirring up a sharp gust of fragrance.
Her mind raced faster than ever before.
A moment later, she abruptly stopped and turned around, fixing Su Chen with a grave look unlike any she had shown before.
"I'll apply to headquarters immediately!"
"For your sake, I'll arrange a grand auction for the Miteer Chamber of Commerce here in Wutan City—the highest-standard auction the city hasn't seen in ten years!"
"I'll invite every renowned powerhouse in the Jia Ma Empire! Every great family! I'll even personally deliver invitations to the elders of the Alchemist Guild!"
"I'll make sure everyone knows!"
Ya Fei's red lips curled into a confident, bold smile. In that moment, the authority and decisiveness of the Miteer Family's proud daughter were on full display.
"The peerless treasure that can point the way to a 'Heavenly Flame'!"
"Came from my hands!"
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