The Distant Gaze

Wutan City's Flame Market had never been so prosperous.

Ever since the Aoba Clan introduced pills of far superior quality, the city's alchemy scene had been completely transformed. And when the mysterious Miss Ya Fei of the Miteer Auction House officially announced that they were accepting commissions for "custom-made flames," the entire market was swept up in an almost frenzied fervor.

Countless mercenaries and adventurers treated the Magical Beast Mountain Range like their own backyard, desperately hunting down magical beasts with innate Beast Flames.

They knew that if they could bring back a suitable Beast Flame, they would have a chance to exchange it through the Miteer Auction House for enough wealth to change their fate.

Ya Fei stood before the window of the top-floor private chamber, gazing down at the bustling streets below. A satisfied smile played across her breathtakingly beautiful face.

She loved the feeling of having everything under her control.

Wutan City, this remote border town of the empire, had now become a chessboard she and that man could shape at will.

And this was only the beginning.

* * *

Jia Ma Empire, Imperial Capital, Saint Jia Ma City.

This was the heart of the entire empire's power, a place teeming with experts and sects.

The Alchemist Guild headquarters stood in the Imperial Capital's most central district. Carved from a single block of obsidian, its Pill Tower rose like a sword piercing the heavens, perpetually shrouded in the rich fragrance of pills. It was a sacred place in the hearts of countless alchemists.

At the top of the Pill Tower was a simple, secluded chamber.

An elderly man in a moon-white alchemist's robe sat with his eyes closed, resting. His hair and beard were white, yet his face was as rosy as an infant's. Not a trace of Dou Qi stirred around him, but the immense soul pressure that escaped him unconsciously was enough to make any Dou Wang expert feel their breath catch.

He was Fa Ma, president of the Jia Ma Empire's Alchemist Guild and a Sixth-Grade Alchemist.

An attendant slipped silently into the room and gently set a specially encrypted report, written on magical beast hide, on the rosewood table beside him.

"President, an urgent report from the Wutan City branch."

Fa Ma didn't even lift his eyelids. He merely waved a hand.

Wutan City?

What could happen in that remote little place, so nearly forgotten, that would be worth his attention?

The attendant bowed and withdrew.

Silence settled over the chamber once more.

After a long while, Fa Ma finally opened his eyes, looking somewhat bored. He picked up the tea on the table and casually glanced over the report.

"Wutan City... Flame Master... custom flames of any attribute..."

He murmured the keywords, a dismissive smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Another young upstart who didn't know the limits of the sky, making a bit of a name for himself in some backwater and thinking he could rise to the top overnight. He'd seen far too many cases like this.

Just as he was about to toss the report aside, his hand suddenly stopped.

His gaze had frozen on the end of the report.

Attached there was a detailed description of the "Purple-Cyan Dual-Effect Fire," handwritten by Otto.

Every line brimmed with something close to fanatical reverence. Each detail and the fusion of every property had been dissected with the greatest precision a Fourth-Grade Alchemist could manage.

The faint smile vanished from Fa Ma's face.

His hand, holding the teacup, froze in midair.

For the first time, a ripple crossed his ancient, placid eyes.

He knew Otto's personality well. The man was so meticulous he was almost rigid; he would never exaggerate about something like this.

High-temperature detonation and gentle penetration.

Two utterly opposite properties, perfectly coexisting within a single flame?

This...

How was that possible!

It completely defied the common knowledge of the alchemy world!

Fa Ma slowly set down his teacup. For the first time, two startling gleams shot from his cloudy old eyes.

He reached out with two dry fingers and picked up the thin report once more.

This time, his expression was more solemn than ever.

* * *

The elders' meeting hall of the Imperial Capital's Alchemist Guild.

Seven or eight elderly men with unfathomably deep auras sat around a massive round stone table. Every one of them was a Fifth-Grade Alchemy Master and a Dou Wang expert, powerful enough to make the empire's alchemy world tremble with a single stomp.

At that moment, however, the atmosphere in the hall was rather strange.

"This is utter nonsense!"

A short-tempered, red-haired elder slammed the report down on the table and roared.

"Custom flames? Who does he think he is? Even Pill King Gu He wouldn't make such a boast! I say that old Otto has gone senile. He's been swindled in some border town!"

"That's not necessarily true."

Another elder, with a delicate, sinister face, spoke in an unhurried tone.

"The Miteer Chamber of Commerce also attached a letter of confirmation. That little Ya Fei is sharp as a tack. She wouldn't joke about something like this. I'm afraid this didn't come out of nowhere."

"Hmph. And what if it's true?"

The red-haired elder snorted.

"He's merely mastered a somewhat unconventional method of refining flames. Send someone over and buy the method for a little money. He's a nobody from a border town. What trouble could he possibly cause?"

His words immediately won the agreement of several elders.

In their eyes, this was nothing more than a routine "technology acquisition." With the Alchemist Guild's resources, crushing an unknown nobody from a remote region would be a piece of cake.

"Gentlemen."

Fa Ma, who had remained silent all this time, finally spoke.

His voice wasn't loud, yet it instantly drowned out all the arguments.

The entire meeting hall fell silent.

Everyone turned their attention to the president.

Fa Ma's finger gently tapped the smooth stone table.

Tok.

"You've only seen the four words 'custom flames.'"

His gaze slowly swept over everyone present.

"What I see is another possibility."

"A storm powerful enough to overturn our entire alchemy world!"

He rose and walked over to the enormous crystal window, clasping his hands behind his back as he gazed out at the splendor of the Imperial Capital.

"If he can make a 'Purple-Cyan Dual-Effect Fire' for Otto today..."

"Then tomorrow, could he make a flame for us that would increase the success rate of refining Sixth-Grade Pills?"

"And the day after that?"

"Could he even... make a true... Heavenly Flame for us?!"

Boom!

His final words exploded in every elder's mind like a thunderclap from the heavens!

Everyone's breath caught at once!

The disdain and contempt on their faces vanished in an instant, replaced by shock and terror from the depths of their souls!

That was right!

How had they failed to think of it?

If there was no limit to that custom-flame technique... then its value could no longer be measured in gold coins!

It was an inexhaustible treasure trove, one that could drive the entire Dou Qi Continent to madness!

Fine beads of cold sweat appeared on the red-haired elder's forehead. Only now did he realize how foolish and shortsighted his earlier talk of "taking it by force" had been.

If he offended a mysterious flame-refining master like that, he would become a sinner in the eyes of the entire guild!

"President, then... what should we do?"

An elder asked in a trembling voice.

Fa Ma turned around, wisdom gleaming in his deep-set eyes.

"Such a person is no fish in a pond. We cannot oppose him by force; we can only befriend him."

He spoke gravely.

"Hard-handed tactics will only earn his resentment, and might even drive him into the arms of our rivals, such as... the Misty Cloud Sect."

At the mention of the Misty Cloud Sect, the elders' expressions shifted slightly.

"Pass on my orders."

Fa Ma's voice became firm and decisive.

"This matter is to be classified as the guild's highest secret. At the same time, dispatch an envoy to Wutan City immediately."

He paused, then added:

"Do not reveal your identity. Do not alarm anyone. Go and meet this mysterious master under the pretext of an 'academic exchange.'"

"Remember, your task is not to test him or interrogate him."

"It is to express the highest respect of our Alchemist Guild, and our most sincere... friendship."

"Qie Mi'er."

Fa Ma's gaze fell on a middle-aged man in the corner who had remained silent the entire time.

He had an ordinary face and a restrained aura. He was the least conspicuous person in the hall.

Yet he was Fa Ma's most trusted disciple, a genuine peak Fourth-Grade Alchemist.

Qie Mi'er rose and bowed respectfully to Fa Ma.

"Your disciple is here."

"You will go in person."

Fa Ma took an ancient jade pendant of deep green from his robes and held it out.

"Take my token."

"Tell that master that the doors of the Jia Ma Empire's Alchemist Guild will always be open to him."

* * *

Wutan City, Miteer Auction House.

Su Chen and Ya Fei stood before a large map, discussing their plans for what came next.

"According to the intelligence, there's a good chance a Heavenly Flame can be found deep in the Tagor Desert, near Queen Medusa's tribe."

Ya Fei's slender finger rested on the vast yellow region marked on the map.

"Green Lotus Core Flame."

Su Chen murmured the name.

It was his next target, one he was determined to obtain.

Now that Xiao Yan was gone, he had lost his most reliable "data source" and would have to take the initiative, setting out to hunt down a real Heavenly Flame.

While they discussed the details, neither of them noticed.

On the road outside the city.

A carriage, plain on the outside but lavishly furnished within, rolled unhurriedly toward Wutan City.

Its wheels turned, raising a trail of dust.

Beyond that trail lay the direction of the Imperial Capital.

A storm born in the Imperial Capital was quietly sweeping toward this remote little city.