Night, like a rising tide, swallowed the last traces of noise from Wutan City West Market.
Su Chen put the nine jade bottles back into the wooden box one by one, his movements steady and utterly silent.
He tucked away the pouch containing twenty gold coins, its heavy weight bringing him a sense of security unlike anything he had felt before.
This was more than money.
It was the first spoils he had personally claimed in this cruel jungle—a token that he could survive, and even thrive.
He picked up the wooden box and disappeared into the dim alley.
Not long after he left, a figure that had been as motionless as a statue stirred in the shadows at the corner of the market.
He was an ordinary-looking man, dressed in a plain gray tunic, the sort of person who vanished into a crowd without a trace.
He didn't look in the direction Su Chen had gone. Instead, his gaze fell on the alley where the old blacksmith had disappeared.
His fingers absently rubbed the rough hem of his clothes, a calculating glint in his eyes.
He was one of the Jialie Clan's informants stationed in the West District, tasked with gathering all kinds of seemingly insignificant intelligence.
He knew nothing about flames and couldn't recognize the value of that orange-red fire.
But he knew the old blacksmith.
Old Man Wang.
A famous eccentric in Wutan City, he had smithing skills so masterful they seemed supernatural, but a temper harder than the iron in his furnace. Plenty of mercenaries and wealthy merchants had come begging him to forge weapons with gold in hand, only to be chased off with his broom.
And that stingy old man had actually paid twenty gold coins for a mere bottle of Beast Flame?
Something about this didn't add up.
The man didn't linger. He ducked low and slipped into the night like a slick eel, hurrying off in the opposite direction from Su Chen.
The Jialie Clan's residence blazed with light.
Yet the atmosphere in the study was as oppressive as molten iron set to cool.
"Useless!"
A large hand swept a jade tray filled with top-grade medicinal ingredients to the floor.
Amid the sharp crash, precious herbs tumbled across the ground and were smeared with dust.
A man in an alchemist's robe knelt on the floor, drenched in sweat and shaking like a leaf.
Before him stood a waist-high bronze medicine cauldron. Beneath it, a wisp of dark red Beast Flame flickered feebly, giving off a scorched smell.
"Please calm down, Clan Chief! Please! It's this Beast Flame—the fire is too violent, and it's full of impurities. I... I just can't control it!"
The alchemist Liu Xi spoke in a tearful voice. Pointing at the inferior flame, he desperately tried to make excuses for his failure.
In the seat of honor sat a tall, middle-aged man with a sinister face. He looked down at Liu Xi with cold eyes.
The Jialie Clan's chief, Jialie Bi.
His fingers tapped a steady rhythm against the expensive rosewood desk.
"You can't control it?"
Jialie Bi's voice was low, yet it slithered into Liu Xi's ears like a poisonous snake.
"This month, you've ruined the ingredients for three batches of Blood Coagulation Powder. Do you know how many gold coins those materials cost my Jialie Clan?"
"I'll ask you just one thing. Can you refine the batch of pills for the Black Iron Mercenary Group next month or not?"
Liu Xi's face turned deathly pale.
His lips moved for a long moment, but not a single word came out.
A flash of killing intent passed through Jialie Bi's eyes.
What difference was there between an alchemist who couldn't create value for the clan and a dog that did nothing but eat?
Just as the air in the study was about to freeze solid, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.
"Clan Chief!"
The informant from the West District entered quickly and dropped to one knee.
"Speak."
There wasn't a trace of emotion in Jialie Bi's voice.
The informant didn't dare raise his head. As quickly as he could, he reported everything he had seen in the West District.
He didn't exaggerate. He simply recounted how the strange old blacksmith Wang had gladly paid twenty gold coins for a bottle of flame at the stall of a mysterious young man.
At first, Jialie Bi paid no attention.
Twenty gold coins were a mere drop in the bucket to him.
But when he heard the word "flame," the fingers tapping lightly on the desk suddenly stopped.
His gaze shifted slowly from Liu Xi, kneeling on the floor, to the informant kneeling before him.
"You said... Blacksmith Wang bought a bottle of flame?"
"Yes, Clan Chief. The flame was strange. It was a pure orange-red, without the slightest trace of smoke, and it was very calm."
The informant tried to recall what he had seen.
"And the young man had ten identical bottles on his stall!"
Ten bottles!
All identical!
Jialie Bi's pupils contracted sharply.
Liu Xi, still kneeling on the floor, jerked his head up. Disbelief was written all over his face.
As an alchemist, he knew better than anyone that Beast Flame came from the very essence of magical beasts. Every beast's innate flame was unique, impure, and varied in form.
How could there possibly be ten identical bottles of Beast Flame?
Unless...
Unless it wasn't natural Beast Flame at all, but had been refined and purified through some kind of secret method!
A wild idea exploded in both Jialie Bi and Liu Xi's minds.
Jialie Bi slowly rose to his feet and paced back and forth across the study.
His breathing grew heavier.
He thought of Liu Xi's incompetence, the pill order that was breathing down their necks, and the immense profits the clan's markets lost every year because of a shortage of pills.
If...
If he could obtain that high-quality flame...
It wouldn't just solve the problem at hand.
It would give the Jialie Clan a stable, continuous supply of high-quality pills!
What would that mean in Wutan City?
It meant they could crush the Xiao Clan and the Aoba Clan and monopolize the entire city's pill market!
A searing greed surged from the depths of his heart like molten lava, burning away every last shred of reason.
"What does the boy look like? Where did he go?"
Jialie Bi's voice turned hoarse with urgency.
"He's young, maybe fifteen or sixteen. He's thin and wears old clothes that have been washed until they're faded. I saw him heading toward the slums south of the city."
The slums?
A poor boy with no power or influence?
A cruel smile spread across Jialie Bi's face.
It was as if heaven had placed a fat piece of meat right in his mouth!
He didn't hesitate. A fierce glint flashed in his eyes.
"Send the order!"
His voice was cold and decisive.
"Send two clever men after him! Find out everything about him—who he is, where he lives, and where the flame came from!"
"Remember!"
Jialie Bi spoke more emphatically now, each word squeezed through his teeth.
"I don't want one or two bottles of flame."
"I want the secret behind the endless supply of this flame!"
"Yes, Clan Chief!"
The informant accepted the order and quickly withdrew.
Only Jialie Bi and Liu Xi, still kneeling on the floor, remained in the study.
Jialie Bi sat back in the seat of honor and picked up the teacup on the desk, gently blowing across its steaming surface.
His anger and frustration had vanished. In their place was the calm confidence of a hunter who had locked onto his prey and knew the kill was certain.
He glanced at Liu Xi.
"I'll give you a chance to make up for your mistakes."
"Wait for my good news."
The night deepened.
Su Chen walked through a maze of winding alleys.
He didn't head straight back to his dilapidated courtyard, but deliberately took a few detours.
This wasn't the brightly lit, orderly world of his previous life.
Here, darkness meant danger.
With a "fortune" on him that was enough to make desperate men see red, he couldn't afford to be careless.
The weight of the money pouch reassured him, but it also made him wary.
His mind was absorbed in planning for the future.
With his first bit of capital, he could buy better jade bottles and better tools. He could even try hunting more powerful first-tier magical beasts to obtain higher-quality Beast Flame.
Purify it, replicate it, sell it.
A clear path to power was slowly unfolding beneath his feet.
He was crossing a narrow, shadowy lane. He was almost back to the familiar stretch of abandoned buildings where he lived.
His footsteps slowed for a moment.
Something was wrong.
It was far too quiet around him.
There wasn't even the sound of an insect or a dog.
An almost imperceptible feeling of being watched pricked the back of his neck like a cold, fine needle.
Su Chen's heart sank.
He didn't look back. He kept the same pace, as if he hadn't noticed anything.
Yet without realizing it, his breathing grew lighter and slower.
Every muscle in his body tensed like a bowstring drawn taut.
At the end of the alley was a small corner.
A light rain had fallen the night before, leaving a puddle of muddy water on the ground.
Su Chen walked past it at an unhurried pace.
As he lowered his head and stepped forward, he flicked a glance at the murky surface from the corner of his eye.
Reflected in the water, besides his own figure, were two blurry black shapes following about thirty meters behind him.
They walked steadily and moved lightly. Clearly, they were skilled men who had received professional training.
A chill shot from the soles of Su Chen's feet straight to the crown of his head!
He'd been spotted!
The joy and hope brought by the twenty gold coins he'd just earned were crushed to pieces by cold reality!
He clenched the money pouch hidden in his sleeve.
No.
That wasn't right.
If they were ordinary robbers, they would have charged him already. He was just a thin, frail-looking boy.
But these two were following him from a distance, keeping their figures concealed.
They weren't after his money.
They were... tracking him!
The truth suddenly came into focus.
"They're not after my money. They're after the flame!"
Su Chen's face went pale in the dim light.
He understood that his little stall had finally attracted the attention of someone with an eye for opportunity.
To carry a priceless treasure is to invite disaster.
He had understood that old saying in his previous life. Now it had bared its fangs before him in the cruelest, most direct way.
He didn't panic.
The extreme danger instead drove him into a state of calm unlike any he had ever experienced.
He rounded the corner and suddenly quickened his pace.
Almost at the same time, the two shadows behind him sped up as well. No longer hiding their movements, they came after him like leeches, hot on his heels!
Beneath the night sky, a silent hunt had begun.
Before you continue