"It's because of the Konan Yi Family," he said with a deep sigh, his shoulders slumping. He suddenly looked a decade older as his defensive facade completely crumbled. The confidence and professional countenance were gone, leaving only a man heavily burdened by worry and fear.
"I would rather close down my restaurant than risk offending them," he mumbled defeatism, gripping the wall for support.
"Here, sit down," Seth murmured, surprised by the sudden revelation. He grabbed a chair and helped the chef lower himself into it. Lao Ban slumped into the seat, folding his hands as he continued his confession.
"They contacted me a couple of moons ago, trying to purchase the Five-Savoring Flavors and force me into their service. Of course, I refused politely at first. But then their men started coming to the restaurant regularly, bothering my guests and deliberately damaging the inventory..." He fell silent for a moment, looking up at the blacksmith with pleading eyes.
"But why suddenly?" Seth asked, a little confused. Apparently, they had left the restaurant alone in the past, so why did they suddenly start aggressively targeting the business now?
"It's because of their succession competition. To prove their worth, the potential heirs must demonstrate their talents in areas outside of martial arts. They have to run a successful business... or acquire one. To keep the restaurant running smoothly under their name, they would need me. They wouldn't simply let me retire or close down the shop. I had no choice but to engineer a reason to retire that was entirely out of my control," Lao Ban started sobbing, burying his face in his hands. The pain and guilt in his voice were entirely real.
Before him stood a talented craftsman, weeping because he was being forced to abandon what he loved. He lacked the personal cultivation power to resist their violence directly, and had no other way to avoid a life of indentured servitude. In the past, Seth might not have cared. However, he had tasted the nectar of true creation himself.
He knew the pride and joy of bringing something unique into existence; he had long since become a true craftsman, too. The tears of a man forced to abandon the craft he loved touched the blacksmith far deeper than he ever would have expected.
"Who exactly is this Yi Family? I will take care of them," Seth said with a quiet sigh. A tiny side quest to help a fellow craftsman wouldn't be so bad, right? The girls will understand.
The chef's head snapped up, staring at him in utter shock and stupor. "No! No, no, no! I cannot allow my benefactor to pick a fight with the Yi Family! You don't understand how dangerous they are. They are extremely powerful within Konan! Their patriarch is in the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm, and their Yi Falcon Squad is comprised entirely of Foundation Establishment warriors. Not even the local government officials dare offend them!" he hurriedly warned.
In reaction to Lao Ban's fervent warning, Seth only offered an amused smile. After all, it was Lao Ban who truly didn't know who he was talking to. Golden Core Realm? Seth could smoke guys like that—literally. Just a snap of his fingers, and they would turn to ashes and smoke.
"Don't worry," he said calmly, patting the panicking elder's shoulder to reassure him. "I won't do anything reckless. Now, where did you say these Yi people live? Oh, and I'll need you to write something for me," he added with a cheeky grin.
"Is this information confirmed?" Yi Mo, the young master of the Konan Yi Family, demanded after reading the bamboo slip.
The cloaked figure kneeling at his feet nodded respectfully. "Yes, Young Master. We secured this information from our source inside the estate. The Book of All Flavors has indeed been returned."
"Good. Just in time for the succession competition. Put even more pressure on that old coot Lao Ban. Once I possess the Five-Savoring Flavors, I will easily outperform the others," Yi Mo said, a thin, arrogant smile playing on his lips.
He had already achieved the fifth minor realm of the Foundation Establishment stage at the young age of twenty-two. He was easily the most talented among his siblings, and he refused to risk losing the position of Young Lord over mere secular matters.
So what if he wasn't naturally talented at running a business? He could always just force other people to do it for him. As long as he possessed the overwhelming might to control others, why would he ever need to manage them? He honestly found this particular family rule incredibly stupid, considering they had been dominating Konan through sheer force for generations.
He smiled at the thought of the city governor soon kneeling and flattering him, just as the man did with his father, the patriarch. He would make that arrogant bitch, Zheng Yan, crawl before him. His smile deepened as he pictured making her his submissive concubine. She always acted so righteous and innocent; he couldn't wait to defile her and force her to reveal her true nature.
Yi Mo practically salivated at the thought of the day he would finally grasp the full authority of the Yi Family, when... an almost imperceptible fragrance of smoke caused him to perk up.
Who is starting a fire at this time of night?
He stepped over to the window to look outside. To his absolute horror, the courtyard below was already burning fiercely, with terrifying flames leaping as high as the sky!
"Young Master! You have to escape! The manor is on fire!" his personal servant charged through the door. The man's clothes were heavily singed, smoldering in several places, and thick, choking smoke billowed into the room behind him.
He didn't need the servant to tell him twice. Coughing violently from the smoke, Yi Mo circulated his inner energy and leaped out of the window. Fearlessly, he charged straight through the wall of flames. Ordinary fire can't touch a man of my martial prowess—or so he thought.
The exact moment his skin brushed the fire licking at his mansion, the flames jumped onto his robes and bit deep into his flesh like a ravenous beast, refusing to let go. The true energy he exuded to shield himself only served as fuel for the terrifying phenomenon, causing the fire to spread rapidly across his entire body.
His concentration shattered instantly, rendering him completely unable to maintain his light-foot technique to dampen his descent. He plummeted through the air like a stone, crashing directly into the raging flames below. Yet, it wasn't the fire that ultimately demanded his full attention.
The very moment his defense failed, he felt a sharp, stabbing pain that utterly overpowered the burning sensation. Caught completely off guard, an arrow had embedded itself deep into his chest, cleanly penetrating his heart. As he lay hurtling into the dirt amid the fire, all of his fracturing thoughts swirled around the lethal projectile and the life force quickly draining from his body.
His body was burning, smoke filled his lungs, and blood escaped his ruptured heart, but none of it mattered as he felt his consciousness slip away into the dark abyss. His awareness began to fade, but he was not permitted to leave this world peacefully. In his final waking moments, a deep voice echoed in his mind:
"Go and rest already. You were quite talented; this venerable one will make good use of your body." It was a powerful, commanding voice that shook the very depths of his soul. Yi Mo's final moments were consumed by pure anger and bitter regret, realizing that a wandering spirit was going to possess his physical shell after his death.
"I will take care of your grievances. Just go," the voice said dismissively. Those were the last words Yi Mo ever heard before he departed this world for good.
— The Next Morning —
"Don't worry, my son. I will bring the Cloud-Treading Phantom to justice for what he did to you," the Patriarch of the Yi Family—a formidable master in the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm—swore fiercely by the sickbed.
The body of Yi Mo was covered entirely in thick medical bandages. His flesh was horribly burned, leaving not a single piece of unscathed skin remaining; however, he was technically alive. Or at least, his body was. Utilizing the scattered memory fragments left behind by the original Yi Mo, the intruder was able to pretend adequately.
Just who wanted this boy dead so badly? the spirit thought to himself, completely ignoring the grieving patriarch's vows.
It had taken every ounce of energy he had left just to purge the malicious energy of the arrow from the body, and he had barely managed to mend the gaping hole in the heart. The burns were also entirely unnatural. He could feel a similar, lingering energy still actively eating away at the flesh, severely hindering the body's natural healing process despite the Yi Family's best medical efforts. They spared absolutely no expense on rare medicines, but the worldly herbs could do little against the supernatural bite of that fire.
Furthermore, he highly doubted the perpetrator was actually the Cloud-Treading Phantom. A mere thief couldn't possibly fire an arrow imbued with that level of power. The fire itself was also completely out of the ordinary, considering it had utterly incinerated Yi Mo's private manor regardless of how much water the servants brought to fight it.
He also doubted it was the work of the boy's competitive siblings. Even if they had hired professional assassins to eliminate the competition, could they truly afford an expert who commanded such terrifying primordial powers?
I have to hurry up and recover, unless the true perpetrator comes to finish the job...