The next morning, the city was abuzz. The servant we sent to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion had returned, carrying the ornate jade box. She had followed my instructions to the letter, loudly lamenting to the ever-curious Treasurer Meng that her "master had grown weary of the uncouth attention the heirloom was attracting and had decided to secure it away once more."
The news of the legendary pill's withdrawal from the market spread even faster than the news of its appearance. Rumors flew with wild abandon. Had it been sold in a secret, astronomical deal? Had the mysterious Master Bai simply been testing the waters of Wu Tan City? Or had he been scared off by the attempted robbery? Every tavern and tea house was filled with speculation, and with every telling, the legend of the mysterious alchemist in the eastern manor grew. Our mystique was now firmly cemented.
We, however, were engaged in a silent, patient wait. The jade box sat on the platform in my forge, a loaded mousetrap. I sat in a meditative posture across from it, my soul-sense extended, minutely observing the spiritual marker left by Jia Lie Bi. Ming sat in a corner of the room, cleaning a set of daggers he'd bought, his nonchalant air a stark contrast to the palpable tension in the room. We both knew it was only a matter of time.
In his private, opulent alchemy lab deep within the Galeo Clan manor, Jia Lie Bi scowled. News of the pill's withdrawal had just reached him. His attempt to steal it had failed, exposed the desperation of his clan, and likely angered the hidden master. His public visit had yielded nothing but a brief, frustrating glimpse.
No matter, he thought, a cruel smile touching his lips. The fool has taken the bait back to his den. And I have left a trail of breadcrumbs that only I can follow.
He dismissed his attendant and sealed the heavy doors to his lab, ensuring absolute privacy. He sat down on a lavish, beast-fur cushion and closed his eyes. His own soul energy, a sharp, fiery thing honed by years of Tier 2 alchemy, extended from his body, soaring invisibly over the city. It was a technique he was proud of, the ability to track his unique spiritual signature from a great distance.
He searched for the faint connection, the echo of the marker he had so cleverly planted on the jade box. It took a moment, but then he found it. A faint, familiar pinpoint of his own energy, located somewhere in the city's affluent eastern district.
There you are, he thought with a surge of triumph.
He focused his will, pushing his spiritual sense along the connection, intending to home in on the precise location and perhaps even get a sense of the spiritual defenses around the owner's home. He pushed, expecting to receive a clear image, a location, a destination.
Instead, all he got was pain.
The moment he tried to "pull" information from the marker, something on the other end pulled back, with incomprehensible force. His own spiritual marker, his clever little trick, suddenly flared with the intensity of a miniature sun. A psychic backlash of immense power, terrifyingly refined and conceptually superior to his own, surged back along his own spiritual connection and slammed directly into his soul.
It was not a physical attack. It was a pure, conceptual violation. It was the spiritual equivalent of a master swordsman being stabbed in the heart by his own reflection.
"GAAAAH!"
A strangled cry of agony was ripped from Jia Lie Bi's throat. He was thrown backward from his cushion as if struck by an invisible hammer, his mind consumed by a deafening roar of pure, white-hot psychic static. His soul trembled violently, and a trickle of blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. He collapsed onto the cold stone floor, clutching his head, his body convulsing.
When the psychic assault finally faded after a few agonizing seconds, it left him panting, his lavish robes soaked with a cold sweat. But worse than the pain was the chilling, absolute clarity of the message he had received.
His trick had not just been discovered. It had been effortlessly dismantled and turned into a weapon against him. The person who had done this wasn't just a skilled alchemist. They were a monster of spiritual control, a practitioner whose soul-mastery was so far beyond his own that it was like comparing a firefly to the sun.
The reclusive "Master Bai Zemin" was not just a rival. He was a terrifying, unknown power who had just demonstrated, with brutal efficiency, that he was aware of Jia Lie Bi's espionage and found it laughably contemptible.
Terror, cold and absolute, replaced the alchemist's arrogant fury. His carefully laid plans were in ruins, and he had just provoked an entity far more dangerous than he had ever imagined.
Back in our forge, I opened my eyes, a slow, satisfied smile spreading across my face. In the quiet depths of my soul-sense, I had felt the distant connection to my trap flare violently for a moment before snapping shut.
"Did he bite?" Ming asked, looking up from his dagger, not having moved from his spot.
"He swallowed the hook, the line, and the sinker," I confirmed, feeling a wave of grim satisfaction. "And I think the hook was barbed."
We had won. We had turned their own probe back on them, delivered a sharp, painful warning, and established a position of superior power, all without leaving our home or revealing our identities. Our ghost's gambit had succeeded beyond my wildest expectations.
Now that we had thoroughly intimidated our target, we expected a period of quiet. We assumed Jia Lie Bi, reeling from the psychic blow, would retreat to lick his wounds.
We were wrong. The consequences of our actions arrived far sooner than we anticipated.
The very next afternoon, a servant announced an unexpected visitor. It was the Great Elder of the Xiao Clan, Xiao Li, requesting another private audience. This was highly unusual.
We received him in the main hall. He was as stern and formal as ever, but I could sense an undercurrent of urgency and excitement about him. He dispensed with the usual pleasantries and got straight to the point.
"Young Miss Bai," he began, his sharp eyes studying us intently. "The events of the past weeks have been… illuminating. My clan's intelligence network, while not vast, is thorough within this city. We are aware of the failed robbery attempt on the Hundred Treasures Pavilion two nights ago. We are also aware that Alchemist Jia Lie Bi has become… agitated. Paranoid. The economic pressure he was applying to our marketplaces has faltered. His attention is clearly elsewhere."
I maintained a placid, neutral expression, though my heart beat a little faster. He knew. He didn't know how, but he had connected the dots.
"You and your companion," the Great Elder continued, his voice low, "are the cause of this change. I do not know what methods you employed, and frankly, I do not wish to know. It is enough for me to know that you possess the means to trouble our enemies." He paused, his gaze unflinching. "This has led me to a proposal. The Xiao Clan would like to formalize our relationship. I am here today to propose a secret, strategic alliance."
Ming and I exchanged a fleeting, surprised glance. This was an incredible, unforeseen development.
"The Xiao Clan will provide you with resources," Xiao Li laid out his offer. "Information, materials, financial backing, and political cover within this city. Whatever you need. In exchange, we ask only that you continue to be… a thorn in the side of the Galeo Clan and their pet alchemist. You will act on your own schedule, in your own way. We will ask no questions. We simply wish to align our interests against a common foe."
He was asking us to be his family's secret weapon, their deniable asset in the shadow war for Wu Tan City. It was a staggering opportunity, a chance to gain the full backing of one of the city's great powers. It was everything we could have hoped for.
I took a moment, feigning deep consideration. We were in a position of immense leverage. I would not accept his offer without setting my own terms.
"Your proposal is generous, Great Elder," I said finally. "And our interests do indeed seem to be aligned. We will accept this alliance."
A rare look of relief crossed the Elder's stern face.
"However," I continued, my voice firm, "we have our own price. We have little need for gold. Our primary interest is knowledge."
I looked him directly in the eye, my voice imbued with a quiet authority that belied my youthful appearance. "My father's research is vast and requires a deep understanding of this region's history, its unique energies, and its forgotten lore. As a condition of this alliance, I require full, unrestricted access to the Xiao Clan's ancestral library. This includes all of your records, even the most ancient and sealed scrolls that are normally reserved for the clan leader and elders alone."
My demand hung in the air. It was a bold, almost audacious request. A clan's private library was the repository of its history, its techniques, its very soul. To grant an outsider unrestricted access was almost unheard of.
The Great Elder stared at me, his expression shifting from relief to stunned surprise, and then to a new, profound level of respect. He had come here expecting to negotiate with a mysterious but perhaps naive young woman. He had just realized he was sitting across from a master strategist, a player who knew her own value and was not afraid to demand it.
He was beginning to understand that the price for unleashing a ghost on his enemies was to give that ghost the keys to his own house.