Theft of Fire

Chen Chuan glanced at the Xuejun Saber and took two steps closer. Although the red stone below had weakened in its outward encroachment, its surface appeared largely unchanged. Paying it no further mind, he bent down, reached out, and picked up the stone. At the same time, he cast a glance at the ground, walked over to the key nodes of the ritual, and scuffed them several times with his foot, destroying the patterns drawn there. No sooner had he done this than deep breaths could be heard around him, followed by a few coughs from the side. The three people who had been wrapped in esoteric ritual cloth were now slowly coming around. Yet when they saw Chen Chuan standing in the center, holding the Sun Wheel Stone, astonishment seized them first, quickly giving way to intense shock and rage as a string of words burst from their lips. Chen Chuan couldn't understand them; it was likely some foreign tongue. At that moment, two of them tore away the cloth draped over themselves and rose to their feet. Both stood over two meters tall. Judging by their movements, they were clearly fighters. Once on their feet, each drew a pair of hatchets from his waist and barked a few more sentences at him. Though Chen Chuan still couldn't make out a single word, the venomous anger in their voices was unmistakable. Chen Chuan stood calmly where he was. He looked at their hatchets with a hint of disappointment—they were not weapons carried by third-limit fighters and held virtually no collector value. Just as the two let out a roar and attempted to charge him, he retrieved some pebbles he had prepared beforehand from his pocket and flicked his fingers. They barely made it halfway before their heads snapped back as if struck by gunfire, and they crashed to the ground one after the other. The entire exchange happened in a flash. Only the last person remained. By now, he was fully conscious. Sensing that the situation had turned dire, he immediately spoke in halting Great Shun speech: "Sir, please don't strike! I bear no hostility." Chen Chuan looked at him and asked, "Did you set up this Sun Origin Ritual?" Hearing him name the ritual without hesitation, the man was startled. Abandoning any wishful thinking, he hesitated before saying, "Yes, we arranged it... May I ask, sir..." He looked up and asked cautiously, "What year is it now?" Chen Chuan said, "The Republic of Great Shun, the ninety-fourth year of its founding." The man froze, calculated the time, and fell silent. He evidently realized that he had only just entered the ritual's dormant slumber when this person barged in and destroyed it. Furthermore, being able to locate this place so accurately implied no ordinary background. With some difficulty, he asked, "Is sir with the Great Shun government?" Chen Chuan said, "You could say that." The man actually breathed an inward sigh of relief. What he feared were internal rivals within his cult or enemies from rival esoteric cults; people from the Great Shun government were comparatively easier to negotiate with. At worst, he would pay a fine. He said prudently, "Your Excellency, the sacrifices I used were brought from abroad; none were citizens of your honorable nation. Even the Sun Wheel Stone would never have leaked its influence outside during the ritual..." Chen Chuan looked down at the crystal in his hand. "If it did leak out, what would the consequences be?" "Your Excellency doesn't know?" The man was somewhat surprised, but after a moment's hesitation, he explained, "If mishandled, within a certain radius, it will cause the death of humans and livestock, and the withering of vegetation..." At this point, he hurriedly added, "For our cult, the sun crystal is the key to initiating the ritual, as well as a necessity to sustain it. We had no desire to trigger such an outcome either, as that would only alert your government. So please believe me, that would never happen." Chen Chuan said, "Setting aside the fact that this is Great Shun soil, not a place where you can casually stage rituals, you also don't seem to have considered the consequences of the ritual failing." "Fail? Impossible!" the man denied instantly. Chen Chuan merely looked at him calmly. The man sensed something amiss. If Chen Chuan had come here to deal with this, and hadn't trailed them here, could he have discovered some anomaly? Had something gone wrong with those who returned? The moment the thought crossed his mind, his breathing suddenly grew ragged. His hands flew to his throat as if he could no longer draw breath. Chen Chuan raised a brow. He could clearly sense the man's physical condition deteriorating precipitously, his life force dwindling with unstoppable momentum. The man suddenly pointed at the sun crystal. "Quick... quick... save..." Chen Chuan understood what he meant—he wanted the sun crystal returned to its place to prolong his life. But Chen Chuan had already disrupted the ritual; putting it back would accomplish nothing. And so, he simply stood in silence. Seeing Chen Chuan remain motionless, despair washed over the man's face. As his breath faded away, the flesh on his body rapidly shriveled, and within a mere dozen seconds, he turned into a desiccated corpse. Chen Chuan stepped forward to inspect the remains. On this man, he found a pack containing essential medicines and a notebook. As for the two security guards, he turned up only basic wilderness survival gear. Seeing nothing else of value here, he prepared to return to the surface. But as he looked up, his light cast against the ceiling of the cavern, illuminating a series of bulges. At first, he thought they were merely natural formations on the cavern roof. Yet upon a second glance, there seemed to be something inside them. Looking closer, he was startled to find that curled figures appeared to be huddled within. He withdrew his gaze and paid them no heed, turning straight around to head out. Behind him, the uneven cavern wall was entirely normal—how could there be any figures at all? Chen Chuan retraced his steps. Ever since he had fully reined in his projected field, he had rarely seen such anomalous visions lately. He surmised that the recent occurrence was likely induced by the sun crystal in his hand. But so long as he trusted his own judgment and paid it no mind, it posed no hindrance. In fact, he had noticed lately that using his Second Self to dampen his body's external expression seemed to effectively avoid such visions. Yet that was not a good approach, because avoiding a problem did not mean the problem ceased to exist. Furthermore, Cao Guixi had once told him that anomalous phenomena served as nourishment for his advancement; witnessing and overcoming them each time benefited the training of his changeless mind. Therefore, there was no need to avoid them—facing them normally was enough. Because he had committed every detail of the route to memory, his ascent was even faster than his descent. In less than ten minutes, he was back on the surface. Aside from picking up some moisture from the cave, he had not broken a sweat. Stepping out of the cavern into the daylight, he merely closed his eyes briefly. When he reopened them, he was fully acclimated to the light outside. Bureau Director Lei had been waiting outside the entire time. Seeing him emerge, Lei walked up and looked him over. "Trainee Chen, are you all right?" Chen Chuan said, "Bureau Director Lei, I'm fine." He patted the pack. "I brought some items up." "Let's talk in the car." Bureau Director Lei led him to his armored vehicle and handed him a bottle of water. Chen Chuan thanked him, retrieved the contents of his pack, and handed them over, recounting what he had just encountered. Bureau Director Lei first took the Sun Wheel Stone. A single look brought a solemn expression to his face. He carefully placed it inside a heavy metal case and sealed it before taking out the materials and the notebook Chen Chuan had brought up, leafing through them attentively. Chen Chuan noticed that his reading speed was remarkably fast, turning a page with a single sweep of his eyes. Barely ten minutes later, Bureau Director Lei closed the notebook and said, "I have essentially pieced things together. The leader of this expedition—the wealthy merchant mentioned in the files—should be Orico." Chen Chuan asked, "Is he very famous?" Bureau Director Lei said, "Orico is from Norland. He has a criminal record across multiple nations for staging evil cult rituals. The Great Shun Esoteric Cult Examination Bureau has a dossier on him." Chen Chuan said, "He claimed that the man in the expedition twelve years ago was his father. Is that true?" "They are indeed father and son, but it's not so simple." Bureau Director Lei lifted the notebook in his hand and said, "I thought they were only holding a simple Sun Origin Ritual, but they actually went much further. On top of that, they carried out a 'Theft of Fire.'" "Theft of Fire?" Bureau Director Lei said, "It is a term from the Sun Origin Ritual. Put simply, during a Sun Origin Ritual, one party's life force can be transferred to another. "However, for a Sun Origin Ritual to achieve its maximum effect, the sacrificed party must be willing and fully aware of every detail and truth. If unwitting sacrifices are used instead, the life force gained is meager, as practically no one is willing to sacrifice themselves for another without cause. "So Orico and his son played a trick here. "First, Orico had his son transfer twelve years of life to him. "Then, over the subsequent twelve years, thanks to the ritual's effects, he was assured not to age as a result, while his son used the life force drawn from the other sacrifices to enter ritual slumber. "In the doctrine of the Sun Worship Cult, twelve years constitutes a cycle, after which everything begins anew. An opening appears during this transition, and cultists steal power from it. "Thus, when the next ritual was held, just before its completion, Orico awakened his son and had him seize twelve years of life back from him. In reality, Orico himself suffered no loss, and he then used the life force of the remaining sacrifices to enter ritual slumber himself. "This allowed his son to enjoy this cycle of twelve years in the outside world, and once the next ritual came around, they could repeat the procedure. That is the 'Theft of Fire.' "You could say they 'borrowed' a reusable twelve years of life from the ritual. It was a clever plan, but it appears an error occurred this time, preventing the ritual from succeeding completely." Chen Chuan asked, "Can they keep trading like this indefinitely?" Bureau Director Lei said, "Followers of the Sun Worship Cult attach great importance to the number twelve. According to their understanding, the 'Theft of Fire' can be performed twelve consecutive times. Even if it is only twelve times, the lifespan gained is already considerable." Hearing Bureau Director Lei's words, Chen Chuan pondered for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "I wonder how many times they have held this ritual now?"