Yoriichi stood alone on the sloping tiles, listening to the fading echoes of the city. He let out a slow, controlled breath, the tension leaving his broad shoulders. He relaxed slightly, knowing the immediate threat had been successfully neutralized through logic rather than bloodshed.
He looked down at the unconscious burden resting near his boots.
Liu Xi's face was deathly pale, covered in a sheen of cold, clammy sweat. His breathing was incredibly shallow, accompanied by a wet, rattling sound in his chest.
Yoriichi stooped down, effortlessly lifting the alchemist's limp body with one arm. He bounded off the roof, dropping lightly into the secluded, shadowed corner of the Jia Lie Clan's inner courtyard, far away from the prying eyes of the estate's patrolling guards.
He laid Liu Xi down gently on the cool grass, kneeling beside him to conduct a thorough examination of his physical condition.
Activating his Transparent World vision, Yoriichi peered beneath the alchemist's bruised skin. What he saw made his crimson eyes narrow in grim realization.
Liu Xi was not merely suffering from blunt force trauma. Deep within his chest cavity, near the heart meridian, a microscopic, needle-thin spark of terrifying golden fire was violently ravaging his internal organs. It was a remnant of Xun'er's Dou Qi.
The girl had not used her full strength—if she had, Liu Xi would have been instantly reduced to a pile of ash in the plaza—but she had secretly planted this lethal spark during her rapid, unseen assault in the alleyway before Xiao Yan had even arrived.
It was a delayed death sentence. The golden spark was actively devouring Liu Xi's vitality, tearing through his blood vessels with an ancient, unstoppable heat. The man's body was rapidly deteriorating. At this rate, his heart would simply boil and stop within the next ten minutes.
"A terrifyingly assassination method," Yoriichi murmured to himself, recognizing the sheer lethality of the young girl's technique. "If I had not intervened, he would have died in his sleep tonight, leaving no physical evidence besides a burned heart."
He let out a heavy sigh, his breath pluming in the cold air.
Suddenly, a violent spasm racked the alchemist's broken body. Liu Xi let out a choked, agonizing gasp, his eyelids fluttering open.
The first thing the alchemist saw was the pale, silver moon. The second thing he saw was the stoic, handsome face of a youth with long black hair and deep red tip leaning over him.
Absolute, unadulterated panic exploded in Liu Xi's mind.
'Ahh! Another Demon!' Liu Xi thought frantically, his pupils dilating in sheer terror.
His night had been an escalating nightmare. First, he had been lured into an alleyway and brutally, mercilessly beaten by the seemingly delicate girl in purple. Her speed and the horrific heat of her golden aura had shattered his defenses in seconds.
Then, as he crawled away, the giant in the black cloak had descended from the sky wielding a mountain-crushing ruler. And now, as he lay broken and bleeding in his own courtyard, a terrifying youth from his aura, standing over him.
'He is here to finish the job!' Liu Xi screamed internally.
He tried to scramble backward, to scream for the Jia Lie guards, but a blinding, excruciating wave of pain erupted from his chest. The golden spark flared. Liu Xi coughed violently, a thick glob of dark, scorched blood spilling from his lips onto his silk robes.
His pride, his arrogance, his status as a revered Tier 1 Alchemist—all of it was instantly instantly incinerated by the absolute, crushing proximity of the Grim Reaper.
"Ah... brother... please," Liu Xi wheezed, his voice cracking into a pathetic, high-pitched sob. He weakly raised a trembling, bloodstained hand, instinctively grabbing the hem of Yoriichi's dark robes. "Please... save me. I don't... I don't want to die."
Tears began to stream freely down his pale, bruised cheeks, mixing with the blood and dirt.
He didn't want to die young. He was a genius in Black Rock City! He had so much wealth to accumulate, so much fame to acquire. He wanted to be a renowned Tier 3 or higher Alchemist, a man respected by emperors and warlords.
As the cold numbness of death began to creep up his limbs, a profound, hollow void opened in Liu Xi's chest. The legendary phenomenon of a dying man's life flashing before his eyes violently overtook his senses.
He saw his grand master, the grumpy but caring old alchemist who had taken him in as an orphan, taught him the secrets of the flame, and treated him like a beloved son. His master had warned him a thousand times that his lust and unchecked arrogance would eventually lead him to an early grave.
'Master... you were right,' Liu Xi thought, a profound, soul-crushing wave of regret washing over him. 'I failed you.'
His mind frantically tried to rationalize the horrific events of the night. The girl in purple... her eyes had held a coldness that felt personal. In his delirium, Liu Xi convinced himself that she wasn't just a girl he had harassed today.
'She must be a vengeful spirit... or the sister of someone I ruined in the past. She came to Wu Tan City specifically for revenge. I provoked a monster. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have ruined those lives!'
The weight of his past sins crashed down upon his deteriorating soul. The hollow feeling morphed into an unbearable agony of remorse.
He choked, his throat bubbling with blood as he desperately tried to force the words out to the silent youth observing him.