Sa Min reached into his pack and pulled out the black bottle of blood. His brow furrowed slightly as he noticed a spiderweb of cracks creeping through the glass, with blood slowly seeping out. "This Ka is ruined," he said to Wing Lian.

No response.

He looked up to see Wing Lian standing completely still. "Wing Lian?" he called, sensing something was off.

Then, a faint vibration ran through the air, and his eyes widened slightly. He knew this feeling—it was quite familiar; he’d experienced it many times before.

A Key is reacting, he thought, and a small smile crept onto his face at the unexpected twist.

His gaze dropped instinctively to the blood dribbling from the cracked bottle. This is not the cause, he realized, eyes narrowing as he looked back at Wing Lian. It has to be him.

“This alley feels... risky,” Wing Lian finally said

It’s definitely him.

Sa Min’s smile faded. He closed his eyes for just a second, then opened them with a cold gleam.

With a plan in mind, he rose to his feet and crept closer toward him. Once he was close enough, he lunged forward, locking his arms around Wing Lian’s throat from behind in a swift grip.

“You... bastard—” was Wing Lian’s first reaction before Sa Min yanked him to the ground, instantly coiling his legs tightly around his waist to pin him in place.

Wing Lian thrashed foolishly, arms flailing as he struggled to break free from Sa Min’s iron grip. But as he felt the true strength of that hold, he shifted tactics, reaching clumsily for his robe—maybe for his dagger or maybe he still had some powercubes in there.

Either way, he was stupid enough to think Sa Min wouldn’t anticipate that.

He squeezed even tighter, and Wing Lian’s hands shot back to Sa Min's arm, clawing desperately at his bicep, as his face started to turn purple.

Though lean, Sa Min’s body was all muscle, each one trained to its peak, and his grip was merciless.

“Ghhk…” was the only sound in this quiet, dark alley.

There were several ways Sa Min could have chosen to attack him besides choking him, with the easiest being to catch him off guard, snatch his dagger, and drive it into his throat. But he didn’t want to kill him here.

Firstly, Wing Lian had colored eyes, and if his blood spilled in large amounts, the Key wouldn’t just react with a slight vibration—it would trigger a small earthquake that could be felt from miles away, drawing unwanted attention to the Key.

If Wing Lian’s blood were enough to manifest the Key, Sa Min might have taken the risk of killing him here to seize it and escape. But based on what Wing Lian had said, his blood was unfortunately insufficient.

As for the second reason, Sa Min hadn’t decided yet whether he should kill him.

After ten breaths of Wing Lian thrashing in the dirt, Sa Min finally felt his limbs going slack, and soon he fell unconscious.

With an indifferent expression, Sa Min released his grip and pushed Wing Lian aside. Once on his feet, he cast a wary glance around the alley and the surrounding buildings.

The place seemed either abandoned or the residents' sleep was quite heavy.

Either way, he needed to act quickly.

He dragged Wing Lian to the side, behind a withered tree, and sat down beside him. Noticing that he was starting to regain consciousness, Sa Min quickly took the dagger from under his belt, raised it high, and brought the back of the blade crashing down against his temple.

He then began searching Wing Lian’s robe for any powercubes and found two blue ones.

Ice Bullets Powercubes, Sa Min nodded slightly, recognizing the symbol inscribed on them. This was the one he had used to kill that thug in the tavern.

He tucked them into his own robe, then turned to Wing Lian's backpack on the ground nearby and pulled it to his side.

Next, he removed the belt from his robe and tied Wing Lian's hands tightly. After that, he used Wing Lian's own belt to gag him.

Taking a deep breath, Sa Min finally sank down against the tree, his mind calmly calculating his next move.

How should I go about it now?

The logical and natural move would be to kill Wing Lian. The whole mess with the gang at the tavern gave him a perfect cover. He could just blame the gang for Wing Lian’s death. The Wing family might raise an eyebrow at first, but after a quick look into things, they’d most likely come to be convinced he had nothing to do with it.

This way, I’ll be the only one who knows the Key’s location…

It seemed like the safest and smartest plan. But… Sa Min’s face twisted slightly with doubt.

For someone like him, who always thought several steps ahead, he wasn’t sure about it.

Even if I know where the Key is, I'll still need a lot of blood to make it manifest. Unlike the Wing family, who have the resources and manpower, it would take a long time to find people with colored eyes—if there are any left in the city, that is. Wing Lian mentioned that it’s been a while since they managed to capture anyone. And even if there are still some, the Wing family is monitoring my movements, so it would be impossible to…

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

He frowned. He'd need Yantras to help him get past the Wing family's watch and to pull off the kidnapping. He couldn't just grab people off the street and run with them. At the very least, he'd need some Concealing Yantras, a secure place to keep the colored-eyed people, and a Preservation Yantra to store and transport the blood.

The bottom line was that he’d need months, if not years, to prepare meticulously. Before that time came, the Wing family would certainly have located the Key themselves.

After all, finding it now wasn’t a coincidence. He and Wing Lian had planned to search these alleys tonight or tomorrow anyway.

So what’s stopping the Wing family from finding it if they keep searching?

After each night of searching, Wing Lian always reported back on the places they had covered. That meant this spot would be one of the first places the Wing family would check.

If they get their hands on the Key, I’d have no value to them anymore.

Wing Xieren wouldn’t care who Sa Min had been working for once he had the Key. Sa Min also doubted that Wing Xieren would be worried about being exposed for killing those with colored eyes.

In fact, knowing there were people who knew about him, Wing Xieren could simply leave the family and go into hiding in the cursed area, putting him closer to the Domain’s Door.

Wing Lian might care about the family, but his father did not. A man who had sacrificed this much just to search for the Key would easily sacrifice whatever was left to keep it.

In that time, with no leverage over him, I’m not just going to lose the Key; I might lose my life too, Sa Min thought coldly. Wing Xieren is a problem…

Lost in thought, Sa Min found himself eyeing Wing Lian’s pack. Remembering the way Wing Lian had checked it earlier, he reached over and opened it, peering inside.

There was a Ka bottle, a booze bottle, a few force apples, a vial of pills, and a small box.

He picked up the vial, noting the label: Body Recovery Pills. Sa Min wasn’t surprised. He’d seen Wing Lian use them before—they were just low-grade pills that helped ease physical exhaustion a bit.

He popped two pills into his mouth and then turned his attention to the small box.

As soon as he opened it, his eyebrows lifted slightly. A black Olive Force? he thought, surprised. Didn’t expect Wing Lian to have one of these. With this, I can open my essence core in no time.

A slow smile crept onto his face.

It wasn’t some extraordinary item by any means, but in his current state, it was exactly what he needed. It’d save him a lot of time and allow him to craft Yantras much sooner than he’d expected.

He let out a chuckle, quietly amused at his fortune. Today was full of pleasant, unexpected gifts. First the Key’s location, and now this…

Of course, a bad day was probably waiting just around the corner. He sighed.

After all he’d been through, he’d come to understand that heaven had a twisted sense of humor.

Whenever fortune fell on you, misfortune was never far behind.

At that moment, Wing Lian started to wake up again. He looked confused at first, but when he saw Sa Min staring at him calmly, his face twisted with rage. He cursed through the belt stuffed in his mouth, and all that came out were muffled sounds.

He tried to attack, only to realize his arms were tightly bound behind him.

Sa Min didn’t react. He was just biting his lip, contemplating. There is a better way than just blaming the gang for his death. But…

It was dangerous—too many things could go awry. Yet if he managed to pull it off, he wouldn’t just eliminate the threat Wing Xieren posed; he would also take the Key for himself.

Sa Min took a deep breath and reached for the dagger. I guess I have no choice, he thought, then slammed it against Wing Lian’s temple once again. The blow sent Wing Lian, who was thrashing about trying to get up, back into sleep.

Then he immediately got to work. First, he transferred what was in his backpack into Wing Lian’s before tossing his pack in there too. After that, he rushed to the alley and tried to cover up any traces of Wing Lian's blood with dirt.

I’ll still need to come back to clean up the rest of the blood, he thought as he returned to Wing Lian’s side.

Finding out they were here wasn’t going to be a problem for him, as he already had a convincing story to explain it. Still, the farther people stayed away from the Key’s location, the better.

Without wasting any more time, Sa Min hoisted Wing Lian onto his back and started running away.

After moving a few alleys away from the Key’s location, Sa Min dropped Wing Lian against a courtyard wall and stopped to catch his breath. After a moment, he looked around, frowning.

The place seemed dark and quiet enough for what he was about to do.

He crouched beside Wing Lian, clamped his mouth with one hand, and gripped the dagger with the other.

With no hesitation, he jammed the dagger into Wing Lian’s thigh and dragged it up toward his groin.

Wing Lian's eyes shot open in pain as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Sa Min leaned closed and stared coldly into his eyes. “Time to have a little talk,” he said, his voice chilling.

….

Later that night, in the southern part of the cursed area, there stood a two-story building that was different from the rest. It was made of blue stone, with a simple yet imposing exterior. Its wide, dark wooden doors were marked with the Investigation and Justice Bureau’s insignia—a silver sword.

Inside, the reception area on the ground floor was quiet, with just one petitioner waiting in front of a weary-looking clerk's office.

Suddenly, the doors flew open, and a young man in a black robe burst in, dirty and frantic, carrying someone bloodied across his back.

"Save him!" he shouted, laying the injured man on the floor. "Please, someone, save him..."

A few officers came rushing from the side rooms at the sound of his cries.

The young man looked up at them, tears running down his face. "Please... help him."

One officer knelt beside them and checked the injured man’s pulse, pressing his fingers to the man’s neck. After about ten breaths, he shook his head. "He’s... dead."

The young man’s face twisted in shock. “Dead?” He stared down at the lifeless body of his friend for a moment before breaking into quiet sobs.

The officer stood, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry…”

After giving him some time to grieve, the officer asked, “What happened? Who did this to him?”

Sa Min stopped crying, lifting his head slowly, his eyes blazing with rage. “The… the Wing family.”