Chapter Twenty-Five: The Swelling of Magic

Inside the dim factory, a sense of mystery pervaded the air. Following Gu Zhongyan’s instructions, Su Yan had removed his shirt and sat cross-legged, exposing his gaunt chest. Gu Zhongyan sat directly across from him, a small stainless steel basin on the ground before him, filled with several blocks of solid fuel.

Perhaps the ritual’s strange atmosphere was infectious, for even Elder Cane and Matt, who could not see what was happening, wore grave expressions. Though Gu Zhongyan had always maintained that he was a wizard, to the two men—lacking the benefit of sight—his unusual methods were hard to reconcile with the legends of magic. It was this very crudeness of the ritual that made it all the more compelling.

Ignoring the unspoken curiosity of his companions, Gu Zhongyan’s face was solemn as he lit the cheap solid alcohol in the brazier before him. He reached into his small bag, drew out a gold ingot and a bar of silver, and tossed them directly into the flames.

At once, something extraordinary occurred. The gold and silver, upon touching the fire, began to melt instantaneously—like asphalt softening beneath a scorching sun—transforming into a viscous blend of molten gold and silver.

Elder Cane and Matt were both taken aback. Though they could not see, their heightened hearing made them acutely aware of every subtle change in the factory. The stainless steel basin’s flames could not possibly exceed five hundred degrees, while gold and silver only melt at temperatures twice as high. Under normal circumstances, such a fire wouldn’t so much as warp these metals, let alone liquefy them. Yet here, they melted at the briefest touch of the flame—an occurrence that defied all physical logic.

To this, Gu Zhongyan might have said: you know nothing of the power of magic. Though without a wand and lacking the magical reserves to cast wandless spells, Gu Zhongyan’s status as a wizard seemed somewhat tenuous. Yet, the inability to cast spells did not mean magic itself was absent. The seemingly insignificant brazier, at the moment of ignition, had fused with his magical energy. Gold and silver, among the most common magical materials in nature, resonated with that energy and reacted accordingly.

As the gold and silver melted, Gu Zhongyan drew from his bag the largest ruby and cupped it in his palm. The faint magical energy within him, spurred by the sea of his mind, began to flow into the gemstone. Crimson light flared, illuminating the shadowed factory. The viscous gold and silver now seemed alive, sliding from the brazier, following the path of ruby light, crawling toward Su Yan’s feet.

The inexplicable sight drained the color from Su Yan’s face, his eyes wide with fright. Had Gu Zhongyan not warned him against moving, he might have leaped up in terror.

“Don’t be afraid. Nothing will happen. Relax,” Gu Zhongyan said softly.

Hearing this, Su Yan’s anxious heart calmed a little. He watched as the serpentine stream of gold and silver slithered to his feet and began to climb his ankles.

To his surprise, the molten metal felt not the least bit hot; rather, it was cool to the touch, like ordinary metal. Under the ruby’s glow, the gold and silver twisted upward, leaving behind intricate lines of red, gold, and silver, winding over Su Yan’s entire body like mysterious tattoos, forming a magnificent and arcane design.

Now, even Elder Cane and Matt scarcely dared to breathe; they could no longer deny that this unassuming young man might truly possess some extraordinary ability.

When the tri-colored patterns covered every inch of Su Yan’s body, Gu Zhongyan’s expression grew even more grave. His gaze sharpened, and bringing his palms together with a sharp crack, he crushed the radiant ruby into powder.

A sudden breeze swept through the factory. The gem’s fragments, like winter snow, swirled around Su Yan in the wind.

A thunderous boom exploded in their ears. The red shards glowed like burning embers, flooding the entire factory with fiery light. The acrid stench of sulfur filled the space, and Su Yan felt as if something within him was struggling violently to break free. His heart pounded, his blood seemed to transform into rushing magma, and a fire ignited within him, threatening to consume him entirely.

At twelve years old, Su Yan had never experienced anything like this. Fortunately, before panic could take hold, the tri-colored lines on his skin flared to life. The patterns seemed to awaken, shimmering in three hues, weaving a mysterious magic circle beneath his feet.

A refreshing current swept through him, like a torrential rain quenching a raging forest fire, dousing the turmoil in his heart. At the same moment, Gu Zhongyan’s body trembled as a powerful force pierced through from the void, flooding into his mental sea. He felt some internal barrier utterly shatter, and an unending stream of power rapidly expanded his consciousness.

If before, his mental sea had been a deep ancient well, supplying only enough water for a single household, now it was a vast lake, and in a single instant, the whole world seemed to open up before him. The once meager magic within him surged with the expansion of his mental sea. In that moment, all of existence seemed to shrink; the magical elements scattered throughout nature now surged around him like a rising tide. It seemed that with a mere thought, he could destroy the world.

He drank in the endless power from the void almost greedily, on the verge of losing himself in its overwhelming strength—until a pained groan snapped him back to reality. At the center of the magic circle, Su Yan’s exposed skin was flushed red, like burning flames.

Behind him, a vast shadow flickered in and out of sight: a massive demon, its limbs limp and wormlike, its body immense, swathed in the lava of hell, exuding both brutal bloodlust and the sulfurous tang of false benevolence. The grotesque body writhed in the void, struggling to use its connection to Su Yan as a conduit to descend upon the earth.

This was the true mastermind behind the Hand Society—a demon known as Beast. The ritual had just now bridged the gap between Beast and the dark void, allowing the demon’s power to pour endlessly from hell itself. Ordinarily, this demonic force would transform the vessel—the body known as Black Void—into a demon’s shell, suitable for Beast’s arrival on earth.