Chapter 4: No Time

"Bastard. You looking to die?" Old Demon Cutmore had never been "greeted" so warmly to his face. A chill burst from him as he swung a palm straight at Seth Santee. "You little punk, raised by a mother but not taught by one. Let this old man show you how to behave!" Smack! A crisp slap rang out. Seth still stood there, unshaken, while Old Demon Cutmore's body flew sideways. Five red finger marks burned across Old Demon Cutmore's face. Seth struck first, and faster than him. Old Demon Cutmore clutched his swelling cheek, disbelief twisting his features. He… got slapped by a junior? In Farwind City, he had always done as he pleased. When had he ever suffered a loss like this? The shock turned into a towering rage. "I'll throw you into the Alchemy Furnace and refine you for forty-nine days! I'll make you endure the most terrifying suffering in this world!" Seth acted as if he never heard him. His gaze stayed icy as he kept walking forward. Boom! Killing intent rolled off Seth in waves, as if a young killing god had descended. His domineering fist blasted out, driving straight for Old Demon Cutmore's chest. Old Demon Cutmore froze for a beat when Seth seized the initiative. Then he sensed Seth's Cultivation Level and curled his lips into a cold smile. "Third Level of the Bitter Sea Realm, and you dare challenge this old man?" A wisp of Dark Flame surfaced in Old Demon Cutmore's palm, like something distilled from hell itself, and it surged toward Seth to burn him alive. Hiss, hiss, hiss! The instant Seth's fist swept through, the Dark Flame never even had time to show its power. It was crushed into nothing under the force of the punch. That heavy, brutal blow slammed into Old Demon Cutmore's chest! Thud! Old Demon Cutmore crashed hard into a pillar. Blood sprayed from his mouth as his eyes bulged wide. He was at the Sixth Level of the Bitter Sea Realm, yet a single punch had broken him? Thump! Seth never stopped. With every step, the killing intent pressing down on Old Demon Cutmore seemed to grow heavier, until raw fear rose in his throat. "Spare me! I'll give you ten pills. No, twenty!" Old Demon Cutmore blurted. "You dared lay a hand on my sister. A hundred deaths wouldn't be enough to repay it." Seth's voice came out cold as steel. Ember was his only family left in this world. He would not allow her to suffer even the slightest wrong. "Think it through. Plenty of people are waiting on my pills. If you touch me, you'll offend a lot of people at once!" Old Demon Cutmore saw pleading failed and switched to threats. As an alchemist, he had no shortage of people who needed him. "Not worth thinking about." The moment the words fell, Seth's second punch drove in. Old Demon Cutmore felt his liver and gall twist in terror, as if his organs were about to rupture. A shriek tore through the air. Old Demon Cutmore had never imagined a boy at the Third Level of the Bitter Sea Realm could possess such savage strength. "Pfft!" The third punch dropped. The blood Old Demon Cutmore spat seemed to carry chunks. His face flushed a deep, swollen red, like he might burst apart at any moment. Seth's fists hammered flesh again and again, draining Old Demon Cutmore's vitality in a rush. Before long, he could not even scream. Only a thin thread of breath remained. "Kill me…" The pain he endured was beyond imagining. His organs were shattered, his bones broken. There was no saving him, yet he still could not die. "Don't worry. I won't refine you for forty-nine days. I'll only torment you for one day and one night." Seth's palm trembled. Black mist coiled around it as he pressed his hand down, branding it onto Old Demon Cutmore and driving all that poisonous qi straight into his body! "Ahhh!" Old Demon Cutmore, who had been on the verge of death, jerked his head up. His eyes nearly popped from their sockets. The agony of poison gnawing at his heart made it feel as if venomous insects were chewing through every inch of his flesh. He never would have thought that after a lifetime of using people as ingredients for pills, after tossing even his wife and daughter into the furnace whenever they displeased him, he would end his life in misery this grotesque. "I curse you to die horribly! A thousand times more painfully than me!" Old Demon Cutmore spat his vicious curse, but Seth no longer bothered with him. He took Ember and walked out of the Cutmore family estate. A few hours later, news of Old Demon Cutmore's death spread through Farwind City. His end was horrific. His skin had been torn open by his own fingernails, leaving him a bloody mess. And inside his body, everything had been reduced to fragments. No one knew what Old Demon Cutmore had gone through. They only saw a young man walk out of the Cutmore family, with a girl beside him whose face was streaked with tears, yet whose smile looked oddly at peace. … "Slow down. Don't choke." Inside Windhear Tavern, Seth watched the little girl devour her food. Even as a stabbing pain flared from his Elixir Field, he forced a small smile. "When I see you, Brother, I just get really hungry," the girl said, clutching a chicken leg and smiling sweetly. "Brother won't leave Ember again," Seth said, ruffling her hair with gentle affection. "Ember wants cultivation too. Then I'll protect you, Brother." She kept gnawing on the chicken leg, but her eyes were unwavering. Seth smiled back, but an ill-timed voice cut in from the side, and his smile slowly faded. "I'm afraid there won't be an 'after.' The Showyer family is hunting you all over the city, and you still dare show your faces. Aren't you afraid you'll end up dead in the street?" "Peter Balam." Seth turned and saw two familiar figures. In Farwind City, besides the Showyer family, the other two of the three great families were the Balam family and the Leemin family. Peter Balam was the Balam family's celebrated prodigy. Beside him stood a girl in white, her long dress hugging her figure. Her beauty was striking. She was his younger sister, Bianca Balam. Bianca Balam and Evelyn Showyer were the twin "ice beauties" spoken of in the same breath throughout Farwind City. "Maybe the one dying in the street is you," Seth said, his voice icy. "You defeated dog." He had once fought on the Showyer family's behalf and crushed the geniuses of his generation in Farwind City. By that measure, the younger generation of both the Balam family and the Leemin family had their grudges with him. Peter Balam's companion sneered, brimming with contempt. "You still think you're the genius Seth Santee from back then? Your cultivation is gone. What's the difference between you and a cripple? Send that little girl over to be my maid, and maybe I'll let you two siblings live." "A maid?" Killing intent exploded from Seth. His hand turned a purplish black as he struck like lightning, slamming his palm into the man's chest and leaving a branded imprint. "Poison!" The man's pupils shrank violently. The toxin invaded his lungs and organs. In less than three breaths, he collapsed, foam spilling from his mouth. Everyone in the tavern went still. That young man was also from a prominent family in the city, yet he had thrown away his life with a single mocking sentence. "So Old Demon Cutmore's death really did have something to do with that girl." "If it involves her, you'd better be careful. Otherwise Seth Santee will go mad." Seth's face remained blank as he stared at the fallen man. In truth, his Elixir Field throbbed with agony. Using the Poison Arts of the Poison Emperor without years of cultivation to support it had already backlashed onto him. He had only managed to suppress it with his Dao Bone. *Looks like I can't use Poison Arts so casually anymore. If I'm going to kill that Showyer father and daughter, I'll have to rely on my fists,* Seth thought. If he were alone, he could gamble his life. But what about Ember? She was still young. This world held too many dangers, and the corpse on the floor was the best proof of that. Seeing his companion drop dead, Peter Balam's face darkened. "Hiding behind Poison Arts. What kind of skill is that?" "Poison isn't part of one's strength?" Seth's voice carried a suffocating pressure. "You want to taste my Poison Arts?" Peter Balam stiffened. Seth's Poison Arts killed with a flick of the fingers. How was he supposed to take that? Mocking gazes seemed to drift in from all around, and humiliation surged in Peter Balam's chest. He could not even accept a challenge from a cripple. "Please don't be angry, Seth," Bianca said. She stepped forward, her graceful figure stopping before him, and dipped into a slight bow. "My brother misspoke. I apologize to you and your sister on his behalf." Her politeness caught Seth off guard. "First you provoke someone, then you apologize," Seth said. "Your Balam family is interesting." Bianca was smarter than her brother. "Your Poison Arts are extraordinary," Bianca said softly. "Even the fifth elder of the Showyer family and Old Demon Cutmore have died. The Balam family naturally has no wish to offend you." As she spoke, she saw Peter Balam about to argue and immediately covered his mouth. Then she smiled at Ember. "The moment I saw this little sister, I felt close to her. I'd like to take her as my younger sister. Would the two of you be willing to visit the Balam family?" "No time," Seth said, refusing outright.