Chapter 27: A Sudden Crisis

At this moment, Ryan was completely unaware of what had just transpired inside the VIP room of Winters Tower.

After leaving the tower, he glanced up at the sky. It was already late; nearly nine o’clock at night.

He immediately quickened his pace toward home.

Even at this hour, Ashfall City remained brightly illuminated. The streets were packed with people, and the endless stream of pedestrians made the city seem as though it never slept.

However, Ryan had no intention of stopping to admire the bustling night scene.

If he returned too late, his family would surely worry about him.

He quickened his pace again. Fortunately, after awakening his Bloodline, Origin Energy had begun strengthening his body. Despite hurrying through the streets at such a pace, he wasn’t even breathing heavily.

If he were still an ordinary person, rushing through the streets like this would have exhausted him long ago.

"Master, just now in Winters Tower, I sensed someone probing your background."

Mira’s soft voice suddenly echoed within his Origin Energy Sea.

"What? Something like that happened?" Ryan’s expression changed slightly.

Continuing forward, he asked, "Did they manage to find anything?"

"No." Mira’s voice carried a faint smile. "With the other party’s cultivation realm, they are still far from being capable of seeing through the Creation Furnace. The furnace is protected by Boundless Energy, so they couldn’t possibly detect its existence."

"Moreover, the moment I sensed their probing, I immediately established a blinding barrier around the Creation Furnace."

Her voice carried a faint hint of pride as she continued. "That person definitely couldn’t see anything important. At most, they could only perceive your cultivation and Bloodline."

"Well done." Ryan raised an eyebrow and nodded in satisfaction. "From now on, whenever you accompany me outside, remember to remain careful. Hide as much as possible, just like you did today."

He didn’t particularly want to conceal his true strength. However, as the saying went, wealth was a source of trouble.

His current strength was still far too weak. If he accidentally exposed something he shouldn’t, he could easily attract disaster.

Moreover, Ryan understood that once he began venturing into the outside world, being secretly probed by people with ulterior motives was inevitable.

Since the people from Winters Tower hadn’t shown any unusual reaction earlier, they probably hadn’t discovered anything important.

Perhaps they had merely become curious about him and casually probed his background.

As for his D-Grade Ordinary Spider Bloodline, cultivation realm, and other relatively superficial secrets, Ryan wasn’t particularly concerned about those being discovered.

After all, the Crimson Expanse was a world where martial strength reigned supreme. There were countless powerful and capable individuals, and completely concealing one’s strength was practically impossible.

As long as his greatest secret, the Boundless Creation Furnace, remained hidden, everything else was secondary.

After exchanging little more than twenty waste pills for thirty-six Low-Grade Origin Stones, Ryan had already gained a glimpse of just how terrifying the Creation Furnace could be.

This Creation Furnace would undoubtedly become his greatest trump card.

More importantly, this trump card was directly connected to Origin Stones.

As long as the Creation Furnace itself remained hidden, it didn’t matter if some of his other abilities or secrets were revealed.

Those could hardly be considered fatal secrets.

One had to understand that cultivation resources were extremely important to Bloodline Fighters.

And among all cultivation resources, Origin Stones were arguably the most important.

Aside from some extremely rare treasures, Origin Stones could be exchanged for almost every commonly used cultivation resource.

They could be used for meditation and cultivation, restoring depleted Origin Power, purchasing various treasures, maintaining the operation of battle formations, and countless other purposes.

Their uses were practically endless. To Bloodline fighters they’re as important as food is to normal humans, which is crazy cause even the strongest army couldn’t fight without food and provisions.

For someone who wanted to become powerful, the first thing they needed to learn was how to make money.

Ryan couldn’t help but begin calculating various possibilities in his mind.

If he couldn’t find enough sources of waste pills in the future, he could simply return to Winters Tower and purchase large quantities of First-Tier Low-Grade Pills for the Creation Furnace.

He could then use the Creation Furnace to transform them into treasures and sell the resulting products.

By repeatedly cycling through this process, he could still make a small profit.

After all, First-Tier Low-Grade Pills contained far more energy than waste pills.

Therefore, the number required to satisfy the Creation Furnace’s energy needs should theoretically be much lower.

If only three to five Low-Grade Pills were enough for a single creation, then his cost per attempt would be less than six to ten Low-Grade Origin Stones.

Assuming his luck wasn’t too terrible, successfully creating a First-Tier Top-Grade Pill would already allow him to sell it for ten Low-Grade Origin Stones or more.

After deducting his costs, he wouldn’t earn much.

Perhaps only around ten to twenty percent in profit.

Still, it was a profit.

And even if it was far less profitable than personally collecting waste pills and feeding them into the Creation Furnace, small profits accumulated over time could eventually become a substantial fortune.

Of course, Ryan considered this method only a last resort.

If he repeatedly produced large quantities of Top-Grade Pills and frequently bought and sold them without ever purchasing the spiritual herbs or other materials normally required for refining them, it would inevitably attract suspicion.

After all, no matter how foolish someone was, they would eventually notice something strange about a person who could continuously produce large quantities of high-quality pills without apparently possessing any corresponding source of materials.

And once powerful individuals began investigating him, the risk of exposing the Boundless Creation Furnace would increase dramatically.

Therefore, regardless of which method he used to make money, Ryan had to minimize the possibility of exposing his greatest secret.

If he could obtain waste pills himself, he would continue doing so.

As for directly purchasing Low-Grade Pills and transforming them into Top-Grade Pills, that kind of pure trading operation could only be carried out on a small scale.

Otherwise, the pattern would become far too obvious.

Of course, Ryan would still need to deal with Winters Tower frequently in the future.

But since they had merely probed him this time without discovering anything important, he wasn’t particularly concerned.

There was no need to dwell on it.

"You did well, Mira..."

"Okay, Master." Mira’s voice carried a hint of happiness and pride after receiving Ryan’s praise.

"Mm." Ryan nodded. He said nothing more and continued quickening his pace.

His figure swiftly moved through the bustling crowd, heading toward home.

After a while, Ryan finally caught sight of the entrance to the slum district in the distance.

After awakening his Bloodline, his physical senses had undergone a significant transformation. His eyesight, in particular, had become exceptionally sharp.

Even from such a considerable distance, he could clearly make out the countless dilapidated shacks filling the slum.

However, what caught his attention wasn’t the slum itself.

Despite the fact that night had already deepened, thousands of shabby dwellings were brightly illuminated.

It was extremely unusual.

Under normal circumstances, most of the residents would have already gone to sleep by this hour.

Yet tonight, almost the entire slum seemed to be awake.

A strange feeling immediately arose in Ryan’s heart.

’What’s going on?’

Before he could figure out the reason, however, his enhanced hearing suddenly picked up something.

Noisy voices. It sounded like a heated argument, or perhaps even a struggle, coming from deep within the slum.

Since awakening his Bloodline, Ryan’s hearing had also become far sharper than that of an ordinary person.

Although he was still some distance away from the source of the disturbance, he could vaguely make out the commotion.

Based on the intensity of the noise, the disturbance seemed to be coming from somewhere very close to his home.

"Why is it so noisy over there? What exactly happened?"

Ryan’s expression immediately darkened.

The strange brightness filling the slum at such a late hour, combined with the sudden commotion near his home, caused an inexplicable sense of unease to surge through his heart.

’Don’t tell me something happened to my family...’

WHOOSH!

He didn’t dare delay any longer.

His body suddenly blurred as Origin Energy surged into his legs.

The next moment, he shot toward the slum like a leopard released from its cage.

At the same time, deep within the heart of the slum, several burly uninvited guests had already arrived.

Surrounding them were countless slum residents.

At a glance, the crowd was packed three layers deep on the inside and three layers deep on the outside.

Men and women, the elderly and children, almost everyone in the surrounding area had gathered.

The sheer number of people formed a vast, dark mass that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Among them were Ryan’s parents and his two younger brothers.

"Everyone, listen up!"

At the center of everyone’s attention stood a burly young man with a cold and arrogant expression.

His name was Wesley Sterling.

At this moment, he stood with his hands behind his back and announced loudly,

"I am Wesley Sterling."

His voice carried clearly through the surrounding crowd.

"By order of the Sterling Family, starting next month, the land rent for every household in this slum will be doubled."

He deliberately paused, allowing his words to sink in.

"The new rent must be paid and registered tonight."

Wesley’s cold gaze swept across the surrounding residents.

"Anyone who refuses to pay..." A sinister smile appeared on his face. "Get out immediately!"