Meanwhile, inside the auction hall.
“Two trillion!”
“Two trillion one hundred billion!”
“Two trillion three hundred billion!!!”
A hoarse voice, carrying an absolute and unquestionable authority, exploded through the dark web auction hall like a thunderclap.
The bidder was a mysterious old man seated in an ordinary private room on the second floor. His entire body was shrouded in a gray robe, and the blood-and-qi fluctuations radiating from him indicated that he was at the peak of the Martial Venerable realm.
The moment that price was called, the entire boisterous auction hall fell into deathly silence.
Two trillion three hundred billion!
That sum had already drained the liquid assets of the vast majority of the top aristocratic clans present.
Any further bid would require them to mortgage their core industries.
It simply wasn’t worth it for a demon core.
The auctioneer’s hand trembled violently as he held up the gavel. He called out three times, but no one raised the price.
Bang!
The deal was sealed!
“Congratulations to this esteemed guest! You have successfully purchased this Demon Saint-grade demon core for the astonishing price of two trillion three hundred billion!”
Inside Private Room No. 1.
Su Yu leaned back against the leather sofa. A barely concealed fervor flashed through his deep, crystal-clear eyes.
Two trillion three hundred billion!
He was rich.
A few minutes later.
Knock, knock.
The door to the private room was gently tapped.
Ji Wuyue entered carrying an exquisite tray covered with red cloth. Her serpentine waist swayed as she approached, radiating seductive charm. Yet a trace of coldness lay hidden in the depths of her eyes.
“Mr. Su,” Ji Wuyue said with a dazzling smile.
“This is the storage ring containing the payment. Please verify it.”
She carried the tray slowly toward Su Yu.
She was less than half a meter away.
Su Yu remained seated on the sofa without rising.
He merely looked at Ji Wuyue calmly, his deep eyes like two bottomless ancient wells.
“Put it on the table,” Su Yu said flatly.
The smile at the corners of Ji Wuyue’s lips grew even more pronounced.
“Of course, Mr. Su.”
She bent slightly and placed the tray on the tabletop.
The instant the tray touched the table—
The hidden blade was finally revealed!
Boom!
The gentle lights in the private room went out in an instant!
Two obscure yet utterly lethal killing intents erupted without warning from the shadows behind Su Yu!
Two Martial Venerable-level death warriors!
One on each side, they wielded pale-blue daggers coated in abyssal venom, aiming straight for the back of Su Yu’s head and his heart!
At the same time, the seductive expression on Ji Wuyue’s face twisted into something vicious.
She suddenly crushed a dark-red formation disk hidden beneath the tray!
Buzz!
A cloud of abyssal poisonous miasma, powerful enough to instantly paralyze the circulation of a Martial Emperor’s blood and qi, exploded between them!
It was a killing formation with no chance of survival!
Even a true peak Martial Emperor would have met his end here in the face of this long-planned triple ambush!
But—
Their opponent was Su Yu.
A monster whose actual combat power rivaled that of a Martial Sovereign!
The moment Ji Wuyue stepped into the private room, Su Yu’s enormous spiritual power had already seen through every tense muscle in her body and every abnormal fluctuation in her blood and qi.
“Too slow.”
Su Yu’s voice rang out calmly in the darkness.
There was not the slightest hint of panic.
His tone did not fluctuate in the least.
Buzz!
His terrifying spiritual power transformed into tangible, transparent blades and swept outward with Su Yu at the center.
Formless—Soul Severing!
Crack! Crack!
The two Martial Venerable death warriors, who had been moments away from stabbing Su Yu, abruptly froze.
Their eyes bulged, and blood flowed from their mouths, noses, ears, and eyes.
The defenses of their consciousness were instantly shattered beneath the overwhelming impact of Su Yu’s spiritual power, crumbling like paper.
They did not even have time to scream.
Their two corpses toppled stiffly to the ground.
As for the mass of abyssal poisonous miasma that had been about to envelop Su Yu—
A layer of dark-gold protective aura appeared out of thin air and held it firmly at a distance of half a meter. It could not advance even an inch.
Su Yu slowly extended a hand.
He reached through the poisonous miasma and calmly took the storage ring containing two trillion three hundred billion from the table, slipping it into his possession.
He had to get the money.
“How… how is this possible?!”
The vicious expression on Ji Wuyue’s face froze completely.
She stared in horror at the two Martial Venerable death warriors who had died instantly, then looked at Su Yu, who was completely unharmed.
Her mind went blank!
Hadn’t the intelligence reported that he was only a Martial Spirit?!
Even if he could defeat a Demon Saint across several realms, there was no way he could instantly kill two Martial Venerable death warriors without any warning!
“Run!”
Ji Wuyue had no time to think.
Her instinct for survival drove her to retreat wildly. She crashed straight through the floor-to-ceiling window of the private room and fell toward the auction hall below.
Su Yu did not pursue her.
He stood up and slipped the anonymous black card into his pocket as well.
Then he gazed coldly through the shattered window at the auction hall below.
Because—
The real killing trap had only just begun.
Rumble—!!!
Accompanied by the thunderous crash of Ji Wuyue breaking through the glass, the entire underground dark web city suddenly began to shake violently!
The ground split apart, and the ceiling collapsed!
Countless blood-red formation lines spread madly from every corner of the underground city, resembling thick, writhing veins. In an instant, they interwove into an inverted blood-colored barrier.
The entire auction hall was sealed tight!
The Nine Nether Lock-Heaven Death Formation!
It had descended!
“What’s happening?!”
“Enemy attack! We’re under attack!”
Tens of thousands of human martial artists in the hall descended into terrified chaos.
At that moment—
A phantom altar slowly emerged in the center of the barrier.
Three sinister figures cloaked in voluminous red robes stepped out of the void one after another.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three terrifying pillars of blood and qi, each exceeding ten billion units, shot into the heavens in an instant!
They illuminated the blood-colored barrier with an eerie radiance.
Martial Saints!
Three genuine Martial Saint powerhouses!
The three Red-robed Archbishops had appeared!
“The Abyssal Order?!”
“They’re the Abyss’s Red-robed Archbishops! It’s over! We’re all finished!”
After recognizing the newcomers’ attire, the human martial artists present were plunged into utter despair.
“Kill.”
The leading Red-robed Archbishop’s voice was hoarse, like two rusted pieces of metal scraping against each other.
There were no unnecessary words.
The slaughter began in an instant!
The might of three Martial Saints descended like ten thousand mountains, crushing down upon everyone’s heads!
Those below the Martial King realm did not even have the chance to resist. They were crushed directly into clouds of blood mist by the pressure!
Their scarlet blood and qi were frantically absorbed by the formation, converging toward the altar at the center.
“Outrageous!!!”
Just as despair reached its peak, a furious roar that shook heaven and earth exploded from an ordinary private room on the second floor!
The gray-robed old man who had purchased the demon core tore away his disguise.
Boom—!!!
An aura of blood and qi no weaker than that of the three Red-robed Archbishops erupted like a dormant volcano!
Over ten billion units of blood and qi!
The might of a Martial Saint!
The old man’s body grew taller. His previously hunched back straightened in an instant, transforming him into a broad-shouldered, imposing elder with short hair!
The Nation-Guarding Martial Saint—
Huo Zhenshan!
He had originally disguised himself and come to the dark web on behalf of the military to purchase this demon core, intending to use it to nurture the next generation of supreme prodigies.
He had never expected to stumble into the Abyssal Order’s astonishing killing trap!
“Huo Zhenshan?!”
The leading Red-robed Archbishop recognized the old man’s face. He was stunned for a moment before letting out a cruel, savage laugh.
“Hahaha!”
“What an unexpected bonus!”
“The Nation-Guarding Martial Saint of Great Xia is actually here too!”
“Today, we’ll use your ten billion in qi and blood as an offering for the descent of the Demon Saint Lord!”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The three Red-robed Cardinals instantly transformed into three crimson streams of light.
Taking up a triangular formation, they completely surrounded Huo Zhenshan!
“Nine Nether Heaven Lock!!”
Accompanied by the roar of the Red-robed Cardinals, the formation’s power erupted into action.
Countless blood-red chains reached out from the void, wrapping tightly around Huo Zhenshan’s limbs and entire body!
The circulation of Huo Zhenshan’s qi and blood instantly became thirty percent slower!
“Damn it!”
Huo Zhenshan glared furiously.
Although he was a veteran Martial Saint with astonishing combat prowess,
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
