Out of the Pass, Half-Step Golden Core

The Second Ring Road of the Capital, the Shen family courtyard.

The underground secret chamber in the backyard.

A massive, bulletproof armored door slammed shut, completely cutting off all sound from the outside world.

On the white jade bed in the center of the chamber.

Shen Fei sat cross-legged.

His face was still ashen without a trace of color, but his breathing was much steadier than when he was in the western suburbs.

Ye Qingyu's light-element ability essence acted like a soft white film, temporarily sealing the terrifying gap in his soul torn open by the Soul-Slaying Talisman.

However, this was only a temporary fix, not a cure.

The remnants of that ancient law still clung to him like a festering wound, extremely slowly eroding his life force deep within his sea of consciousness.

If it wasn't completely eradicated and his soul's defenses rebuilt.

He would sooner or later turn into a mindless husk.

"Young Master."

Ling Shuang stood three paces away from the jade bed.

Her usually frosty face now bore an extremely rare look of solemnity.

"Shen Qiuhan is on standby upstairs. All liquid assets and dark web channels of the Shen Group have been activated."

Ling Shuang reported.

"As long as you give the word, what do we need? The world's top neuroscientists? Or should we place a bounty on the black market for newly awakened healing-type ability users?"

Shen Fei slowly opened his eyes.

Although those pitch-black eyes revealed his weakness, the profound, extreme coldness within them still made people afraid to look directly at him.

"None of that will work."

Shen Fei's voice was incredibly hoarse.

"This is a high-dimensional law trauma. Mortal medicine and low-level abilities cannot repair it."

He looked at the glaring red countdown on the system panel.

[Soul Integrity: 41 percent (Temporarily Stable).]

"Bring Lu Bai here."

Shen Fei issued the order directly.

Ling Shuang paused for a moment.

Lu Bai?

That nouveau riche who was locked on the second underground level, grinding out money for the Shen family like a mad machine every day?

The young master was so heavily injured; instead of looking for a doctor, why was he looking for a cash machine?

But Ling Shuang didn't ask a single question.

"Yes."

She turned and walked out of the secret chamber.

Five minutes later.

The door to the secret chamber opened again.

Two burly shadow guards in black clothes walked in, dragging an extremely haggard young man with deep-sunken eyes.

Lu Bai.

Having been locked in the basement and ruthlessly exploited for a week, his original arrogant attitude of a nouveau riche had long been ground away to nothing. His current state was like a sweatshop laborer who had worked non-stop for half a month without closing his eyes.

He was roughly thrown onto the cold floor of the secret chamber by the shadow guards.

"Young Master... Young Master Shen..."

The moment Lu Bai saw Shen Fei sitting cross-legged on the jade bed, he instinctively shivered.

The Life and Death Talisman on his neck seemed to sense its master's aura and began to grow faintly hot, scaring him so much that he immediately fell to his knees and prostrated on the ground, not even daring to lift his head.

Even though he saw the black blood remaining on Shen Fei's face, he dared not harbor the slightest thought of resistance. In his heart, this man was already a shadow far more terrifying than the Grim Reaper.

Shen Fei looked down at him from above.

"The workload is going to double."

Shen Fei's voice echoed in the spacious secret chamber, carrying an unquestionable dominance.

"I need to see, within three days."

"Fifty billion in cash flow entering my private offshore account."

Fifty billion!

Three days!

Lu Bai abruptly raised his head, his eyes wide as saucers, his voice trembling.

"Young Master Shen... this... this is impossible!"

"The system's cashback multiplier is random... sometimes ten times, sometimes fifty times... Fifty billion in three days, even if I don't sleep and tap until my fingers break, I still won't be able to tap enough!"

Lu Bai was truly on the verge of a breakdown.

Facing those top-tier young models every day, not only did he have zero desire, but he even felt like throwing up just looking at a woman. His only thought right now was to quickly finish his daily quota and then get a good night's sleep.

"Whether you can finish it or not is your problem."

Shen Fei looked at him, his eyes devoid of any warmth.

"If you don't finish."

"Your experience with the Life and Death Talisman will increase by two hours every day."

As soon as these words came out.

Lu Bai's entire body trembled violently, shaking like a leaf.

The agony of the Life and Death Talisman acting up—like tens of thousands of ants biting at his heart, making him beg for life but unable to live, and beg for death but unable to die—was something he never wanted to experience a second time in his life.

Compared to that kind of pain, what was breaking his fingers? What was not sleeping?!

"I'll farm... I'll definitely farm enough! Fifty billion in three days! I promise, not a single cent will be missing!"

Lu Bai kowtowed frantically.

He was now like a mule being viciously whipped, his potential being ruthlessly squeezed to its absolute limit.

"Take him down. Twenty-four-hour surveillance. Send the accounts to Shen Qiuhan at all times."

Shen Fei waved his hand.

The hidden guards grabbed Lu Bai and dragged him out of the secret room like a dead dog.

The secret room plunged into a deathly silence once again.

Shen Fei closed his eyes.

He needed to get his hands on this fifty billion in cash in the shortest time possible.

Because.

[System Shop Search Results:]

[Top-Tier Soul Replenishing Pill: Sourced from a high-dimensional cultivation plane. Can bring the dead back to life, restore flesh to bare bones, and reconstruct the three immortal souls and seven mortal forms.]

[Exchange Condition: 18,000 Villain Points.]

[Or equivalent cash alternative: Mortal Realm Currency 50,000,000,000.00 Yuan (Fifty Billion).]

This was the only item provided by the system that could completely heal the trauma caused by the Soul Severing Talisman and allow him to achieve a class leap.

The points he had accumulated from killing Chu Ye and crushing Lin Yu had been almost entirely consumed when he used the Heavenly Demon Blood Escape in the western suburbs.

Now, he could only rely on throwing money at the problem.

This was exactly why a villain had to have their own massive faction and capital pool, capable of crushing everything in their path.

The Children of Destiny could rely on jumping off cliffs to find spirit herbs, or rely on old grandpas to pass down their cultivation.

But Shen Fei.

He chose to directly capture the Child of Destiny who possessed the Divine Tycoon System and treat him as a perpetual motion machine, farming money to buy cheats for himself.

Three days.

For Shen Fei, it was extremely long.

He had to divert most of his energy to fight against the intermittent tearing sensation deep within his soul.

As for the outside world.

Over these three days, the entire capital, and even the entire underground world of Great Xia, felt the oppressive weight brought by the terrifying war machine of the Shen family operating at full capacity.

Shen Qiuhan personally presided over the command center.

Massive amounts of black money were frantically laundered through dark web channels across dozens of countries.

In the basement, the index fingers on both of Lu Bai's hands had developed blood blisters from tapping, and he had smashed three keyboards. The top-tier models beside him were swapped out batch after batch.

Finally.

At two o'clock in the morning, late into the night of the third day.

"Buzz."

The screen of the phone Shen Fei had placed beside the jade couch lit up.

A text message from the highest encrypted channel of the Swiss Bank.

[Dear VIP customer, your account ending in 8888 has successfully received a transfer of 50,000,000,000.00 Yuan.]

The funds were in place.

Shen Fei looked at that text message.

"System. Redeem a top-tier Soul-Mending Pill."

[Ding!]

[Deducting 50 billion yuan in cash assets.]

[Redemption successful!]

Accompanied by the system's cold prompt tone.

Three incredibly ancient small jade bottles, exuding a rich and exotic fragrance, appeared out of thin air in the space right in front of Shen Fei.

Shen Fei did not hesitate at all.

He popped the corks and swallowed the three longan-sized pills, which were glowing with a purple-gold halo, all in one gulp!

As the pills entered his stomach.

There was no burning sensation typical of martial arts pills dissolving.

Instead, a bizarrely cool energy, seemingly capable of reaching the very depths of his soul, exploded within his body instantly!

"Boom!"

In Shen Fei's sea of consciousness, it was as if a tsunami had been set off.

The purple-gold energy acted like the most precise sutures, rushing ruthlessly into the depths of his damaged soul.

It forcefully pulled together and stitched up the tear left by the Soul-Severing Talisman!

"Ugh!"

Shen Fei's muscles instantly tensed up.

This process of reconstructing the soul was ten times more painful than having it torn apart.

But he didn't make a single sound.

He just clenched his jaw tightly, letting his sweat soak through his black shirt.

[Detected high-dimensional immortal cultivation law remnants enveloped by the medicinal power of the Soul-Mending Pill.]

[The core devouring mechanism of the Heaven-Devouring Demon Art has been triggered!]

At the exact moment the gap in his soul was stitched up.

The suppressed dark-gold Heavenly Demon True Qi in Shen Fei's body reacted like a shark smelling blood.

It madly surged into his sea of consciousness.

And directly swallowed the enveloped remnant of the "Soul-Severing" law in one bite!

"Destruction before creation."

Shen Fei suddenly opened his eyes.

From those pitch-black eyes, two terrifying rays of dark-gold divine light suddenly shot out!

The Heavenly Demon True Qi inside him began to circulate frantically in an incredibly grandiose manner he had never experienced before.

It no longer flowed along the surface of his meridians like a river.

Instead, as if it had found an entrance to a deeper dimension, it began to collapse inward, compress, and undergo a qualitative change!

The True Qi of a Peak Grandmaster.

After devouring the remnants of the immortal cultivation law, it finally ushered in a cross-dimensional transformation.

The dark-gold True Qi became increasingly thick, its color shifting from dark gold to a profoundly deep pure black.

Its density increased tenfold.

Its purity increased a hundredfold.

This power had completely transcended the realm of mundane martial arts.

It carried an extremely faint, yet very real, "Power of Law."

The system's dense barrage of notifications frantically flooded his mind:

[Heaven-Devouring Demon Art has successfully digested the high-dimensional law traces!]

[The cultivation technique has completed its self-evolution!]

[Host's soul defense line has been completely reconstructed! Physical and soul dual absolute defense system activated!]

[All martial arts True Qi in the body has been transformed into—Heavenly Demon Spiritual Power!]

[Congratulations, Host!]

[Current realm breakthrough: Peak Foundation Establishment (Half-step Golden Core)!]

Boom!

As the final notification faded.

An incredibly terrifying pressure, seemingly capable of distorting space itself, erupted explosively from Shen Fei's body!

The one-meter-thick bulletproof armored walls of the secret room actually let out a teeth-grinding creak under the impact of this pressure.

The foundations of the entire Shen family courtyard slightly trembled along with it.

Shen Fei sat on the jade bed.

He slowly raised his right hand.

At his fingertips.

A cluster of pure black spiritual power was beating incredibly quietly.

Without sound, without heat.

But just a single glance at it was enough to instill an extreme sense of terror, as if one's very soul were being sucked away.

Heavenly Demon spiritual energy.

It could devour all non-physical energy.

Shen Fei stood up.

By now, he had completely shed the weakness that had plagued him three days ago.

The martial arts ceiling of the peak Grandmaster realm had been forcibly shattered. Now, he stood at the true apex of the mortal realm—a Half-Step Golden Core.

Moreover, he was a Half-Step Golden Core who had cultivated a taboo method like the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art.

He picked up the black jacket draped nearby and slipped it on.

He straightened his cuffs.

"Cultivators."

Shen Fei raised his head. His gaze seemed to pierce right through the heavy ceiling of the secret chamber, looking directly toward the Taiyi Daoist Sect in the western suburbs.

An incredibly calm voice echoed within the room.

"Your time to die has come."