181: Chapter 181 Emperor's VIP Privileges! Pure financial bullying, the system retaliates with a money-scattering curse!
Central Star Sea, Myriad Phenomenon Star Hub, in front of the Starry Sky Pavilion gates.
Dead silence.
Facing that massive fortune of 500 billion, purely piled up from top-grade spirit crystals, the previously noisy white jade steps fell into a silence so profound that even the sound of breathing vanished.
Those high-and-mighty Central Star Sea powerbrokers, riding in exotic beast flying carriages, were now all like ducks with their necks choked, staring with wide eyes at the young man in white.
In the Central Star Sea, a high Realm is certainly respected, but if someone is not only unfathomably powerful but also carries a mountain of gold capable of crushing others to death, then they are the true boss.
"Click, clack." A series of hurried yet elegant high-heeled footsteps echoed from inside the Starry Sky Pavilion.
"Distinguished guest, welcome. The Starry Sky Pavilion failed to welcome you properly, please forgive us!"
Accompanied by a refreshing, high-dimensional spiritual fragrance, an exceptionally beautiful woman dressed in a purple-gold cheongsam, whose cultivation had reached the Early Stage Void Return Star Domain Realm, hurried out with a dozen stewards.
She didn't even glance at the two guards slumped on the ground, but instead bowed gracefully to Lin Que without hesitation, respectfully presenting with both hands a black gold jade plaque carved with a starry totem.
"I am Ya Fei, the Chief Steward of the Starry Sky Pavilion. This is our pavilion's highest-level 'Emperor VIP' token. Young Master, please move to the top-floor Heaven Number One Private Room!"
The speed of this Face-change, this respectful posture, perfectly showcased the class Law of "Capital Supremacy" in the Central Star Sea.
Lin Que took the black gold jade plaque casually, slightly restraining the terrifying physical density of 130 million jin at his fingertips, for fear of accidentally crushing this symbol of status into powder.
Without wasting words, he led Su Qingyu and the others, under Ya Fei's extremely respectful guidance, and strode into this den of gold.
He left behind the group of powerbrokers outside, who swallowed their saliva while watching his back, all speculating which hidden Immortal Ancient Sect this spendthrift Saint had run out from.
Starry Sky Pavilion, top floor, Heaven Number One Private Room.
Upon entering the room, Chen Family Old Ancestor, Zhao Xiao, and the others were completely stunned by the luxury before their eyes.
The floor here was paved with "Nine Heavens Breathing Soil" capable of nourishing the Divine Soul, the lighting used miniature stars sealed by Formations, and even the chairs were carved from 100,000-year-old Taiyi Divine Wood.
"Young Master, this is our pavilion's special supply of 'Dao Enlightenment Spirit Tea', please enjoy. The auction will begin in half an incense stick of time."
Ya Fei personally poured a cup of clear tea, which radiated lingering Dao rhymes, for Lin Que, and then respectfully exited the room.
Lin Que picked up the teacup and took a light sip.
"Boom!" As soon as the tea entered his throat, it turned into an extremely pure strand of Heavenly Dao Law, rushing straight to the Dantian.
Lin Que closed his eyes, and the "Blood Scripture" within his body was like a greedy furnace, instantly swallowing this strand of Dao Enlightenment Law.
Within his 500,000-mile starry sky inner heaven and earth, the branches and leaves of the World Tree swayed gently, emitting a vibrant vitality.
"Good tea." Lin Que exhaled a breath of turbid air.
He felt that his [Peak Late Stage Void Returning Star Domain Realm] Realm barrier, nourished by this mouthful of Dao Enlightenment Tea, had loosened a bit more. He was only a thin layer of paper away from the true Dao Integration Realm.
He set down the teacup.
"Crack—" A faint, crisp sound rang out.
The Taiyi Divine Wood tabletop, which could withstand a full-strength strike from a Void Return expert, was forced into a half-inch deep dent by the teacup Lin Que had casually set down, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading around it.
"Master, your strength..." Su Qingyu's eyelids twitched.
"It's fine, I just broke through to 130 million jin, my Physical Body's physical density is too high, and the wood in this Central Star Sea is still not strong enough." Lin Que leaned back in his chair, unconcerned.
His body now was a walking Dao-Grade humanoid weapon; ordinary Magic Treasures and Materials were more fragile than tofu in front of him.
Therefore, he had to secure that item today.
"Clang—" A crisp bell chime resounded throughout the entire Starry Sky Pavilion. The auction had officially begun.
Although the early auction items were all rare treasures seldom seen in the outside world, Lin Que didn't even lift an eyelid.
It wasn't until an hour later that the Formation on the auction stage slowly opened, and an ancient, vast, and heavy aura, so heavy it caused the space of the entire auction house to slightly distort, began to permeate.
The auctioneer pointed to the grayish, shapeless lump of metal on the stage that looked like a ball of chaotic mud, and introduced it loudly: "Everyone! The third to last grand finale treasure of this auction—[Primordial Weapon Embryo]!"
"This item is the original metal conceived at the center of Chaos at the beginning of the Universe's Big Bang! It has no attributes and does not fear any True Fire smelting. The only forging method is to rely on terrifyingly pure physical strength to hammer it and make it acknowledge its master!"
"Once forged, it becomes a top-tier Life-Bound Divine Weapon, capable of bearing all the Laws of a Dao Integration Realm expert!"
"Starting bid, 10 billion star sea coins! Each increment must be no less than 1 billion!"
Primordial Weapon Embryo!
In the private room, Lin Que's deep, heterochromatic eyes suddenly opened, and a flash of dark golden divine light flickered in the depths of his eyes.
This thing was simply tailor-made for him!
As long as he got his hands on it, combined with his Peak monstrous strength of 130 million jin, he could absolutely forge the number one weapon in the Star Sea!
"20 billion." Before the first-floor hall below could start bidding, a lazy voice came directly from Heaven Number Three Private Room. The bid was doubled instantly!
"It's Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect, the Chief Saint of the Central Star Sea's [Eternal Evergreen Sect]!"
"Hiss... He is a top-tier Prodigy at the Half-Step Dao Integration Realm, and I heard he has innate divine strength. It seems he is determined to win this Primordial Weapon Embryo."
The Loose Cultivators in the hall immediately fell silent; who would dare compete with the heir of such a top-tier financial conglomerate?
Inside Heaven Number Three Private Room, Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect swirled the red wine glass in his hand, a cold, confident smile hanging on the corner of his mouth.
However, his cold smile didn't even last three seconds.
"50 billion." An extremely calm, even slightly lazy voice came from Heaven Number One Private Room (Lin Que's room).
The whole venue was in an uproar!
Raising the bid by 30 billion at once?! Was he treating star sea coins like plain water?
Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect's Face darkened, and a fierce look flashed in his eyes.
He slammed the table: "Friend in Heaven Number One, I am Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect of the Eternal Evergreen Sect. This Primordial Weapon Embryo is crucial to me, so please give me some Face. 60 billion!"
Using status to pressure others was the most common trick of the Central Star Sea powerbrokers. But Lin Que was the least susceptible to this.
"Give you Face? What are you, that you deserve for me to give you Face?"
Lin Que leaned back in the Taiyi Divine Wood chair, picked up the cup of Dao Enlightenment Tea, his tone calm without a ripple.
But his next bid was like a bombshell, exploding directly throughout the entire Starry Sky Pavilion: "100 billion."
Dead silence!
The massive auction house instantly became so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.
100 billion in liquid funds to buy a weapon embryo?! This wasn't an auction; this was pure financial bullying! It was using money to slap that Saint across the Face!
Inside Heaven Number Three Private Room, Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect's Face instantly turned the color of pig liver.
"You're courting death!!"
As a dignified top-tier Saint, he was actually unable to speak because he was smashed by money at an auction. He had only brought 80 billion in liquid funds; he couldn't match this price at all!
"Good! A very good Heaven Number One!"
Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect laughed out of extreme anger, staring viciously at the direction of Lin Que's room, and pulled a skull copper coin engraved with black, eerie runes from his bosom.
"Since you like spending money so much, then this Saint will let you spend enough today!"
"Young Lord, no! This is the forbidden curse [Wealth-Dispelling Death Curse]!" The Guardian Elder beside him was horrified.
"Shut up! I want him dead!" Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect crushed the skull copper coin without hesitation.
This was an extremely vicious causal curse originating from the high-dimensional Universe. As long as it was locked onto the bidder through a Formation, the more money the other party spent, the more terrifying the "Heavenly Dao Backlash" they would suffer.
It would not only damage their Luck and bring bad fortune, but eventually, their Dao foundation would collapse, and they would die from Qi Deviation!
"Hum!" An invisible, colorless, causal poison mist filled with the aura of decay and ruin spread silently along the auction house's spiritual energy network towards Lin Que's private room.
Inside Heaven Number One Private Room.
Lin Que was just about to have Su Qingyu go pay and collect the goods.
Suddenly, the World Tree within his 500,000-mile starry sky inner heaven and earth trembled extremely keenly.
Lin Que's movements paused slightly. He looked down at the back of his hand, where an eerie, faintly black causal line had appeared at some point.
A vicious aura attempting to extinguish his Luck and even wanting to ignite his Dao foundation was climbing up along his Meridians.
"Causal curse? Wealth-Dispelling Death?" After a slight perception, Lin Que understood the viciousness of this thing.
But not only was he not panicked, he shook his head with some helplessness.
"These Geniuses of the Central Star Sea like to play dirty when they can't win, and their tricks are so unoriginal."
Lin Que snapped his fingers very crisply in his mind.
"System."
"Someone thinks I have too much money and wants to make me go bankrupt and die suddenly."
"The usual rules."
"Since he is so warm-hearted, I will return this 'Wealth-Dispelling Death, Dao foundation collapse' side effect to him exactly as it is."
Lin Que turned his head, his heterochromatic eyes seemingly piercing through the walls of the private room, locking onto Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect next door.
"Pack it up and rebound it for me!"
"Let him experience properly what it means to truly go bankrupt and die on the spot!"
[Ding! side effect transfer system activated!]
[Detected high-dimensional causal DeBuff: Wealth-Dispelling Death Curse (Luck deprivation, bad Luck haunting, Dao foundation self-ignition).]
[Locked transfer target: Eternal Evergreen Sect Saint, Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect!]
[Logic reconstruction complete! Ignoring space barriers! Causal line perfectly reversed!]
[Rebound mode, bombing start!!]
Hum————!!!
Under the unreasonable high-dimensional dimensionality-reduction strike of the System.
The black causal line on the back of Lin Que's hand instantly vanished without a trace.
And inside Heaven Number Three Private Room next door.
"Hahaha! The curse took effect! That brat will die soon because of his Dao foundation collapsing, and then his wealth and the weapon embryo will be mine... Uh, ahhhhh!!!"
Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect was laughing crazily, but his voice suddenly turned into an extremely miserable scream!
Without any warning!
The dozen top-grade storage rings on his fingers suddenly "bang, bang, bang" exploded in succession!
The 80 billion star sea coin spirit crystals stored inside turned into powder in an instant, drifting away through the ventilation duct, leaving nothing behind!
Not only that!
Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect discovered with extreme terror that a black, nameless karmic fire had ignited without reason within his Half-Step Dao Integration Realm Dao foundation!
"No!! My money!! My Dao foundation!! Why did this backlash fall on my own head?!!"
Ye Chen, Sacred Son of the Eternal Evergreen Sect rolled on the floor in pain inside the private room.
His Luck was instantly drained, and bad Luck loomed over him.
Just as he tried to crawl up to call for help, the Taiyi Divine Wood chandelier at the top of the room fell off extremely weirdly, "clank," and smashed solidly onto his crown!
"Pfft—!"
This arrogant top-tier Saint, under the crazy backlash of the Wealth-Dispelling Curse, didn't even have time to say a complete sentence, and in the horrified gaze of the Guardian Elder, he was smashed by a chandelier, causing his True Essence to reverse, his Dao foundation to self-ignite on the spot, and he turned into a charred corpse.
Bankrupt, plus instant death. The System keeps its word, fair and honest.
And inside Heaven Number One Private Room.
Lin Que leaned back in his chair extremely leisurely, listening to the faint screams and commotion coming from next door.
He picked up the cup of Dao Enlightenment Tea, which was already warm, and drank it in one gulp.
"100 billion."
Lin Que turned to look at the stunned Ya Fei, his tone as calm as if he were buying a cabbage at the vegetable market.
"Go get that Primordial Weapon Embryo and bring it to me."
"The next grand finale..."
Lin Que's deep gaze looked toward the auction stage, a burning passion igniting in the depths of his eyes.
"It's time for the [Primordial Dao Seed] for breaking through to the Dao Integration Realm."