Chapter 134: First Clash! “Market Competitors” from a Top-Tier Power!

Chu Feng abandoned the “official route” trampled out by countless cultivators and resolutely chose the unknown direction guided by the star map.

This path had no road.

Or rather, the footprints left by predecessors had long been buried beneath surging soul mist and the dust of time.

“President, are you sure it’s this way?”

Wu Hao pushed up the bridge of his nose, his expression somewhat grave,

“There are no markings for this route on the map at all. The risk assessment level jumps straight to S+.”

“Risk and opportunity are two sides of the same coin.”

Chu Feng walked at the very front, his steps calm and unhurried,

“The roads most people walk on— the scenery has long been seen to death, and the profits have long been scraped clean.”

“What our Ascension Group needs to do is open up new航线, define new rules!”

Zhao Wuji scribbled furiously in his little notebook at the side, muttering nonstop:

“Golden quote! Chairman’s golden quote! Roads with many people have no profits… vision, this is vision!”

He looked at Chu Feng’s back, the fanaticism in his eyes deepening by several degrees.

Only Zhang Daniu still honestly carried his door-plank giant axe, vigilantly scanning the surroundings. To him, all that talk about routes and rules was empty—protecting the President’s safety was his one and only KPI.

And at the tail of the team, “Kong,” whose eyes had been as still as an ancient well, showed sustained emotional fluctuations for the first time.

He stared tightly at Chu Feng’s back, and at the star map in his hand that emitted a faint glow. Deep in his gaze was shock he could not hide, along with a trace of greed he himself had yet to notice.

This star map was absolutely no ordinary object!

Just as everyone harbored their own thoughts and went several more li deeper, several brilliant points of light suddenly lit up within the soul mist ahead.

Those lights grew brighter and brighter, dispersing the surrounding darkness. Immediately after, a group of figures appeared within Chu Feng’s line of sight.

Compared with Chu Feng’s “startup team” that looked like a ramshackle troupe, the other side’s presentation could only be described as luxurious.

At the front stood a woman, clad in a magnificent palace gown embroidered with golden phoenixes. Her figure was graceful, her looks peerlessly beautiful, yet on that pretty face hung an aloof coldness and arrogance that kept others at arm’s length.

Her cultivation was shockingly at the peak of the Golden Core!

At her side clustered seven or eight cultivators also dressed extraordinarily. Each had steady auras and excellent equipment— even the weakest was at mid Golden Core.

And the most eye-catching presence was behind the woman: an old man standing silently like a shadow.

The old man wore a simple gray robe, his eyes slightly closed as if in meditation. Yet an occasional trace of aura leaking from him made Zhang Daniu and Zhao Wuji feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar, their breathing turning difficult.

Nascent Soul stage!

And absolutely not the kind that had just stepped into Nascent Soul like True Lord Lingxiao!

“Oh? We’ve run into ‘market competitors.’”

Not only was Chu Feng not nervous, he stopped with interest and spoke softly to Wu Hao beside him,

“Look at that gear, look at that team configuration—proper ‘top-tier institution.’”

The other side had clearly noticed them as well. The peerless woman at the lead frowned slightly, a trace of undisguised disgust and contempt flashing through her eyes, as if she had seen a few annoying ants.

“Scram.”

A single word, cold as ice, slipped from her lips.

No extra nonsense—only the most direct and arrogant expulsion.

The Nascent Soul old man behind her slowly opened his eyes.

“Boom!”

A terrifying pressure, like an invisible mountain, slammed down toward Chu Feng’s four people!

Zhang Daniu roared, his qi and blood surging within. He nailed his legs into the ground, muscles bulging, veins popping, using all his strength to resist the pressure, his face flushing red.

Zhao Wuji went “plop,” nearly kneeling on the spot. His Golden Core cultivation was as fragile as paper before this pressure.

He hurriedly circulated his technique, barely stabilizing his body, all the fat on him trembling.

Even “Kong,” who had been like a wooden statue all along, swayed slightly, a trace of solemnity flashing through his eyes.

Only Chu Feng remained standing in place, smiling calmly, as if the terrifying pressure that could crush a Golden Core cultivator’s Dao heart were merely a spring breeze brushing his face.

The spiritual power within him circulated at high speed through the meridians of late Foundation Establishment, silently dissolving that pressure into nothingness.

“This Daoist friend, there’s no need to have such a hot temper.”

Chu Feng met the Nascent Soul elder’s scrutinizing gaze and smiled, neither humble nor overbearing,

“According to Chapter One, Article Three of the Cultivation World Commercial Basic Law, in unclaimed lands, the rules are ‘first come, first served’ and ‘ability first.’”

“Our team arrived first. If you want to ‘clear the field,’ it’s not impossible.”

Chu Feng changed his tone, his smile growing even brighter,

“But you’ll need to pay our team the corresponding ‘delay compensation,’ ‘mental damages,’ and ‘project delay risk funds.’”

As he spoke, he shot Wu Hao a look.

Wu Hao immediately understood. He took out a jade slip from his storage pouch and respectfully presented it, wearing his trademark professional fake smile:

“Senior, Miss, this is the bill drafted by our group’s Legal Affairs Department. The prices are clearly marked, fair and honest. Please review it.”

In an instant, the air seemed to freeze.

The peerless woman named Feng Zhiruo showed a crack in her icy expression. As if she had heard an enormous joke, she first froze, then the corners of her mouth curled into a mocking arc:

“Madman.”

The Golden Core cultivators behind her burst out laughing.

“Hahaha, did I hear wrong? These bumpkins are actually asking our Feng Family for money?”

“Delay compensation? Mental damages? Why don’t they ask for meal subsidies and travel allowances too?”

“Is his brain broken? A mere Foundation Establishment dares to spout nonsense in front of Elder Feng?”

The Feng Family!

Upon hearing this name, Zhao Wuji’s pupils shrank sharply, the fat on his face trembling three times over in fright.

He hurriedly transmitted his voice to Chu Feng:

“President, this is bad! It’s the Feng Family! A top-tier power in the mortal realm, one of the Four Great Families!”

“It’s said their foundation is extremely deep, with a Deity Transformation Ancestor overseeing them. We can’t afford to provoke them, President!”

Chu Feng seemed not to hear at all, still smiling as he looked at Feng Zhiruo:

“Miss, madmen and geniuses are often separated by only a thin line.”

“With old-era perspectives, you can’t understand the business logic of the new era.”

“Your ‘strong-arm field-clearing’ model is a typical ‘heavy-asset’ operation—high cost, high risk, and prone to public opinion crises. It’s long outdated.”

“And the ‘paid field-clearing’ model we propose is a ‘light-asset’ operation, transforming potential violent conflict into healthy commercial transactions. This is the advanced concept that fits future development trends!”

Infuriated by Chu Feng’s stream of twisted logic, Feng Zhiruo instead laughed. She shook her head and looked at the Nascent Soul elder beside her, saying indifferently:

“Uncle Feng, don’t waste time with them. Crush them.”

“Yes, Miss.”

The Nascent Soul elder called “Uncle Feng” nodded, killing intent flashing in his eyes.

He had already lost his patience. Mere ants dared to play word games in front of him—simply courting death.

He slowly raised his hand. A power capable of tearing space apart began to gather in his palm.

Zhao Wuji was scared out of his wits, and Zhang Daniu had already prepared for a fight to the death.

Just at this moment of drawn swords, when a great battle was about to erupt—

“Roar—!!!”

A terrifying roar, as if from the depths of the Nine Netherworlds, suddenly came from deeper within the Ten Thousand Souls Cavern!

The entire Ten Thousand Souls Cavern shook violently in response!

The ground beneath their feet cracked, the rock walls overhead collapsed. Countless powerful auras that had slept for a hundred years awakened with a thunderous crash at this very moment!

Pairs of scarlet, violent eyes filled with endless resentment abruptly lit up within the dark soul mist!

The centennial dormancy period of the Ten Thousand Souls Cavern had ended!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep