Chapter 171: Welcome to the “Unregulated Market”

The high-frequency hum of the jump abruptly ceased, and the flying vessel fell into absolute silence.

When the scene outside the window came into view, Zhang Daniu and Zhao Wuji, who were leaving the City That Never Sleeps for the first time, both held their breath.

It was an apocalyptic tableau of utter stillness.

Vast continental plates had been torn into fragments by an invisible force, like toys abandoned by the gods, suspended chaotically in the pitch-black void.

The fractured cross-sections were smooth as mirrors, still radiating the final crimson residual heat from deep within the planet’s core.

Countless multicolored spatial rifts filled every corner of their vision, savagely tearing apart the canvas of space itself.

From time to time, meteors the size of mountain ranges were silently swallowed by one rift, only to be violently spewed out from another the very next second, staging one silent yet violent chain explosion after another within the absolute vacuum.

This was the edge of the Mortal Realm, the end of all laws and order—

the Gui Xu Rift.

“Good heavens…”

Zhang Daniu pressed his face tightly against the porthole, his ox-like eyes wide open.

“This place is way too ‘wild,’ isn’t it? There’s not even a spot to put your foot down.”

“Wild? It’s far more than that!”

Zhao Wuji’s eyes erupted with an unusual light. He excitedly flipped open his small notebook, his pen flying across the pages in frantic strokes.

“No rules! No order! Full of uncertainty!”

He suddenly raised his head to look at Chu Feng, his voice trembling slightly with excitement.

“President! This… this is practically a perfect ‘unregulated offshore market’!”

“Isn’t this the best practical ground for the ‘blue ocean strategy’ you’re always talking about?”

“It’s filled with infinite possibilities!”

Chu Feng looked at him with approval.

A teachable child.

“Possibilities also mean downfall.”

Murong Xue’s cool voice rang out, cutting off Zhao Wuji’s fervor.

The jade bracelet on her wrist flashed faintly as a light screen formed of spiritual power projected onto the porthole. Cold streams of data flowed downward, enlarging a distant region shrouded in gray mist.

“According to the group database, in the outer regions of the Gui Xu Rift, over the past three hundred years, the survival rate of cultivators who entered this place has been below three ten-thousandths.”

“Among them, more than ninety percent of the fall incidents occurred in that area known as the ‘Abyss of Oblivion.’”

Feng Zhiruo’s expression grew extremely solemn. Following the direction Murong Xue indicated, her breathing stalled slightly.

“She’s right. In our Feng Family’s ancient records, it’s called the ‘Graveyard of Laws.’”

“Within the abyss, spiritual energy and demonic energy are intermingled, and countless resentful spirits and void behemoths born from spatial turbulence roam there.”

She took a deep breath and looked at everyone.

“Our destination this time, that ‘shelter,’ lies somewhere in a corner of this abyss.”

“Stay sharp. From this moment on, anything could happen.”

Guided by Feng Zhiruo, the invisible flying vessel moved like a silent ghost, cautiously entering the gray mist.

The moment it entered, a bone-chilling cold capable of freezing the soul instantly enveloped everyone.

On the flying vessel’s spiritual energy shield, overburdened “sizzling” sounds began to ring out. From time to time, twisted, silently screaming faces surfaced on the shield’s surface, only to be purified by the shield’s spiritual light moments later.

“President, the ‘market environment’ here is a bit harsh.”

Zhao Wuji smacked his lips as he looked at the howling, roaring resentful spirits outside.

“‘User reputation’ is extremely poor, and the ‘negative market feedback’ index is off the charts. It seriously affects subsequent ‘brand value’ construction!”

“‘Barrier,’ Secretary Zhao. This is called an ‘industry entry barrier.’”

Chu Feng remained remarkably calm as he corrected him.

“The higher the barrier, the deeper the ‘moat.’”

“For a ‘startup team’ like ours that holds ‘core technology,’ this is a good thing. It effectively prevents us from falling into the red ocean of ‘homogeneous competition.’”

The flying vessel traveled through the fog for about an hour when Feng Zhiruo suddenly pointed downward at a massive, slowly rotating vortex-like spatial rift and said,

“That’s it!”

Chu Feng took out the metal disc. Sure enough, the light on the disc grew increasingly brilliant and even emitted a faint hum, clearly pointing toward the center of the vortex.

“It seems our ‘server room’ is inside this ‘garbage recycling station.’”

Chu Feng put away the flying vessel and said to everyone,

“Let’s go. Prepare to enter the ‘sinking market’ and conduct on-site inspection!”

Five figures transformed into five streaks of light. Without the slightest hesitation, they plunged straight into the enormous spatial vortex.

The very next second after their figures vanished—

In the nearby void, space suddenly twisted violently. A luxurious flying vessel forged entirely from purple lightning-patterned crystal stones tore through space and appeared out of thin air.

At the prow of the vessel, Lei Qianjue and Murong Tian stood side by side.

Lei Qianjue’s face was still pale, but the venomous resentment in his eyes was a hundred times stronger than before.

In his hand, he held a compass-shaped magical treasure. The pointer on the compass trembled slightly, precisely indicating the vortex where Chu Feng and the others had disappeared.

“The Heaven-Mechanism Soul-Locking Compass… it truly didn’t disappoint me.”

Lei Qianjue let out a suppressed, chilling laugh.

“Chu Feng, Chu Feng, do you really think you can escape?”

“This magical treasure doesn’t lock onto your soul at all—it locks onto the skeleton you stole!”

“Back at the auction, it had already tightly bound the aura of that skeleton to you!”

His voice brimmed with pleasure and malice.

“No matter where you flee, even to the ends of the world, you’ll never escape the palm of my hand!”

Murong Tian’s face remained devoid of sorrow or joy. Gazing at the bottomless vortex, he spoke calmly,

“The laws here are chaotic. It’s an excellent place to bury bones.”

The implication was clear—acting here would leave no trace.

“Hahahaha! Exactly!”

Lei Qianjue burst into mad laughter.

“He chose his own grave. That saves us a lot of effort!”

“Go! Follow them!”

Lei Qianjue’s features twisted with extreme hatred, his voice squeezed out between clenched teeth.

“Today, I’ll let him know the consequences of offending my Lei Family!”

“I’ll personally tear off that calm, indifferent mask of his and see whether what’s hidden underneath is the same fear as mine!”

His words fell.

The purple lightning-patterned flying vessel let out a roar, transforming into an ominous bolt of lightning.

And right after that, it plunged headfirst into the abyssal vortex capable of devouring all things!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep