Saint Position Futures! Kunpeng's Dao Heart Shattered, Hong Yun Was Talked into Going Limp!

Outside Zixiao Palace, chaos stretched like an ocean.

Xuanzheng's stall looked like Wall Street had descended upon a primeval forest, the clash in styles utterly absurd.

Just then!

An incomparably cold aura tore through the chaos. Kunpeng, the Demon Master, arrived wrapped in surging Demonic Energy!

At a glance, he spotted the [Xuanji Business Firm] signboard and the harmlessly smiling, muscular Wu clansman behind it. His gaze instantly turned vicious.

"What tricks are the Wu Clan playing now, Xuanzheng? You dare set up a checkpoint here and block the way?"

"Great Dao Opportunities belong to the virtuous, and are obtained by the capable! I disdain such lowly transactions!"

Before his words had even faded, his figure flashed. Moving at extreme speed, he transformed into a dark streak of light and tried to ignore Xuanzheng and force his way straight through the gates of Zixiao Palace!

Yet Xuanzheng did not even lift an eyelid, merely continuing to wipe the Jade Cup on the table.

"Being thickheaded is an illness. It needs treatment."

He murmured softly.

The next moment, the [Karma Scale] silently appeared before him.

Xuanzheng flicked a finger as though plucking the strings of fate, and two invisible currents of energy fell into the left and right pans.

"On the left."

His voice was calm, yet it echoed through this patch of chaos.

"The karma of Fellow Daoist Kunpeng forcibly breaking into the Dao field, being severely injured by the Three Pure Ones who had entered ahead of him, having his Innate Spiritual Treasure seized, suffering damage to his origin, becoming the laughingstock of the prehistoric world, and ultimately missing out on a Saint Position."

Buzz—!

The left pan of the [Karma Scale] crashed to the bottom!

A light of calamity shot into the sky, forming a lifelike scene in midair:

In the scene, Kunpeng was trapped by the Taiji Diagram, battered by the Pangu Banner until feathers flew everywhere, while the Immortal Slaying Sword's qi carved wounds deep enough to expose bone across his body. He looked utterly wretched!

Kunpeng, who had been about to force his way in, abruptly froze in midair!

That scene!

That outcome!

It was so real that even his Dao heart trembled wildly!

"On the right."

Xuanzheng's voice rang out again, carrying a faint sigh of compassion.

"The karma of Fellow Daoist Kunpeng... humbly seeking guidance from me, a warmhearted master of restoration, and purchasing an 'Internal Zixiao Palace Front Ten Rows Open-Standing Ticket.'"

The right pan of the [Karma Scale] remained as steady as a mountain. It even tilted slightly upward, giving off a gentle, peaceful glow.

Only then did Xuanzheng raise his head. An earnest smile hung on that "honest-looking" face.

He projected the scene from the [Karma Scale] across the heavens with his magic power, allowing every great expert who arrived afterward to see it clearly.

"Fellow Daoist, look. Karma does not lie."

"I'm doing this for your own good, for the harmony and stability of the prehistoric world."

"Pfft—!"

Kunpeng felt a surge of blood rush straight to the crown of his head, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.

As the Demon Master, he excelled most at deducing heavenly secrets and avoiding misfortune in pursuit of fortune!

But what kind of deduction was this from Xuanzheng?

He had simply slapped the "answer leading to death" and a "paid walkthrough guide" right in Kunpeng's face and made him choose!

This was even more humiliating than being slapped across the face ten thousand times in public!

Dead silence.

Even the chaotic currents around them seemed to have frozen.

All the great experts who had arrived later held their breath as they watched, chills rising from the depths of their hearts.

After a long while.

Kunpeng squeezed out his words through clenched teeth, one word at a time. His voice was filled with boundless humiliation and killing intent.

"How... much... is the ticket?"

The smile on Xuanzheng's face instantly bloomed like a flower.

He grinned as he put away the [Karma Scale], as though the aggressive man from moments ago had not been him at all.

"One high-grade Innate Spiritual Material. Fair prices for young and old alike, and no credit!"

Kunpeng's claws nearly crushed space itself!

In the end, he still flung out a piece of North Sea Profound Nether Iron that glimmered with dark light. The motion looked as though he were carving flesh from his own body!

After exchanging it for a jade token, he rushed into Zixiao Palace without looking back. His retreating figure was filled with grief, indignation, and desolation.

This scene was like a Sea-Calming Divine Needle, utterly suppressing every great expert who still harbored a trace of luck.

A long line instantly formed before Xuanzheng's stall.

"Me, me, me! I want an 'Outer Hall Remote Listening Ticket'!"

"Give me an 'Aisle Seat Ticket'! I'll pay two mid-grade spiritual materials!"

"Do you have anything with a better view? The price is negotiable!"

Business was booming.

Just then, a hearty laugh rang out. A red cloud drifted over, and it was none other than the prehistoric world's foremost nice guy, Hong Yun.

"Hahaha, Fellow Daoists, you all arrived so early!"

Naturally carefree and exceptionally well-liked, he greeted everyone one by one before cheerfully preparing to head straight into the palace.

"Fellow Daoist Hong Yun, wait."

Xuanzheng's voice drifted over.

Hong Yun paused, then turned back with a smile. "Fellow Daoist Xuanzheng, are you looking to do business with me too? I'm a poor man, hahaha!"

Xuanzheng stood up. The "honest" smile on his face vanished, replaced by an unprecedented gravity and professionalism, like Wall Street's finest financial analyst.

"The business need not be done, but the risk assessment report must be delivered."

He spoke each word distinctly, his voice clearly reaching Hong Yun and Zhenyuanzi beside him.

"According to my calculations, you are fated to seize one of those meditation cushions."

"What?!"

The smile on Hong Yun's face froze, then immediately transformed into wild delight.

He had come precisely for those legendary meditation cushions that supposedly contained tremendous opportunities!

However, Xuanzheng's next words were like a basin of ice water poured over him from head to toe.

"But that meditation cushion is not an opportunity for you. It is a death warrant!"

"It is a 'High-Risk Asset' rated as 'junk'! Its expected return is negative, and its bad-debt rate is as high as 99.9 percent! There is only one outcome from holding it—death and the destruction of both body and soul!"

[Hehehe, nice guys should be buying low-risk financial products. Why play around with high-risk Saint Position Futures? You'll lose everything!]

The words "death and the destruction of body and soul" made Hong Yun's Dao heart shudder. He instinctively calculated with his fingers, only to find the heavenly secrets obscured by chaos. Yet warning signs blared madly in his heart, and a thick blood-red light refused to disperse!

"How... how could this be?" He was completely panicked.

Zhenyuanzi's expression also changed drastically. He hurriedly sent a voice transmission, "Hong Yun, do not listen to his nonsense! These are words that defy heaven and may bring Great Karma!"

Having spotted the perfect moment, Xuanzheng immediately threw out his "asset restructuring plan."

With solemn care, he drew a jade slip from his robes, shimmering with Great Dao Runes. Its title gleamed in golden light—

<Risk Hedging and Premium Asset Exchange Agreement Regarding Fellow Daoist Hong Yun's Future Saint Position Opportunity>!

"Do not panic, Fellow Daoist."

Xuanzheng's voice was filled with convincing professionalism.

"I, Xuanzheng, as a Heavenly Dao Certified 'Chief Risk Control Consultant,' will offer you a win-win solution."

"You will transfer this future 'high-risk meditation cushion asset' to me in advance through the Law of Karma, and I will bear all its risks and deadly tribulations."

"In return, I will exchange it for a 'zero-risk, high-return premium asset package'!"

He produced a jade token that emitted a soft glow, along with a jade slip.

"It includes one Zixiao Palace 'Tranquil Worry-Free VIP Box Ticket,' complete with a shielding formation and complimentary Enlightenment Tea, ensuring no one will disturb you."

"Bonus: Wu Clan internal strategic reference material—<How Nice Guys Survive Past Three Episodes in the Prehistoric World>, deluxe edition."

"And three future 'free early-warning services for fatal crises'!"

Xuanzheng looked at the utterly dumbfounded Hong Yun and summarized with utmost sincerity:

"Simply put, you exchange a future 'death warrant' that is highly likely to cost you your life for a peaceful present and three chances to save your life."

"You'll make a killing on this deal."

This was a transaction of fate!

Hong Yun's mind had already turned into a muddle.

An opportunity... could be transferred as a "junk asset"?

A deadly calamity... could be avoided through "risk hedging"?

This complete overturning of his understanding left his Dao heart on the verge of collapse!

He looked into Xuanzheng's incomparably "innocent" eyes, then felt the increasingly intense blood-red calamity within his heart.

One was an illusory but lethally tempting "Saint Position."

The other was a tangible package that could put his mind at ease and keep him alive.

After a long time.

Hong Yun slowly let out a long breath of turbid air, then gave Xuanzheng an incomparably solemn, deep bow.

"Fellow Daoist's words have enlightened me more than ten thousand years of bitter cultivation!"

"This opportunity that kills people is not worth having! I'll exchange it!"

He drew upon a strand of his own origin and branded his true name upon the Asset Exchange Agreement that shimmered with the Law of Karma.

The agreement took effect and transformed into two streams of light. One entered Xuanzheng's body, while the other protected Hong Yun's entire form.

Xuanzheng nodded in satisfaction.

A "Saint Position Futures" contract that could be sold at a high price was now in hand!

He had also gained another "premium client" and a debt claim of karma that could leverage the future!

Unhurriedly, he packed away the items on his stall.

The actors were basically all in place.

He raised his head and looked toward the tightly shut gates of Zixiao Palace, a playful curve forming at the corner of his lips.

Old Man Hongjun, your home ground, your script.

Now I, the "investor" and Director General, was going to "optimize" it for you!