The Dark Net
Time is like fine sand in a sea of stars; the more you try to hold on tighter, the more clearly you can feel how quickly it slips through your fingers.
A thousand years is a vast expanse of time for mortals, but for Immortal God, it is but a fleeting moment.
Deep within the Jinlan Universe Kingdom and the Golden Mist Secret Realm.
King Jiantuo's divine sense sank into the Origin Land of the Universe, drawing upon the pure power of the origin to nourish his damaged divine body.
The sudden assassination attempt a thousand years ago still haunts this King-Rank Immortal. The overwhelming power that attacked him clearly reached the level of Venerable, yet it did not take his life, but only intended to severely injure his spirit and put him into a deep slumber.
After that, he hurriedly moved to the secret realm of his Venerable Jinlan, and never dared to set foot in the outside world again.
This matter naturally alarmed Venerable Jinlan.
The King-Rank Immortal, the face and backbone of the Universe Country, was assassinated in the heart of Human Race. This was no small matter and demanded an explanation. The Venerable had personally investigated for months, yet found nothing, and was filled with doubt: given the Venerable Level's combat power, silencing him would have been easy; why then did they only aim to knock the King Jiantuo unconscious?
Could it be that this disciple has made enemies outside and offended some powerful figure within the Human Race?
Venerable Jinlan summoned King Jiantuo for questioning, but King Jiantuo looked completely bewildered. Since breaking through to the King Rank realm, he had been in seclusion, rarely interacting with the outside world except for family affairs, and had no way of offending someone of that level.
"Could it be the fault of an idiot in the family?" King Jiantuo suddenly realized.
Human Race has never lacked powerful individuals who bully the weak, and there are often precedents of using the internet to take action against juniors due to grudges.
Enraged, he immediately ordered a thorough investigation of the family, arresting and severely punishing all the idle, troublemaking rich kids, and even the shut-ins who were addicted to Virtual Universe games and arbitrarily insulted others.
After this incident, the Ross Family's reputation improved considerably in a short period of time.
"Sigh~" A long sigh echoed in the secret realm. King Jiantuo swung his long trunk, which resembled that of a giant elephant, his divine eyes filled with frustration.
He was King-Rank Immortal, a vital pillar of the Human Race, yet now he was trapped in this tiny secret realm like a frightened cub, not daring to take even a single step out. This situation was truly frustrating.
Just as he was feeling unsettled, his private mailbox in the Virtual Universe suddenly emitted a slight fluctuation.
King Jiantuo scanned the email with his divine sense and found it to be an anonymous message containing nothing but a string of random characters. A thought struck him, and he immediately activated his secret technique to analyze it. A moment later, a line of coordinates and a date clearly appeared.
After a moment's thought, King Jiantuo summoned an Immortal Attendant Soul Enslavement, informing him of the coordinates and date, and ordering him to investigate immediately.
Three days later, the Immortal Attendant returned as scheduled, bowing and reporting, "Master, that person's request is extremely simple; he only needs you to test the Luo Family."
"The Luo Family?" King Jiantuo raised an eyebrow, his tone tinged with curiosity. "Which Luo Family?"
"It is the family of Lord Luo Feng," the Immortal Attendant replied respectfully. "It is said that Lord Luo Feng has not appeared in the universe for over four thousand years, and many forces speculate that he has already perished."
"Hmm?" King Jiantuo was startled.
Luo Feng! He's the personal disciple of the Chaos City Lord, hailed as a peerless genius appearing only once every million epochs, with the potential to grow into a super being like his master, Venerable Jinlan, ruling over a Universe Country. To send someone to test his life or death, even to force him to reveal himself—how is that any different from betraying the Human Race?
"I, King Jiantuo, am utterly loyal to the Human Race and have no other intentions. Those Alien Race have misjudged me!" He cursed inwardly, about to issue an order to refuse.
"The anonymous person is willing to offer a divine body restoration treasure worth 100 million Hunyuan Unit, and promises to deliver it ahead of schedule."
King Jiantuo's breathing became more rapid.
One hundred million Hunyuan Unit! Keep in mind that the entire fortune of Ordinary Immortal is only tens of thousands of Chaos Hunyuan. Even for King-Rank Immortal, it would take a long time to accumulate such a huge amount of wealth, let alone Supreme Treasure that can directly repair a divine body.
He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and asked in a deep voice, "Did the other party specify a method of testing?"
"Not specified."
"Go and fetch the treasure," King Jiantuo said directly. "Tell them I'll take this job!"
"Yes!" The Immortal Attendant acknowledged the order and withdrew.
The secret realm returned to silence, but King Jiantuo fell into deep thought.
Although the Human Race is one of the Six Peak Races in the Primal Universe, it is not a monolithic entity, with many forces and individuals harboring their own selfish motives. While the Virtual Universe Network controls everything on the surface, a mysterious Dark Net organization still hides within the Primal Universe, providing secret trading channels for various forces and powerful individuals.
Communication on this Dark Net is done using coded language, and most transactions take place in person. The items traded are mostly rare and precious materials. In this way, traders can easily evade clan surveillance by claiming that the treasures were obtained through fortuitous encounters.
For transactions between members of the same race, the Hunyuan Unit can also be used for settlement, simply by leveraging the premium on treasures, manipulating the Virtual Universe stock market, etc.
By using methods such as competitive betting and wagering, transactions can be legalized.
King Jiantuo was introduced to the Dark Net by an Alien Race when he was training on the Outer Battlefield. Over the years, it was thanks to the resources provided by the Dark Net that he was able to advance smoothly to the King Rank.
But King Rank was by no means his end goal; he aspired to a higher realm of Venerable!
As for betraying his people, King Jiantuo never had such a thought.
What he trades on the Dark Net are nothing more than well-known public information, or the transfer of things commonly found among Human Race groups.
These are merely resources scarce to other ethnic groups. Besides, even if he doesn't do these things, there are plenty of others willing to take them on. So why can't he profit from them?
Of course, while Dark Net transactions may seem secretive, they have ironclad rules: once an order is accepted, the task must be completed, or a full refund must be issued. Those who have tried to renege on their debts have all met with bad ends.
The Dark Net is unfathomably deep.
But King Jiantuo showed no fear. It was merely a test; he could easily earn Supreme Treasure one hundred million Hunyuan Unit —why not?
If Luo Feng has truly perished, this money is earned without any risk; even if Luo Feng is still alive, he probably wouldn't kill him over such a trivial matter.
Moreover, he didn't need to show himself from beginning to end; he only needed to subtly signal the younger members of his family to take action. Now that he is seriously injured and in seclusion to heal, it's an open secret. With his master, Venerable Jinlan secret realm, who can do anything to him?
Just as his thoughts settled, the communication message in the Virtual Universe rang again. This time, it was from his seventh-generation descendant.
"Patriarch, the Luo Family's business has recently expanded into the territory of my Jinlan Universe Kingdom, especially in the most profitable interstellar real estate and energy extraction sectors, which are in serious conflict with my family's businesses. I don't know how to handle this?"
A smug smile curled at the corner of King Jiantuo's lips.
This isn't double happiness!
The system automatically replied the next moment, "I am currently in seclusion healing my injuries. Please handle your family affairs yourselves. Remember, the Ross Family neither provokes trouble nor fears it."
A moment later, the seventh-generation descendant replied, "Understood."
"Hehe----" King Jiantuo chuckled softly.
A treasure worth one hundred million Hunyuan Unit is now within easy reach.
We've struck it rich!
This is truly a case of when the time is right and heaven and earth lend their strength!
So happy~