77: S-class track

The entrance to the S-grade asset package.

The elite Cultivators of the Guixu Demon Palace, led by Ye Chen, stepped into this perilous land known as the “Endless Spatial Rift Zone.”

In the air, a low hum emanated from the tearing of space.

Tiny, visible rifts, like black fish, silently wove through the air, occasionally grazing a rock and effortlessly shaving off an edge.

The Disciples of the Demon Hall were all tense, their protective Demonic Qi pushed to its limit.

Ye Chen, however, was completely different.

The Devilish Qi surging around him condensed into a pitch-black armor, and all spatial rifts that approached him were forcibly ground away upon contact with the armor.

He had no intention of taking a detour.

His Dao was a tyrannical one that crushed everything.

A straight line was his path.

Behind him, the Disciples of the Guixu Demon Palace watched their Demon Son move as if in an uninhabited realm, their eyes filled with fervent adoration.

This was their Demon Son.

Any rules, any danger, would be utterly shattered before absolute power.

Ye Chen's speed was extremely fast.

On the light screen, the S-grade light spot representing him was advancing furiously, with an unstoppable momentum.

Just as he was about to penetrate the first area, he hit a wall.

An invisible, intangible, yet indestructible wall.

“Bang!”

With a dull thud, Ye Chen's figure paused.

The space in front of him rippled with transparent waves.

A cold notification appeared in his mind.

【Heavenly Dao Contract Notification: You have violated the 'Asset Package Exploration Protocol.' Please cease the violation immediately.】

Ye Chen's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

With a thought, he summoned the protocol that was already imprinted in his Divine Soul.

Dense clauses flashed by rapidly, and he quickly located the description regarding the S-grade area.

At the end of a passage describing the dangers of spatial rifts, he saw an inconspicuous note.

“Any investor's single straight-line movement distance in this area must not exceed one thousand zhang; otherwise, it will be considered a breach of contract.”

This rule was almost nonexistent for ordinary Cultivators who needed to constantly change direction to avoid spatial rifts.

It precisely targeted Ye Chen's “straight-line crushing” tactic.

Violent emotions churned in his chest like magma.

He had been tricked.

Tricked by that “Mr. Yuan” hiding behind the scenes, in a way he had never imagined and which he most disdained.

“Break for me!”

Ye Chen roared.

The terrifying Demonic Technique of the Late Golden Core Stage erupted without reservation.

A giant fist made of pure Devilish Qi slammed violently against the invisible rule light wall.

However, where the fist landed, the light wall only deeply dented.

The next moment, an even more violent spatial storm rebounded from the light wall.

“Boom!”

Ye Chen was repeatedly forced back by this force, his internal Devilish Qi surging.

The space in front of him became even more chaotic.

All his efforts were in vain.

He raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through layers of space, looking towards the Qingyun Sect.

The arrogance in his eyes faded for the first time, replaced by surprise and a colder solemnity.

He finally realized that he had fallen into a vast net woven by rules.

In this net, every step he took had to be within the framework defined by that “Mr. Yuan.”

His most prized brute force was meaningless here.

The surrounding Demon Hall Disciples were silent, like cicadas in winter.

A confidant cautiously stepped forward.

“Demon Son, we…”

Ye Chen ignored him.

He suddenly reached out and grabbed the confidant by the neck.

The confidant's eyes were filled with extreme fear and confusion.

Ye Chen's expression, however, was terrifyingly calm.

He flipped his hand and took out a palm-sized black scroll made of some unknown creature's hide.

The scroll had no runes, only a profound darkness that could swallow light.

“To force me to use the 'Sacrifice Contract,' you are worthy of pride.”

Ye Chen muttered softly to the Void Realm.

As his voice fell.

His five fingers suddenly tightened.

“Crack.”

The confidant's neck was easily snapped by him.

A wisp of pure Divine Soul was forcibly extracted from the corpse, wailing as it vanished into the black beast-hide scroll.

The beast-hide scroll spontaneously ignited without fire.

What rose was not flames.

Instead, it was gray mist that did not belong to this Heavenly Dao, filled with chaos, plunder, and the aura of primitive transactions.

The mist surged forward.

The rule light wall set up by Lu Yuan and notarized by the Heavenly Dao was actually corroded, creating a gap large enough for one person to pass through.

Ye Chen stepped through without even glancing at the corpse on the ground.

Qingyun Sect.

Mountain peak.

Lu Yuan's pupils contracted like pinpricks.

He stared at the fleeting gray mist in front of Ye Chen on the light screen.

That aura.

He was all too familiar with it.

It originated from the same source as the Great Dao Options Exchange, yet it was more chaotic, more savage.

The other party was also a “player.”