84: I shorted your trust

Facing the Late Golden Core Stage cursed demon king, Black Fiend, who lunged with a gust of fishy wind and killing intent, Lu Yuan didn't even lift his eyes.

He merely extended a finger and lightly pointed forward.

A gray-black thread shot out from his fingertip.

The thread was so fine it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye in the dim Burial God Abyss.

It made no sound and carried no spiritual energy fluctuations.

Black Fiend, the cursed demon king's sharp claws, capable of tearing through metal, suddenly froze the instant before touching the thread.

Its massive body solidified in mid-air.

In its crimson beast eyes, greed and savagery rapidly faded, replaced by an extreme fear and bewilderment.

It felt no pain.

But it could clearly “see” its “Karma” with this world being erased inch by inch by this inconspicuous thread.

Its existence was being forgotten by the world itself.

Three breaths later.

This notorious Late Golden Core Stage demon king did not turn to ash, nor did it explode into a bloody mist.

It silently dissolved, faded, and finally vanished completely into the air.

Only a demon core, tainted with a strong aura of curses, lost all support and clattered to the ground.

Lu Yuan withdrew his finger, his expression unreadable.

The cost of one drop of Karma Venom.

The transaction was complete.

He turned, no longer looking at the demon core, and immersed his mind into the Great Dao Options Exchange in his Sea of Consciousness.

The pressure brought by Mysterious Robed Guest was now flowing before him as cold data.

["Performance Bet Clause: Activated"]

["Objective: Before the nine-segment demon suppression key appears, eliminate the gemini stars candidates."]

["Failure Penalty: Heavenly Secret Pavilion investment rating downgrade, resources subject to 'punitive' interest rates."]

Lu Yuan's consciousness in the Exchange retrieved all information on the gemini stars.

Two intertwined blood-colored names represented an almost unsolvable power superposition.

["Initiate 'Sandbox Simulation', Target: gemini stars."]

["karma points consumed: 1000 points."]

Lu Yuan confirmed.

Countless battle futures appeared in his mind.

Scene One: A war puppet launched a frontal assault, its core pierced by the spiral light beam emitted by the gemini stars' resonance, turning it into a puddle of molten iron.

Scene Two: He used Karma Venom for a sneak attack, but the opponent's System resonance gave an early warning, the toxin was diluted, and its effect was greatly reduced.

Scene Three: He ambushed them with Han Yuexi and Yun Yao, but the opponents, relying on absolute power suppression, forcefully broke the situation, and the three were heavily wounded and retreated.

A thousand simulations.

A thousand failures.

The Exchange coldly presented the final conclusion: [Physical elimination plan, overall win rate: 27.3%.]

Less than thirty percent.

This was an almost certain death situation.

Lu Yuan's eyes remained calm.

He slowly closed the bloody battle simulations and retrieved another piece of intelligence.

That was the gemini stars' System analysis report.

["System Name: Concentric Resonance"]

["Core Abilities: Power superposition, damage sharing, synchronized crisis early warning."]

["Core Asset: Absolute trust and tacit understanding between both parties."]

Lu Yuan's gaze was fixed on the last line.

Core Asset.

A cold arc formed at the corner of his mouth.

Since it's an asset, then it must have a price.

Since it has a price, then it... can be traded.

It can be shorted.

Lu Yuan abandoned all physical attack strategies.

He decided to win this war using financial means.

His consciousness rapidly operated within the Exchange.

["Permission: Institutional Seat."]

["Function: Create New Contract."]

A brand new virtual trading product slowly took shape under his definition.

["Contract Name: gemini stars Alliance Stability Index."]

["Index Composition: Real-time weighted calculation based on the physical distance, spiritual energy Exchange frequency, and System resonance synchronization rate of candidates 'Ling Yun' and 'Ling Feng'."]

["Initial Value: 100 points (representing a stable and unwavering Alliance)."]

The contract was successfully created.

Lu Yuan didn't hesitate for a moment and immediately entered the most secret area of the Exchange.

["Dark Pool Trading Platform"]

This was where anonymous bulk transactions took place, leaving no trace on the open market.

["Instruction: Buy 'gemini stars Alliance Stability Index' put options."]

["Quantity: 10,000 lots."]

["Leverage: 20 times."]

["Execute."]

A massive short order, enough to bankrupt him, was quietly established.

He bet everything he had to short the most precious “trust” between those brothers.

Now, he needed leverage.

Leverage strong enough to pry open that trust and collapse the index.

Lu Yuan retrieved the personality profile of the gemini stars' younger brother, “Ling Feng,” provided by the Heavenly Secret Pavilion.

["Name: Ling Feng"]

["Personality Tags: Greedy, impatient, eager to surpass his older brother 'Ling Yun' and prove himself."]

This was his leverage.

Lu Yuan took out a grievance spirit flower from his Storage Pouch, which Yun Yao had just cultivated.

The eerie flower exuded a cursed aura strong enough to make even a Golden Core Cultivator tremble.

He used the Exchange's encryption function to package the information of this flower, along with a simple map marking the location, into an untraceable encrypted Divine Thought.

The sole recipient of this Divine Thought was set to be—Ling Feng.

“When greed exceeds the value of trust.”

“A collapse is only a matter of time.”

Lu Yuan watched the Divine Thought silently disappear into the Void Realm, confident in his plan.

However, just as he completed his setup.

A sharp, urgent alarm blared in his Sea of Consciousness!

The bronze hall of the Great Dao Options Exchange lit up with blood-red light for the first time.

A shocking warning automatically popped up.

["Warning: High-threat level 'Demonic Contamination Flow' energy fluctuation detected!"]

["Target: Qingyun Sect Mountain Protection Array!"]

["Infiltration Level: Elementary."]

["Analysis: Target is attempting to parse and corrupt the array's core, expected to gain preliminary control in 72 hours."]

["Energy Source Tracking... Locked: Candidate 'Ye Chen'."]

Lu Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted.

Ye Chen.

He hadn't sought Opportunity in the Burial God Abyss after all, but had instead bypassed it, traveling thousands of miles away to attack his base camp in the most unexpected place!

The Mountain Protection Array, repaired by ancient war puppets, was Lu Yuan's “firewall” against Heavenly Dao surveillance.

It was his most important safe house.

And it was the Foundation for his future plan to transform the Qingyun Sect into a “Financial Empire.”

Once it fell, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Ye Chen's underhanded attack also disrupted a more far-reaching plan of Lu Yuan's.

During his Sandbox Simulation of the gemini stars, he had discovered that the peculiar “resonance” characteristic, if fully isolated, could have its energy conduction model perfectly applied to the core upgrade of war puppets.

He even had a crazier idea—to use it to link two completely different Systems.

But now, his backyard was on fire.