85: Credit collapse

In the Sea of Consciousness, that ancient, unchanging bronze palace was thoroughly tainted by an ominous crimson for the first time.

The sharp alarm did not come from external physical sound waves, but exploded directly in the deepest part of Lu Yuan's Soul, like the knell of divine punishment.

Lines of cold, crimson text, carrying the highest warning authority, scrolled frantically across the light screen, searing his vision.

[Warning: High-threat level 'Demonic Corruption' energy fluctuation detected!]

[Target: Qingyun Sect's Great Mountain-Protecting Formation!]

[Infiltration Rank: Elementary.]

[Analysis: Target is attempting to parse and contaminate the formation core; it is estimated that initial control will be gained in 72 hours.]

[Energy source tracking... Locked: Candidate 'Ye Chen'.]

Lu Yuan's pupils contracted to the extreme, like needle points.

Ye Chen.

This name pierced the soft underbelly he thought was safest, thousands of miles away.

That Great Mountain-Protecting Formation, repaired by an ancient war puppet and capable of withstanding a frontal attack from a Nascent Soul Old Ancestor, was his firewall against the surveillance of the Heavenly Dao and his most important safe house.

It was also the Foundation for his future plan to package the entire Qingyun Sect for an IPO and build an unprecedented "Financial Empire."

Once it fell, all his layouts and long-term plans would vanish into thin air.

Ye Chen did not even choose to confront him head-on within the Burial God Abyss, but instead launched a fatal attack from a great distance away, using this method of pulling the firewood from under the cauldron.

However, Lu Yuan had not yet had time to make any response to this sudden attack.

Another alarm, a deeper and more fatal one, detonated from within the underlying rules of the [Great Dao Options Exchange].

This was not an alarm about the enemy.

It was about himself.

[Warning: Your core associated asset 'Han Yuexi' has experienced a structural collapse of her internal Dao Laws!]

[Warning: High concentration of 'Deception' Law overflow detected!]

[Warning: Associated Heavenly Dao Oath activated; System judges that you have entered a 'Default' observation period!]

Lu Yuan turned his head, his gaze piercing through the fluctuations of Spiritual Qi, pinning onto the cold, aloof figure in the corner of the Immortal Cave.

Han Yuexi's body remained seated, but her life aura was rapidly dissipating like an ebbing tide.

A layer of something eerie was permeating from within her body, and wherever it passed, even the light became visibly distorted.

A System light screen, visible only to Lu Yuan, was floating above Han Yuexi's head.

On the light screen, the rating representing Lu Yuan's own credit was plummeting in a cataclysmic manner.

[Trader Credit Rating: AAA (Stable)]

[Rating Downgrade... AA (Negative Watch)]

[Rating Downgrade... A (High Risk)]

[Rating Downgrade... BBB (Investment-Grade Junk)]

The scarlet letters flashed frantically; every jump represented Lu Yuan's loan interest rate in the Exchange skyrocketing exponentially, and represented one Advanced function after another being forcibly locked.

Once the rating fell below investment grade and entered "Junk Grade," the Exchange would even initiate the most brutal [Forced Liquidation] mechanism.

At that time, all his assets and all his options would be wiped to zero by the System to repay the "credit debt" he owed to the entire Karma market.

The warning from the Mysterious Robed Guest of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion turned into a cold reality at this moment.

"The credit storm is closer than you think."

So, the real storm did not come from the enemy.

But from an ally's "default."

The cold survival logic belonging to a trader screamed frantically in his mind.

Sever the connection.

Immediately sell off this "non-performing asset" that was about to explode.

As long as he tore up the Heavenly Dao Oath with Han Yuexi before the System judged it a final default, he could immediately stop the losses.

Although his credit rating would be permanently damaged, at least he wouldn't go bankrupt.

This was the optimal solution.

This was the only solution.

Lu Yuan raised his hand, his fingertips wreathed in sharp, incomparable Karma power; with just a light swipe, that invisible oath would be severed.

His movements did not pause in the slightest.

But the direction it fell was not toward the void of the Karma line.

It was aimed at his own wrist.

As the blade slashed across, a drop of golden blood containing his pure essence of life was forcibly squeezed out.

He looked at the rating on the light screen that was about to fall into "Junk Grade," his eyes devoid of any hesitation, filled only with an absolute will to control everything.

"My assets, even if they have already necrosed, can only be handled by my own hands."

"If you want to make me go bankrupt, you aren't qualified yet."

He decisively injected the only remaining [essence of life] he had extracted from the Gu Master into that drop of golden blood.

Then, he opened his palm and pressed this liquid, concentrated with immense life force, heavily onto Han Yuexi's cold brow.

Boom!

The immense life force surged into Han Yuexi's withered body like a torrent.

But this was not enough.

That wisp of the "Deception" Law from the previous epoch was frantically devouring all the life force surging in.

Lu Yuan took a deep breath and issued the craziest order he had given so far within the Exchange.

[Order: Use all my remaining karma points as collateral, and all future trading profits for the next ten years as a guarantee, to construct a 'Dao Law Stability Lock'!]

[Target: Forcibly lock 'Han Yuexi's' collapsing Dao Laws!]

[Execute!]

The bronze palace of the Exchange vibrated violently, as if it were wailing.

The karma points that Lu Yuan had just accumulated in his account were drained and wiped to zero.

A golden chain formed of pure Karma power appeared out of thin air, entangling the Dao Laws on Han Yuexi that were about to disintegrate, forcibly fixing them at the edge of shattering in an unreasonable manner.

The rapidly decaying aura on Han Yuexi was finally contained.

Her complexion remained as pale as paper, but at least she would not die for the time being.

Lu Yuan had paid a huge price to forcibly stop this "default" from his ally.

But his crisis had only just begun.

His reserve of karma points had completely hit rock bottom.

At the same time, a top-level encrypted message from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion was projected directly onto his light screen, the content of which consisted of only one word.

"Suicide."

This was the final evaluation from the Mysterious Robed Guest regarding his "suicidal investment."

What was even more terrifying was that the wisp of the "Deception" Law that had been forcibly locked, upon contacting the Karma chain, began to slowly and firmly erode toward the main body of the [Great Dao Options Exchange] along the chain.

On the Exchange's light screen, a line of unparseable, distorted garbled code would occasionally flash.

Lu Yuan understood that conventional means could no longer solve this problem.

He needed a huge sum of clean "Karma capital" to completely write off this bad debt brought about by the "Deception" Law.

He needed a clean and swift hunt.

A harvest that could bring rich returns.

Lu Yuan's gaze pierced through the stone walls of the Immortal Cave and looked toward the depths of the Burial God Abyss, that area shrouded in darkness.

There, he had his prey already selected.

Hunting the gemini stars had, at this moment, turned from an "optional item" into a "mandatory item."

Just as he was forcibly circulating his own Dao Foundation to resist the erosion of the "Deception" Law, that [karma dao pill] in his Dantian vibrated slightly.

On the dao pill, those patterns resembling K-line charts began to undergo wonderful changes.

Between the yang line originally representing "long" and the yin line representing "short," a brand new, complex pattern composed of countless tiny horizontal lines, representing "risk hedging," was slowly self-constructing and gradually taking shape.

And in the corner of the Immortal Cave.

That cold, aloof Fairy who had been forcibly pulled back from the line of death, Han Yuexi, had her tightly closed eyes tremble slightly.

Her lips opened and closed unconsciously.

An ancient, hoarse voice that seemed not to belong to this epoch was gently uttered from her mouth.

"the zeroizer..."