86: Short Trust

Inside the cave, there was deathly silence.

Lu Yuan sat cross-legged, his face as pale as paper, and the newly born karma dao pill within his Dantian was dim.

To forcibly lock Han Yuexi's Dao Law, he had paid a price that nearly wiped him out.

On the light screen of the Great Dao Options Exchange, the rating indicator representing his personal credit was flashing a dangerous orange-red, just one step away from a total collapse.

The Mysterious Robed Guest’s evaluation of "suicide" stood at the top of the information bar like a cold tombstone.

What was even more fatal was that wisp of the "Deception" Law, forcibly bound by the Karma Chains.

It had not dissipated.

It was moving along the chains formed by Karma, like the most stubborn virus, slowly but unswervingly eroding toward the core of the Exchange.

The occasional line of unparseable garbled code jumping out on the light screen was the most direct proof of this erosion.

Lu Yuan did not look at the ally with the weak aura in the corner.

He also had no time to contemplate the mysteries of the newly born Dao Pill within his Dantian.

All his focus was concentrated on a corner of the light screen.

There, lay a virtual contract index he had created himself—the gemini stars Alliance Stability Index.

Its candlestick chart lay there rigidly, motionless.

Time was passing second by second.

Every second was a silent death by a thousand cuts to Lu Yuan's credit rating.

He had to win.

And he had to be fast.

...

Burial God Abyss, a belt of scattered rocks shrouded in gray mist.

Two figures were moving forward cautiously, emitting auras that were both homologous and distinct; they were the gemini stars Candidates, the elder brother Shi Zhan and the younger brother Shi Meng.

Shi Meng's footsteps unconsciously slowed by half a beat.

His Divine Sense repeatedly scanned a newly received, cryptically sourced encrypted Jade Slip.

The information inside the Jade Slip contained only one coordinate and a vivid image of a spiritual plant—a grievance spirit flower.

Its eerie beauty and pure power of curse made his heart beat wildly and uncontrollably.

His System was frantically prompting the value of this spiritual plant.

"Brother, let's take a break."

Shi Meng's voice carried an imperceptible dryness.

Shi Zhan frowned slightly.

"No, we must cross this 'Rotten Crow Zone' before dark; the monsters here become extremely violent at night."

Shi Meng's eyes flickered.

"I... I feel like I expended too much earlier, I need to meditate for a moment."

Shi Zhan stared at his younger brother, remained silent for a moment, and eventually nodded.

"Fifteen minutes at most."

Just as Shi Zhan closed his eyes to meditate,

The trace of greed in Shi Meng's eyes completely overwhelmed his reason.

He silently crushed a "Concealment Talisman," his entire aura merging with the surrounding rocks, and sped off in the direction indicated by the Jade Slip.

Almost three seconds after Shi Meng left his spot,

Inside the cave,

The light screen Lu Yuan was staring at, that rigid candlestick chart, moved.

Without any warning.

It plunged vertically downward in a cliff-like fashion, diving headfirst into an invisible abyss.

A string of green numbers representing profit rolled crazily and surged beneath the candlestick chart.

[Instruction Confirmed: 'gemini stars Alliance Stability Index' put option value soaring.]

[Current Floating Profit: 18,000 karma points.]

[Close position?]

Lu Yuan's fingertip tapped lightly on the light screen.

[Execute Instruction: Close 30% of put option positions.]

Pure karma points, like rain after a long drought, flooded into his parched account.

The glaring orange-red alarm on the Exchange's light screen finally softened slightly, retreating back to the yellow that represented "Warning."

Lu Yuan's tense body relaxed slightly.

He had survived.

Meanwhile, in the belt of scattered rocks,

Shi Zhan suddenly opened his eyes.

He felt it.

That power, connected to his Bloodline and resonating with his System, was rapidly moving away.

"Shi Meng!"

A roar exploded in the belt of scattered rocks, startling countless circling rotten crows.

He followed that final sensing and chased crazily.

Before long, he found his younger brother in a hidden valley.

Shi Meng was greedily and cautiously trying to pick an eerie purple flower growing on top of withered bones.

"What are you doing!"

In Shi Zhan's voice was uncontrollable fury.

Shi Meng's body stiffened; he turned back, a flash of panic on his face, which was immediately replaced by ruthlessness.

"Brother, this grievance spirit flower has great use for our System, I..."

"Did I tell you to leave!"

Shi Zhan interrupted him, his chest heaving violently, his eyes bloodshot.

"We are the gemini stars, our power comes from trust and resonance! You actually betrayed me for this bit of personal gain!"

The air between the two seemed to freeze.

Above their heads, the invisible link formed by the power of System resonance flickered violently at this moment, and then, accompanied by a crisp shattering sound that only they could hear, it completely snapped.

Their arguing voices, along with the fluctuations released when their power disintegrated, attracted all the malice lurking nearby.

On Lu Yuan's light screen, the drop in the [gemini stars Alliance Stability Index] expanded further.

He did not hesitate any longer and closed half of the remaining put options.

The karma points account returned to a relatively safe level.

It was time.

Killing intent appeared in Lu Yuan's eyes, and a cold instruction crossed space and was transmitted out.

A hundred miles away, in a deep canyon crevice,

A ten-zhang tall war puppet, its metallic eyes that had been silent for a long time, suddenly lit up with a ghostly blue light.

It stood up slowly, and the earth trembled because of it.

The harvesting was about to begin.

However, at the exact same time the war puppet activated,

On the light screen of the Great Dao Options Exchange, a highest-level red alarm jumped out without any warning, sharp and glaring.

[Warning: High-energy 'Candidate' detected approaching the target area.]

Lu Yuan's expression did not change, but waves had already risen in his heart.

He immediately pulled up the regional map.

An independent red dot, radiating an aura of devouring and destruction, was quietly lurking outside the valley where the gemini stars were arguing.

That position could be called perfect.

It could exactly take in both the gemini stars and the war puppet's hiding place at the same time.

Like a top-tier hunter, waiting for the mantis to catch the cicada.

Lu Yuan pulled up the red dot's energy data to perform an information comparison.

A line of cold text appeared on the light screen.

[Match Successful: Ye Chen.]

He was not here to hunt the gemini stars.

Lu Yuan understood.

Ye Chen, this oriole, was waiting for him, the mantis.

And right at this moment, inside the valley,

Shi Meng finally reached out regardless of everything and touched the petals of that grievance spirit flower.

A wisp of undetectable black curse power, thinner than a hair, quietly and soundlessly burrowed into his body along his fingertip.