Chapter 1169

"Respected three-star client, our Cosmic River Bank offers an 'item consignment service' that can sell your goods in an extremely short time, though we do charge a handling fee of one-thousandth."

"Good."

Fang Yu nodded.

In the Eternal Life Realm, similar rules existed; he had once partnered with Exalted Linglong's Linglong Pagoda, which also took a share—but even with sharing, he still made enormous profits.

In his early days, he had built his fortune by auctioning the Five Elements Sacred Beasts from the Five Elements Lands.

Now, in a new world, he could do the same thing.

"Here are the 280 items I'm putting up for auction."

Fang Yu chose to auction 280 items; he had acquired a total of 68 kinds of treasures and 312 artifacts, but treasures like the Starheart and Life Fruit he consumed directly, while everything else he didn't need he sent for auction.

"We at Cosmic River Bank can immediately sell these 280 items across all auction zones in the Virtual Universe."

The female AI smiled, "Please confirm the location and time for delivery of the 280 items."

"Qianwu Star Region, Longshan Star Domain, on Bai Lanxing. Within one day—acceptable?"

"Location and time confirmed."

The female AI smiled, "Please sign the consignment agreement."

A contract floated before Fang Yu.

Fang Yu glanced at it, then nodded.

"Good. We will arrive on Bai Lanxing within one day. Mr., do you require any other services?"

"No."

Fang Yu's consciousness left Cosmic River Bank and returned to Bai Lanxing.

He waited there directly, though he had no fear of Cosmic River Bank killing him to seize his treasures.

Just over a dozen hours later, a spaceship appeared above Bai Lanxing; it was ethereal, resembling a divine sword, and Fang Yu could sense it could travel faster than light.

"Respected sir, please hand over your goods."

Three figures emerged from the ship; the leader was unmistakably a Domain Lord, while the other two were Cosmic-level.

"Here are the goods."

Fang Yu handed over a space ring.

"Goods confirmed."

"Sir, the transaction is complete. Thank you for your support of Cosmic River Bank."

The Domain Lord bowed slightly to Fang Yu.

"Good. Goodbye."

Fang Yu nodded, watched them depart, then resumed cultivation, waiting for the funds to arrive.

Not long after, a message arrived.

"Dear client, hello. You have received a remittance of 180 trillion Cosmic Coins; your account balance has reached 180 Huan Yuan Units (1 Huan Yuan Unit = 1 trillion Cosmic Coins). Your account has been automatically upgraded to 'three-star status.' You have also automatically become a prestigious three-star client of Cosmic River Bank. As a star-level client, you possess many special privileges. Below are your special privileges."

"Cosmic River Bank"

"One hundred and eighty Huan Yuan Units of wealth. Now I am truly flush with cash."

Fang Yu looked at the 180 Huan Yuan Units in his bank account, realizing he had made a massive profit—wealth from a world-within-a-world had earned him 180 Huan Yuan Units, or 180 trillion, 180 quadrillion Cosmic Coins!

What did that mean?

In a typical universe, the price of a star system territory ranged from 100 billion to 1 trillion Cosmic Coins; that meant Fang Yu's assets equaled 180 star system territories—such wealth, even in the entire Eternal Life Realm's Xuan Huang Great World, was astonishing.

If one transported 180 star systems into the Eternal Life Realm, even Feng Feng Baiyu would be stunned, possibly even abdicating in favor of him.

"One hundred and eighty Huan Yuan Units of wealth must be converted into actual strength; after all, carrying this around is as useless as trash."

Fang Yu's expression turned thoughtful; he now needed to plan how to spend these units to gain benefits.

But just then, numerous email notifications chimed.

Fang Yu looked over; seven emails had arrived: the first five were from Cosmic River Bank, the sixth from the Virtual Universe Corporation, and the seventh from the Giant Axe Combat Arena.

"Dear client, hello. Does your account hold large amounts of idle funds? I must remind you this is an extremely inefficient way to manage capital. But if you entrust your funds to us, you will gain continuous returns—naturally, we guarantee no losses, and based on recent yield curves, you can expect a 20%–30% increase."

One email was an investment offer.

"Dear client, hello. Our team possesses the universe's most elite planetary management experience. If you entrust us with large territories, we will cultivate for you the most elite warriors, the most loyal soldiers, and dramatically increase the profitability of each planet. We can also establish academies and schools on your lands to greatly boost the birth rate of geniuses."

"Dear client…"

Each email essentially urged Fang Yu to invest, hire managers for his planets, or engage in financial speculation—some with uncertain risks but potential profits up to 200%.

Fang Yu paid no attention to any of this; he was uninterested.

His gaze turned to the email from the Virtual Universe Corporation.

"Hello. The moment you became a three-star client, you gained eligibility to participate in the Qianwu Auction. The universe contains many restricted items that even vast wealth cannot easily acquire—but now, you may join our Virtual Universe Corporation's auction. This auction occurs every three years; the next one will be held within three months."

"Virtual Universe Corporation"

Fang Yu read the letter—this was perfect timing; he had just wanted to convert his Huan Yuan Units into power-enhancing items, and now the Qianwu Auction appeared, with its high threshold: minimum three-star client status, which typically required Domain Lord-level strength.

An auction attended by Domain Lords…

Fang Yu now felt that 180 Huan Yuan Units might not be enough—he needed even more, to have any chance of bidding for the treasures he needed.

Fang Yu sat in his study, reviewing the attached auction details, growing more eager—indeed, the auction would contain many treasures he desired.

"This final email is from the Giant Axe Combat Arena."

Fang Yu extended his finger and viewed the VIP notification from the Giant Axe Combat Arena.

Upon becoming a three-star client, he had automatically become a Bronze VIP member of the Giant Axe Combat Arena, entitled to free viewing of its live duels.

The Giant Axe Combat Arena, one of the universe's five great powers, hosts real combat—not virtual sparring—but true life-or-death battles, ending only when one side dies.

Life-or-death struggles often trigger profound insights; unlike the Revival Zones or Killing Zones, where revived battles cannot awaken the deepest potential of the body, the Giant Axe Combat Arena's duels can.

There is absolutely no possibility of revival—it is one decisive battle to determine fate.

Every such martial battle would draw out the full potential of the participating warriors—in life and death lies great terror.

Fang Yu opened the attachment and saw the life-and-death battle list for the most recent seven days: 8,006 matches in total, of which 7,191 were Universe-level life-and-death battles, 813 were Domain Lord-level life-and-death battles, and there were even two World Lord-level life-and-death battles.

World Lord-level experts also have to fight life-and-death battles—this is something worth noting.

Of course, this does not mean there were two World Lord-level life-and-death battles within the Ganwu Universe Country. This Giant Axe Martial Arena spans countless Universe Countries; adding up every Universe Country, only this many life-and-death battles occur in seven days, and of these 8,006 life-and-death battles, only 5 belong to the Ganwu Universe Country.

Among the many life-and-death battles, there is a ranking list—the ranking of the most watched life-and-death battles.

Fang Yu's gaze fell on the number-one life-and-death battle: both fighters were Universe Sixth-Order experts, one of them a Bilu Star native named Kuqi, the other named Harta, a slave.

Kuqi came from Bilu Star, a planet with an extremely harsh living environment. The planet teemed with countless monsters; many of the weaker Bilu Star natives were killed by monsters before they could grow up. But Bilu Star's peerless genius Kuqi, after his birth, rose rapidly, cultivating ceaselessly, quickly reaching Planet-level, then Star-level, and even Universe-level, cleansing every monster from the planet.

But just as he became the hero of Bilu Star, experts from other planets descended. A cosmic spaceship arrived at Bilu Star, led by a Domain Lord, and so the entire Bilu Star was finished—completely finished. This peerless genius from Bilu Star also became a captive, now a servant of that Domain Lord.

The slave named Harta was captured by slave traders when he was very young and underwent incomparably brutal training. Many slaves died, and only this one Harta survived, somehow cultivating all the way to Universe-level.

Even at Universe-level, he remained a slave. The slave trader signed a contract with him—as long as he could survive 1,000 life-and-death battles in the Giant Axe Martial Arena, Harta would be granted his freedom!

Because in the Giant Axe Martial Arena, the longer one survives, the more staggering the appearance fee, and the more profit he brings the slave trader.

"This universe is truly steeped in darkness."