Woodyu King was a talkative and sociable monarch-level expert. When Luo Feng expressed his intention to tour Hong Alliance City, Woodyu King immediately said confidently, “I know every corner of Hong Alliance City like the back of my hand. I’ll accompany you and give you a proper introduction.”
“Then I’ll trouble you,” Luo Feng smiled.
“Not at all. Immortal gods possess infinite life spans and can’t always be cultivating. Adventures and battles are rare occurrences these days. With such an endless life, we need something to do, right? Accompanying a good friend to tour Hong Alliance City is a pleasure,” Woodyu King grinned, revealing his pearly white teeth.
Under Woodyu King’s guidance, Luo Feng began to stroll around Hong Alliance City.
…
Hong Alliance City’s lowest level of residents were monarch-level experts. Naturally, this city, teeming with countless powerful experts, was highly developed. Scenes that were rarely seen elsewhere were commonplace here.
Transactions of large spacecraft.
Trading of plant and metal life forms.
Hiring services for powerful experts.
Appraisal services for special items.
Grand auction houses.
New forms of gambling businesses.
“Gambling?” Luo Feng saw ahead a peculiar seven-story palace with a unique architectural style. Above its entrance were three human-written words: “Puyan Palace.”
“Most experts have adventurous spirits, and with such a long life, we don’t have much to do. Gambling at Puyan Palace… is also a form of entertainment. Come, let me show you around,” Woodyu King said, pulling Luo Feng into the Puyan Palace. Upon entering, they saw numerous powerful figures.
This massive palace, spanning several kilometers in length and width, was extremely lively.
“Open!”
“Open!”
“Open!” A group of monarch-level experts from various races stared intently ahead, laughing and shouting excitedly.
“Number 1031!” The attendant loudly announced the winning ticket number.
Instantly, many experts in the hall began cursing in frustration, while others shouted, “Number 1031 belongs to Nongcang King. He’s made a huge profit this time!”
“Nongcang King, you’ve won treasures worth 100 million Chaos Units. You must treat us all to a feast!”
“Don’t be stingy!”
“Would Nongcang King, a human, ever be stingy?”
Amid the noisy chatter, a tall human with curly hair said loudly, “Come on, everyone with a ticket number, let’s all head to Jiuxiang Hall on the side.”
“Generous!”
“Truly generous!”
A cheer erupted.
This scene caught Luo Feng’s attention as he had just entered Puyan Palace. Puzzled, he asked Woodyu King, “What’s going on here?”
“This is a type of gambling called ‘One in Ten Thousand,'” Woodyu King explained with a smile. “In fact, this gambling method hardly profits the casino at all.”
“Oh?” Luo Feng was surprised.
“This gambling game is quite simple. The casino provides a treasure worth 100 million Chaos Units. This treasure isn’t arbitrarily chosen or priced. Usually, the market price of such treasures outside in stores is at least 100 million Chaos Units,” Woodyu King explained. “The casino itself offers this treasure and then sells 10,000 tickets, each costing 10,000 Chaos Units.”
“Once all 10,000 tickets are sold, at a specific time, a single winning ticket is selected. The owner of this ticket will receive the treasure worth 100 million Chaos Units,” Woodyu King continued.
“I see,” Luo Feng understood.
It was quite interesting.
Essentially, ten thousand powerful experts pooled their money to buy a treasure, and then one lucky expert among them would receive the treasure worth 100 million Chaos Units.
Investing 10,000 and gaining 100 million.
Of course, there were far more losers.
“Anyway, each ticket only costs 10,000 Chaos Units. Occasionally gambling for fun is also a kind of entertainment,” Woodyu King said while walking further inside, introducing various gambling methods to Luo Feng. Gambling was more or less similar to some gambling methods prevalent on Earth, though some were quite unique.
The gambling stakes ranged from a few hundred Chaos Units for smaller bets to amounts reaching hundreds of millions.
However, this highest level of gambling only occurred occasionally when some big shots met up, as even peak monarch-level experts wouldn’t dare gamble at such high stakes.
…
“Phew.” After exiting Puyan Palace, Luo Feng exclaimed, “How profitable must Puyan Palace be? With so many experts gambling here, the casino earns a terrifying profit just by taking a small cut.”
“Puyan Palace is the only casino in the entire Hong Alliance City. Although it has to pay taxes to the Hong Alliance, its profits are still staggering, as it’s purely a no-investment business,” Woodyu King sighed. “It’s impossible to apply for a casino within the Hong Alliance. There’s only one casino slot, and it’s occupied by Puyan Palace. It’s said that the backing of this Puyan Palace is one of the Hall Lords in the Hong Alliance Hall, or even a joint effort by several Hall Lords.”
Luo Feng nodded.
“It’s not just Puyan Palace.”
Woodyu King pointed to a series of massive shops in the distance while walking along the street. “All kinds of business shops have quantity limits. These shops… at the very least, they must be backed by a Cosmic-level expert to be established. Therefore, not everyone has the opportunity to earn huge profits within the Hong Alliance.”
“Of course, there are gains and losses.”
“Besides a few unique places like Puyan Palace, many shops have quantity limits but aren’t exclusive, so there’s still competition.”
“Haha…”
“We monarch-level experts may not be able to open shops, but our living expenses within the Hong Alliance are free. As long as we don’t gamble or shop recklessly, we don’t need to spend money. However, once a shop is opened, it must continuously pay various taxes to the Hong Alliance,” Woodyu King pointed ahead. “Look, that’s the best among the many goods shops… it’s called ‘Yubaotang,’ reportedly established by a human Hall Lord from the Hong Alliance.”
…
Yubaotang had two floors, each occupying a space comparable to the Puyan Palace.
It should be noted that land was quite precious within the Hong Alliance. Even the residences of monarch-level immortals were only so large, so a shop spanning several kilometers in length and width was enormous, capable of holding countless goods.
“Phew.”
“Wow.”
Luo Feng entered Yubaotang and looked at the countless treasures densely displayed, stretching as far as the eye could see. Each treasure was accompanied by a blueprint, which included videos, images, and textual information, detailing the origins, unique features, and prices of the items for sale.
“Yubaotang’s first floor has treasures priced from millions to hundreds of billions of Chaos Units, covering every price range,” Woodyu King pointed to a distant area. “See the staircase leading to the second floor.”
“Hmm?” Luo Feng turned to look.
“Yubaotang is the best shop in the Hong Alliance. The first floor has countless treasures, while the second floor houses even more precious ones. Some can be purchased with Chaos Units, but others are strictly prohibited from monetary transactions and must be exchanged for other treasures… trading goods for goods,” Woodyu King explained. “As you know, there are some extremely rare special treasures in the universe, even some that are unique. It’s difficult to set an accurate price for them… a unique treasure might be useless to some experts but invaluable to others. Since their value can’t be clearly determined, trading goods for goods has become the mainstream.”
Luo Feng nodded, observing as he walked.
In a short while, they reached the staircase.
“This is not a place you can go to,” one of the nine beautiful women of various races standing at the hundred-meter-wide staircase entrance said coldly to Luo Feng.
Luo Feng was taken aback.
“The second floor of Yubaotang isn’t accessible to just anyone,” a shrill voice came from behind. Turning around, they saw a man with purple jade-like scales on his head, wearing strange golden robes, as if carved from purple jade. He walked past Luo Feng and headed up the stairs, glancing at him disdainfully.
“Yang.”
Woodyu King quickly approached, looked at the golden-robed expert ascending the stairs, and said, “To enter the second floor, one must either be a four-star existence or higher, or have a deposit of over 100 billion Chaos Units in the First Bank of the Universe or the Cosmic River Bank. Only those meeting one of these two conditions can access the second floor.”
“Who’s that seemingly impressive guy?” Luo Feng smiled.
“He’s called Wulü King,” Woodyu King whispered. “Although he’s an alien, his teacher is a seven-star existence who dotes on him like a son.”
“A disciple of a seven-star alien existence?” Luo Feng smiled.
“Wulü King is quite ruthless, yet he is generous and sociable with powerful humans of notable backgrounds, having gathered a group of strong friends around him. Yang, we don’t belong to the same circle… better not provoke him,” Woodyu King said. With different statuses come different circles, and those with strong backgrounds or powerful abilities naturally form their own groups.
“Oh,” Luo Feng nodded.
“This first floor has countless treasures, numbering in the billions. It’ll take you a long time to see them all,” Woodyu King smiled.
“That’s true,” Luo Feng nodded.
As for Wulü King, Luo Feng merely gave a disdainful smile in his heart. It seemed this alien indeed felt inferior among humans. Otherwise, a truly confident person might not care about others, but wouldn’t go out of their way to belittle others to show off their status. That was a sign of deep-rooted insecurity.
…
Yubaotang lived up to its reputation as the largest and best shop in Hong Alliance City. The quantity and rarity of the treasures were astounding. Some were absent even from the ‘Virtual Universe Company Treasury,’ while others found in the treasury were missing here.
However… shopping in the treasury didn’t compare to the experience of shopping in such a grand hall.
“Really makes one’s heart race with desire.”
“Wow, treasures for the Golden Horned Beast’s cultivation of ‘Original Self Heaven and Earth’ have been discovered here as well,” Luo Feng grew increasingly fond as he looked around. Originally, he hadn’t planned to buy anything, but seeing the countless treasures numbering in the billions, he couldn’t help wanting to purchase some. However, the treasures that truly caught his interest usually had prices ranging from several hundred million to several tens of billions, even hundreds of billions of Chaos Units.
But…
He had no money on him. Although he had gained some spoils from defeating that young warrior from the Zhi clan, he hadn’t exchanged them for money yet.
“Hmm?” Luo Feng’s gaze was suddenly drawn to a peculiar golden battle armor approximately eight meters tall. Although it was a virtual creation of the virtual universe, the moment he saw this strange golden battle armor, Luo Feng immediately thought of ‘Soldier Armor’ and ‘General Armor.’
“This is…” Luo Feng’s eyes suddenly lit up.
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