Chapter 105: The Ghost Market

Two thousand-year lotus seeds.
Exchangeable for second-tier domain value: 23,574
Do you want to exchange for second-tier domain value?
After Ye Feng’s mental energy penetrated the Void Realm, such a dialog box appeared before him.
“Yes!” Ye Feng nodded. He was somewhat puzzled—why hadn’t the Void Realm prompted him to exchange for domain value right away after he obtained the lotus seeds this time?
“It’s simple. You are now a second-tier domain master. Only when you obtain an item with higher privileges than those of a domain master will the Void Realm give you a prompt. For example, when you were at the first tier, if you came into contact with a second-tier item, the Void Realm would immediately alert you. Moreover, as you should know, when you were a first-tier domain master, second-tier items would emit a yellow light. But now, as a second-tier domain master, second-tier items are just ordinary items to you—they won’t emit any color. Only third-tier items will emit a yellow glow.” Ed suddenly stepped out from behind a shelf, holding a book in his hand.
In the Void Realm, as its guardian, Ed could sense Ye Feng’s thoughts, something Ye Feng was aware of, so he wasn’t too surprised.
“You’ve obtained over ten thousand units of second-tier domain value on your first try. You’re really lucky!” Ed’s expression remained calm.
“Are you mocking me, or praising me?” Ye Feng felt that Ed’s tone didn’t seem like praise.
“Interpret it however you want!” Ed stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking indifferent.
Ye Feng sighed inwardly. If Boy were here, that kid would definitely be happier than me. It’s a shame…
“Boy never told you that he was actually your former domain master, right?” Ed apparently heard Ye Feng’s thoughts and suddenly said.
“What?” Ye Feng widened his eyes and stared at Ed.
“I said, Boy was your former domain master! No one else has ever succeeded in obtaining the Void Realm’s authorization!” Ed added.
“You know about him?” Ye Feng immediately asked.
“How could I not? I’ve been the guardian of the Void Realm for hundreds of millions of years. I’ve encountered hundreds of those granted Void Realm authorization. And Boy is the most outstanding among them… To be more precise, he’s recognized by all of us guardians as the one most likely to succeed in obtaining ownership of the Void Realm. It’s a pity he still failed!” Ed’s eyes showed a hint of sadness.

“He’s a true genius. At the age of five, he accidentally obtained the Virtual Realm and successfully activated it. His understanding and use of the Virtual Realm have reached a quite high level. Unfortunately, his only flaw caused him to fail in the final step, resulting in him losing ownership of the Virtual Realm and becoming one of us.”
“A flaw? What is it?” Ye Feng couldn’t help but ask.
“He’s too kind! Too easy to trust others…” Ed turned to look at Ye Feng. “When we were handing over the responsibilities, he told me that I was the person he had the highest hopes for, believing I would be better than him. But so far, your performance doesn’t give me that impression! I don’t know what he meant by ‘better’—out of the hundreds of Virtual Realm authorized users I’ve seen, more than half perform better than you!”
Hearing Ed’s almost reprimanding words, Ye Feng silently lowered his head. It seemed that after obtaining the Virtual Realm and with Boy’s guidance, he had rarely taken the initiative to explore its functions. He had had the Virtual Realm for quite some time, but he had always treated it like a toy, failing to unlock its potential.
His first activation of the Virtual Realm was purely by chance. Later, obtaining millions of domain points was also entirely luck—he had no idea killing those people would have such an effect. Even getting the lotus seed was purely by chance. Thinking of this, Ye Feng broke into a cold sweat. What if one day, the God of Fate stopped favoring him? How would he use the Virtual Realm then?
“I hope you won’t treat the Virtual Realm as a toy. Spend some time thinking about how to earn domain points through your own strength and how to develop its capabilities. Luck will run out one day! Be careful!” Ed turned away with a cold expression and disappeared among the rows of shelves.
Ye Feng slowly withdrew his mental energy, his expression rather dull.
“Xiao Feng?” Long Tian tapped Ye Feng. “It’s almost time! We should go!”
“Oh.” Ye Feng finally came back to his senses, responded, and followed Long Tian away.
“I’m not going. My current state might change back at any moment!” Hu Die saw the two to the door and stood there watching them leave.
“Thanks!” Long Tian didn’t turn around, just raised his hand slightly.
Night fell, shrouded in mist. Darkness spread across the land, with the undulating mountains hidden in the darkness, only their jagged peaks faintly visible in the gloom.

The strong wind howled, its eerie sound resembling human cries, echoing along the mountainside. In the quiet night, from afar, came the sound of rocks sliding down the cliffs and crashing along the way. The glow of the crescent moon, like misty light, spread everywhere, illuminating the cliff faces, slopes, rock corners, the branches of trees stretching out like arms, and the fractured rocks eroded by cracks. Below the mountain, the stone door stood out clearly… The two exchanged a glance and pushed open the stone door… Inside, there was a narrow path wide enough for only one person to walk. It wasn’t completely dark; for some reason, the walls on both sides emitted a faint blue light. Though weak, it was enough for Long Tian and Ye Feng to see what was beneath their feet. Under this blue light, their faces turned blue, giving them a somewhat eerie appearance… They walked along the dim path for nearly ten minutes. Even with Ye Feng’s remarkable memory, he couldn’t recall how many turns they had taken—completely lost in the maze… Fortunately, they soon sensed a gentle breeze in the distance, indicating that the exit was near… After another turn, they finally saw the light of a fire coming from the cave entrance and ran toward it excitedly. Upon emerging, Ye Feng and Long Tian were stunned—the light they had seen at the entrance came from a large bonfire in the center of the valley. From the flames, they could faintly make out that the burning objects were grotesque corpses…