Chapter 68 The Sixty-Eighth Day of Game Making in the City of Nine Netherworlds

The City of Nine Netherworlds?

It was a name he had never heard of before. Donghuang Taiyi was about to ask further when Kunpeng hurriedly interrupted him.

He made a shushing gesture and whispered, "After all, this is a game, so there are some things that are not easy to mention. If you are interested, you can come here to find me."

He then handed Donghuang Taiyi an address, a place he had never heard of before, which he could only determine was that it was on the coast of the East China Sea.

Then he left with the words: "Now that I have said this, fellow Daoist, you must come here to find me."

Then, as if a sworn enemy was chasing him, Kunpeng didn't dare to linger for a moment and instantly quit the game.

Left completely bewildered, Donghuang Taiyi stared in confusion at the suddenly changed scene before him. If he hadn't still clutched the address Kunpeng had given him, he would have thought his previous experience in the Kunpeng world was just a dream.

At this moment, Donghuang Taiyi's curiosity was piqued. After memorizing the location, he quit the game without hesitation.

The golden crow spread its wings, reaching wherever the sunlight touched. Donghuang Taiyi soon arrived at the so-called "Nine Netherworlds".

From Donghuang Taiyi's perspective, this place was nothing special: sand by the sea, trees growing in the sand, a few rocks dotted with moss, and apart from the fact that there was still no living creature around, this place was just an ordinary beach.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the Kunpeng flew in from the south.

Her attire and radiance were exactly the same as in the game, making the place truly "glorious." The brilliance of her jewels almost blinded the sunlight, and for a moment, Donghuang Taiyi couldn't distinguish between the game and reality.

It turns out that Kunpeng is also so extravagant outside the game. The spirit pearls on his body are much better than the materials he and his brother found to set up the great formation, but now Fellow Daoist Kunpeng is busy wearing dazzling clothes.

Could it be that Kunpeng, both inside and outside the game, is also engaging in such treacherous acts, like using a tree as firewood to cook a dragon? Such behavior would damage the spiritual energy of the treasure, which wouldn't be good for cultivation in the future. Fellow Daoist Kunpeng has been so kind to him; how can he offer a word of advice without offending his fellow Daoist?

Donghuang Taiyi only pondered for a moment, but Kunpeng misunderstood that he envied his glorious life.

They really took the bait; the Sun and the Golden Crow were nothing compared to them. Kunpeng couldn't help but look down on Donghuang Taiyi a bit, but his behavior remained as magnanimous as ever: "If you like anything, fellow Daoist, please feel free to take it. We've known each other for a while now, these things are nothing."

"Besides, with your wealth and resources, once you enter the Nine Nether Market, you'll definitely make a fortune. At that time, these ordinary things won't even catch your eye. You might even think they're not round enough to throw away."

How could such excellent array core material be wasted? Donghuang Taiyi momentarily forgot what he had been thinking, leaving only this one thought in his mind.

Then he realized that Fellow Daoist Kunpeng was going to take him into the so-called Nine Netherworld City, and that there was a great opportunity hidden in Fellow Daoist Kunpeng's words and actions.

Such a fortuitous opportunity, and Fellow Daoist Kunpeng is truly generous in sharing it with me. If I and my brother achieve great things in the future, we will definitely repay Fellow Daoist Kunpeng properly.

At this moment, Kunpeng had brought Donghuang Taiyi to the rocks on the sea. The two took a step forward and entered a mysterious black world, where only the water beneath their feet emitted a faint light.

The silent space was filled only with Kunpeng's affected tone, which inexplicably made Donghuang Taiyi even more convinced.

He thought to himself, if this is truly a tremendous opportunity, I must acquire some treasures to help my brother achieve great things. With these treasures, he and his brother will be able to save themselves countless troubles.

Thinking of this, Donghuang Taiyi's eyes were filled with gratitude as he looked at Kunpeng.

Kunpeng remained unmoved and went through the manuscript, which he had already memorized perfectly, once again.

He wondered why Donghuang Taiyi hadn't asked him why he'd never heard of this place before, but since he'd been hesitant to speak recently, and they were almost at their destination, Kunpeng finally spoke fluently.

"This Nine Netherworld was created by a master, who is said to have been born at the same time as the one above." Kunpeng said, looking up at the sky, as if he had said nothing, yet it also seemed like he had said everything.

Donghuang Taiyi immediately understood and suddenly felt that the space around him, with its varying shades of black, had become much more profound and unfathomable.

Seeing that Donghuang Taiyi was constantly looking around, Kunpeng, taking advantage of being in front, rolled his eyes without any attempt to hide it.

Now, he no longer expected Donghuang Taiyi to be able to continue his story. So Kunpeng recited a string of speculations about the origins of the Nine Netherworlds, as if reciting a script.

After spending time together, Donghuang Taiyi had come to regard Kunpeng as a friend. How could he doubt the truthfulness of Kunpeng's words? He actually memorized all of these words and did not utter a sound in between, but only pondered in his heart that this Nine Nether Land was indeed not simple.

Seeing that Donghuang Taiyi believed everything he was told and looked like a fool, Kunpeng felt that all his preparations were a waste of his talents. He was too lazy to follow the procedures step by step. Just when he thought he had gone far enough, he cleaved a crack in the middle of the way, and a steady stream of seawater poured in from the crack.

Kunpeng led Donghuang Taiyi out of the crack and landed on a piece of deep blue land. In front of them was a wide road, with pavilions standing on both sides and countless little demons coming and going, shouting and buying and selling, making it a lively scene.

Kunpeng confidently opened his arms and smiled as he declared to Donghuang Taiyi, "This is the Nine Netherworld."

After saying that, he led Donghuang Taiyi toward the tall building in the very center. During the walk, Donghuang Taiyi said that he saw some familiar magical artifacts by the roadside and wanted to stop and take a look.

Kunpeng refused, saying, "These ordinary things can be bought again anytime, but the things you want are rare and precious. If you don't hurry up and they're all bought by others, you'll miss out on this opportunity."

When it came to fortuitous encounters, Donghuang Taiyi scoffed. After all, it was just something that looked vaguely familiar; in such a vast world, it wasn't unusual to see a few familiar objects.

Kunpeng finally breathed a sigh of relief, thankfully he had fooled Donghuang Taiyi. After all, this Nine Netherworld was just a decoy he had built up over the past half month, and those coming and going were mostly his subordinate demons, with only a few accidentally wandering in for him to slaughter.

The magical artifacts and divine objects on those stalls were all just for show. They might be good for fooling some ignorant little demons and monsters from afar, but they would never fool someone like Donghuang Taiyi.

Fortunately, he had prepared a method to seduce the Great Luo Golden Immortals in advance, which was right here in the Nine Nether Pavilion.

The Nine Nether Pavilion is the tallest building here. Its exterior is magnificent and its interior is also extraordinary. Even the couplet at the entrance contains a hidden meaning.

The first line reads: "Borrowing chaos to exchange for the sun and moon"; the second line reads: "Redeeming the vast ocean to nourish the mulberry fields"; the horizontal inscription reads: "Fortune is in our hands."

Every character on it is written with powerful strokes, each character carrying the vast and profound aura of the Great Dao, revealing the high hopes the owner has for this place.

However, it was just a couplet at the gate; Donghuang Taiyi only glanced at it briefly before walking inside with Kunpeng.

Inside the pavilion was a deep blue, with dozens of white or pink giant clams supported by the varying shades of seawater. Through the half-open and half-closed design, one could glimpse the brilliance of the treasures.

Kunpeng was clearly very familiar with this place, and led Donghuang Taiyi to a private seat with ease. Two puppet boys and girls stood by his side.

Kunpeng lay half-reclined on the cushion, as relaxed as if he were back in his own cave. He summoned the little demon on duty and pointed at Donghuang Taiyi: "My brother here wants to buy some water essence. How much do you have left?"

A moment later, a bird demon with a mustache and slanted eyes entered. His eyes were mostly white with little black, and the black part was all squeezed onto them, making it seem as if he wasn't looking at people directly just by standing there.

"Of course we have them." Dozens of maids appeared behind the bird demon, each holding a seashell. They opened them one by one and found Xuanming True Water, Three Lights Divine Water, Weak Water, Taiyin True Water... a dazzling array of varieties.

Donghuang Taiyi frowned: "Why are they all fakes?"

Indeed, although the bird demon brought a complete variety of divine waters, with Donghuang Taiyi's discerning eye, he could only tell that among these dozens of water essences, only two were genuine; the rest were samples that looked similar.

The bird demon feigned ignorance: "Didn't you want the game items from 'Three Thousand Guests of the Purple Cloud', sir? These are all our goods. If you really want these real-world treasures, please go to the stall on the left after you leave; that's where the customer wants them."

As the bird demon spoke, its expression changed, and its slanted eyes were almost entirely filled with white.

At this moment, Donghuang Taiyi, who had been dazzled by the prosperity of the Nine Netherworld, suddenly awoke. Oh right, he came to buy game items. Card upgrades, not actually to get those water-attribute treasures that clashed with his own attributes.

He was about to tell the bird demon to leave all the goods when he saw the huge prices below, all of which were 9999999999.

"Why is this land so expensive?" Donghuang Taiyi exclaimed, "It's nine times more expensive than the highest price in the game!"

Kunpeng explained from the side, "After all, the source of water has always been in short supply..."

Now Donghuang Taiyi finally remembered the post he had seen on the forum and what Kunpeng meant by "cannot be purchased from Wanwu Pavilion".

Looking at the goods in front of him, which were several times more than the daily transaction volume of Wanwu Pavilion, Donghuang Taiyi breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that the source of water was traded here.

He calculated the coins he had saved up over the past few days, gritted his teeth, and decided to use them all to buy the Chaos Jade. He figured he could eventually scrape together enough to give the Chaos Jade a small upgrade.

But then a child came over, and the bird took the paper from the child and then turned around to add a nine to the price of each of the dozen or so water-based ingredients.

Well, now I can't afford any of them.

The item he had just decided to buy suddenly went up in price by a huge margin. Donghuang Taiyi, who had never encountered anything like this before, couldn't control his emotions at all. He felt like he had stumbled upon a rip-off shop and immediately decided to act on behalf of Heaven and teach them a lesson.

At this moment, the bird demon, who had previously given Donghuang Taiyi a cold shoulder, bowed respectfully to Kunpeng and said, "My lord, the prices of the treasures you consigned here have recently increased. This is a rebate from our shopkeeper to you."

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Author's Note: The second step in a "pig butchering" scam is to tell the victim that you have a lawless, unregulated space.