Jianghai City, Cloud Peak Tower.
The banquet hall blazed with gold, every inch of air reeking of burning money.
Centenarian Zhao Tianhao stood center stage, face glowing red like a blood-gorged vampire. Under dozens of camera close-ups, he swallowed a pill that sparkled with flowing light.
"I have money!" Zhao Tianhao cackled at the citywide livestream. "With money, I can even default on Heaven's debt!"
Next second, visual spectacle erupted.
The death-gray **[00:00:00]** above his head spun wildly, transforming into blazing pure gold:
**[50:00:00:00]**
Fifty years! Half a century of lifespan credited!
The elite audience below turned wolf-red with envy, thunderous applause erupting. Zhao Tianhao turned, bowing deeply to the middle-aged Taoist in the main seat. "Thank you, Immortal Master Li of Kunlun, for granting me life!"
At the peak of this celebration—
*BANG—!!!*
The two-ton bronze doors flew inward like paper, smashing three front-row wine tables.
Dust exploded. Music died.
Only teeth-grinding scraping sounds remained.
*Screech—screech—*
Ethan Cross walked through shattered glass. Black funeral suit, white flower pinned to his chest, gold-rimmed glasses glinting coldly under the lights.
Behind him, Lyra Vane dragged a thick hemp rope single-handedly.
At rope's end, a pitch-black nanmu coffin scraped across floor tiles, carving deep grooves.
"Who?!"
Zhao Tianhao's wine glass shattered on the floor. "What lunatic dares bring me a clock?!"
Ethan Cross didn't even glance at him, head down flipping through his black ledger, fingers racing across pages.
"Zhao Tianhao, male, ID number 110..."
His cold voice carried through the microphone across the hall. "Don't misunderstand—I'm underworld express delivery."
He knocked the coffin board behind him, sound striking everyone's hearts.
"VIP single room, solid wood, formaldehyde-free. Boss Zhao, sign here and hit the road."
Dead silence for one second, then chaos erupted.
"Bastard!" Zhao Tianhao's face twitched with rage, his newly-bought fifty years nearly shortened by anger. "Security! Where's the Black Steel Squad! Chop these two bastards into dog food!"
*Crash!*
Side doors burst open as thirty armed thugs poured in.
All retired mercenaries wielding high-voltage stun batons, murderously charging the thin young man.
Livestream comments went crazy: "He's dead! This kid's becoming mincemeat!"
Facing thirty rabid dogs, Ethan Cross didn't even lift his eyelids, still checking accounts. "Too noisy. Interfering with my calculations."
Lyra Vane released the coffin rope.
She stepped forward, gears grinding audibly in her damaged mechanical right eye.
"Kneel."
Two words, soft as a sigh.
*Hum!*
Transparent ripples spread through the air. Pure biological force field slammed down like a hydraulic press.
The lead bodyguard felt a mountain crushing his skull.
"Pff—!"
Thirty men simultaneously sprayed blood mist, no chance to even scream.
*Crack! Crack!*
Kneecaps shattered.
Thirty strong men knelt in perfect formation along the red carpet, heads slamming the floor, creating a bloody path for Ethan Cross.
The elite guests clutched their hearts, nearly dying on the spot.
Ethan Cross stepped through blood pools, leather shoes clicking crisply as he climbed the stage step by step.
He looked down at Zhao Tianhao collapsed in his chair. "Boss Zhao, no need for such formal ceremony. Though the underworld is violent, we practice civilized law enforcement."
"Demon... sorcery!"
Zhao Tianhao scrambled backward on hands and knees, clutching the nearby Taoist's leg. "Immortal Master Li! Save me! This man's a ghost cultivator! Subdue him!"
The previously meditating Immortal Master Li finally opened his eyes.
He floated three inches off the ground, looking at Ethan Cross like an ant. "Mere wandering ghost dares act presumptuous before Kunlun?"
Cold light flashed!
Master Li swept his sleeve, silver light shooting out. A three-inch flying sword expanded against wind, shrieking through air straight at Ethan Cross's forehead!
Flying sword! Legendary killing technique!
"He's dead!" guests cried.
Ethan Cross didn't move, even yawned from staying up late reading ledgers.
Just as the blade tip reached one millimeter from his pupil—
A scarred hand intercepted.
*Ding!*
Crisp enough to make teeth ache.
Lyra Vane caught the flying sword between two fingers. The iron-cutting spiritual blade trembled frantically between her digits, wailing but motionless.
"This..." Master Li's eyes nearly popped out. "Bare-handed sword catching?! Which sect's body cultivation master are you?!"
Ethan Cross glanced sideways at the sword, adjusting his glasses.
**[Appraisal: Inferior alloy mixed with 0.1% spirit powder]**
**[Recycling value: 3 days lifespan]**
"That's it?" Ethan Cross frowned disdainfully. "Garbage even scrap yards wouldn't take. Lyra, crush it."
"Okay."
Lyra Vane's five fingers closed.
*Snap!*
Metal's death cry. The billion-yuan "house-guarding immortal sword" crumbled like a breadstick into iron powder.
"Pff—!"
His natal artifact destroyed, Master Li spewed old blood skyward, falling from midair like a dead dog, instantly unconscious.
Now the banquet hall fell completely silent.
Not even breathing sounds.
Ethan Cross waved away iron dust, walking to the trembling Zhao Tianhao and slamming the black ledger on the table.
"Zhao Tianhao, lifespan should have ended yesterday at midnight."
Ethan Cross's voice carried no emotion. "To extend your life, you used evil arts to sacrifice 300 left-behind children in Yunnan-Guizhou mountains, extracting ten years each for these fifty years."
Zhao Tianhao went ashen, frantically shaking his head. "You... you have no proof! That was charity! I do charity!"
"Proof?"
Ethan Cross smiled, pointing at his own eyes.
"I saw it. That's proof enough."
He leaned down, whispering in Zhao Tianhao's ear like a demon's murmur. "Also notifying you—your supplier not only operated illegally but evaded underworld taxes. Now, beginning forced execution."
Ethan Cross's right hand yanked backward violently.
**[Execution code: Malicious wage theft, maximum penalty]**
"NO—!!!"
Zhao Tianhao's pig-slaughter scream echoed.
Under millions of viewers' gaze, his golden **[50:00:00:00]** transformed into a thick golden torrent, violently extracted from his skull by Ethan Cross!
*Sizzle—*
Bodily collapse happened instantly.
First second: ruddy skin withered, age spots spreading like mold.
Second second: teeth flew out, eyes clouded and sunken.
Third second: expensive red Tang suit collapsed empty.
*Thud.*
Only a skin-and-bones mummy remained in the clothes, withered claws still grasping air like century-dried rotten wood.
Zhao Tianhao, aged 100 years and 3 minutes.
Cause of death: Insufficient balance.
Ethan Cross checked his retinal interface.
**[Current debt: -2950 years]**
"Only fifty years profit. Pauper."
Ethan Cross wiped his hands disdainfully, gaze sweeping the usually high-and-mighty elite below.
*Crash!*
Hundreds fell like cut wheat, heads down, not daring to look up.
"Great Immortal, spare us! I'll donate! I'll atone!"
Ethan Cross ignored these leeks. He walked to unconscious Master Li, searching briefly before pulling out a warm white jade token.
The moment his fingers touched it, system warnings blazed red:
**[WARNING: High-energy reaction detected!]**
**[Location: Underground vault of this building]**
**[Item: Unhatched 'Dragon Species Embryo' (Cultivation world contraband)]**
**[Estimated value: 500+ years]**
Five hundred years!
Ethan Cross's eyes instantly lit with purer greed than when killing earlier.
He turned to Lyra Vane, lips curving in a maniacal arc.
"Lyra, throw out the pillow from the coffin."
Lyra Vane blinked. "Why?"
Ethan Cross toyed with the jade token, gaze seemingly penetrating hundred meters of earth to that vault.
"Because we just struck it rich."
He adjusted his glasses, smiling with refined yet psychotic elegance.
"This coffin's getting crowded. Need to make room for the dragon downstairs."