The Slave Market

Two Planetary-level youths, four Star-level bodyguards, two Silver Stream Guards, and one Dream Shell race maid.

This was Luo Feng's team.

“Though Star-level experts are considered formidable, a Cosmic-level expert is a true local emperor! The overlord of a star system!” Luo Feng thought as he walked. “When my Golden Horned Beast reaches Cosmic-level! That’s when I’ll truly have enough confidence! But the Golden Horned Beast devours metal, and buying it requires a massive amount of money!”

“Money, money, money!”

“Should I sell the Arc Blade Disc?” Luo Feng pondered.

He possessed both the Duntiansuo and the Arc Blade Disc, but usually, one psychic weapon was sufficient for combat. Moreover, he still had his ultimate weapon—the Crimson Copper Mother Fragment!

“To sell or not to sell the Arc Blade Disc?” Luo Feng wrestled with the decision.

“Luo Feng, there’s a Treasure Emporium ahead,” Gaosheng called out with a smile. “Treasure Emporiums have all sorts of peculiar treasures, selling everything imaginable. The only commonality is that they’re all treasures! So they’re all incredibly expensive. Let’s go take a look first; it’s not far from the Slave Market anyway.”

“Treasure Emporium?”

Curious, Luo Feng and Gaosheng stepped into the Treasure Emporium together.

This Treasure Emporium occupied an enormous area, comparable to a large plaza on Earth. Inside, it was divided into sections for combat suits, beast taming, psychic weapons, exotic fruits, robots, and various other miscellaneous items, with plenty of each. All had simulated holographic projections, and every item was exorbitantly priced.

“This Treasure Emporium isn’t as comprehensive as specialized stores for psychic weapons or robots. But its strength lies in its sheer variety,” Gaosheng praised. “Brother, you take a look first; I’ll also enjoy browsing.”

Luo Feng gazed at the simulated projections of the items, then at their prices...

Expensive!

Too expensive!

“Moyun Teng seeds too? Amethyst Fruit, that’s insane!” Luo Feng’s expression remained calm, but his heart was churning.

Even if he sold Earth, he still couldn’t afford many things in this store.

“This is—”

Luo Feng suddenly spotted a small piece of metal. It matched a crucial metal he remembered from the cultivation requirements of the “Original Universe” secret manual. “That’s it!”

This metal was most important for the first layer of “Original Universe”!

“The price, translated into Earth units, is 200 Black Dragon coins per gram?” Luo Feng’s eyes widened. “Per gram?”

“The Golden Horned Beast’s size means it eats by the ton!” Luo Feng felt a sense of powerlessness.

In the cosmos, this kind of metal was sold by the ‘gram’!

It was like gold on Earth being sold by the ‘gram’! If a pet suddenly needed to eat tons of gold every day, even Earth’s richest person would be dumbfounded.

It was the same principle.

“200 Black Dragon coins per gram! A ton would be 200 million Black Dragon coins?” Luo Feng blinked. “If the Golden Horned Beast cultivates ‘Original Universe’ and eats about a ton a day, then over a year...” An astronomical figure, a string of astronomical figures floated through Luo Feng’s mind. No wonder, no wonder!

No wonder generations of Golden Horned Beasts mostly only completed the first layer of “Original Universe.”

“Brother Luo Feng, what are you looking at?” Gaosheng walked over, took a look, and said, “Memory-attribute metal? This metal is good stuff. If you add a tiny bit to weapons, they can automatically repair themselves even if damaged!”

There were many types of memory metals.

All calculated by gram!

Extremely expensive!

“I’m going out for some fresh air.” The more Luo Feng looked, the more frustrated and helpless he felt.

In the vast cosmos, there were countless treasures.

Items to enhance strength, to strengthen the soul, everything existed!

It wasn’t about lacking treasures; it was about lacking the money to buy them!

With enough wealth, buying a planet was incredibly easy, and having billions of people as your slaves was also simple!

“I’m not looking anymore either, I can’t afford anything. Let’s go to the Slave Market,” Gaosheng said helplessly.

...

The Slave Market covered an area of over 300 square kilometers. If it were on Earth, it would definitely be a colossal city.

But on Qiulong Star, it was just a small part of Qiulong City.

The Slave Market was bustling with people, the largest slave market among the surrounding hundred star systems.

“These Tieluo people are all very strong. Although they’re a bit foolish and don’t understand cultivation, each one is comparable to an Apprentice-level Nine Wargod! Each only costs 20 Black Dragon coins, and you get a discount if you buy in bulk!” Outside the massive slave malls, some people were actively soliciting customers, enthusiastically introducing their wares.

Luo Feng was somewhat speechless.

Apprentice-level Nine? Wasn’t that equivalent to a High-level Wargod on Earth?

20 Black Dragon coins each?

If he spent 100 million, wouldn’t he buy 5 million High-level Wargods?

“Those below Planetary-level cannot become citizens, so their prices are very low,” Gaosheng explained as they walked. “Below Planetary-level, unless they are exceptionally beautiful women or have special attributes, they generally cost around 10 Black Dragon coins. Look over there, all beauties!”

In the distance, a group of incredibly beautiful women of various races could be seen: some with fair skin, some with furry tails, some with cat ears, some very similar to Earthlings... Each one, if brought to Earth, would be considered a peerless beauty.

“5,000 Black Dragon coins each, all top-tier beauties, with discounts for bulk purchases,” a beautiful woman nearby called out sweetly.

“Hmm?”

Luo Feng saw another plaza where intense powerful auras emanated freely. Planetary-level Six, Seven, Eight, and even Nine Wargods and Psychic Readers stood among them. Only a very few Planetary-level Three and Four were present. The aura of many of them was no weaker than Hong or Lei Shen.

“5,000? 8,000? That Planetary-level Eight is 20,000? A Planetary-level Nine Psychic Reader is 100,000?” Luo Feng looked at the price tags.

100,000 Black Dragon coins could buy a Planetary-level Nine Psychic Reader!

On Earth, that would be an almost invincible existence!

Gaosheng, beside Luo Feng, said indifferently, “Planetary-level individuals are mostly just henchmen or servants; they’re not very useful! In the cosmos, Star-level is considered the optimal tier for bodyguards and servants. However, those below Planetary-level are around ten Black Dragon coins, Planetary-level are around 10,000, while Star-level are around 100 million.”

Led by Gaosheng, they soon arrived at an even more spacious plaza, where 18 Wargods and Psychic Readers stood.

There was one of each: Star-level One, Two, Three... up to Nine Wargods and Psychic Readers! Each had a price listed.

The 18 Star-level slaves actively released their auras, showcasing their power! Especially some of the Star-level Eight and Nine, who were far stronger than the Golden Horned Beast was back then. The combined aura of this group made Luo Feng tremble involuntarily.

“So strong!” Gaosheng muttered beside him. “My calves are even shaking a bit!”

“Indeed, very strong.”

Luo Feng also held his breath.

A level leap was a qualitative jump in life essence! The further one progressed, the more exaggerated this leap became! If “Planetary-level One is several times stronger than Apprentice-level Nine,” then “Star-level One is more than ten times stronger than Planetary-level Nine,” and “Cosmic-level One is even stronger than Star-level Nine.”

The higher the level, the greater the threshold and gap between tiers!

This was also why Hong and Lei Shen, who were already Planetary-level Seven and Eight, were domain experts and even burned their souls, yet initially couldn’t even break through the Golden Horned Beast’s scales! It was only when Hong unleashed his full power that he finally broke the scales. One reason was the Golden Horned Beast’s immense strength, and the other was the extremely high threshold and vast difference between Star-level and Planetary-level.

Each of these 18 slaves was far stronger than Luo Feng.

Bring out a Star-level Seven or Eight.

They would absolutely sweep across Earth! They could crush Luo Feng with a single finger!

“A Star-level One Wargod is so cheap, only 1 million. A Star-level Four Wargod is 20 million? A Star-level Seven Wargod is expensive, actually 500 million! A Star-level Eight Wargod is 2 billion, and a Star-level Nine Wargod is 5 billion.” Luo Feng looked at these prices. As for Psychic Readers, their prices were three times that of Wargods of the same tier!

“The prices are quite reasonable,” Gaosheng commented.

“Sir, are you interested in these Star-level slaves?” Immediately, a manager from the plaza ran over. He clearly deduced from Luo Feng and Gaosheng’s bodyguards that they were wealthy clients capable of making such purchases!

“I already have Star-level ones,” Gaosheng said to the manager with a smile. “I heard that last time on Qiulong Star, there were Cosmic-level slaves for sale?”

Luo Feng was startled.

Cosmic-level slaves?

A normally developing star system only produces one Cosmic-level expert! Cosmic-level, that was a true local emperor.

Cosmic-level slaves?

However, Luo Feng had learned about slaves from Babata: their brains were implanted with ‘bio-chips’ that then merged with the brain. Once implanted, they couldn’t be removed and would ensure complete loyalty to the owner! To destroy the chip, one had to destroy the brain! But the soul of human experts resided in their sea of consciousness!

So, destroying the brain meant certain death.

Unless... one became a Domain Lord!

A Domain Lord’s soul could already leave the brain! And destroy the chip within the brain.

Therefore...

Theoretically, with ‘bio-chips’ implanted, the strongest slave could be Cosmic-level Nine! Of course, if it were the Yunmo Star secret technique “Soul Imprint,” that could even control Immortal experts! But such a secret technique... in the vast cosmos, was an absolutely top-tier secret technique that was never passed down!

“Cosmic-level slaves? Sir, if you want to buy one, yes, our boss can arrange it,” the manager said with a smile.

“I was just asking, I can’t afford it,” Gaosheng laughed heartily.

“Cosmic-level slaves are expensive! There’s no way around it; capturing a Cosmic-level expert alive is already difficult, and implanting a chip is even harder. A single Cosmic-level individual costs trillions of Black Dragon coins. More expensive than a planet.” The manager also shook his head. “In my opinion, with that money, you’d be better off buying ten or twenty Star-level Nine individuals. Maybe with some luck, one of them will break through to ‘Cosmic-level.’ Then, if you resell them, wouldn’t you strike it rich?”

“You’re trying to fool me!” Gaosheng glared. “A Star-level Nine breaking through to Cosmic-level? One in a hundred thousand?”

“I was just saying,” the manager laughed.

Luo Feng, however, eyed those slaves with envy.

Star-level Eight and Nine were thousands of times stronger than his current Earthling clone! Even a Star-level Four Golden Horned Beast, fighting with all its might, might not be their match. As long as they didn’t encounter a Cosmic-level expert... having such slaves as bodyguards would make him unstoppable. And slaves controlled by chips were absolutely obedient.

For countless years, there had been no instances of slaves rebelling against their masters.

“It’s just too expensive!”

Luo Feng frowned. “The Golden Horned Beast needs money to grow stronger! Cultivating ‘Original Universe’ needs money! Becoming Earth’s overlord needs money! Getting powerful, obedient subordinates still needs money!”

“Damn it!”

Luo Feng gritted his teeth. “I don’t use the Arc Blade Disc much anyway, and my true ultimate move is the ‘Crimson Copper Mother Fragment.’ I’ll just sell the Arc Blade Disc! Then I’ll have money for cultivation and money for slaves!”