The sleek glass facade of the Midnight Crown Hotel gleamed under the city’s neon lights, casting long, sharp reflections onto the wet concrete of the central commercial district.
Hidden beneath the five-star hotel’s subterranean levels lay the city’s most exclusive black-market trading floor—the Midnight Crown Auction.
It was an elite sanctuary where hidden martial sects, corrupt corporate tycoons, and high-society syndicates gathered to bid on rare spirit stones, illegal cultivation herbs, and stolen spatial artifacts.
Grant Cross walked calmly toward the private underground entrance, his faded canvas jacket completely out of place among the lines of luxury sports cars and armored limousines.
He didn’t care about the judgmental stares from the wealthy elites stepping out of their vehicles.
His golden-tinted pupils were fixed entirely on the heavily reinforced steel vault door guarding the entrance, flanked by two imposing security guards clad in tactical combat armor.
« SYSTEM TACTICAL SENSORY NETWORK ACTIVE »
• Current Location: The Midnight Crown Sub-Level 2
• Defensive Grid: Reinforced Titanium Blast Doors (Structural Integrity: 100%)
• Identified Targets: 2x Elite Sector Enforcers (Ghost Hand Sect Affiliated)
• Hostile Combat Strength: 450 (Tier 1, Stage 4 Cultivators)
• Tactical Status: Target path blocked.
Immediate removal recommended.
“Hold it right there, trash,” the lead guard snapped, stepping forward and resting his hand heavily on the hilt of a high-voltage stun baton.
“This auction is strictly reserved for invitation-only VIPs and representatives of the city’s top five martial clans.
A broke dock hand like you doesn’t even have the right to breathe the air in this corridor.
Turn around and crawl back to the slums before I break both of your legs.”
The second guard sneered, his body passively releasing a thick aura of aggressive intent, waiting for Grant to tremble or beg for mercy.
Grant didn’t blink.
He didn’t waste a single syllable arguing with insects.
Instead, he willed his thoughts inward, tapping into his newly unlocked Stage 3 mechanics.
“Execute Technique: Phantom Step,” Grant commanded silently.
Ding!
« SYSTEM TECHNIQUE INITIALIZED: PHANTOM STEP »
• Agility Multiplier Engaged: 155 Base → 310 Tactical Agility (Duration: 3 Seconds) Get faster updates on g.com.
• Status: Host movement velocity has completely bypassed standard human ocular perception.
In a fraction of a millisecond, Grant’s physical frame completely dissolved into a thin, featureless black shadow.
“What the—?!
Where did he go?!” the lead guard gasped, his eyes widening in pure horror as his stun baton cut through empty air.
Before the guards’ brains could even register the spatial displacement, Grant materialized directly behind them, closer to the massive steel vault door.
His movement was so unnaturally fast that it didn’t even cause a draft of wind inside the concrete corridor.
He didn’t pause.
Moving with the absolute fluid efficiency of an apex predator, he casually extended his right hand, gripping the handle of the reinforced titanium blast door.
He didn’t draw the Obsidian Dragon Blade.
He didn’t even activate his Dragon’s Claw skill.
He simply channeled a microscopic pulse of his baseline 2,500 Combat Strength straight into his fingertips.
CRUNCH!
A horrific, screeching sound of tearing metal erupted through the subterranean hallway.
Under Grant’s raw, 210-point physical Strength attribute, the thick titanium handle deformed instantly, melting and warping like soft clay under his grip.
With a single, casual jerk of his arm, he ripped the entire locking mechanism completely out of the reinforced frame, tearing the heavy steel door clean off its tracks.
BOOM!
The massive, multi-ton vault door slammed violently inward, crashing onto the polished floor of the luxurious auction amphitheater.
The impact sent a massive shockwave of dust and concrete debris flying into the grand hall, shattering the expensive crystal chandeliers hanging overhead.
The frantic, chaotic noise inside the auction house instantly died, replaced by a suffocating, absolute silence.
Hundreds of high-society billionaires, hidden sect elders, and corporate executives dressed in silk robes and tailored tuxedos froze in their velvet seats.
They all turned their heads in sheer, unadulterated shock toward the ruined entrance.
Standing in the center of the dust cloud, bathed in the dim light of the corridor, was Grant.
His faded canvas coat drifted slightly in the backdraft, and his golden draconic pupils flashed with a cold, terrifying dominance that swept across the entire room like a physical wave.
« SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: ENEMY SUPPRESSION »
• Passive Ability Engaged: Sovereign Pressure (50-Meter Radius)
• Status: High-Society Elites completely mentally immobilized.
“Who…
who dare trespass into the Midnight Crown?!” an elderly auctioneer stammered from the center stage, his hands shaking so violently he dropped his wooden gavel onto the floor.
Grant didn’t offer a single word of explanation to the crowd.
He stepped over the ruined steel door, his heavy work boots crunching sharply against the scattered crystal shards as he walked down the central red-carpeted aisle.
Every single wealthy tycoon and hidden martial artist instinctively shrank back into their seats as he passed, their chests tightening under the invisible, mountain-like weight of his passive Sovereign Pressure.
He didn’t stop until he reached the absolute center of the front row—the VIP section reserved exclusively for the absolute masters of the city.
Sitting in the central velvet seat was a beautiful, ice-cold young woman wearing a sleek white business suit, surrounded by six elite Tier 1 (Stage 6) bodyguards.
It was Violet Vance, the ruthless CEO of the multi-billion-dollar Vance Financial Group and the daughter of the city’s hidden Grandmaster.
She was widely known as the most untouchable, unreachable woman in the metropolitan underworld.
Her bodyguards instantly reached for their weapons as Grant approached, but Violet raised a single, trembling hand to stop them.
Her face was deathly pale.
Unlike the ordinary corporate fools in the room, her high-level cultivation allowed her to sense the true, bottomless ocean of primordial dragon energy radiating from the man standing before her.
Grant ignored her bodyguards entirely.
He casually took the empty VIP seat directly beside her, crossing his legs and resting his calloused hands on the velvet armrests.
“The front row belongs to the strongest,” Grant said, his low, calm voice vibrating with the faint resonance of thunder that made the water glasses in the VIP section rattle.
He locked his golden pupils onto the stage, completely unbothered by the hundreds of eyes staring at his back.
“Continue the auction,” Grant commanded smoothly.
“I am here to spend.”
Chapter 8 complete!
Grant just used Phantom Step to completely bypass the perimeter security and tore through a titanium blast door with his bare hands!
He has officially taken the VIP seat right next to the city’s most powerful female tycoon, Violet Vance!
Will Violet realize his true identity, or will she try to challenge the Sovereign?