The massive Scarlet Dragon Airship materialized over Ghost City, dazzling as the sun itself, instantly drawing the attention of every single person in the city — or rather, it would have been impossible to ignore.
The roar of the Scarlet Dragon Airship's power core was like the bellow of a giant dragon, clearly audible even from several thousand yards away.
"What's going on? Did some kind of event get triggered?"
"No way — that's the airship from the rumors at sea! They actually came to Ghost City!"
"They have an airship? What kind of faction is this? That's absurdly powerful!"
With the appearance of the Scarlet Dragon Airship, players throughout Ghost City buzzed with speculation. Many who had witnessed the airship before had already posted about it on the official forums, and the news had caused quite a stir across the entire Chaotic Sea. No one had expected that a player had already obtained such a formidable aerial weapon.
Now that the Scarlet Dragon Airship had shown up over Ghost City, how could its residents not pay attention?
The airship arrived at Ghost City, and Shi Feng didn't linger in midair for long before piloting it directly into the city's aerial port.
The Chaotic Sea contained only twenty-four cities, each separated by vast distances. Travel between them relied on sea vessels and airships, so the sea ports and aerial ports of the Chaotic Sea's twenty-four cities were extraordinarily bustling.
After Shi Feng stowed the Scarlet Dragon Airship and stepped out of the temporary docking bay, he found himself in an enormous aerial port hall resembling a public square. Inside, besides Dark faction players, there were a handful of ordinary players as well. The Dark faction players present were entirely unfazed by the arrival of someone like Shi Feng — after all, someone was always willing to take risks to make a fortune in the Chaotic Sea.
The aerial port hall was lined with merchandise counters displaying a vast array of precious items put up for sale by players. The lively scene was every bit as impressive as an auction house in a royal capital.
"So prosperous!" Dark Sin Heart stared at the sea of players and the various precious items on display throughout the hall, his heart full of disbelief. "Is this really a city controlled by the Dark faction?"
In his impression, the territories controlled by the Dark faction were nothing but chaos and slaughter — they shouldn't have anything to do with this kind of prosperity and bustle.
The precious items sold here were tempting enough that even he, the president of Undying Light, couldn't help but be moved.
Mythril Rank mounts and Tier 3 summoning scrolls — items nearly impossible to buy in the Genesis Empire — were available here, and not just three or five pieces, but stacks of them. On top of that, Bronze-rank fast ships that couldn't be purchased anywhere in the Genesis Empire were on sale here, with over a dozen on offer...
It wasn't just Dark Sin Heart whose eyes were spinning. The Undying Light members present were equally wide-eyed, itching to rush forward and grab everything in sight.
Among them, only Shi Feng calmly surveyed the items throughout the hall.
The territories controlled by the Dark faction were indeed chaotic, but that chaos existed only outside the cities. NPC cities served as the sole safe havens, naturally becoming the go-to places for safe trading. Coupled with the fact that the Chaotic Sea had so few cities, this had created the current level of prosperity.
Moreover, players living in the Dark faction's territories were entirely different from those in kingdoms and empires. Items that were extremely important to players in kingdoms and empires held little value for Dark faction players. In the Chaotic Sea especially, players relied on sea beasts for travel and had no need for land mounts or ships.
Dark faction players also prioritized strengthening their personal abilities over acquiring material equipment, since relying on external items made it difficult to obtain powerful legacies. As a result, player equipment sold in the Dark faction's territories went for remarkably low prices.
This was why the major sea factions all wanted to come to the Chaotic Sea for trade.
When Dark Sin Heart saw the Void Origin Stones on the counter and their listed prices, the normally composed man nearly swore out loud.
Void Origin Stones in the Divine Realm were never cheap to begin with — roughly five to ten gold coins per stone. This was due not only to their rarity but primarily to the difficulty of transporting them. Shipping costs alone accounted for the bulk of the price, so a production cost of one or two gold was already considered high.
But here, Void Origin Stones were selling for over forty gold apiece!
And Dark faction players were snatching them up. The stones priced at forty to fifty gold were quickly sold out, leaving only a handful of pieces listed at over sixty gold.
This was outrageously profitable!
They had brought over three hundred Void Origin Stones on this trip — part of a semi-gift from the Freedom Alliance during this trial. As long as they delivered them to Ghost City and handed them over to the Freedom Alliance, they would receive half the Void Origin Stones in return. Even at a profit of fifty gold per stone, they would earn 7,500 gold from this trip alone. If they could make large daily deliveries, the revenue would be staggering.
Now Dark Sin Heart truly understood why Shi Feng had fought so hard for the Void Origin Stone partnership — even at the cost of exposing the Scarlet Dragon Airship and becoming a target for every major faction. If they could deliver Void Origin Stones here on a long-term basis, the returns would far exceed those of a guild city.
A single raw Void Origin Stone vein could yield thousands to tens of thousands of stones per day. Even if they received just a thousand stones daily, with half the profit going to the Freedom Alliance, their side would still net over 25,000 gold per day. With higher prices or a greater share of stones, thirty thousand gold in net daily income was well within reach.
Thirty thousand gold in liquid funds to use freely every single day — even a first-tier guild would be green with envy.
In fact, it wasn't just Dark Sin Heart who was shocked by the Void Origin Stone prices. Even Shi Feng had been startled — he hadn't expected them to sell for this much.
In his previous life, Void Origin Stones on the Dark faction's market had gone for only twenty-something gold. Now the price had more than doubled. No wonder the Freedom Alliance was so eager to find partners.
Soon Shi Feng delivered half the Void Origin Stones to the Freedom Alliance's representatives and put the other half up for sale. He instantly earned 7,650 gold — earning money even faster than Zero Wing City had managed. If he could secure the partnership with the Freedom Alliance, both Zero Wing and Undying Light would have a stable, long-term source of massive income, to say nothing of the inherent value of the Void Origin Stones themselves.
After completing the Freedom Alliance's trial, Shi Feng and Dark Sin Heart didn't linger in Ghost City. Eager to sign a partnership contract with the Freedom Alliance as soon as possible, they used Return Scrolls they had purchased beforehand in the End Sea to teleport back to the Freedom Alliance's headquarters, Azure Sea City.
Upon arriving at Starfall Island, the moment Shi Feng and the others set foot in Starfall Town, they felt the atmosphere was unusually heavy. Representatives from the various factions who had been resting inside the Freedom Alliance's headquarters were now all standing outside the entrance.
Seeing Shi Feng and his group arrive, the expressions on their faces ranged from mocking to sympathetic — nothing like the surprise and envy they had shown before Shi Feng had departed.
Shi Feng walked straight to the entrance of the Freedom Alliance's headquarters, where five players stood guard — one woman and four men, all bearing the Titan Heart guild emblem. The woman was the same blue-haired woman Shi Feng had encountered before. The four men had all reached Level 97, and the imposing pressure they radiated was no less formidable than that of same-level Great Leaders. Each of them was a genuine top-tier expert — not merely possessing the combat strength of a top player like Dark Sin Heart, but with their actual skill truly having reached that level.
"You're back. Come with us — our boss wants to see you." The blue-haired woman glanced at Shi Feng and spoke coldly.