Chapter 427 - 292: The Steel Behemoth Looms Over the East Sea! The Celestial Ship Arrives

A colossal shadow enveloped half of East Sea Fortress City.

Han Feng stood on the roof of the No. 3 Research Institute, gazing up at the northern sky.

It was not a layer of clouds, but a continent of steel in the truest sense.

Unlike the crude fortresses built on the ground for survival, this behemoth overhead, called a "Celestial Ship," was entirely covered in a deep black, matte armor.

Even from several thousand meters away, Han Feng could see it clearly with his [Spiritual Vision].

The surface of the armor was not smooth, but was instead engraved with countless, incredibly intricate patterns.

These patterns were slowly flowing, emitting a faint golden glow, and formed the energy circulation system for the entire floating city.

It just hovered silently in the clouds, without the roar of engines.

There was only a heart-pounding, low-frequency hum—the sound of immense Spiritual Power rushing through high-pressure conduits.

"Is this the handiwork of Kunlun?"

Han Feng narrowed his eyes.

His gaze pierced through the thin clouds and mist, and he saw the underside of the Floating Island.

There was no soil or rock, but instead dense arrays of turrets and massive, ring-shaped gravity generators.

Dozens of huge thrusters were in a standby state.

The streams of blue particles they occasionally spat out could easily tear waves of heat through the air.

’This wasn’t some Immortal Blessed Land; it was clearly a war machine armed to the teeth.’

The entire East Sea Fortress City fell instantly silent.

Whether it was the guards patrolling the streets or the peddlers and laborers bustling about to make a living, everyone had now stopped what they were doing and was staring blankly at the sky.

It was the oppressive feeling of a higher-level civilization.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Several streaks of light suddenly shot up from the central area of the Inner City.

Han Feng focused his gaze. The leading aura was the most powerful, belonging to none other than Ye Daoyuan, the Chairman of the East Sea Council.

Behind him, Li Tiecheng, Chen Beixuan, and the other bigwigs of East Sea City followed closely.

But before the sky-blotting, floating behemoth, these powerful figures, whose stomp could normally shake East Sea City, seemed as insignificant as a few birds flying towards a great mountain.

They did not fly too high, stopping a few hundred meters below the underside of the Floating Island.

Immediately after, a ramp of light descended from one side of the Floating Island.

Several figures in white robes emerged from it and began to converse with Ye Daoyuan’s group from a distance.

The distance was too great; even Han Feng couldn’t hear what they were saying.

But he could see that Ye Daoyuan’s attitude wasn’t subservient, nor could it be called forceful. It was more of a business-like pleasantry.

The negotiation was very brief, lasting no more than ten minutes in total.

Afterward, Ye Daoyuan and the others returned to the ground.

RUMBLE—

The behemoth in the sky moved again.

It slowly adjusted its position and drifted towards an open expanse of sea to the east of East Sea City.

As it moved, its immense shadow swept slowly across the city’s buildings.

The suffocating feeling, like Mount Tai bearing down on them, made many Low Tier Martial Artists turn pale.

Twenty minutes later, the cruising fortress finally came to a halt, hovering over the sea ten kilometers from the coastline.

BEEP! BEEP!

At almost the same moment, the personal terminals of every registered Martial Artist in East Sea City began to vibrate.

Han Feng raised his wrist.

An urgent notice, issued in the name of the city’s administrative hall, popped up.

[Notice: The Kunlun cruising fortress "Celestial Ship·Candle Dragon" has arrived in the designated airspace. It will now commence a three-day stop for resupply and exchange activities.]

[Boarding details are as follows:]

[1. Open Areas: The Celestial Ship is divided into the Outer Deck Area, the Mid-Level Commercial District (Myriad Phenomena Celestial Street), and the Core Area (Lingyun Pavilion).]

[2. Boarding Tickets:

a. Outer Deck Area: 100 Spirit Coins/person/day (or equivalent Tier Two Spiritual Material).

b. Mid-Level Commercial District: 500 Spirit Coins/person/day (requires asset verification; assets must not be less than 10,000 Spirit Coins).

c. Core Area: Not open to the public. Entry is restricted to holders of special invitations.]

[3. Special Reminder: All transactions on the island only accept Spirit Coins or High Tier Spiritual Material. Alliance Contribution Points are not supported. All citizens are advised to act within their means and abide by the island’s rules.]

[4. Transportation: The administrative hall has opened three dedicated Hovercar lines directly to the Floating Island. The fare is 50 Spirit Coins per trip.]

After reading the notice, Han Feng shook his head helplessly.

"What a ripoff."

Just a one-day pass for the outer deck costs one hundred Spirit Coins.

At current market prices, one hundred Spirit Coins is enough for an ordinary family of three to live comfortably for a year.

And that’s just the entry ticket.

Not to mention the Mid-Level Commercial District, where the asset verification alone requires ten thousand Spirit Coins, directly shutting the door on the vast majority of ordinary Martial Artists and common citizens.

As for the Core Area, they don’t even give you the chance to spend money to get in.

"These people from Kunlun... they’re not here for an ’exchange,’ they’re here to harvest."

Han Feng shook his head and closed the terminal.

Although he was complaining, he knew full well that this was the exorbitant profit that came with a monopoly.

As the Holy Land of human civilization, Kunlun controlled too many core technologies and top-tier legacies.

Even knowing they were being fleeced, countless people would still flock to it.

He turned and went back to the laboratory below.

By now, the No. 3 Research Institute was in an uproar.

"Did you see that? The Rune Circuits up there are so precise!"

"I heard the Celestial Craft Group branch up there sells sixth-generation cybernetics. I wonder if we can go check them out."

"Forget it. You’d have to sell a kidney just for the ticket, and it’d have to be a Tier Three Demon Beast’s kidney at that."

Lin Xue was pressed against the window, holding a pair of high-powered binoculars.