Chapter 327: Failed Stock Investments

Prior to leaving Hidden Fiend Village, Chu Qiguang instructed the fiends to fetch the saber that Yi Siman had given him.

Chu Qiguang tossed the saber to Liu Yao and said, "Given what we're planning to do in Spirit Province, things might get a little rough, so I'll leave this saber with you. I call it Crescent Moon."

According to Chu Qiguang's grading system, Crescent Moon was a divine-grade weapon, below only the legendary grade.

Liu Yao had practiced saber techniques for many years, and his eyes immediately lit up with delight at the sight of Crescent Moon.

He swung the saber through the air, releasing a saber projection that left a mark on a nearby wall.

"This is an exceptional saber," Liu Yao praised. "Thank you, Master Chu."

Even before coming to Spirit Province, Liu Yao had been convinced that the organization Chu Qiguang belonged to had to be incredibly powerful. Everything he had seen in Shu Province only served to confirm that belief.

He casually pulled out a divine-grade weapon as if it were nothing special. This organization must possess truly unfathomable wealth.

After seeing Hidden Fiend Village, Liu Yao's confidence in the organization behind Chu Qiguang had grown considerably, and he was very grateful for the choice he made in Shu Province.

After resting for the night, the group left Hidden Fiend Village early the next morning.

There were quite a few of them, so instead of traveling by Chongming Bird, they decided to travel on foot.

They passed through the Wang Clan Village on their way to the Heavenly Melody Manor. Unbeknownst to them, someone had been watching them ever since they left Azure Sun County.

On a distant hill, a young woman dressed in a white robe was observing Chu Qiguang's group from afar.

"You're sure it's them?" she asked.

"That man has been instructing his subordinates to buy shares from the Azure Sun Trade Association," replied a middle-aged man standing beside her. "I've been watching him for a very long time, and I'm certain he owns a lot of shares."

"What happened to the people we sent after him?" the woman asked.

"They were all thwarted by that woman from last time," the middle-aged man reported. "It turns out she's a fifth-state martial artist."

The woman's name was Luo Binghong. She was one of the celestial maidens of the Imperial Heavenly Dao, and her job was to spread the teachings of the Imperial Heavenly Dao and recruit followers.

Celestial maidens were direct disciples of the pope of the Imperial Heavenly Dao. They all possessed powerful abilities and had received talismanic water from the pope. Their status was similar to that of the five scourges of the Tribulation Religion.

When Luo Binhong was a little girl, her parents sold her to a wealthy household to work as a maidservant. The household eventually went bankrupt, leaving her homeless.

The pope of the Imperial Heavenly Dao took her in and nurtured her as a promising talent from a young age. However, she wasn't blindly devoted to the teachings of the Imperial Heavenly Dao.

The Imperial Heavenly Dao wanted its ordinary followers to be as devout and zealous as possible, but people blinded by their faith were limited in their usefulness.

Luo Binghong understood her role in the Imperial Heavenly Dao very well, and she knew that to maximize her value to the pope, she had to remain somewhat reserved in her faith so that she could maintain a clear head.

In recent years, Yong Province had been ravaged by disasters, leaving many people displaced. The Imperial Heavenly Dao had seized the opportunity to step and recruit countless followers.

However, recruiting and supporting so many followers was not cheap. Luo Binghong had come to Spirit Province both to spread the teachings of the Imperial Heavenly Dao and to raise funds.

After arriving in Spirit Province, she quickly developed an interest in stocks. In her eyes, investing was the fastest available path to unimaginable wealth.

She immediately decided to invest heavily, but after two months, she had suffered huge losses instead of earning the extravagant profits she had envisioned.

Yesterday, they said the imperial court was going to invest, yet today, the stock price fell off a cliff! Didn't they say the Azure Sun Trade Association's cotton storehouses had been burned down? That must've been fake news as well! The stock price rose as soon as I sold! The entire Spirit Province is full of liars and fraudsters!

Her past two months as a stock investor had been utterly miserable. Less than ten percent of the money she had brought from Yong Province remained.

She had become so distraught that she wanted to drown herself in a well, but her subordinates stopped her.

"You're not to blame, Celestial Maiden! Those accursed fraudsters are the ones who scammed our Immortal Heavenly Dao out of our hard-earned money!"

"You have to live, Celestial Maiden! You have to recover everything that we lost!"

Deciding that she had to at least recoup her losses, Luo Binghong began setting her sights on landlords and minor wealthy clans.

The average person had no means of buying shares, while those in the upper echelons of society were too difficult and risky to target. The landlords and minor wealthy offered a good middle ground.

She sent her underlings to observe the people coming and going from the trading center and scout for potential targets. Through this method, she had already managed to recoup some of her losses. However, her attempt to target Wang Cailiang had been thwarted by Maiden Thirteen.

"Have you managed to find out who he is?" Luo Binghong asked.

"We have," the middle-aged man replied. "His name is Wang Cailiang, and he's a relatively important figure around these parts. His father is a landlord in the Wang Clan Village, and he has the backing of someone called Chu Qiguang, who's friends with Grand Secretary Wu's son, Wu Wei."

"So he's a friend of a friend of the grand secretary's son?" Luo Binghong asked as a hint of resentment flashed through her eyes.

The mere thought of Wu Wei was enough to make her gnash her teeth in fury. As far as she knew, Wu Wei was the largest shareholder in the Azure Sun Trade Association.

"He must be receiving insider information from Wu Wei and using it to profit from his stock investments! These bastards and their insider trading are robbing countless people like us of our hard-earned money! I'm going to seek justice for everyone today and make him cough up all of the money he's scammed!"

Wang Cailiang's connection to Wu Wei immediately filled Luo Binghong with righteous fury.

"Should we wait for the other two generals to arrive before making a move?" the middle-aged man asked.

The Imperial Heavenly Dao had a total of thirty-six generals, and they were its most capable warriors.

"There's no need to be so cautious," Luo Binghong harrumphed coldly. "I'll take on that woman. The rest of you can capture Wang Cailiang!"

With that, Luo Binghong shot forward, drifting through the air like an elegant wraith, while her subordinates followed closely behind her.