Chapter 335: Strategic Adjustments

Inside a room in an inn in Azure Sun County were around a dozen followers of the Imperial Heavenly Dao, one of whom was General Chen Qingyong.

He had originally planned to return with the ten ancient scriptures he had collected and retire. However, he was forced to remain in Spirit Province to search for the missing Luo Binghong.

He had requested reinforcements from the Imperial Heavenly Dao to help search for her, and by now, his fellow general and three other generals had arrived over the past few days.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Chen Qingyong?! How could you let the celestial maiden disappear right under your nose?"

"Where is she right now?"

"Who abducted her? We need to go save her right away!"

"The celestial maiden disappeared while attacking a man named Wang Cailiang," Chen Qingyong explained. "She's a fifth-state martial artist, and she was also carrying talismanic water given to her by the pope. For her to have disappeared without a trace, she must've encountered an extremely formidable enemy."

"So what?" a general snapped. "There are five generals here now! Who in Azure Sun County could possibly stop us? Take us to the celestial maiden right away!"

However, a hesitant look appeared on Chen Qingyong's face, and he revealed, "Yesterday, I received a message from the celestial maiden telling us to stay put and wait for her at this inn."

The other generals were still unconvinced, and just as another argument was about to break out, a knock sounded at the door.

A moment later, the door slowly swung open on its own, revealing none other than Luo Binghong.

Everyone fell silent for a moment before bombarding her with questions and expressions of concern. After taking some time to answer everyone, Luo Binghong went straight to the point, declaring that she wished to contact the pope and to request funds to purchase shares in the Azure Sun Trade Association.

Her declaration was met with mixed reactions.

Chen Qingyong and the general who had accompanied him were ecstatic to hear that she had found a way to buy shares. Over the past year, they had personally witnessed the rapid rise of the Azure Sun Trade Association's stock price, and the market had been performing especially well over the past month.

If shares hadn't been so difficult to obtain under the current market conditions, they would've already been buying them in a heartbeat.

In contrast, the other three generals had come from different provinces and knew nothing about stocks, so they remained very skeptical.

Thus, Luo Binghong repeated Chu Qiguang's words to them, telling them that there was no future in toiling away for active income and that learning to generate passive income was the key to wealth.

***

The next day, Luo Binghong eagerly returned to Chu Qiguang.

She had managed to convince everyone to go along with her plan, and at this moment, her cheeks were flushed with excitement as she declared, "We've been able to raise one hundred and forty thousand taels of silver. I hope I'm not too late..."

"Alright. At the current market price of five taels and seven qian per share, I can sell you 24,561 shares," Chu Qiguang said.

Several days later, during the scheduled handover, Luo Binghong met up with Chu Qiguang again. With an embarrassed look on her face, she said, "I was able to raise some more funds from our followers, roughly fifty thousand taels of silver. Would I be able to buy some more shares from you?"

"Don't you know how hot a commodity these shares are?" Chu Qiguang asked with a disgruntled expression. "There are a bunch of people lining up to buy my shares, and I've already made promises to them. You're putting me in a very difficult position right now."

Luo Binghong apologized profusely before saying, "I can buy the share at above the market price! How about six taels of silver per share?"

Chu Qiguang struggled to contain his amusement.

Damn, no wonder she was able to lose over ninety percent of her money in just three months! She's volunteering to pay more than the market price! She's practically asking for it!

After putting up some more resistance to sell the act, Chu Qiguang finally "caved" under Luo Binghong's insistence, much to her delight.

In her mind, the stock price was already going to exceed six taels of silver, so she would still make massive profits even after buying at a higher price.

Up to this point, Chu Qiguang had received two hundred thousand taels of silver from Yi Siman and one hundred and ninety thousand taels from the Imperial Heavenly Dao.

As for the remaining shares, Chu Qiguang instructed Wang Cailiang to begin selling them in batches through the market.

Aside from Maiden Thirteen and Yiyi, most of Wang Cailiang's other subordinates were also innately enlightened fiends from Hidden Fiend Village who were capable of taking on human forms.

These fiends had been taught to read, write and handle numbers, and they were also extremely loyal.

Under Wang Cailiang's instructions, they opened dozens of accounts at the trading center, allowing Chu Qiguang to split up his shares and sell them off in inconspicuous batches.

As Chu Qiguang began selling, the stock price began to wobble.

***

Yi Siman immediately contacted Chu Qiguang through the cat fiends, asking him why the stock price had fallen.

"Don't worry, it's just a strategic adjustment. See? The price has already gone back up, hasn't it? You need to work on your mental cultivation, Yi Siman. You're not going to get far if you allow every little thing in your life to affect your state of mind."

Yi Siman took the advice to heart, and it really did feel like the stock price had been messing with his emotions lately.

***

"What's going on? Why has the stock price suddenly fallen?" Luo Binghong asked, on the verge of panic.

"The Azure Sun Trade Association and the Cloud Midst Trade Association are working together to manipulate the stock price," Chu Qiguang explained. "They're driving down the stock price so that more people start selling, and only then will they be able to buy. Make sure you hold onto your shares. This is only a temporary dip, so don't be fooled. Stocks are a long-term investment, and you have to remain firm in your faith."

Luo Binghong was satisfied with this explanation, and half a month later, the stock price gradually stabilized and even began to rise again.

Luo Binghong and Yi Siman were both very glad for their perseverance, and they were looking down on the other shareholders who were kicking themselves for selling prematurely.

***

"We have a total of 1.1 million taels of silver right now!" Wang Cailiang exclaimed, barely able to contain his excitement. "We've made an absolute killing! What do we do next?"

He turned to Chu Qiguang with admiration in his eyes as he spoke, and the same admiration could be seen on the faces of Maiden Thirteen and Liu Yao.

Never had they seen anyone pull off anything even remotely close to what Chu Qiguang had accomplished.