Chapter 336: Catastrophic Fall

Seventeenth year of the Yong'an Era, mid-May.

Yi Siman suddenly received a message from Omniscient, asking whether he was interested in obtaining the blueprints and skilled workers for the water-powered loom and spinning machine.

Ever since their collaboration with Omniscient began, the wolf fiends had repeatedly asked him to capture some human workers for them, but their requests had never been fulfilled.

Yi Siman was ecstatic at the offer and immediately accepted.

***

That night, they met at a rendezvous point in a mountain pass.

Chu Qiguang was wearing his mask and was accompanied by several fiends from Hidden Fiend Village.

Yi Siman accepted the blueprints from Chu Qiguang, then handed them over to the skilled workers on his side for examination.

Chu Qiguang gestured toward the fiends behind him and said, "These are the workers who escaped from the Azure Sun Trade Association's workshop."

Meanwhile, the workers on Yi Siman's side nodded and confirmed, "The blueprints appear sound, but ideally, we should take them back for a more thorough examination."

Yi Siman heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this, then turned to Chu Qiguang and asked, "What do you want in exchange? If it's money, that might be a bit of a problem because all our funds are currently tied up in the stock market."

"That's fine," Chu Qiguang said. "You can take the blueprints for now, and..."

All of a sudden, a loud commotion erupted nearby as Yang Ling stormed onto the scene with a large number of soldiers from the Demon Vanquishing Department.

"These people are from the Demon Vanquishing Department! How did they know we'd be here?" Yi Siman exclaimed.

Chu Qiguang immediately began retreating with the skilled workers and said, "We'll have to do this some other time."

"Why don't we just kill them all?" Yi Siman asked.

"The provincial thousand-man commander of the Spirit Province is Zhong Shan'e, and I don't want to attract his attention for now," Chu Qiguang explained. "If you want to remain in Spirit Province for the long term, I suggest you learn to keep a low profile as well."

As he spoke, a burst of scorching heat erupted from his body, instantly forcing back all the nearby soldiers.

A hundred-man commander drew his saber and charged at Chu Qiguang with a thunderous roar, but Chu Qiguang merely flicked a finger in his direction, unleashing a burst of gale force that slammed into the blade of the hundred-man commander's saber.

The hundred-man commander stumbled backward involuntarily from the force of the clash, both of his arms completely numb. He stared at the retreating Chu Qiguang in shock, not daring to pursue him any further.

However, Yang Ling was still racing after Chu Qiguang, and the hundred-man commander hurriedly warned, "Be careful, Master Yang!"

"Leave him to me! You go after the others!" Yang Ling ordered.

Meanwhile, Yi Siman watched in frustration as Chu Qiguang fled with the skilled workers and the blueprints.

No wonder he's been able to survive in the Great Han Empire for so long. Caution really is the key to longevity.

With the Demon Vanquishing Department's soldiers rapidly closing in, Yi Siman turned and fled in the opposite direction with his subordinates.

***

Before long, Chu Qiguang and the workers had already put a great deal of distance between themselves and the others, but Yang Ling was still hot on their trail.

"All of you go back. I'll hold him off."

The workers continued their escape, while Chu Qiguang turned around to face Yang Ling.

The two of them clashed several times in rapid succession, felling trees and sending huge rocks flying through the air.

The workers hurriedly fled in a panic, and Chu Qiguang and Yang Ling only brought their mock battle to an end once everyone else had left the scene.

Chu Qiguang pulled out a set of blueprints, tossed them to Yang Ling, and said, "Hand these blueprints over to your superiors and tell them you managed to snatch them from me while giving chase."

Yang Ling nodded, then turned and left.

***

Several days later, some rumors began to spread throughout Spirit Province.

Apparently, the fiendish workers who had fled from the Azure Sun Trade Association had leaked the blueprints for the water-powered machines and had already completed a transaction with the northern wolf fiends.

The Azure Sun Trade Association naturally stepped forward to debunk these rumors, but doubts continued to linger.

Before long, copies of the blueprints began appearing on the market, and the Cloud Midst Trade Association and the Azure Sun Trade Association immediately joined forces to address the issue.

They began hunting down the copies circulating on the market and even mobilized the local authorities to prohibit the dissemination of the blueprints.

However, as time passed, more and more copies appeared on the market, and before long, they were a copper coin a dozen.

These water-powered machines were the key to the two trade associations' competitive advantage and the reason they had been able to maintain a stranglehold over the cotton textile market.

However, now that the blueprints had suddenly become readily available across multiple provinces, everyone's previously unwavering confidence in the two trade associations quickly began to falter, and the stock price plunged.

In the span of just a few days, the stock price fell from six taels to two taels of silver per share, catching everyone completely off guard.

The wealthiest investors immediately began using their power and connections to forcibly recover their investments.

They were content to follow the rules while they were making a profit, but now that the stock price had suffered such a catastrophic fall, they certainly weren't going to simply stand by and allow themselves to be fleeced.

The situation became so severe that the entire Spirit Province was about to revolt, and that was when Zhong Shan'e finally stepped in.

Thanks to the incredible speed granted to him by the Lightning Screech, he personally visited many of the major players in the stock market in a single day, including the Azure Sun Trade Association, the Cloud Midst Trade Association, Fei Yi, and the Huiqin Feudal Lord.

That very same afternoon, both the Cloud Midst Trading Center and the Azure Sun Trading Center announced a temporary closure.

Public statements were released announcing that a board meeting would be held and that major changes were on the way.

At the same time, someone began spreading rumors that the imperial court would step in to save the market, planting a seed of renewed hope in everyone's hearts.

Everyone waited with bated breath for the outcome of the board meeting, which would be attended by all of the most powerful and wealthiest factions in Spirit Province.