Chapter 2487: Making Another Move

Chapter 2487: Chapter 2487: Making Another Move

Nie Quan and his companions initially sold all their properties. After the City Lord Mansion acquired all the industries they sold, they secretly bought properties at a relatively high price. What are they planning to do?

The most likely scenario is that they have noticed the City Lord Mansion no longer has much Black Crystal Stone in stock, so they plan to use a second large-scale property sale to threaten Jing Yan.

"City Lord Jing Yan, rest assured, I will be waiting in Mystic Underworld City for the time being and will come at your call." Gao Zhenjiang said with a smile.

The meeting between Jing Yan and Gao Zhenjiang ended outside the city. Gao Zhenjiang went to temporarily reside in Mystic Underworld City, while Jing Yan returned to the City Lord Mansion of Hongmeng City.

Things unfolded exactly as Jing Yan had anticipated.

Nie Quan and the others used the Black Crystal Stones they possessed to purchase a large amount of property and then approached the City Lord Mansion wanting to negotiate a second time. However, this time, even the Grand Steward Bai Han did not meet with them; the City Lord Mansion’s guards directly blocked Nie Quan and his companions outside the doors.

The attitude of the City Lord Mansion infuriated Nie Quan intensely. At the same time, he was somewhat puzzled by the Mansion’s actions. The City Lord Mansion had ceased acquiring properties being transferred within the city, even though the prices of these properties were still rather low. Nie Quan believed the most likely explanation was that the City Lord Mansion didn’t have much Black Crystal Stone to use. Then, reaching this point, why hasn’t the City Lord Mansion softened its stance? Could it be that the City Lord Mansion is unaware that they now hold a significant amount of property?

No! That’s absolutely impossible! Nie Quan believed that the City Lord Mansion indeed had enough information.

"Does that Jing Yan think I dare not go through with this?"

"Ha! Even the Jade Flame Commerce Headquarters supports me in this endeavor, what do I have to fear? I refuse to believe it!" Nie Quan, at this moment, was like a gambler, betting that the City Lord Mansion of Hongmeng City had reached the end of its resources.

The second large-scale property sale began again.

This time, however, the merchants and small forces that followed Nie Quan did not rush to drastically reduce prices. They first listed their industries for sale at around 70% of the current market price, that is, a normal price. Suddenly, the transfer of several hundred properties triggered a wave of shock in the city.

Hongmeng City is now quite large, and during ordinary times, even if hundreds of properties were suddenly listed for transfer, it wouldn’t create much of a ripple. But recently, the city has been somewhat turbulent, and most people are paying close attention to property transactions within the city.

The City Lord Mansion, however, had no reaction to Nie Quan and his group’s actions.

Subsequently, the group led by Nie Quan began to lower the prices of their properties. This time, the price reductions were relatively small and gradual, as they wanted to see if the City Lord Mansion truly lacked a large stock of Black Crystal Stone.

"Why hasn’t the City Lord Mansion made a move yet?"

"Make a move? Ha, I heard the City Lord Mansion is out of Black Crystal Stone, how can they make a move?"

"What?"

"This time, it seems Hongmeng City’s property market is truly about to collapse. This new city, ultimately, lacks deep roots!"

Hongmeng City has been established for less than a hundred years, indeed not many great forces conduct business here. Simply put, Hongmeng City’s economy is relatively fragile and cannot withstand heavy blows.

The number of people selling properties increased rapidly again.

Those who own industries in Hongmeng City feel increasingly uneasy. They fear their properties will become burdens upon themselves. Meanwhile, Nie Quan and his companions sent out people specifically to spread news that Hongmeng City is about to collapse.

Faced with these changes, the City Lord Mansion of Hongmeng City made no statement, nor took any action. The City Lord Mansion seemingly had given up on controlling real estate, appearing to let the property prices decline at will. Moreover, even the city’s expansion had stopped. A short time ago, many City Lord Mansion personnel were seen building houses and courtyards in the outer city, but now all these personnel have disappeared.

All these signs indicate that Hongmeng City is indeed failing.

Even external forces now believe Hongmeng City might not withstand it.

The forces represented by Windward City and Tianji City also sent people to the City Lord Mansion to check the situation, and ultimately they seem to conclude that Hongmeng City is set to collapse from within. Even within Mystic Underworld City, there were numerous cultivators discussing how many days Hongmeng could still hold out. Many people were grateful they hadn’t purchased property in Hongmeng City; otherwise, the uncomfortable ones would be them now.

In the Thunder Domain branch of Tianyin Building in the distant Dingyun City, Wuling Building Master and others were also attentively following the situation in Hongmeng City.

Wu Ling bore a considerable hostility towards Hongmeng City. Because of this Hongmeng City, he was harshly reprimanded by the Tianyin Building Headquarters. Although eventually, due to Hongmeng City not reaching an agreement with Tianyin Building headquarters, resulting in him not being severely punished, Wu Ling was still extremely angry, feeling that City Lord Jing Yan had brought him disgrace.

"Master, it seems Hongmeng City is about to collapse. Fortunately, we didn’t list Hongmeng City on the Tianyin City List back then. Or else, having a city that made it onto the list crumble in just a few decades wouldn’t have reflected well on Tianyin Building either." Wu Ling communicated this message to the high-ranking officials of Tianyin Building Headquarters, with a hint of seeking credit in his words.

Look at that, if it weren’t for me not listing Hongmeng City back then, Tianyin Building would have suffered now. Although historically, many cities that have been listed on the Tianyin City List have also been destroyed, never has there been a city that made it onto the list and then dissolved itself in just a few decades. Most cities that were destroyed were due to external forces, being overthrown by another power militarily. If such a case of a city collapsing internally actually happened, wouldn’t that suggest Tianyin Building was blind and lacked foresight?

...

The situation in Hongmeng City worsened.

The speed at which property prices in the city fell increased. Now, the prices had dropped to below half of their original value. Even at such low prices, there were still few buyers. Some people had even gone to the City Lord Mansion to demand an explanation, having suffered great losses for the properties they bought at high prices with many Black Crystal Stones, and now unable to sell even at half price.

Nie Quan, leading a group of merchants and small faction members, arrived at the original location of the Jade Flame Treasure Light, looking at the tightly shut building doors with a grim smile on his face.

"Gentlemen, do you think... that City Lord Jing Yan regrets his hard stance? Originally, this was a matter that could have been easily resolved, but he insisted on dragging it to this point." Nie Quan turned around, looked at the group, and said with a smile.

"So what if he bought the Jade Flame Treasure Light? How many properties can the City Lord Mansion buy?" Nie Quan extended his hand, pointing at the former Jade Flame Treasure Light site and said, "I have a feeling this Jade Flame Treasure Light will soon return to my hands. Likewise, all of your original shops and other industries will return to you all. We will be the victors!"

"Store Manager Nie Quan is right!"

"Indeed, City Lord Jing Yan’s strength is undeniably formidable, but determining the development of a city is not something dependent on the strength of a single individual."

"..."

A chorus of people complimented Nie Quan. And Nie Quan was immensely pleased with himself, feeling very delighted.

At this moment, a group of people slowly walked from the other side of the street. Leading them was City Lord Jing Yan. By Jing Yan’s side was Grand Steward Bai Han, along with several senior members of the City Lord Mansion. Besides the personnel from the City Lord Mansion, there was also an elderly man in a blue robe among them, and at a glance, it could be seen that he was not an ordinary person.