Chapter 977 Pilipili

“Since the company’s assessment of Zhang Yu resulted in this, then the betting agreement with Zhang Yu going forward… will also need to shift its main focus.”

As a representative of the securities company, Lu Jingsong thoroughly understood the company’s means of generating profit.

The so-called betting agreement meant that the company provided a Tribulation Loan to Zhang Yu, allowing him to pay the thunder tribulation expenses, such as the thunder tribulation Fee, safekeeping fee, storage fee, and late fees… in order to smoothly undergo Tribulation Transcendence.

While Zhang Yu borrowed the sixfold thunder tribulation to temper his body and achieve Spirit-Flesh Unity, all excess thunder tribulation would belong to the company. The company held the right to control and dispose of it at will. From this, a creditor-debtor relationship was formed between the company and Zhang Yu.

“The company lends the money, and Zhang Yu provides thunder tribulation resources in the future. Many people call this type of debt relationship a Tribulation Transcendence Debt Right.”

Lu Jingsong thought to himself, “Theoretically speaking, the larger the scale of the thunder tribulation Zhang Yu triggers and the faster his speed in passing through the thunder tribulation, the more thunder tribulation resources the company obtains within a certain time frame, and therefore, the more it earns.”

“And generally speaking, according to the reward clauses in the betting agreement, as long as the scale of the thunder tribulation reaches a certain level, Zhang Yu can in turn obtain Immortal Coins as a reward, or even a share of the company’s profits.”

“In such a situation, it is a win-win for both the company and the one undergoing Tribulation Transcendence. The Tribulation Transcender successfully transcends the tribulation and also receives rewards, while the company earns high returns. This was the original intention behind the creation of the Tribulation Loan. For instance, the Tribulation Transcendence project of Ye Heng from the Vajra Sect… generated massive profits exactly this way.”

“But if the scale of the thunder tribulation is too small and the company fails to make money, then generally, according to the penalty clauses of the betting agreement, not only would Zhang Yu have to repay the Void Refinement Loan, but he must also provide Immortal Coins to compensate for the company’s interests. As for the specific amount of compensation required, that would depend on negotiations.”

Looking at Zhang Yu’s evaluation report in front of him, Lu Jingsong thought to himself, “Based on the intelligence the company currently has, the scale of the thunder tribulation triggered by Zhang Yu won’t be very large. If it were in the past, we might have had to rely on the betting agreement to earn compensation money from Zhang Yu, but now…”

Lu Jingsong knew that ever since someone divided and packaged the Tribulation Transcendence Debt Right into a financial product, selling it as bonds to the retail cultivators of the great sects, the company had gained another way to make a profit. ¹

“The Tribulation Loan provided to Zhang Yu… is a massive amount of funds that the vast majority of individual cultivators simply cannot afford. Therefore, even if the company wanted to transfer Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Transcendence Debt Right, very few people would be able to take it on.”

“However, as long as the company divides this Tribulation Transcendence Debt Right into millions or tens of millions of shares, then each share… even a Soul Cultivator might be able to afford it, and they can all come together to bear the costs for the company and provide profits.”

Lu Jingsong thought to himself, “If it were a cultivator with no foundation and no reputation, these bonds wouldn’t be easy to sell either, and the company would ultimately only be able to earn the compensation fee from the cultivator.”

“But if it’s a highly renowned cultivator like Zhang Yu… as long as it is hyped up properly, the bond prices can skyrocket all the way.”

Lu Jingsong instantly began calculating in his mind, “Suppose… the Tribulation Loan provided to Zhang Yu is 500 million Immortal Coins. If the scale of the triggered thunder tribulation is insufficient, Zhang Yu, in addition to returning the 500 million Immortal Coins, would also need to pay 200 million in compensation. This amounts to a debt right worth a total of 700 million.”

“Packaging this 700 million in debt claims into 50 million bonds means the issue price of each bond, or rather the cost price for the company, is 14 Immortal Coins.”

Of course, Lu Jingsong’s assumption only used the simplest model, ignoring many fees and convoluted details. He knew that in reality, considering other factors and the various power struggles inside and outside the company, Zhang Yu’s issue price would definitely be more than 14.

“When the time comes, it’s estimated that the Immortals behind the company, as well as other Immortals closely related to them, will be the first to take a bite of this meat, getting priority to subscribe to this batch of bonds at the issue price of 14.”

“Afterward, when Zhang Yu officially begins his Tribulation Transcendence and the bonds open for free trading, the opening price… will inevitably skyrocket.”

The so-called opening price is the benchmark price ultimately reached after the retail cultivators bid to buy the bonds once trading opens.

Lu Jingsong didn’t believe in the wisdom of retail cultivators, but he believed in their greed and impulsiveness.

As long as the promotion was strong enough and the endorsers carried enough weight, there would definitely be retail cultivators willing to pay.

“They will believe that the bonds will continue to skyrocket, and might even be willing… to snap up the bonds from the hands of the Immortals at ten times or dozens of times the price.”

“With Zhang Yu’s reputation, coupled with our promotion and Ye Heng’s precedent, when the time comes, a single bond might skyrocket to 1000 Immortal Coins after the market opens.”

From 14 to 1000, there is a massive profit margin of 7142%. Just thinking about this possibility made Lu Jingsong’s mind tremble slightly with excitement.

But Lu Jingsong knew even better that the ones getting this biggest piece of meat, the ones able to subscribe to these bonds at the issue price… would only be the Immortal Class.

It is only when the bonds open for free trading, after the Immortal Class dumps their bonds and devours this biggest and fattest piece of meat, that it becomes the turn of the retail cultivators to hold the bag. ²

“Only the Immortal Class is guaranteed to profit. As for the retail cultivators…”

“If they are lucky, the retail cultivators who sell off Zhang Yu’s bonds when they rise by 5% or 10% can manage to get a sip of the soup.”

“If they are unlucky, the retail cultivators whose bonds begin to plummet right after buying will become the soup themselves.”

Especially according to the company’s assessment this time, after Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Transcendence, the insufficient scale of the thunder tribulation would cause the bonds to plummet all the way down, leaving retail cultivators with devastating losses and ruined lives… but this was not something Lu Jingsong needed to worry about.

Anyway, he and his colleagues would all receive substantial bonuses issued by the Immortals.

Lu Jingsong sighed with emotion. He used to not understand why, after this trick had been played time and time again, there were always retail cultivators stepping in to hold the bag.

Later, a Senior told him: “These retail cultivators are the best at playing the victim. If someone sells, someone buys. It’s not like we force them to buy it, so what does it have to do with us? It’s fundamentally their own choice to buy, fundamentally their own greed.”

But later, Lu Jingsong gradually came to understand: “It’s not that these retail cultivators don’t understand; they are just betting that they can escape in time, betting that they won’t become the soup.”

“In the end, a dog can’t stop eating shit, and humans can’t change their aspiration for the Immortal Dao. As long as a chance is given, Kunxu has plenty of cultivators willing to take a gamble.”

“Even if they are fooled time and time again, they remain indomitable, just betting that they can win that one time to continue climbing the Immortal Dao…”

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Lu Jingsong had already organized his thoughts, knowing the key point of operating Zhang Yu’s bonds next.

“The betting agreement with Zhang Yu also needs to be discussed thoroughly; it must be advantageous for selling the bonds.”

Although Lu Jingsong was not optimistic about the scale of Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Transcendence, he would not underestimate the other party. He knew even better that when negotiating the betting agreement with him, he must fully respect the other party’s wishes.

After all, judging from Zhang Yu’s current achievements, his future was boundless. He was a reform pioneer heavily promoted within the Myriad Laws Sect, and becoming a Rank 10 Ascension Realm cultivator in the future was also a highly probable event.

Therefore, he would never look down on the other party. It was just that judging from his resume, Zhang Yu indeed lacked the foundation to trigger a large-scale thunder tribulation, so the company needed to change its profit model to ensure ultra-high returns for the Immortals.

“After all, taking into account the intelligence we can gather at present, how much further can the bonds rise after Zhang Yu’s tribulation? A plummet is the highly probable outcome.”

“With Zhang Yu’s background, it’s estimated that in the end, much like some Administrative Cultivators, he will need to buy others’ excess thunder tribulations to pass.”

Having watched the tribulation processes of the Tribulation Transcendence Cultivators from the Ten Great Sects one by one, Lu Jingsong had naturally seen all sorts of different methods for passing tribulations.

“Under the six thunder tribulations, only by having a profound foundation and triggering a sufficiently large thunder tribulation can one use the lightning to temper the body, achieve Spirit-Flesh Unity, and naturally comprehend the profound mysteries between the macroscopic Immortal Dao and the microscopic Immortal Dao.”

“If the scale of the thunder tribulation is insufficient to achieve Spirit-Flesh Unity, one will be forever trapped in the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, and cultivating any cultivation art will result in the agony of technological backlash.”

“In ancient times, this meant facing the constant danger of death and the dissipation of one’s Dao.”

“Nowadays, it means one’s wallet is constantly bleeding out, with a perpetual risk of bankruptcy.”

In Lu Jingsong’s view, being able to solve this problem with money was also a form of strength, but compared to a Technical Cultivator… it was ultimately not the same kind of strength.

Therefore, over the following period, Lu Jingsong began to prepare materials, making arrangements to discuss the betting agreement with Zhang Yu.

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A few days later, inside the Immortal Grotto-Heaven.

As Zhang Yu cultivated, his Immortalization Degree climbed step by step. Nearing the Void Refinement bottleneck, he felt himself getting closer and closer to the Tribulation Transcendence Realm.

Along with this proximity, Zhang Yu increasingly felt that within his body… a certain unseen force was growing more and more restless.

“This must be the backlash of Immortal Dao Technology, right?”

Zhang Yu thought to himself, “It is said that the closer a cultivator gets to the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, the more they can perceive the precursors of technological backlash.”

And in Zhang Yu’s perception… his backlash was probably unfathomable.

“Big Brother Tai’s thunder tribulation was so fierce. With my body full of Dao Seeds and Chain Formation Diagrams, and the solid foundation laid by the Feather Book, my thunder tribulation will probably be unprecedented as well.”

Just as Zhang Yu was pondering this, a message sent by Lu Jingsong appeared before his eyes again, discussing the specific terms of the betting agreement with him.

Seeing the other party’s suggestions, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but frown slightly.

For the past half month, Zhang Yu and the company had gone through several rounds of discussions but consistently failed to reach an agreement on the reward clauses of the betting agreement.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Do these guys really believe I can trigger a large-scale thunder tribulation? Is that why they are unwilling to give me more rewards once I do? They refuse to give me a bigger cut of the money? Desperately suppressing the reward terms all this time?”

Lu Jingsong thought to himself, “If the reward terms are more favorable to Zhang Yu, the theoretical maximum yield of the bonds will decrease, which makes it harder to sell them.”

Lu Jingsong knew in his heart that even though the company was not optimistic about the scale of Zhang Yu’s thunder tribulation, the narrative they had to promote to the retail cultivators was that Zhang Yu’s thunder tribulation would certainly be massive.

“The more the retail cultivators believe in this rhetoric, the more they will believe that the bonds in their hands can ultimately be exchanged for a massive amount of thunder tribulation resources to obtain excess returns. As such, they will be even more concerned about the betting agreement: what reward clauses will there be for Zhang Yu, who triggers the super-large-scale thunder tribulation? How much of the profit will he take away?”

“If this reward clause is lower, theoretically Zhang Yu takes less profit, making the bonds easier to sell.”

Looking at Zhang Yu, who insisted on higher rewards, a hint of confusion flashed in Lu Jingsong’s mind: “Why is Zhang Yu doing this? Is he really confident that he will trigger a super-large-scale thunder tribulation?”

Naturally, Zhang Yu couldn’t explain it, because his pile of Dao Seeds, Chain Formation Diagrams, and especially the Creation Dao Seed and Heaven-Opening cultivation art, were all things that could not be brought out into the open.

After some inward doubt, Lu Jingsong still decided to trust the company’s report. After all…

“No matter how much Zhang Yu rises, how high can he really go? With our promotional efforts, there will definitely be a massive bubble by then, and the opening price will absolutely far exceed Zhang Yu’s actual value.”

Analyzing it from Lu Jingsong’s professional perspective and his years of industry experience, the current profit model had the highest success rate and maximized returns.

And as the two sides haggled back and forth, unable to reach a consensus, Zhang Yu suddenly said indifferently, “Let’s stop here for today. I still have a meeting and need to talk to the representative from Pilipili.”

Hearing the name “Pilipili”, Lu Jingsong’s guard instantly went up.

This was because “Pilipili” was also a securities company, one that fiercely competed with Lu Jingsong’s firm, and the Immortals backing both sides were long-standing rivals.

“Pilipili sought him out too?”

Lu Jingsong was not surprised by this, however.

After all, following the stellar performance of the Vajra Sect’s Ye Heng, many people thought of Zhang Yu, who was on the same track, and all wanted to manage Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Bond.

It was just that the vast majority of those companies had been blocked by Lu Jingsong’s firm.

Seeing that Zhang Yu’s projection was about to disappear, Lu Jingsong hurriedly said, “Minister Zhang, regarding the reward clauses, we can make concessions…”

Zhang Yu’s projection continued to fade, leaving behind only one sentence: “There is no need. Pilipili is willing to offer up to a 15% cut…”

Hearing Zhang Yu’s final words, Lu Jingsong thought to himself, “15%? Has Pilipili gone mad?! Who gives such a high revenue share? This is simply destroying the industry’s hidden rules!”

Lu Jingsong understood in his heart that Pilipili was obviously trying to snatch their project.

Lu Jingsong hurriedly contacted his boss He Zhaisheng: “President He! Pilipili is coming to snatch it…”

Hearing Lu Jingsong’s report, alarm bells also rang in He Zhaisheng’s mind: “The higher-ups value this project very much and have already contacted many people to endorse it. There is absolutely no room for error. Lu Jingsong, you must bite down hard and not let go…”

Lu Jingsong said, “But in terms of the reward clause, Zhang Yu just refuses to relent.”

He Zhaisheng said, “Then give it to him. Even if it increases the difficulty of selling the bonds, the worst that happens is we’ll just have to increase our marketing efforts later! With Zhang Yu’s fame, this is a sure-win project; it’s only a question of earning more or earning less!”

Lu Jingsong wanted exactly these words from his superior. He nodded and said, “I understand, President He.”

Over the next few days, Lu Jingsong personally camped outside Zhang Yu’s office, repeatedly approaching Zhang Yu to negotiate the betting agreement. Ultimately, he even offered a reward clause of a 22% share, which finally made Zhang Yu nod in satisfaction.

“Once Zhang Yu completes Spirit-Flesh Unity, 22% of the profits from the excess thunder tribulation resources will all belong to Zhang Yu.”

Lu Jingsong estimated in his heart: “If there is an extra one million Immortal Coins worth of thunder tribulation resources, then Zhang Yu gets 220,000. An extra ten million means 2.2 million, an extra one hundred million… that’s 22 million. Any higher… should be unlikely for Zhang Yu, right?”

While making this evaluation in his mind, Lu Jingsong smiled and said to Zhang Yu, “Minister Zhang, congratulations.”

Zhang Yu also nodded, “Looking forward to a pleasant cooperation moving forward.”

“A pleasant cooperation,” Lu Jingsong said. “There will be some promotional activities that will require your cooperation when the time comes.”

With the betting agreement signed, Lu Jingsong immediately returned to his company, organized his personnel, and intensely kicked off the marketing work.

When it came to marketing and promotion, the Heavenly Sword Sect had always been an expert. This time, Lu Jingsong’s company was firing on all cylinders, directly preparing to throw in 1 billion Immortal Coins to launch an astronomically priced marketing campaign.

Not long after Lu Jingsong left, Zhang Yu saw Yu Xinghan and Magnetic Pole, who had come to say goodbye. The two were about to head to the 15th layer to participate in this year’s third-generation law establishment.

“Minister, we are ready to leave,” Yu Xinghan said.

Zhang Yu nodded, and immediately infused [Myriad Phenomena] into the other party’s Technique Aperture.

This Chain Formation Diagram named Myriad Phenomena was exactly the one he had finally completed after participating in the law establishment training and learning the relevant immortal qi cultivation arts back then. Its main function was to increase immortal qi affinity, enhance the effects of relevant cultivation arts, and even… seal immortal qi based Law Edicts after understanding the principles of immortal qi.

The moment [Myriad Phenomena] was infused, information surged wildly in Yu Xinghan’s mind. He felt that in a mere instant… he had gained an unprecedented understanding of immortal qi technology, as if a massive amount of insights and knowledge had been forcibly implanted into him.

Feeling all this, Yu Xinghan’s eyes instantly burst with a brilliant light: “This… this is…”

Originally, Yu Xinghan still somewhat lacked confidence in participating in this third-generation law establishment. After all, his cultivation time was limited, and he had to face competition from a multitude of sect elites.

But at this moment, feeling the blessing of [Myriad Phenomena] and his unprecedented profound understanding of immortal qi, Yu Xinghan fell into deep shock.

“Zhang Yu… he passed all his core techniques to me? Just like that?”

Regarding his understanding of immortal qi, Yu Xinghan merely thought that Zhang Yu had directly instilled his memory and experience into him. Naturally, he didn’t know that everything was just the effect of the Chain Formation Diagram, and that it would all vanish as the Chain Formation Diagram shifted.

“Following Zhang Yu was indeed the right choice!”

Yu Xinghan suddenly straightened his body, looked at Zhang Yu with emotion, and said word by word, “Minister, I have memorized the contents of the Law Edict you mentioned. When undergoing law establishment, I will definitely not change a single word. I only pray for a successful law establishment so that I can support you for the rest of my life.”

Zhang Yu patted Yu Xinghan’s shoulder and thought to himself, “No wonder leaders all like their subordinates to show loyalty. Now that I am sending Yu Xinghan to undergo law establishment, I also subconsciously hope he can loyally execute my plan.”

Fu Ji thought to herself, “Zhang Yu, oh Zhang Yu, so can you now understand how much pain I felt back then in the lower realm when I treated you as an excellent subordinate, only to be backstabbed by you?”

The Sect Examination Clone said, “That is why we need to send emails to the Immortal Emperor from time to time to show our loyalty. Even if the Immortal Emperor verbally dislikes it and says things like there’s no need to report anymore, he will definitely feel somewhat more favorably towards us inside.”

The Herald God thought to himself, “What a good hand at winning people over. This Zhang Yu is truly skilled at using low-cost methods to increase the loyalty of his subordinates.”

Immediately after, Zhang Yu sent [Myriad Phenomena] into Magnetic Pole’s Technique Aperture. The latter also looked at Zhang Yu with a surprised expression.

“By passing it to us like this, you’ve violated the Sect Law, haven’t you?” Magnetic Pole looked at Yu Xinghan beside her and said, “When making the Law Edict, remember not to give yourselve away. Especially this technique of sealing Law Edicts; although Zhang Yu has passed it to us, we absolutely must not use it.”

Yu Xinghan nodded and said, “Teacher Magnetic Pole, rest assured, I understand.”

After bidding farewell, watching the two leave, Zhang Yu thought to himself, “This is all I can do. The rest will depend on yourselves.”

Yu Xinghan and Magnetic Pole had their own battles to fight, and so did Zhang Yu.

In the following period, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to his cultivation, step by step pushing the rise of his Immortalization Degree.

But soon, Zhang Yu once again came into conflict with Lu Jingsong and the company behind him.

Looking at the promotional activities arranged by the other party, Zhang Yu frowned and said, “During my time at the Edict Pavilion, I didn’t do these things.”

Lu Jingsong said, “It doesn’t matter. We have already arranged for the Pavilion Master of the Edict Pavilion, Si Xuxiao. When the time comes, he will stand up for you and proclaim that during your time at the Edict Pavilion, you were engrossed in Immortal Dao research as soon as you got off work, demonstrating an astonishing innate talent for Immortal Research.”

Zhang Yu shook his head and said, “There is no need for this kind of false advertising.”

In Zhang Yu’s view, he only needed to follow the prescribed order, hold tightly to the betting agreement, properly survive the thunder tribulation, and ultimately, he would naturally obtain a handsome income.

However, false advertising and lying to the public were just cashing in the credibility he had so painstakingly accumulated. Once exposed… it would affect his public trust rating, which would bring nothing but harm to his future of freezing Law Edicts, elevating Law Edicts… and even upgrading his Dao Lineage.

But Zhang Yu had no way to explain this confidence in the size of his thunder tribulation to Lu Jingsong in detail, so he could only say casually, “There is no need to use lies to inflate my value. Just wait quietly for the Tribulation Transcendence.”

Lu Jingsong thought to himself, “How can there be no need? You might just be thinking of increasing the thunder tribulation a little to earn a few million or ten million at most, but we need to push the opening price above 1000 to earn billions or even tens of billions in profit!”

But of course, Lu Jingsong couldn’t say this out loud. He could only try to persuade him, “Minister Zhang, when we signed the agreement back then, it was agreed… that you would cooperate with our promotional work.”

Zhang Yu said indifferently, “False advertising was not included in that. Or do you want to go to court and have everything exposed?”

With a thud, Lu Jingsong knelt on the ground and pleaded, “Minister Zhang! I beg you! Just participate in this promotional event, alright? I heard you like dual cultivation? As long as you are willing to participate in this event, my leader and I, our entire company will form a bottomless conga line for you, okay?”

Zhang Yu turned and walked away, “I’ll say it again, I have my principles. I can participate in normal promotions, but forget about this kind of false advertising.”

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