Chapter 979: Surging Thunder, Placing Retail Cultivators at the Highest Point
“Has it not started yet?”
Bu Yingshu stared at Zhang Yu on the live stream screen, her eyes wide open, revealing a rare look of nervousness.
Beside her, Bu Zhenting casually glanced at his foolish sister and said, “Are you really going to make a move as soon as the market opens? Is Zhang Yu that amazing? I see the bond prices are being blown sky-high right now; it will definitely drop a wave first, right?”
“What do you know?” Bu Yingshu glared at him and said proudly, “I have insider information. Zhang Yu’s wave of thunder tribulation will definitely be super huge.”
“As if you’re the only one with insider information.” Bu Zhenting said without a care, “Do you think I’m like those retail cultivators, daring to charge in blindly without insider information?”
Bu Zhenting advised, “This time, the popularity of Zhang Yu undergoing Tribulation Transcendence is absurdly high, and there is more than one faction fueling the flames behind the scenes. The waters here are too deep; I don’t think we can grasp it. You’d better wait and see the situation before jumping in.”
Bu Yingshu snorted coldly, ignoring him, and instead looked at Bu Yuangui beside them, saying, “Dad, what do you say?”
Bu Yuangui gently stroked his beard, while the changes in the situation over this recent period flashed through his mind.
He thought of the previous visit by the Heavenly Sword Sect delegation, the massive momentum of Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Transcendence this time, and the undercurrents surging behind this marketing campaign…
Bu Yuangui always had a feeling: “This time, it seems someone is using the opportunity of Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Transcendence to try and stir something up.”
But a feeling was just a feeling, an intuition Bu Yuangui obtained from various clues combined with his own life experience.
He couldn’t articulate a specific reason, so he could only shake his head and say, “The momentum of Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Transcendence this time is indeed unusually massive. Yingshu, as they say, there is an inside story above the inside story, and news above the news. Sometimes, just because you have inside information doesn’t mean you will definitely make a huge profit.”
Bu Yingshu exclaimed in shock, “I got the news from Zhang Yu. Could the news from the very person undergoing the Tribulation Transcendence be unreliable?”
Bu Zhenting curled his lips, “Hard to say.”
Bu Yuangui said, “Zhang Yu might just be being used as a pretext. The current situation… is not something Zhang Yu could have set up. I’m afraid that if you get involved, you won’t be able to handle it.”
Listening to their responses, Bu Yingshu said in annoyance, “You two just can’t stand that my vision outshines yours on this, and you hate the thought of me making big money!”
“I’m telling you all, as soon as the market opens, I’m buying in with my entire portfolio! I’m definitely going to make a killing this time!”
Inside the Heavenly Sword Sect, Bai Zhenzhen glanced at Zhang Yu’s live stream and thought to herself, “Ever since we started marketing Yu Zi’s Tribulation Transcendence, there have been quite a few unusual movements inside and outside the sect. Could it be that during the previous visit to the Myriad Laws Sect, the higher-ups were just discussing how to help Yu Zi pass the thunder tribulation?”
Thinking of this, Bai Zhenzhen shook her head, feeling she was overthinking things.
How could a joint project between two great sects be about something as trivial as mere Tribulation Transcendence?
“But maybe there is a connection…”
Just then, Wen Wuya beside her asked, “Zhenzhen, once the market opens, are we going to buy Minister Zhang’s bonds?”
Before Bai Zhenzhen could answer, a voice rang out, “Buy them, why wouldn’t you?”
Bai Zhenzhen whipped her head around and saw the mysterious person who had initially toyed with her appear with a smile.
It was this very mysterious person who had sought out Bai Zhenzhen shortly after she joined the sect, constantly teasing her and taking pleasure in watching her make a fool of herself.
But it was also this person who had imparted the Bliss Sword Dao to Bai Zhenzhen and pulled her into the Heavenly Sword Sect’s investment circle, kickstarting the entrepreneurial career of today’s Heavenly Sword Goddess.
But as for the identity of this mysterious person, even though Bai Zhenzhen was now immensely popular in the Heavenly Sword Sect, it was still difficult for her to find out.
The other party was like an unknown riddle. Not only could Bai Zhenzhen not find any information about them in the Spirit Realm, but even the many high-tier cultivators she had asked were either completely ignorant or extremely secretive about it.
Looking at the mysterious person’s appearance at this moment and hearing what they said, Bai Zhenzhen said, “What do you mean? Is Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Transcendence project also being manipulated by you behind the scenes?”
The mysterious person smiled and did not speak.
Bai Zhenzhen said again, “Didn’t you say you were very busy lately? Why did you come over again? I don’t have any jokes for you to laugh at right now.”
The mysterious person said faintly, “Things haven’t been peaceful in the sect lately. I have to keep a close eye on my own leek field to avoid suffering collateral damage.”
“Not peaceful?” Bai Zhenzhen suddenly frowned. She thought of a lot of things in that moment, but felt that she was still missing a piece, unable to figure out exactly what the other party meant.
Shi Huaiyu shared her account balance in the Lower Realm Mutual Aid Group.
Shi Huaiyu: “I’ve cashed out all my stocks and maxed out all my loans! 💪”
Shi Huaiyu: “Where the upper limit of my immortal path truly lies depends entirely on this wave! 🙏”
Feng Tingting: “[Account Balance] Ammunition is ready, charge!”
Mo Shangjin: “Charge!”
Tian Shengong: “Charge!~ [Fighting]”
In the Lower Realm Mutual Aid Group, many cultivators responded one after another, each seeming to be gearing up and ready to make a fortune after the market opened.
Seeing the countless members with lower cultivation inside and outside the group so full of drive, Shi Huaiyu nodded slightly: “The morale is strong.”
If it were in other fields, Shi Huaiyu knew that as someone with lower cultivation, she could not compete with an uppert-tier cultivator. But in the stock market…
“Here, they don’t care about your martial arts or daoist arts. In this cruel market, there are only scams and anti-scam techniques evolved to their absolute peak.”
Shi Huaiyu sent in the group: “Remember, everyone! No matter how the upper-tier cultivators scam, how they set bear traps, how they wash the market, or how they shake it up… you all fucking hold on tight!”
Shi Huaiyu: “Trust Minister Zhang! Hold onto your keys to sudden wealth until the very last moment!”
Shi Huaiyu: “Believe in the power of faith! [Salute] [Loyalty]”
Meanwhile, the entire Spirit Realm of the Former Days Graveyard was also bustling with excitement.
Not only had the number of suicides recently reached a peak, but countless new and old Soul Cultivators were also scrambling to raise money, preparing to enter the securities market and buy Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Bonds.
“Honestly working to earn money… is too slow, too boring, and too dull!”
Lu Hengzhang sighed inwardly. “This kind of path, where you can see the end at a glance, where you can easily calculate the upper limit of your Immortal Dao, and where you watch yourself step by step toward death, is not the immortal path I want.”
“Minister Zhang’s Tribulation Transcendence today is also an opportunity for us lower-tier cultivators to transcend our own tribulations.”
“As long as I survive this tribulation, I might be able to live another lifetime and climb the path of the Immortal Dao once more.”
“The ninety-nine-fold lineage-severing, soul scattered and spirit extinguished loan! Max it out for me!”
Within the Kunxu 16th Layer.
After experiencing Zhang Yu’s legal reforms, which improved working hours, the Dual Cultivation Obligation and Procreation Obligation, the countless cultivators on this layer were deeply impressed by Zhang Yu’s formidable capabilities.
Ban Jinchen sighed, “They say that in the Myriad Laws Sect today, apart from the Soul Cultivators of the Former Days Graveyard, we cultivators on the 16th layer are Minister Zhang’s core supporters.”
As the legislator of the Paid Overtime Law Edict, Ban Jinchen had surrendered to Zhang Yu early on. Having personally watched Zhang Yu dominate the 16th layer unrivaled and take down one opponent after another, he admired this Myriad Laws Divine Sword to the utmost extreme.
Beside him, Si Shian, the creator of the Four-Hour Workday Law Edict who had similarly defected to Zhang Yu early on, said, “I know. For Minister Zhang’s Tribulation Transcendence this time, a massive number of cultivators in the 16th layer have prepared their funds, planning to buy Minister Zhang’s bonds.”
The reason Si Shian and Ban Jinchen understood this was because they were also among them, retail cultivators waiting to make their move.
Although Zhang Yu had not yet truly begun his Tribulation Transcendence, the hype it generated had already swept through every corner of the ten great sects. Not only was the Former Days Graveyard growing increasingly lively, but the traffic on various finance, gambling, and live-streaming platforms had also reached a minor peak.
Lu Jingsong watched the steadily climbing hype on the live-streaming platform and grew excited in his heart: “Great, the hype is even higher than expected.”
Looking at the continuously skyrocketing popularity, he seemed to see fat sheep with pockets full of Immortal Coins, running over to give away their money.
Beside him, He Zhaisheng was both exhilarated and slightly apprehensive, saying: “Keep up the propaganda and don’t stop. Zhang Yu might show his true colors in the first wave of the thunder tribulation, and we need time to offload our goods. Try to stabilize the bond prices; even if they have to fall, make sure they fall slowly!”
Lu Jingsong naturally knew that in a free market, trading out countless bonds could not be completed in an instant.
In this process, sellers needed to list the bonds at a price, and then buyers had to make bids; only when the prices matched could waves of transactions be achieved.
If bond prices fell too quickly, it might cause a lack of confidence among buyers, leading them to wait and see. This would subsequently prompt some sellers to directly lower their prices to offload their stock and recoup their losses as fast as possible, ultimately entering a vicious cycle where the more prices fell, the harder it was to sell, and the harder it was to sell, the more prices fell.
Therefore, to guarantee maximum profit, Lu Jingsong understood that while slowly offloading their stock, they had to continuously maintain their promotional efforts and keep fooling more people into taking the bait…
“And my Heavenly Sword Sect… is the most powerful king of marketing among the ten sects.”
Lu Jingsong thought to himself, “Temporarily suppressing all voices of doubt isn’t a difficult task either.”
“As for the rest…”
Lu Jingsong looked at Zhang Yu on the live stream screen and thought, “It all depends on your performance… Zhang Yu.”
Within a minor realm specifically used for Tribulation Transcendence.
Zhang Yu stood in the void, and a cultivation art named the Thunder Absorption Mantra surfaced page by page before his eyes.
In the past, someone developed Immortal Dao Technology, creating an Immortal Dao Technology that could utilize thunder tribulations to temper the body and achieve macro and micro integration.
Nowadays, this Immortal Dao Technology has continuously multiplied and grown within Kunxu, spawning countless schools, making every cultivator’s tribulation transcendence like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each showing their mystic powers. 1
This time, the Thunder Absorption Mantra that Zhang Yu selected was a Strategic-Tier martial dao technique, which cost him a full ten million Immortal Coins and several thousand Dao Merits.
However, this type of Immortal Dao Technology required one to face thunder tribulations directly and use the thunder tribulation as material to cultivate. Although the Thunder Absorption Mantra was a martial art, it could not escape this point.
Zhang Yu secretly thought to himself, “Having to undergo a thunder tribulation while cultivating at the same time is simply like a daoist art.”
However, Zhang Yu was not worried about this; after all, with his peerless talent, it wouldn’t take too long to practice this cultivation art to the maximum level.
He only hoped, “The first few waves of thunder tribulations shouldn’t be too strong, right? Let me increase my thunder tribulation resistance a bit more…”
This trace of distracting thought vanished in an instant. The next moment, Zhang Yu took a step forward, and his aura suddenly skyrocketed, as if he had stepped into another world.
Immortalization Degree 100%!
“Tribulation Transcendence Realm… here I come.”
The next instant, blinding thunderlight abruptly lit up, transforming into a lightning flash spanning hundreds of miles, completely swallowing Zhang Yu and the heaven and earth of the entire minor realm.
The terrifying lightning seemed as if it would tear even space apart, shaking the spatial structure of the entire minor realm until it cracked frantically. Countless streams of divine light and sword qi emerged in succession just to stabilize the minor realm.
At the very first moment he was swallowed by the thunderlight, only one thought remained in Zhang Yu’s mind: “Is my Qi Refining foundation this profound?”
A total sensation!
When Zhang Yu began his Tribulation Transcendence, the Tribulation Securities officially opened for trading, and immediately after… once the lightning spanning hundreds of miles swallowed Zhang Yu, the entire Spirit Realm seemed to completely boil over.
“So fierce! It’s much fiercer than Ye Heng’s first thunder tribulation!”
“The first thunder tribulation is already this terrifying? How vicious will the later thunder tribulations become?”
“Hurry up and buy! Won’t this rise to 10000 Immortal Coins?”
At this moment, countless people were shocked by the sheer power of the thunder tribulation Zhang Yu was experiencing, and then enviously watched the wildly surging bond prices.
“The buying price has already broken a thousand! Someone bid 1005 per lot to buy the bonds!”
Lu Jingsong’s subordinate exclaimed, “It seems it will surge even more! President Lu, what should we do? Should we sell?”
“President Lu, the drafts we prepared beforehand don’t match the situation. Should we still publish them?”
Lu Jingsong looked at this scene in equal disbelief: “What is going on?”
Is this what the evaluation report called an insufficient foundation?
“This is damn well equal to two Ye Hengs!”
Lu Jingsong felt as if all plans had been shattered and hurriedly asked his superior: “President He? What do we do?”
He Zhaisheng looked at the live broadcast screen in shock, feeling that all their previous plans had been shattered at this moment.
However, no matter what, neither of them panicked. After all, a surge was a good thing. Perhaps Zhang Yu’s explosive surge could even bring them unexpected high returns.
But right at this moment, the surging thunder was wiped away as if by a giant hand. The incredibly violent thunder tribulation from just a moment ago had unexpectedly dissipated into thin air in an instant.
Following closely, a series of notifications emerged.
Looking at the content of the notifications, Lu Jingsong frowned and said: “They got the strike address wrong? That was Ye Heng’s thunder tribulation just now?”
“An outsourced temp worker made an operational error? They struck the wrong person?”
At the same time, Zhang Yu in the live broadcast was seen with his skin and flesh torn open all over his body. Countless organs and bones were exposed; he had clearly been heavily injured by the blast of the thunder tribulation just now.
In an instant, the Spirit Realm erupted into a chorus of curses.
“Are you kidding me? How can you even get the strike address wrong?!”
“What if Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Transcendence is affected?”
“Compensate us! Pay up!”
Finally, the relevant person in charge stated that they would provide Zhang Yu with a free thunder tribulation quota. The exact free amount would be identical to the volume of the thunder tribulation that Ye Heng had just detonated.
Meanwhile, Immortal Yi Xuan, a Reformist Faction Immortal who had been paying close attention to this scene, said, “Changing the strike address… could this be the Vajra Sect’s arrangement? Trying to kill someone using borrowed lightning?”
Immortal Roujia said, “From what we can see so far, this lightning strike only heavily injured Zhang Yu, but it couldn’t strike him to death. Did the Vajra Sect make a mistake?”
Immortal Yi Xuan said, “Let’s keep watching. If this is the Vajra Sect’s doing, they definitely won’t stop at just this one move.”
Just as the Spirit Realm was in an uproar, Zhang Yu had already announced that he would continue his Tribulation Transcendence.
“Don’t do it, Minister Zhang! You should at least take a rest.”
“Profound Monarch Zhang, we’re not in a rush. Let’s take it slowly.”
Many cultivators who cared about the bond prices, or who had purchased bonds themselves, all tried to dissuade Zhang Yu, hoping he would get some proper rest and treatment.
Zhang Yu, however, paid it no mind. He slightly circulated his vital energy, first closing up all the wounds on the surface of his body.
Sensing his own condition, he thought to himself, “The impact isn’t big, so I might as well strike while the iron is hot.”
Thus, Zhang Yu spoke up, “Let’s continue. Send my Qi Refining Thunder Tribulation over.”
Wisps of thunderlight could be seen gradually emerging from Zhang Yu’s body.
Zhang Yu sensed the backlash of the Immortal Dao Technology within his body, seemingly recalling his Qi Refining days in the First Layer and remembering the foundations he had laid down one by one during the Qi Refining Realm.
Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms, Celestial Cycle Qi-Gathering, Spring and Autumn Endless Zen…..
Basic cultivation arts, advanced cultivation arts, expert cultivation arts…..
High School Sacred Body, Martial Dao Sacred Embryo.
Zhang Yu remembered deeply that he was just that poor and weak during the Qi Refining Stage.
His strongest cultivation art was merely expert-grade, his Spirit Root was ultimately only a Heavenly Spirit Root, his powerful Chain Formation Diagrams ultimately numbered a mere two, and as for a Dao Seed, he had absolutely none……
“This is me, this is my accumulation in the Qi Refining Realm, the foundation I laid during the Qi Refining Realm……”
Feeling streaks of ten-meter-long thunderlight bursting out from within his body, there was not the slightest trace of surprise on Zhang Yu’s face.
Having climbed up from the First Layer, even with his peerless innate talent, his Qi Refining foundation naturally could not compare with the cultivators within the sects, those cultivators who easily possessed Immortal Spirit Roots and Immortal Sect Techniques.
“This is the path I took to get here.”
Zhang Yu calmly accepted all of this, silently operating the Thunder Absorption Mantra to turn the streaks of lightning into fuel to temper his physical body…..
At the same time, with the outbreak of Zhang Yu’s Qi Refining Thunder Tribulation, the entire Spirit Realm was already in an uproar.
“How is this possible? How could Minister Zhang’s thunder tribulation be so small?”
“Did the lightning strike the wrong address again?!”
Meanwhile, inside the securities company, after seeing the scale of the first wave of thunderlight emerging on Zhang Yu’s body, a trace of surprise still flashed across Lu Jingsong’s eyes.
“The assessment report was still wrong.”
“Zhang Yu’s foundation might be even weaker than we imagined!”
Beside him, Lu Jingsong’s superior, He Zhaisheng, thought to himself: “What does the lower realm know about Immortal Cultivation? Especially since Zhang Yu laid his Qi Refining foundation in the First Layer and his Foundation Establishment foundation in the Second Layer… It is simply a dark history on a cultivation resume. No matter how you look at it, he falls too far behind the Tribulation Transcendence cultivators of other sects.”
A large amount of data comparison surfaced in Lu Jingsong’s eyes, and he said, “Ancient times cannot be verified, but based on the recorded data of modern thunder tribulations, Zhang Yu’s Qi Refining Thunder Tribulation, as it stands right now… is record-breakingly weak.”
Lu Jingsong knew in his heart that, theoretically, a cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm with such a foundation would never be able to climb to the Tribulation Transcendence Realm in Kunxu, let alone undergo a thunder tribulation.
Therefore, judging from this first wave of the Qi Refining Thunder Tribulation, Zhang Yu was simply the Tribulation Transcendence cultivator with the weakest foundation in history.
“If it weren’t for fortuitous encounters, coupled with immortal destiny that made Zhang Yu appreciated by an upper-tier cultivator, he would never have made it this far.”
“He really is a standard Administrative Cultivator.”
Lu Jingsong sighed, “True, with a Myriad Laws Divine Sword like this, if his foundation were too strong, it would actually be harder to control.”
Beside him, He Zhaisheng nodded slightly and said, “Qi Refining is the chassis. With such a weak Qi Refining foundation, no matter how much it grows, how far can it really go?”
He Zhaisheng did not doubt that Zhang Yu’s subsequent thunder tribulations would grow, or that later in Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, and Void Refinement… he would lay a stronger foundation due to a better environment.
But the question remained… no matter how much it grew, how high could it really go?
“A price just over 1000 is already the absolute ceiling we’ve inflated for him with all our maneuvering.”
“Zhang Yu has already peaked. What we need to do next… is to leave the retail cultivators stranded up here at this peak as well.”
Now, He Zhaisheng and Lu Jingsong no longer suspected that Zhang Yu would trigger some ultra-large-scale thunder tribulation. Instead, another concern arose in their hearts at this moment.
That was that Zhang Yu’s foundation was even weaker than they had imagined. With such a performance… the retail cultivators’ willingness to take over the bag would definitely be severely reduced.
“Get the propaganda department running at full capacity!”
Sword intent surged within He Zhaisheng’s body, instantly crossing the Spirit Realm and infusing his will into his subordinates one by one.
“Send out all the press releases we prepared beforehand!”
“Have all the Celestial Evolution Award winners we contacted earlier post videos to endorse Zhang Yu!”
“Anti-Slander Team, move out! Report anyone who speaks ill of Zhang Yu!”
“I want the entire Spirit Realm to hear nothing but praise for Zhang Yu!”
At the same time, He Zhaisheng had already applied for more resources from above. Countless streams of sword intent followed as he struck out with a single sword strike. Streaks of Shock Sword Intent directly shook the Instant Network, and countless explosive news pieces about Zhang Yu swept out like a great flood.
“Celestial Evolution Award winner Heavenly Monarch Rongyu claims that the latest immortal research theories show that a weak Qi Refining foundation has no direct connection to a weak foundation in subsequent cultivation realms.”
“The recording of Zhang Yu fighting above his level, using Void Refinement to defeat Tribulation Transcendence, has gone viral across the ten sects again. Experts believe his Void Refinement thunder tribulation may trigger large-scale disasters.”
“The market makers are just washing the board right now! Could the foundation of the Myriad Laws Divine Sword possibly be poor? Aiming for 10000! Everyone, go all in and charge with me!”
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Immortals ↩