Chapter 981: Immortal Emperor’s Special Approval, Liquidate!!!
Inside the Heavenly Sword Sect.
Although Hong Shanlang was only a Spirit Transformation cultivator, he was the frontline employee responsible for dispatching and calibrating thunder tribulations, serving as the group leader of the Thunder Tribulation Surveillance Group.
And the reason why… with his mere Spirit Transformation cultivation, he could participate in the management of thunder tribulations, was simply because the Heavenly Sword Sect’s entire Thunder Tribulation System was now highly mature. Even his Spirit Transformation cultivation was sufficient to control it.
In fact, in Hong Shanlang’s opinion, his Spirit Transformation Realm was already overqualified.
“With the foolproof operation of the current Thunder Tribulation System, even if an outsourced Golden Core were put in charge, it would probably be enough to get all the work done, right?”
The reason why so many cultivators competed for this position, eventually escalating the fierce competition to the point where only a Spirit Transformation cultivator like Hong Shanlang could snatch it, was solely due to the immense profits involved.
“As long as one stays in the thunder tribulation post for ten years, after being transferred out… it will be very easy to join a securities sect enterprise. When the time comes to take charge of Tribulation Securities, your income can directly increase tenfold, or even dozens of times over.”
But Hong Shanlang also knew that this position came with equal risks.
For example, his predecessor was taken away on suspicion of insider trading, and the predecessor before that was taken away for illegally intercepting thunder tribulation…
“Putting on this work badge, I am no longer an ordinary Sect Staff, but an existence capable of influencing countless Tribulation Transcendence cultivators, the entire Tribulation Bond market, and the lives and fortunes of countless retail cultivators…”
“But sitting in this position, one must also constantly temper a dao heart to avoid being blinded by greed and to avoid violating laws and regulations under the influence of the Immortal Dao Aspiration, which would ultimately result in the loss of all one’s cultivation…”
And this time, Hong Shanlang was the one responsible for coordinating Zhang Yu’s thunder tribulation work.
Although Hong Shanlang was merely a Spirit Transformation Cultivator, he had already witnessed the tribulation transcendence process of many Tribulation Transcendence cultivators.
Yet, seeing Zhang Yu’s successive layers of thunder tribulation still took him by surprise.
“What a weak Qi Refining Thunder Tribulation.”
When the first wave of the Qi Refining Thunder Tribulation descended, what Hong Shanlang felt was… an unprecedented weakness, and a hint of disdain inevitably rose in his heart.
But next, as Zhang Yu continuously triggered multiple thunder tribulations within just a short month and a half, the way he looked at Zhang Yu also changed rapidly.
From carrying a trace of contempt, to gradually becoming surprised, then astonished, until the fifth Spirit Transformation Thunder Tribulation, his gaze toward Zhang Yu was already full of admiration.
“Profound Monarch Zhang’s thunder tribulation technique is progressing too fast.”
Along with the pieces of data emerging in the monitoring system, Hong Shanlang couldn’t help but sigh in his heart: “His degree of control and utilization of the thunder tribulation… have already surpassed many cultivators at the Tribulation Transcendence peak, what a pity…”
Hong Shanlang understood in his heart that although Zhang Yu’s performance could already be considered extremely excellent, the valuation of his Tribulation Bonds had been too high and the bubble too large previously. No matter how excellent his performance was, it probably wouldn’t be able to satisfy this valuation.
“I’m afraid that from now on, many people within the Ten Great Sects will curse him, hate him, and view him as an enemy.”
When Zhang Yu applied to initiate the sixth Thunder Tribulation, Hong Shanlang, just like the previous few times, directly sent the application upwards.
But when the application was approved, and he thought the sixth Void Refinement Thunder Tribulation was about to begin, Hong Shanlang suddenly noticed a drastic change in the data on the monitoring system…
“The intensity of the thunder tribulation has increased by 300%… 400%… 500%…”
“Why is it still rising? It won’t stop at all.”
Hong Shanlang exclaimed in surprise, “Did the monitoring system malfunction?”
At the same time, Hong Shanlang found that all the monitoring videos had disconnected, plunging into pitch-black screens.
“What on earth… happened…”
Meanwhile.
At the center of the sixth Thunder Tribulation.
At this moment… Memories were constantly surfacing in Zhang Yu’s mind, recalling the profound foundations he had established step by step in the Void Refinement Realm.
From the initial Great Void Dao Body, to the ten Immortal Aura cultivation arts from the law establishment training, and then to the Chain Formation Diagram [Myriad Phenomena] composed of these cultivation arts.
These cutting-edge Immortal Qi Technologies all backfired at this moment, causing Zhang Yu’s entire Primordial Spirit to feel as if it were burning fiercely. Every trace of immortal aura seemed to expand and explode, aiming to completely shatter his Primordial Spirit.
Besides this, the other Dao Seeds he had obtained in the Void Refinement Realm, [Sovereign of the Nine Heavens], [Construct the World], [Divine Craftsmanship]… as well as the ultra-high-danger Dao Seed [One Qi Swallows the Universe], were now also triggering technological backlashes one by one.
The thunder tribulation, which had already skyrocketed to 200,000 meters, was now expanding madly like foam, breaking through 1,000,000 meters in an instant and directly filling the entire minor realm used for Tribulation Transcendence.
The spatial structure inside the minor realm also seemed to vibrate violently, as if countless suns were exploding within it, with endless light and heat roaring and struggling inside, threatening to completely burst the entire minor realm.
As Zhang Yu’s sixth Thunder Tribulation continued to skyrocket, the Immortal Emperor-grade Legacy he obtained from Supreme Truth, the [Emperor Creation Seed], and the Innate Dao-Vindication Scripture… similarly erupted with technological backlashes.
Amidst the cracking and shattering sounds, wisps of thunderlight had already forcefully pierced through the minor realm; the originally incomparably sturdy spatial structure now appeared to be crumbling and on the verge of collapse.
Zhang Yu could feel that, even with his thunder tribulation resistance enhanced to its peak and his defensive capabilities tempered to the extreme, his physical body and Primordial Spirit felt as if they were gradually melting within this unprecedented thunder tribulation.
“Roar!”
Amidst his fierce shout, Zhang Yu frantically circulated his cultivation art. The flesh and blood of his body sometimes turned into wind and thunder, sometimes into water and fire, and sometimes reverted back to flesh and blood… constantly healing and growing.
While struggling to resist the thunder tribulation, the level 71 Thunder Absorption Mantra was also executed to its absolute limit.
At this moment, Zhang Yu no longer hid anything; the technological power that surpassed the upper limits of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm was already surging and being fully unleashed.
Under the berserk thunder tribulation, the flesh and blood representing macroscopic technology and the Primordial Spirit representing microscopic technology… seemed to gradually bond together, as countless mysteries of the microscopic world entirely surfaced before Zhang Yu.
Zhang Yu could sense that while his life and will were being devastated to the extreme, the efficiency of the thunder tribulation tempering his body had also reached an unprecedented peak.
And as the thunder tribulation continued to skyrocket, and as clones were torn to shreds one after another, his thunder tribulation resistance broke past its limits once again and began to rise anew.
“The thunder tribulation will break through the minor realm restriction in 0.0021 seconds!”
“All monitoring equipment has lost connection, suspected to have been vaporized by the thunder tribulation…”
“The thunder tribulation has pierced through the layered spatial structure, and has already spread from the 17th layer to the 16th layer and 18th layer…”
“The newly deployed monitoring equipment has been destroyed. The damage range of the thunder tribulation is expected to increase again. Requesting a secondary deployment…”
Looking at the reports and data on the monitoring system, Hong Shanlang’s heart surged with agitation. The words “major accident” continuously surfaced in his mind.
“What exactly is going on?! Was there a mistake somewhere that let someone else’s thunder tribulation through?”
At this moment, he only hoped that it was all a mistake by other groups, mistakenly deploying the thunder tribulations of multiple other Tribulation Transcendence Cultivators over here.
But the reports coming from his subordinates and the monitoring system made him feel his heart and salary both sinking continuously.
“The central spiritual energy density has increased by 1785000%, and the outbreak period of the thunder tribulation is expected to exceed 105 years. The range of the thunder tribulation is estimated to extend to… the 20th layer at the highest, and all the way down to the 1st layer of Kunxu…”
Right at this moment, another report pierced Hong Shanlang’s heart.
“Group Leader, the 1st layer of Kunxu, no… even the 1st underground layer is picking up thunder telemetry!”
Hong Shanlang took a deep breath. Stepping outside the office, he saw the entire world flashing madly.
That was the surging thunder tribulation that had already blotted out the sky.
Under the constantly detonating lightning, even the sunlight paled in comparison…
Major accident… severe dereliction of duty… safety responsibility… A terrifying string of administrative compliance buzzwords flooded Hong Shanlang’s mind.
At the same time, the thunder tribulation in the sky began to contract, as though a pair of invisible, massive hands was compressing and harvesting it.
Hong Shanlang thought to himself, “Did the Safety Team arrive and start containing the tribulation?”
But the next moment, the message popping up on the surveillance system shocked him again: “It’s not just the Security Group… Zhang Yu is also suppressing the thunder tribulation?”
“Is that… Ascension Realm level tribulation tech at work?”
Hong Shanlang knew that Ascension Realm cultivators, and even Immortals… naturally possessed stronger technical capabilities to utilize the thunder tribulation, whether for refining magical artifacts or brew medicinal pills.
And right now, the sheer level of tribulation tech Zhang Yu was displaying appeared to match that of an Ascension Realm master.
“When he withstood the first five tiers of the thunder tribulation earlier… he actually hadn’t even used his full strength?”
Almost at the same time, Hong Shanlang received another notification from his superiors.
“A comprehensive investigation report on the accident has already been written? It’s about to be released? And it was personally written by an Immortal?”
“Saying they want to reassure the public as soon as possible, but…”
Glancing at the contents of the report, Hong Shanlang gasped, “This was premeditated, right? If this report is released to the public this quickly… I’m afraid the entire bond market will go crazy.”
But not long after the investigation report was sent out, an even more shocking piece of news appeared before Hong Shanlang.
“The Immortal Emperor specially approved… the seventh Thunder Tribulation?!”
At this moment, Hong Shanlang felt that he had been drawn into an unprecedented major event, an upheaval sufficient to go down in history.
“Is this… the Immortal Emperor’s scheme?”
At this moment, Hong Shanlang seemed to already see the scenes of the company going bankrupt and Immortals falling.
“Sigh, this is a case of mystic power being no match for destiny, and destiny being no match for policy.”
Inside the securities company of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
After discovering the live broadcast going black, and it being a large-scale black-screen broadcast accident at that, He Zhaisheng sensed something was wrong and immediately split off a sliver of his consciousness to investigate the situation.
And very quickly, he gathered a large number of clues in the Spirit Realm, even including photos and videos.
“A thunder tribulation leak occurred on the 17th layer?”
“People on the 16th layer and 18th layer also witnessed the thunder tribulation?”
The first thing He Zhaisheng thought of, of course, wouldn’t be that Zhang Yu’s thunder tribulation erupted like this… such a ridiculous thing.
The first thing he thought of was: “Did the guys managing the thunder tribulation make a mistake? Did they leak the thunder tribulations of multiple Tribulation Transcendence cultivators?”
He Zhaisheng shook his head: “The new hires under the Thunder Tribulation System are really getting worse and worse. First they got the strike addresses wrong, and now a thunder tribulation leak. I’m afraid quite a few people will be taken away this time.”
Just as He Zhaisheng was still holding a spectator’s mentality, cultivators from progressively more layers in the Spirit Realm all sent out messages one by one that they had witnessed the thunder tribulation.
More and more cultivators began to criticize the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Thunder Tribulation System for malfunctioning.
A trace of a bad feeling gradually welled up in He Zhaisheng’s heart. He thought for a moment and ordered: “Start to liquidate.”
Lu Jingsong: “President He, the downward trend is perfect right now!”
He Zhaisheng said resolutely: “Liquidate, don’t let the thunder tribulation malfunction affect our profits when the time comes.”
Having said that, He Zhaisheng had already taken the lead in operations, placing orders to buy the currently low-priced bonds, and then returning them to the previous lenders according to the contract.
Lu Jingsong was also unable to defy his superior’s orders and simultaneously led numerous subordinates to start operating.
However, liquidating cannot be completed instantly; placing orders to buy bonds one by one to return them also takes time.
But before they could operate much, an investigation report regarding the thunder tribulation malfunction had already been issued.
Looking at the contents of the investigation report, He Zhaisheng’s expression drastically changed.
“Zhang Yu’s sixth Thunder Tribulation… Immortal Emperor-grade technology, triggering an unprecedented thunder tribulation backlash?”
“The thunder tribulation disaster has spread to the first underground layer?”
“Immortals have been urgently mobilized to intervene and help collect the thunder tribulation?”
With every extra line he read, He Zhaisheng felt a portion of his assets evaporate, and the magic power and vital energy throughout his entire body felt as if they were frozen.
And almost the instant he finished reading the report, He Zhaisheng roared furiously, his sword intent instantly soaring into the sky: “Liquidate!!”
“Fucking liquidate!!!”
“Quick! Quick! Quick! Be fucking quick!!!”
“Sweep up the current bonds for me no matter how much money it costs!”
But the next moment, He Zhaisheng felt his sword intent sealed within the company, unexpectedly unable to cross the Spirit Realm and slash toward the distance.
In barely even 0.01 seconds, his consciousness had already swept up and down the company and investigated the result.
“The company’s connection to the Spirit Realm is broken?!”
“Who did this!!”
Right when shorting, the bonds were about to experience a historic surge. He wanted to liquidate… only to find the connection broken, making it impossible to complete the transaction?
Having stepped into the Immortal Path for many years, He Zhaisheng had never experienced such a despairing moment.
Especially being in the Heavenly Sword Sect, a place where Spirit Realm Techniques had reached the pinnacle, and where communication and information technology suppressed all other Sects… how could a disconnection failure in the Spirit Realm actually occur?
“Who is trying to harm me?”
Almost in the very first instant, He Zhaisheng knew that someone must be plotting against him.
“Disconnecting the Spirit Realm connection, what a simple, crude, yet unpretentious move.”
Although he knew that many people in history had fallen to this trick, experiencing it personally still made him feel waves of bitterness in his heart.
But He Zhaisheng knew even better that now was not the time to dwell on this; the top priority at this moment was…
“Liquidate! Liquidate! Liquidate! Liquidate it for me at all costs!”
With a single sword slash, the entire office building was split in two. With another flash, He Zhaisheng… had already appeared a thousand meters away, feeling his consciousness connect with the Spirit Realm once again.
Relying on his cultivation, from investigation and thinking to taking action, He Zhaisheng completed the entire process almost in an instant.
But in this very instant, when he saw the price on the bond market again, the Shock Sword Intent in his body suddenly went berserk, tearing straight through his flesh, bursting out of his body, and raising a sky full of blood mist.
He Zhaisheng, however, still stared fixedly at the price of Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Bond.
5000…… 5500…… 6000
“How could it shoot up to this level in an instant?”
“An upper-tier cultivator… no, at least someone at Immortal-level has made a move!”
Having navigated the securities market for many years, He Zhaisheng understood a basic fact: the higher the cultivation, the stronger the computing power; and the stronger the computing power, the more transactions could be made per unit of time.
Especially at the level of an Immortal, one could manipulate countless funds every instant, conducting high-frequency trading that surpassed the imagination of lower-tier cultivators.
Not to mention that the speed at which an Immortal connected to the Spirit Realm was utterly incomparable to that of mortals.
For example, if both offered 100 coins to buy a bond, an Immortal would definitely place the order the fastest, thereby completing the transaction and snatching up the bond a step ahead.
Later, when someone realizes that they cannot buy the bond for 100 and places an order at 101, the Immortal can once again be the first to sell, the first to complete the trade, and the first to harvest this 101.
“In general, from the time the market price is reflected to a cultivator, and then from when the cultivator starts bidding… and it reflects back to the market, there is inevitably a time lag.”
“This time lag may only be a thousandth or a ten-thousandth of a second. If one can complete the series of actions of analyzing, selecting, placing an order, and trading within this brief moment, they can always buy low and sell high, and always make money.”
“Such a thing is difficult for lower-tier cultivators to achieve, but for an Immortal… this amount of time is more than enough.”
“That is to say… as long as Immortals send down sufficiently powerful will and strength to trade bonds, then simply by relying on the computational advantage and Spirit Realm advantage brought about by their cultivation advantage, they can stand invincible. This is the quantitative trading of the Immortals.”
However, He Zhaisheng understood even better that, under normal circumstances, Immortals rarely took the field in such a manner. This was because they had more lucrative methods; their cultivation, power, and resources had better places to be utilized.
“Even if Immortals were to personally intervene, they would usually just pay attention to the general trend and place casual bets, or hire people like us to keep an eye on things at all times…”
“But now…”
Watching the continuously skyrocketing Tribulation Bonds, a chill welled up in He Zhaisheng’s heart: “Only with Zhang Yu’s Sixth Thunder Tribulation surging, combined with the high-frequency trading of the Immortals, could it instantly skyrocket to this extent.”
“The reason the Immortals intervened is because… they had anticipated this long ago? They already knew they could reap massive profits this time and prepared in advance to make their move?”
How could Immortals reap enormous profits?
He Zhaisheng thought of the Immortal backing him: “Only by extracting benefits from others of the same Immortal rank, would Immortals send down their power and intervene to this degree.”
Still harboring a trace of hope in his heart, He Zhaisheng tried to continue raising his bids to sweep the goods and buy more bonds.
But he quickly discovered… he couldn’t snatch up any bonds at all, and couldn’t even manage to force a liquidation.
“Crazy, this market has gone crazy.”
Unprecedented… the sixth thunder tribulation spreading to the first underground level, the Immortals’ investigation report, the skyrocketing Tribulation Bonds…
He Zhaisheng knew in his heart that, following this series of build-ups, the entire market was collectively bullish… on Zhang Yu’s Tribulation Bonds.
Under such circumstances, those holding bonds would almost never sell them easily.
Even if someone offered them for sale, they would be instantly snatched up by the Immortals.
“Even a lot of the trading volume right now is probably made between Immortals, just to constantly drive up the bond prices…
“But if we can’t buy the bonds, how are we supposed to return the bonds… we borrowed to short according to the contract?”
And He Zhaisheng understood even more clearly that as time passed, the price of these bonds would only get higher and more outrageous.
Not to mention… that joining the buyers at this moment would also further fuel the upward trend.
“If we buy… it will push up the trend and increase our losses.”
“If we don’t buy… just watching the bonds rise will only result in losing even more.”
At this moment, He Zhaisheng found that he could only choose between “losing” and “losing more”.
He felt as if he had become a retail cultivator, being toyed with by the Immortals in the palm of their hands.
He Zhaisheng tried to contact the Immortals above, but there was still no response.
On the other side, Lu Jingsong followed behind He Zhaisheng with a heavy heart. He looked at his superior, who was covered in blood, and a phrase suddenly welled up in his heart.
“Mock the retail cultivators, understand the retail cultivators, become the retail cultivators…”