The Fourth Financial Crisis

Shopkeeper Liu immediately took the second wooden box from the servant and took out a dagger: "This sword is called 'Surge', a water-attribute flying sword, made by Qu Jiajiang, a five-star acclaimed weapon refiner of the Wuliang Sword Sect. It is forged from the ice vortex cold crystal produced in the Northern Ocean. As long as spiritual energy is poured into it in advance, the user can use the guidance of his spiritual consciousness to cut out a water attribute light blade equivalent to the level of Qi Refining Dzogchen. It is a weapon used by low-level monks to kill people beyond their ranks. The starting price is... 40,000 yuan of spiritual stone coins."

The special effects of this flying sword named Surge sound very similar to Talisman. But unlike the spiritual energy stored in the talisman seal, which will slowly lose over time, the spiritual energy stored in the ice vortex cold crystal can be preserved for a long time, and it can also be handed over to others to repeatedly pour spiritual energy into it.

Although Shopkeeper Liu did not actually use this flying sword, no one doubted his description of the Surge Sword. After all, everyone was a respectable person, and Liu Qi would not use deceptive methods to make money.

After listening to Shopkeeper Liu’s introduction, the monks’ reactions were polarized.

The monks in the Qi Refining Stage are generally a little eager to try, while the monks in the Foundation Establishment Stage mostly show disdainful expressions. After all, a full blow from the Great Perfection of Qi Refining is like scratching an itch for high-level monks.

Yang Lu also noticed that after Liu Qi introduced the special effects of the Surge Sword, he took a special look at himself. Apparently shopkeeper Liu also thought that this flying sword should arouse the interest of him, a monk in the early stage of Qi refining.

Shopkeeper Liu guessed right this time. After hearing the introduction of this surge sword, Yang Lu was indeed moved.

Just look at the Heyuge killer Li Wen to know how powerful the Qi Refining Dzogchen's full blow is.

Although this surge sword only has the power of one blow, with such a blow, I am afraid it can kill even a monk in the middle stage of Qi refining. Even if used by a monk in the late stage of Qi refining, it is equivalent to instantly increasing his output limit by one. times. If there is anyone who this sword can improve the most, it is definitely Yang Lu.

For a newbie like Yang Lu who has just developed his spiritual consciousness, as long as he holds this sword, he can play a guest role as "One Sword Superman".

It is more appropriate to describe this surge sword as "a treasure for low-level monks and useless for high-level monks."

As soon as Shopkeeper Liu finished speaking, a masked monk over there took the initiative to bid: "I'll pay 41,000 yuan of spiritual stone coins!"

However, this man's voice was immediately drowned out by the shouts of other monks.

"I'll pay you 42,000 yuan in spirit stone coins."

"I'll pay you 43,000 yuan in spirit stone coins."

"43,500 yuan spirit stone coins!"

…

This surge sword is indeed very useful to certain groups of people. In just one minute, twelve cultivators made more than twenty rounds of quotations, raising the price of the surge sword to 60,000 Yuanling. Stone coins.

Yang Lu also tried to quote a lower price, but was quickly covered by others.

However, after all, the Surge Sword is a magic weapon that cannot be used in the foundation building period. When the quotation exceeded the 60,000 yuan mark, the number of cultivators participating in the quotation significantly decreased. After all, most of the cultivators in the late stage of Qi Refining could not afford such a price even if they lost their entire family. With so much wealth, spending such a huge sum of money to buy a flying sword exclusive to the Qi Refining Stage is indeed a bit too extravagant.

When Su Yuanfeng, the president of the Haiya Chamber of Commerce, directly offered the sky-high price of 70,000 yuan, no cultivators continued to bid.

Seeing that the time was right, Yang Lu took the initiative to offer Su Yuanfeng his hand and said, "President Su, I am also interested in this Surge Sword. I am willing to pay 71,000 yuan of spirit stone coins. I wonder if you can part with it?"

In normal auctions, most bidders are not allowed to mix privately. However, the Liu Family Chamber of Commerce auction was not large in scale and involved more communication of emotions than transactions, so there were no such strict rules.

Su Yuanfeng was startled for a moment, then said with a smile: "I bought this surge sword for the sake of the future generations of the family. Since Mr. He has taken a fancy to it, I naturally can't win people's love."

All the cultivators present were a little surprised to hear that Su Yuanfeng gave up the bidding so easily.

After all, Su Yuanfeng, the president of the Haiya Chamber of Commerce, definitely has the strongest financial resources among all the monks here. It’s definitely not that he can’t afford the price, but that Mr. He has a lot of background, so Su Yuanfeng can take the initiative to give in.

Yang Lu was completely unaware of the strange looks in the other monks' eyes. He just took the Surge Sword from Shopkeeper Liu as if nothing had happened, and then carefully kept it in a special sword box.

The shape of the Surge Sword is too conspicuous. If worn at any time, it is very easy to reveal one's identity. Therefore, Yang Lu only plans to use it as a means of suppressing the bottom of the box. It is best to leave no one alive to the enemies who have seen its power!

The sword box he uses to keep the Surge Sword is also extraordinary. It was purchased from Xiuzhenfang City yesterday for 200 yuan of spirit stone coins. It has special formations engraved on its surface, which is specially used to seal the aura of flying sword magic weapons and shield them. The prying eyes of other monks.

Shopkeeper Liu nodded to him, and then took the third wooden box from the servant...

In this way, the auction went on without any setbacks. The items that Shopkeeper Liu took out were each more precious and rare than the last. Even in the second half of the auction, the starting prices of all the items exceeded one hundred thousand spiritual stone coins.

After Yang Lu took the Surge Sword, his entire net worth was less than 20,000 spirit stone coins, and he could only sigh in despair when faced with the high-priced auction items.

Only one product aroused Yang Lu's interest.

"The general contract for the restoration project of the official road from Tianshu City to Luanshi City. The starting price is 150,000 yuan in spiritual stone coins. The labor costs and building materials are paid by yourself. Based on the experience of dozens of previous official road restorations, it is expected that the merits gained after the completion of the project will be It’s equivalent to a golden wheel of merit.”

Yang Lu was originally wondering why Tianshu City asked someone to build roads, but instead of paying them, they asked for labor and materials.

But after hearing the word "merit", he understood everything.

Similar to cultivation resources such as spiritual stones, magic weapons, medicinal materials, and talismans, heavenly merits are also cultivation resources. Even in terms of importance, heavenly merits are the most important cultivation resources, bar none.

Repairing bridges and repairing roads has always been the most important livelihood project, and such actions will naturally be rewarded by heaven.

Most of the official channels in the Tianshu Mountains are maintained by the Mountain Eagle Faction. However, the Mountain Eagle Faction is the supreme ruler of the entire region after all. It is impossible for them to do everything personally. After all, the internal management efficiency of any organization will increase exponentially with the expansion of management scale. decline. When the management level cannot be further improved, the Mountain Hawks will inevitably outsource some non-core businesses.

Infrastructure projects such as road construction are obviously non-core businesses that are very difficult to manage.

This is just like levying a property tax is definitely the most beneficial to the government, but the property tax collection process is too cumbersome and the cost of tax collection is too high, so in the end it often turns into land finance that directly sells land.

This does not mean that land finance is better, but that the management cost of land finance is lower.

Letting the Mountain Eagles personally handle the work of repairing bridges and repairing roads is equivalent to letting local governments directly participate in real estate development projects. The operating efficiency will definitely not be as good as that of market-oriented real estate companies.

Therefore, the Mountain Eagle Sect will also outsource such "merit projects" that are extremely wasteful of management resources and have a low risk-benefit ratio, and let the chambers of commerce established by cultivation capitalists help complete them.

Since the compensation for road construction is paid through heavenly merit, the Mountain Eagles are not worried about the cultivation capitalists cutting corners.

For the Mountain Eagle Sect, although the sect has received less heavenly merit, it has successfully divested the most cumbersome non-core business, which not only promotes the economic development of the Tianshu Mountains, but also allows the sect to obtain additional income.

For the cultivation capitalists who contract the project, this is equivalent to spending money to buy merit, and the effect is similar to opening a homeless shelter. However, whether it is cost-effective depends on the cost control and operating capabilities of each chamber of commerce.

Overall, this cooperation model is undoubtedly a win-win situation for all.

As expected, this "official road restoration project" attracted active quotes from representatives of major chambers of commerce. In the end, it was Su Yuanfeng who was strong enough to win the deal for the Haiya Chamber of Commerce with a price of 470,000 yuan in spiritual stone coins. A meritorious project.

After another long while, the transaction for the last lot was completed.

This most precious treasure is a set of portable formation flags called the [Five Color Rainbow Light Array]. After being deployed by the Foundation Establishment Stage monks, it can even temporarily withstand the attacks of the Golden Core Stage monks. This formation comes from the Shenxiao Sect of the West Jizhou. The hand of Tao Master.

The starting price of this set of array flags alone was as high as two million spirit stone coins. After multiple rounds of bidding, it was finally acquired by a masked monk at an astonishing transaction price of 4.28 million yuan.

More than 40 items were auctioned in nearly two hours. The transaction efficiency of the auction was indeed not very high.

After the transaction of the last auction item was completed, the monks who successfully bid began to pay the price, while a few of the monks who failed to bid chose to leave directly, and most began to talk business with monks they knew well.