by <unknown>
"What?!"
Li Yao was shocked.
The capital status of a sect is the secret of all secrets. Once the capital chain rupture is known by the public, the following chain reactions will destroy a sect easily!
The fact that Jiang Wenbo was telling him the top secret meant that it was not a secret anymore.
Jiang Wenbo smiled bitterly.
"A few reviews on the magazines or forums are not fatal; even though many dealers have terminated cooperation, I still have a lot of life-long friends supporting us; also, we can always sell them on the Nexus.
"But right now, it was the crystal camera supplier that set us up.
"Our crystal camera supplier, after providing the first batch of crystal cameras, had been delaying the delivery of goods with all kinds of excuses. When we communicated with them, they guaranteed that everything was alright. The postponement was due to force majeure, specifically, short of raw materials. They promised that they would deliver the rest of the goods before the deadline and compensate for our loss because of the delay.
"There had been a deep trust between us after many years of cooperation. So, we believed what they said.
"Before we received the crystal cameras, we had semi-refined thousands of Demon Beast Detectors and even presold them.
"But, in the end, after postponing for three times, the crystal camera supplier scrapped the contract and terminated the cooperation!
"As a result, we had to recall all our presold orders and double-refunded our customers' advance payment. It had a bad influence on our brand image, too.
"Even worse, the thousands of semi-manufactured Demon Beast Detectors had all been refined based on the parameters of their crystal camera model. It was difficult to find substitution."
Li Yao nodded.
As a refiner, he was well aware that the parameters of crystal cameras refined by different sects varied significantly. In refining, a one-millimeter divergence would be more than enough to stop the component from being universal.
But there was one other thing he didn't understand.
"Mr. Jiang, when you signed the contract with this crystal camera supplier, there must be breach clauses on it, wasn't there? The liquidated damages must be a lot more than your loss, aren't they?"
Jiang Wenbo said, "Li Yao, you're not an admin-type Cultivator. You don't understand.
"Yes, there are breach clauses on the contract. But now, they refuse to acknowledge the contract. So, we'll have to file a lawsuit and sort everything out in a federal court. The trial might take one year or even two years. Of course, we will win the case in the end, but it's going to be three to five years later when we really get the liquidated damages!"
Li Yao thought for a moment. But he was still puzzled.
"But what can they gain from all this? They're losing both their money and their credit. Have they decided to commit suicide while dragging the Mountain Sea Sect down with them?"
Jiang Wenbo shook his head.
"You're wrong. The Mountain Sea Sect will die before them. Two of our loans will be due by the end of next month. We lost a fortune because of this accident. There's no way we can pay the loans now.
"What is even weirder is that the capital status of the Mountain Sea Sect was somehow leaked. The entire Cultivation world now all know of the Mountain Sea Sect is going to go bankrupt at any moment. No one dares to lend any money to us right now."
Li Yao frowned. A moment later, he asked, "Mr. Jiang, can you tell me how much the capital gap is for the Mountain Sea Sect?"
Jiang Wenbo was dazed for a second. Guan Xiong, who'd been sitting beside him with a grave face, said, "With everything going to this far, there's nothing worth hiding now! Even our financial statement has been set to public! Besides, the Demon Beast Detector is our mutual project. Li Yao is our partner. He deserves to know our actual status.
"Now, the entire sect, from top to bottom, is trying everything we can and pulling all kinds of strings. We estimate that there will be a three hundred to five hundred million funding gap next month. If we can't work it out, the Mountain Sea Sect will be doomed when the capital chain rupture occurs!"
Li Yao nodded in agreement.
A three hundred to five hundred million gap might not seem very much for a sect, but the actual situation was a lot worse than it sounded.
A chain is a serial assembly of links that are closely connected to one another.
The Mountain Sea Sect had been in debt due to ill-management for many years. To embark on the Demon Beast Detector project, it borrowed a lot of loans from banks and other sects. The total loans were as high as several billion.
All the investors had been paying close attention to the sales of the Demon Beast Detector as well as the capital status of the Mountain Sea Sect.
If the Demon Beast Detector became an instant hit with amazing sales, the banks and sects definitely wouldn't try to recover their money in a hurry. Instead, they might even lend more money to the Mountain Sea Sect in order to accumulate more interest.
But as it turned out, the Demon Beast Detector was a bummer in the market. With the cash flow of the Mountain Sea Sect running out, there would be chain reactions that may lead to bankruptcy. No bank or sect would agree to lend loans under such circumstances. They would only demand the Mountain Sea Sect pay their debts as soon as possible.
The Mountain Sea Sect would be hopeless if so!
Li Yao had a vague feeling that this whole incident had been a serial trap from the very beginning.
"Somebody must be behind all this. Do you have any theory who might be targeting the Mountain Sea Sect and our Demon Beast Detector?" Li Yao asked coldly. Dangerous brilliance was beaming in his eyes.
Before Jiang Wenbo opened his mouth, Guan Xiong said furiously,
"I don't have any valid evidence. But ten days ago, the Zephyr Guild spoke boldly that it was going to acquire the Mountain Sea Sect and make us a sub-branch of the Zephyr Guild!"
"The Zephyr Guild!"
It immediately occurred to Li Yao that the Zephyr Guild had reached out to him when he just got the patent of the Demon Beast Detector, which wanted to buy out his patent at a very cheap price and was turned down by him.
Jiang Wenbo said, "The Zephyr Guild is a traditional conglomerate in the field of precise magical equipment refining, which has been shifting to the probe magical equipment in recent years. Their advertising expense has been astronomical.
"However, the Zephyr Guild was first known by the watches they refined. Their probe magical equipment is all worn on wrists.
"I bought several of their products before. The design and precision are indeed much better than those of our Demon Beast Detector.
"But I still think the Demon Beast Detector will work better in real battles."
Li Yao squinted and said, "You mean, if the Demon Beast Detector goes popular, the market of the Zephyr Guild's probe magical equipment might shrink and cause them great losses?"
"Of course!"
Jiang Wenbo added, "Also, the foul moves that we've been suffering from recently are exactly the style of the 'shark'."
Li Yao didn't know the name, "Who is this 'shark'?"
"He is the nickname of the young master of the Zephyr Guild, Qiu Guanyu, a talented admin-type Cultivator. Although he's only 29 years old, he has led several mergers and helped the Zephyr Guild swallow many sects that are of smaller size."
Jiang Wenbo continued, "Qiu Guanyu is both meticulous and merciless. He is best known for his style of killing without spilling blood. If he wants to take over a sect, he will try everything he can to suffocate the sect until it has no choice but to be devoured by the Zephyr Guild, with furs, skins, bones, and all!
"In the seven years since he started his career, he has taken over eleven sects in such way. Every year, one or two sects will become his new sacrifice. Therefore, he has been nicknamed the 'shark'!"
"So, this is the case. I understand it now."
Li Yao asked agai
n, "Mr. Jiang, Brother Xiong, what are the opinions inside the Mountain Sea Sect about the takeover?"
"Of course we hate it!"
Guan Xiong shouted, "If it were months ago when the Mountain Sea Sect was in desperation, we might've agreed to their terms if the Zephyr Guild wanted to buy us out, however unwillingly.
"But right now, with such an excellent product, the Demon Beast Detector, when we're ready for something big, this sleazy shark jumped on us and wanted us to bear the insult without complaints? Whoever wants to go there can go, but I definitely won't! To think that I might call the shark 'master' one day in the future is enough to kill me!
"Anyways, if the Mountain Sea Sect is to be taken over, I'll just resign and be a free Cultivator!"
Jiang Wenbo said, "Few in the Mountain Sea Sect are looking forward to the merger. But is there anything we can do about it?"
Li Yao didn't give an answer. He observed, "The bottom line is, if you have three to five billion by the end of next month, you'll be able to survive the trouble temporarily, correct?"
Jiang Wenbo nodded. Then his eyes grew wide as he shouted, failing to control his voice,
"Li Yao, what do you want?"
Pausing after each word, Li Yao said, "I want to go to the Zephyr Guild and meet this so-called shark."
Jiang Wenbo blurted out, "You know nothing about business and you are definitely no match for the shark. What's more, even if we can fix the loan issue temporarily, there are still bigger capital gaps in the future if the sales of the Demon Beast Detector remain at the current level. This will be a bottomless hole. There's no need to jump into it! Besides, it is just our speculation. We don't our any solid evidence to pin the whole scheme on the Zephyr Guild!"
"You'll figure out how to solve the funding problem later! As long as Mr. Jiang, Brother Xiong and the rest of the Mountain Sea Sect stick together until the end, there will definitely be a way out! As for evidence—"
Li Yao smiled. His sharp teeth were glaring as he said, "Do you think the vulture needs 'solid evidence' to launch a counterattack when it is offended?"
Chapter 266: Laws of the Outlaws |
Spiritual Wind City was located hundreds of kilometers away, a prosperous metropolis in the middle of the federation.
In the center of the city stood a jade-like, rosily-shining skyscraper, which was the headquarters of the Zephyr Guild, one of the top hundred sects in the federation.
Wind was blowing hard on the rooftop. A handsome man whose hair was long enough to reach his waist had a greedy expression, his face aglow from the lights of the city below him.
His long, silver hair was motionless in the blowing wind.
Suddenly—
The man took a deep, deep breath that seemed to be absorbing all the opulence of the city into his stomach like a giant whale which was sucking water.
Weirdly, his chest did not inflate despite the deep breath.
After more than a minute of inhaling, his cheeks were finally flushed in satisfaction. But there was no sign of exhaling. He turned around.
"Young master, the Mountain Sea Sect firmly declined our merger proposal yet again."
Respectfully, a subordinate handed over a crystal processor to him.
Qiu Guanyu, the young master of the Zephyr Guild, known as the 'shark', replied calmly with a cruel smile, "Just another futile, dying struggle. A prey that has been bitten in the middle of their body by me can never get away, right?"
He liked the feeling when his prey rolled over and over in his mouth, only to be shredded, chewed, and swallowed in the end.
Qiu Guanyu was an admin-type Cultivator. His path of Cultivation had been building up the Zephyr Guild by leading it to swallow other sects.
Every time the Zephyr Guild took in a sect and became bigger than before, boundless power would be absorbed by him and improve his capability significantly.
Business was war!
For Qiu Guanyu, swallowing other sects in business was a way of Cultivation, just like fighting the demon beasts was for the battle-type Cultivators.
Eyes closed, he seemed to have heard the cries in the Mountain Sea Sect whose every method had come to a dead end. Countless power was crowding in his blood and soul.
When the Mountain Sea Sect was fully embedded, his strength would arrive at a new peak!
"Young master, right now, we still have the chance to negotiate with the patent owner of the Demon Beast Detector and make a new deal with him. There's no need to waste so many resources buying out the Mountain Sea Sect."
He was Qiu Guanyu's trusted subordinate. That's why he was bold enough to propose a different plan.
"You mean, that guy 'Li Yao'?"
Qiu Guanyu squinted and said, "He is not a nearsighted guy. Quite on the contrary, he is very shrewd. He must've already realized that his Demon Beast Detector has tremendous value. If we go to him right now, he will know that it is probably more valuable than he thought and thus quote an unacceptable price for us.
"Besides—
"I like to give other people opportunities. But only once. It depends on them whether or not they grab it.
"Last time, I gave him an opportunity by sending someone to talk with him, but he turned me down.
"He wants a second chance? Come and beg me!"
…
Seven days later, on a spiritual airship to Serpent Mountain Village located in the south frontier which had been known as 'the most chaotic city of the federation'.
Serpent Mountain Village was formally known as 'Serpent City'. It had been a small fishing village on the south border of the federation. But over a hundred years, it became a super city with a population of over ten million.
Serpent City was a very special city that claimed to be 'a place without laws'. It boasted the largest black market, casino, and grey industries that verged on the illegal in the entire Star Glory Federation.
With enough money in pocket, one could buy strengthening drugs with amazing performance and yet of instable quality; one could buy all kinds of attack magical equipment that had been banned by the government due to their uncontrollable might; one could even buy Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures of unknown backgrounds here.
If one did not have enough money on hand, one could fight and gain fame in the thrilling fight clubs with one's own hands.
In short, Serpent City was just like the 'underground ghost city' in every city of the federation, only a hundred times bigger and more extravagant. One could say that it was a 'super underground ghost city' at service of all Cultivators.
The federal government, if determined, of course had the power to demolish the city. But as the ancient saying put, 'he who is mighty tends to break the rules'. The Cultivators were too strong to be bound by government's rules on everything, and they hoped that there was a space where they could do whatever they wanted.
Many Cultivators were in a lot of stress due to years of fighting in the wilderness and wandering on the edge of death. They needed a place to let out their pressure too.
It wouldn't be difficult to get rid of the Serpent City in reality. But it would be another thing to demolish the Serpent City in every Cultivator's mind.
This was how humanity worked. Cultivators were human beings, too, who had their bright side and their dark side. Suppressing darkness did not mean that it would be gone; it would only lead to greater trouble once it was accumulated.
Therefore, the government might as well designate a special area for their catharsis.
For example, Li Yao, who had got a batch of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and did not wish their background to be known, could go to the black market of the Serpent City to sell them off.
However, he would still have to find a place to sell them if there were no Serpent City, in which case he'd need to make secret transactions with the potential buyer which might lead to a gang fight due to mutual distrust.
In light of this, Serpent City was kept as a sanctuary for the darkness and
lawlessness of the Cultivators, as depicted in the saying 'when the water is too clear, there will be no fish living in it'.
Right now, the government had two, and only two, ironclad rules for Serpent City:
Firstly, the affairs inside the Serpent City should be handled within Serpent City. Any matter that was out of the range of Serpent City should be left alone.
Secondly, the conflicts among Cultivators should be settled among Cultivators and wouldn't be investigated unless either party asked to, even if there were murder cases. Moreover, it was strictly forbidden for Cultivators to harm the interests of ordinary people, and if anyone did, the guilty Cultivator would be sentenced with much severer punishments than outside.
The two iron rules had been well carried out.
Right now, the daily cash flow of the Serpent City was at the scale of billions. Major forces of the city were all endorsed by top sects of the federation, who worked together to maintain the order of the city and would never allow any psycho to interfere with their business.
For the ordinary people, not only were they safe under the current system, they could also benefit from the affluent Cultivators who were not hesitant to give them tips as much as 30,000 or even 50,000 after winning a fortune in a casino.
Therefore, the ordinary people approved of Serpent City as well.
Five hours later, the spiritual airship landed on the suburb of the Serpent City.
Li Yao took the spiritual subway to downtown.
Walking on the street with palms and coconut trees on both sides while the sea breeze brushed his face gently, Li Yao felt nice and cozy when he saw the citizens walking and talking in laughter.
It never occurred to him that the most chaotic city of the federation, a place without laws, could be as peaceful as other metropolises and so much more elegant that the underground ghost city of Floating Spear City.
However, Li Yao was not going to let down his alert so fast.
He had pinned two 'Face Twisters' inside his mouth, which was a kind of special magical equipment that could twist the user's facial muscles by unleashing special bioelectricity. Wearing them, it seemed that Li Yao had done a plastic surgery.