Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

One day later, in the Cross Wind Union Bank…

After a day of field testing, Li Yao was very satisfied with the performance of the new Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. His next step would be to start crafting his tailor-made version of the Unparalleled Extension according to his combat style and the features of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.

However, even without the Unparalleled Extension, Li Yao was confident that he could fight against enemies in the Nascent Soul Stage with the help of Black Wing.

After taking back the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, Li Yao had no other business in the Cross Wind Space Zone apart than one thing—borrow money!

For Cultivators at his level, the resources they consumed every day were beyond the wildest imagination of ordinary people.

Since the Glorious Sunlight Group was still developing, the capital available to the company was rather tight. Besides, he could not pay for his own training with the money of the group directly even though he was the Chairman of the Board, considering that there were other shareholders.

To be listed was definitely the best approach to raise funds.

With the current scale and future prospects of the Glorious Sunlight Group, it was more than easy for the company to be listed.

However, Li Yao was not planning to do that.

Once it was listed, there would be even more shareholders in the company, and he was not sure that he could remain as the actual owner of the company anymore.

Besides, after the company was listed, the financial report and the business status of the company would have to be published regularly, not to mention the audits and the supervision.

Sparkle was Li Yao’s biggest trump card and had consumed a lot of resources of the Glorious Sunlight Group. The big hole in the balance sheet would be discovered immediately if professional accountants were to audit it.

Li Yao did not intend to expose Sparkle to the world, at least for now.

He did not want his company to be listed, but he was in dire need of a large sum of money for his own training. While Li Yao was experiencing a huge headache, the Cross Wind Union Back, which had cooperated with him before, presented a rather tempting proposal.

“Manager Zhao, it’s only been a short time since I came to space. Although I’ve heard about Cultivation Bonds before, I have never gotten to know their details. Please to enlighten me,” Li Yao said in a smile.

There were only four people in the small meeting room: Wu Zhengyang on his side, a red-faced obese middle-aged man across the desk, and a plain-dressing, slender old man who seemed rather haughty and gloomy.

The fat middle-aged man was named Zhao Hongguang. He was the vice manager of the Cross Wind Union Back in charge of the credit loans.

Although he looked rather unattractive, he was actually an admin-type Cultivator in the Core Formation Stage. Wu Zhengyang had been in touch with him since the Glorious Sunlight Group was first established and spoke very highly of him.

The cold old man was ‘Master Heavenly Eye’ according to Zhao Hongguang. He was the leader of the Heavenly Eye Sect as well as the president of Heavenly Eye Consultancy, a company.

But Li Yao had no idea what the Heavenly Eye Consultancy was actually about.

“The full name of the Cultivation Bond is ‘Cooperative Bond for Cultivators’. It’s actually very simple. You will understand what it is as soon as I explain to you.” Zhao Hongguang smiled. “Chairman Sand, you may consider it a tool to get you listed.”

Li Yao frowned and said, “The Glorious Sunlight Group does not intend to be listed yet.”

Zhao Hongguang’s face remained unchanged. He replied casually, “I’m afraid you misunderstood me, Chairman Sand. I was not talking about the Glorious Sunlight Group, but you, yourself, Sand Scorpion, the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau. You will be listed.”

“Huh?” Li Yao raised an eyebrow and looked at the manager with suspicion.

Zhao Hongguang had never met Li Yao before and did not know the background of the guest from Iron Plateau. Therefore, he decided to explain it in the most straightforward way. “The most important factors about Cultivation are ‘wealth’, ‘residence’, ‘arts’, and ‘companions’. The debate as to the order of the latter three remains unabated to this day, but ‘wealth’ has been acknowledged by everyone as the top priority all.

“Nothing can be done without money. It has been so since the ancient Cultivation world forty thousand years ago. Cultivators consume hundreds of times more resources than ordinary people do every day, and when they are preparing for a major breakthrough, say, from the Refinement Stage to the Building Foundation Stage or from the Building Foundation Stage to the Core Formation Stage, they have to prepare a great sum of money and tremendous resources for themselves.

“Then, here comes the question. Marvelous as Cultivators may be, they cannot turn stones into gold. Besides, most of them are training hard every day. How do they have the time to make money?

“Therefore, ancient Cultivators, righteous and evil alike, had to reign over ordinary people. They would levy taxes, con the underprivileged, or even rob them directly, exploiting ordinary people for money.

“The righteous Cultivators managed to maintain basic morals. They pretended to be ‘deities’ or ‘grand masters’ by fooling the ordinary people with exotic appearances and unbelievable techniques so that the ordinary people would be willing to offer their money promptly.

“It is needless to mention the evil Cultivators. They resorted to all kinds of inhuman methods in order to retrieve resources.

“When a righteous Cultivator ran into an evil one, or two righteous Cultivators met each other, as long as there were no witnesses, it was nothing usual for one of them to slay the other and loot the victim’s treasures.

“That was the reason for the chaos and lawlessness in the ancient Cultivation world forty thousand years ago.

“But after forty thousand years, we are all civilized people today. Naturally, we cannot exploit ordinary people and gather resources in such crude and rough ways.

“Besides, anyone who knows the first thing about economics will realize that both the feudal system that the righteous Cultivators employed and the slavery system that the evil Cultivators counted on have a very low efficiency in resource collection.”

Zhao Hongguang paused for a moment. He seemed to have sensed the impatience in Li Yao’s eyes and immediately got to the point. “It is better to allure the ordinary people with benefits and win together than to rob their money by force.

“With this principle in mind, Cultivation Bonds appeared in the Flying Star Sector several thousand years ago.

“For example, in the ancient Cultivation world, if a Core Formation Stage Cultivator sensed something and realized that the time to enter the Nascent Soul Stage had come, what would he do when he needed resources but was short of money?

“If he did not have the support of his sect or his family, he would have to resort to robbery or exploiting ordinary people, wouldn’t he?

“But now is different.

“Right now, the Core Formation Stage Cultivator can release his own ‘Cultivation Bond’, say, a hundred dollars apiece. He can make a deal with the purchasers, promising that they will receive a dividend of ten dollars annually for certain years, and that if he successfully enters the Nascent Soul Stage, he will return the principal with a bonus of thirty dollars or even more.

“Think about it. If a Core Formation Stage Cultivator really makes a breakthrough into the Nascent Soul Stage, his connections, social position, and influence will all increase a lot. The extra payment will not be the slightest problem for them.

“This is the mechanism of the Cultivation Bond.

“It is a win-win for Cultivators and ordinary people.

“By releasing Cultivation Bonds, Cultivators can raise a large sum of funds for their training. If his training yields a satisfactory result, the ordinary people who purchased his Cultivation Bonds will receive huge returns, too.”

Li Yao immediately understood it. But he thought of something that did not seem right and asked, “Wait, what if the Cultivator fails to enter the Nascent Soul Stage or even unfortunately becomes mentally deranged and dies during the breakthrough? The investors who bought the Cultivation bonds will have a huge loss, won’t they?”

Zhao Hongguang smiled and said, “Don’t worry. That could only happen when the Cultivation Bond was just born. After thousands of years of development, the regulations about the Cultivation Bond are quite mature. It is no longer a simple certificate of loans, but a financial product like shares and futures.

“Firstly, if a Cultivator plans to raise money for his training through the Cultivation Bond, they must be assessed by a qualified evaluation company first.

“There are only eleven companies with such qualifications. Their credit can all be dated back to a thousand years ago.”

Li Yao glanced at Master Heavenly Eye, who was sitting in front of him.

Master Heavenly Eye was observing him in great interest. His two eyes were like glittering crystal cameras, and he did not hide his staring, which was almost rude, at all.

Li Yao finally realized why the manager of the ‘Heavenly Eye Consultancy’ had showed up there.

“Secondly,” Zhao Hongguang continued, “the Cultivator must be endorsed by one or several eligible sects, groups, or financial institutions. If the Cultivator does not spend the money he raised in training but dedicates himself to personal entertainment or even worse nonsense, the sects, groups, and financial institutions will share liability.

“As for you, Chairman Sand, I believe that the Cross Wind Union Back, the Glorious Sunlight Group, and Iron Plateau are all willing to endorse you.

“Thirdly, there are many professional insurance companies in the Flying Star Sector that provide services for Cultivation Bonds. As long as the investors are willing to pay some money, the insurance company will compensate for most of their losses in case the Cultivator fails or dies during their breakthrough.

“Fourthly, there are always some fixed assets or real estates under a Cultivator’s name. If he dies abruptly, his legacy will be reclaimed to compensate the investors.

“With multiple protective measures, Cultivation Bonds are developing fast nowadays and have become an important market of investment that almost equals to the stock market. Many famous Cultivators have released their own Cultivation Bonds.

“Here. This is an exchange platform of Cultivation Bonds. Take a look, Chairman Sand.”

Zhao Hongguang projected a light beam from his mini crystal processor. Red and green names and numbers appeared on the light beam, followed by up arrows and down arrows and ended with a small percent.

At first glance, it was indeed identical to a stock exchange platform.

However, at the front of each line, it was not the names of sects or companies, but those of Cultivators.

There was a small window in the top left corner where a solemn old man wearing a seven-star robe was shaking his head and commenting on the changes.

“Zhang Ao, elder of the Seven Mysteries Sect, performed a previously unseen move in a battle against the space pirates the other day. According to sources, Elder Zhang Ao has been working on the improvement of ‘Seven Mystic Slashes’, a saber art. It might be a sign that he has made a preliminary success.

“Boosted by the good news, the price of Elder Zhang Ao’s Cultivation Bonds has been soaring since the trade hour. So far, it has increased by 3.3%.

“If the good news is real, it is estimated that the price will be increased by another 10%.

“On the other hand, Yuan Ziping, an unaffiliated Cultivator of the Red Moon Space Zone who has been preparing to break into the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage since half a year ago, unfortunately suffered a failure, according to his spokesperson in the press conference last night.

“His spokesperson also pointed out that, although the breakthrough failed, Yuan Ziping was definitely not mentally deranged, nor did he suffer any heavy wounds. He was merely exhausted and needed a few months of rest.

“According to him, the rumors that Yuan Ziping was mentally deranged after the breakthrough and regressed in his cultivation are pure nonsense, and Yuan Ziping reserves the right to sue the rumor-makers for libel.

“Even so, the price of Yuan Ziping’s Cultivation Bonds has witnessed a significant decline. It dropped by 4.6% during the press conference, which made him the Cultivator with the greatest slipping rate other than deceased Cultivators over the past three months.”