With Zhao Xuhe as his guarantor, Lü Yang successfully secured a loan of 2,000 Contribution Points from the "Sanhe Association" behind him, and immediately went all-in to purchase Death-Warding Skeletons.
On the other side, Zhao Xuhe was excitedly pacing his cave mansion.
"The information is actually true!"
After receiving the information from his master, he was instantly thrilled: "The Stain Sect's mass grave in the North of the River has indeed been seized by the Celestial Sword Pavilion led by its Third Elder, the extraordinary Foundation-stage Sword Cultivator known as the Perfected Demon-Vanquishing.
"It's impossible to reclaim it in a short time."
"With the fall of the mass grave, the short-term price surge of Death-Warding Skeletons is already certain. This is a great opportunity for us!"
"I'm going to make a fortune!"
Being able to land a job in Good Deeds Tower, Zhao Xuhe naturally had backing and connections, and he certainly didn't lack insight and greed. Therefore, once he confirmed Lü Yang's information, he immediately began to raise money to buy Death-Warding Skeletons as many as possible.
And the development was just as he expected.
As word of the mass grave incident spread, more and more people "detecting a business opportunity" began to scour the market, buying Death-Warding Skeletons at high prices.
Like all economic bubbles, those who entered the market first made considerable profits.
However, as the situation unfolded, people realized that the price of Death-Warding Skeletons wasn't falling at all. They bought at high prices—and sold at even higher ones.
Making money suddenly became easy.
As long as you bought and sold them, you could easily earn the same amount of Contribution Points as would normally be earned by completing several or even dozens of sect missions.
As a result, more people were driven irrational by this opportunity.
More and more people began to invest their savings in the market, hoping to make money from it, and indeed they did, further stimulating the market.
Even those who were more cautious found themselves feeling unbalanced when they saw their peers, whom they looked down on, making more money just by buying things and selling them a few days later. Naturally, they too jumped on the bandwagon.
Thus, the price of Death-Warding Skeletons kept rising with unstoppable momentum.
From the initial 200 Contribution Points, it soared all the way to 300 Contribution Points. The fifty percent increase made countless speculators go even crazier.
After all, its price never stopped rising.
It would rise today and definitely rise tomorrow, and if it rose tomorrow, why wouldn't it continue to rise the day after? Not buying now would be a loss!
So more and more people moved at the news.
300, 400, 500... Finally, when the price soared to 500 Contribution Points, people's rationality somewhat returned, thinking it might be enough.
"Time to sell!"
Zhao Xuhe was the first to seize this subtle point, secretly starting to sell off his hoarded Death-Warding Skeletons in batches, preparing to cash out and quit the game.
At the same time, the market price of Death-Warding Skeletons began to slide.
After all, Zhao Xuhe was hardly the only person with foresight. Others quickly sensed the downturn and started unloading their stock bit by bit.
If things continued this way, it would only be a matter of days before prices completely collapsed and returned to normal.
However, just as the market was about to cool, a piece of explosive news suddenly swept across the entire Stain Sect overnight—from the upper ranks straight down to the lowest disciples:
"The sect is preparing to counterattack!"
"The loss of the mass grave has enraged a Perfected Person of the sect, who will personally lead disciples to launch a counteroffensive against the Celestial Sword Pavilion!"
"A great war is imminent!"
In wartime, every resource useful for survival and battle sees its value soar.
And Death-Warding Skeletons—artifacts that could save a life at a critical moment—how invaluable would they be in the bloody Great War of Righteous and Evil about to unfold?
In many cases, they were practically a second life.
Unsurprisingly, the moment this news spread, prices that had just begun dropping surged upward again that very night.
They not only rebounded to the previous peak of 500 Contribution Points but continued climbing.
By the next morning, the price had jumped from 500 to 1000 Contribution Points—five times its original value of 200!
"Hahaha!"
In the Library Pavilion, Wang Baifeng stood on his beloved rocking chair, face flushed with excitement as he waved his arms wildly.
"Up! Keep going up!"
"No—this isn't the time to sell. If I unload now, the profit won't be enough… I'll buy more! If I keep holding, I might be able to afford an entirely new cave mansion!"
Across the Stain Sect, countless ordinary disciples celebrated.
These people lacked background, connections, and insider information. When others quietly sold, they were still buying.
And now—they had struck gold.
Many of them doubled their wealth overnight, earning more than senior disciples who had family backing and powerful support.
Stories spread through the sect like wildfire.
A penniless young man who had once been rejected by his fiancée doubled his fortune in one night and promptly divorced her, leaving behind just a single message:
"Do not bully a young man just because he is poor."
A young girl, whose father had died and whose mother remarried, had long lived under a stepfather who beat and shouted at her and even seized her inheritance. After doubling her wealth with Death-Warding Skeletons, she immediately paid in full for a high-end cave mansion of her own.
Have dreams? Want to change your fate?
Buy Death-Warding Skeletons!
This frenzy reached its height the day a Qi Refining Final disciple suddenly broke through and successfully established his Foundation.
He publicly announced that his breakthrough had been entirely funded by profits from trading Death-Warding Skeletons, which allowed him to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill outright.
He declared that without Death-Warding Skeletons, he would never have been able to reach this realm.
Madness. Utter madness.
1000, 2000, 3000—the price of Death-Warding Skeletons skyrocketed without restraint. Some rejoiced as the price soared; others could only watch and despair.
Among the happy ones was Lü Yang.
Not greedy, he decisively sold when the price hit 2000. After all, buying ten Skeletons at 200 each and selling them at 2000 meant a tenfold profit—20,000 Contribution Points in hand!
Among the miserable ones stood Zhao Xuhe.
Watching the rebound filled him with regret—especially when he saw Wang Baifeng, whom he had once looked down on and even planned to exploit.
As far as Zhao Xuhe knew, Wang Baifeng—an unremarkable old fellow who had muddled through life for decades—had hoarded more than twenty Skeletons, all purchased at high prices during the earlier frenzy. Zhao Xuhe had laughed at him then, assuming he was a sheep waiting for slaughter while he himself cashed out.
Now? Wang Baifeng was about to make 100,000 Contribution Points.
If Zhao Xuhe had merely failed to profit, he could have accepted it.
But watching Wang Baifeng earn a fortune and walk around glowing with joy every day—that was unbearable.
As Death-Warding Skeleton prices continued to soar, Zhao Xuhe spent the entire night torn and sleepless.
In the end, he re-entered the market.
All the Contribution Points he made cashing out earlier were thrown back into Death-Warding Skeletons.
At first, he was cautious, unwilling to commit everything. But the higher prices climbed, the worse he felt at not being fully invested.
"I can't miss this opportunity… I already missed it once. How could I let it slip again?"
"It'll only go higher. Buying now is better than buying later…"
He was not alone.
Many who had cashed out early felt the same and rejoined the market—further heating up prices and reinforcing everyone's belief that the rise was far from over.