Scripture of Days Past

Chen Gang and Qiao Zhi watched as the flesh in the blood pool slowly morphed and transformed. Judging from their expressions, it was clear that the grotesque sight made them somewhat uncomfortable.

Chu Qiguang, however, remained unfazed. Noticing their discomfort, he advised, "Don't think of this stuff as a living thing. It may look like flesh and bone, but isn't actually alive. Think about the leather and cotton clothes we wear. The materials used to make them are all gotten from plants and animals, aren't they?

“This may seem a little unsettling because you're not used to seeing it, but fundamentally, it's no different from the production of any other man-made tool. You've done very well, Brother Wang. I encourage you to continue using this method to develop more tools in the future. That said, I do have a small suggestion. Have you noticed that all the tools being produced right now vary in size and dimensions?"

"Is that a problem?" Wang Cailiang asked with a puzzled expression.

In this world, most tools were still made by hand, so no two tools ever had the same measurements.

Chu Qiguang merely smiled without answering.

He knew this wasn't a concept he could explain without going into great detail, so he simply said, "Try making more things with the blood pool. See how large you can make them, as well as how small. Run some experiments to find out whether you can control the dimensions of the finished products and if you can make everything uniform in size. You can also try making tools with moving parts..."

Chu Qiguang rattled off a long list of suggestions, far too many for Wang Cailiang to remember, so he grabbed a brush and some paper and began writing them down.

After sharing all his ideas, Chu Qiguang smiled and said, "There's no need to rush to implement all of them. This will be a long-term assignment, so take your time. You can also exchange thoughts and ideas with the other fiends in the village. Make sure you don't try to handle everything by yourself."

There was no way Chu Qiguang could do everything on his own, which was why he had nurtured talents like Wang Cailiang and Jin Ji. In addition, he had to make use of Maiden Thirteen and her sister while continuing to recruit more skilled workers.

Only with enough capable subordinates under his command could Hidden Fiend Village reach its full potential. Chu Qiguang's original plan had been to replicate the things he had seen on Earth and develop technology that was far ahead of its time in this world. In fact, he had even considered building a steam-powered loom within the next few years.

However, he wasn't very familiar with the inner workings of steam-powered machines, and he felt that there were too many obstacles to overcome.

Developing steam-powered machines and putting them to use on a large scale would take far too long, and that was too slow for him.

Furthermore, in a world with martial arts, Dao arts, deities, and religions, people would most likely be slow to adopt steam-powered machines.

However, after witnessing the blood pool's ability to produce tools, some new ideas began to form in his mind.

Perhaps the fastest path to progress is to combine my knowledge from Earth with the martial arts and Dao arts of this world...

After visiting the blood pool, Chu Qiguang returned to the village with Wang Cailiang, while Wang Cailiang trailed behind them like a guard.

"I heard from Qiao Zhi that the Wu Clan and the Daoist temple haven't been very cooperative lately," Chu Qiguang said.

A wry smile appeared on Wang Cailiang's face. Both the Wu Clan and the Daoist temple were incredibly greedy, so there was no way they were going to keep their hands to themselves when the Azure Sun Trade Association was turning over such massive profits.

At first, they had been content to simply watch the stock price rise day after day, but it didn't take long before that was no longer enough to satisfy their greed.

They were accustomed to using their power to extort money from those beneath them, and they quickly returned to their old ways.

"After you left, they began planting their people throughout the trade association to manipulate the stock prices for their personal gain," Wang Cailiang sighed. "I tried to dissuade them, but of course, they refused to listen. The trade association is a complete mess now. Everyone's trying to manipulate everything, and the stock prices are constantly fluctuating."

Chu Qiguang nodded. Wu Wei was the son of the current grand secretary, while Chen Zhu was the abbot of the Azure Sun Daoist Temple, so there was no chance they would listen to Wang Cailiang. Once those two began breaking the rules, everyone else would naturally follow their example. From the sound of things, the situation within the trade association was rapidly deteriorating.

"Things have since gone from bad to worse," Wang Cailiang continued. "They've started forcing people to buy and sell stocks, just as they used to forcibly seize people's land. Recently, Wu Wei announced that he intends to issue additional shares. All the other shareholders oppose the idea, but if he insists on going through with it, I doubt anyone will be able to stop him.

"Wu Wei has completely lost his mind. He's extorting the people without any consideration for the future. He may be making enormous profits now, but at this rate, he'll eventually destroy the entire trade association. Once that happens, countless households across the county will lose everything overnight."

The more Wang Cailiang came into contact with the county's prominent clans, the more astonished and disgusted he became by their insatiable greed. By now, his impression of them had completely soured.

"It's fine," Chu Qiguang said with a nod. "I want you to exchange all the shares we currently hold for silver and pills."

"So we're just not going to abandon the Azure Sun Trade Association then?" Wang Cailiang asked.

"I'll take care of it," Chu Qiguang replied with a smile. "I'll make sure everything is set right, but for now, I need them to dig themselves into an even deeper hole. In any case, exchange all our shares for silver and pills. Keep all the silver in Hidden Fiend Village, and when purchasing pills, prioritize Hundred Refinement Ointment and Seven Treasure Pills.

“You and Chen Gang can divide the Hundred Refinement Ointment between yourselves to help advance your cultivation base, but all the Seven Treasure Pills must be given to me. As for Wu Wei and Chen Zhu, continue keeping records of what they're doing. There's no need to oppose them. Eventually, they'll dig themselves into a hole so deep that they'll have no choice but to turn to me for help."