On World 22 (Jade-Abacus Planet)—the wealthiest commercial trading hub of the middle star belt—the midday sun shone down on Ten-Thousand Treasure Boulevard, where the ten richest noble clans and merchant families lived inside walled estates made of carved white jade.
For the past three hundred years, these ten noble clans—led by Patriarch Qian, a fat Rank 7 Early Nascent Soul aristocrat who wore three jade rings on every finger—had grown rich by hoarding uncut Spirit Stones in their family cellars while lending out Master Gold-Tooth’s crumbly Shaved Stones to the common folk at extortionate interest rates.
Just yesterday morning, Patriarch Qian and the other nine clan heads had been drinking aged spirit wine in the Grand Commodity Exchange Hall, bragging about how they had locked twenty million uncut Spirit Stones in their basements to drive up the price of grain before winter.
Today at noon, however, the Grand Commodity Exchange Hall looked like a chicken coop that had just been invaded by ten weasels!
“SELL! SELL ALL SPIRIT STONES AT ONCE!”
“What do you mean nobody on Worlds 19, 20, or 21 is accepting Spirit Stones for wheat, iron, or cloth anymore?!”
“Master Gold-Tooth’s headquarters on World 21 was just foreclosed by Governor Hong Ling with a giant red ink stamp, and Master Gold-Tooth is sitting on a wooden stool wearing a yellow vest and counting copper washers!”
