Shameless Immortal: Emperor of Ten Thousand Beauties
Chapter 248: A Foreign Flag From Thousand Waves City [1]
With a grand sweep of his loose dark sleeves, Shen Yu tapped his spatial ring.
Flash! Flash! Flash!
The spatial energy in the grand council hall violently ruptured.
In an instant, the thick floorboards groaned under a sudden, immense weight as hundreds of heavy, iron-bound transport crates materialized out of thin air, stacking all the way up to the high ceiling.
The sheer force of their sudden arrival sent a sharp gust of wind sweeping through the room, snapping the hanging banners and blowing out half the torches.
"Ten thousand boxes of Tier 2 Advanced Pure Flow Pills, exactly as promised," Shen Yu murmured, leaning forward as his hood shifted slightly, his golden pupils locking onto Cao Yan’s trembling face.
The finance elder practically fell to his knees, his face flushed with a manic, intoxicating joy as he stared at the mountain of jade-vial crates.
"Ten thousand... we are saved! We can fulfill every single advance order!"
"Hahaha..." Shen Yu let out a low, amused chuckle that vibrated with a twisted eccentricity.
"Patriarch Cao, there is more."
Cao Yan blinked, his bloodshot eyes darting from the towering stacks of iron crates back to the dark-robed figure.
"More? But Senior, our deal explicitly stated—"
"Heh, that initial number was just a little test to gauge your resolve," Shen Yu interrupted smoothly, a thoroughly wicked smirk curling his lips.
With another casual flick of his wrist, the spatial array flared once more.
BOOM!
Another thunderous shockwave shook the hall as an entirely new mountain of crates violently crashed down onto the opposite side of the room, sending a cloud of incense dust exploding into the air.
"Here are another ten thousand boxes of Tier 1 Pure Flow Pills. Consider it a bonus for your... absolute cooperation."
Cao Yan stood completely stunned, his breath hitching in his throat as he stared at the sheer, impossible wealth of medicine dominating his council hall.
It was a terrifying display of logistical power that completely shattered whatever lingering doubts he had about the Tang Clan’s bottomless depth.
"Go," Cao Yan finally commanded the elders, his voice freezing cold as he abruptly turned away from Shen Yu, fiercely burying his lingering humiliation deep within his chest.
"Open the flagship dispensaries. Fulfill the advance orders first, then flood the market. Let the city know that the Cao Clan’s supply is infinite."
"Open the flagship dispensaries. Fulfill the advance orders first, then flood the market. Let the city know that the Cao Clan’s supply is infinite, and our ninety-six percent purity is here to stay."
By midday, the central commercial district of Crimson Iron City was in absolute, roaring chaos.
The Golden Cauldron Merchant Union’s shops, which had opened with standard, non-discounted pricing as per Shen Yu’s instructions before his departure, were completely deserted.
Dust practically collected on their pristine counters. Instead, an ocean of frantic cultivators was violently surging toward the Cao Clan’s storefronts.
The crates were broken open directly in the streets.
The moment the thousands of miners and rogue mercenaries laid their hands on the genuine, ninety-six percent purity advanced pills at a whopping fifty-five percent discount, a literal riot of ecstasy erupted. The news spread through the city like a wildfire.
Up on the top floor of the Golden Cauldron headquarters, the union’s massive council hall was a scene of pure, unadulterated panic.
"Elders! Report from the northern district! All our customers have left!" a logistics deacon screamed, bursting into the room so hard he nearly tripped over his own robes.
"The Cao Clan is distributing thousands of Tier 2 pills with a purity exceeding ninety-five percent! They are selling them at a fifty-five percent discount!"
"How is this possible?!" a senior union elder roared, slamming his heavy fist onto the long council table, his face twisted in absolute disbelief.
"We blocked every single herb supply line in the province yesterday! Where the hell did they get the raw materials to produce tens of thousands of high-purity pills overnight?!"
BANG!
The heavy double doors to the grand hall were violently thrown open.
The Head Treasurer of the union rushed inside, panting heavily as his eyes scanned the room, locking directly onto the union head, Meng De.
This was the very same treasurer who had previously orchestrated the dark dealings with Wu Shan, the City Lord of Thousand Waves City to seal the absolute destruction of the Peng Clan.
"Union Head!" the treasurer wheezed, clutched his chest as sweat poured down his pale face.
"The pills... the pills are from the Tang Clan of Thousand Waves City! They are an improved, perfected version of the corrupted recipe we originally sold to the Peng Clan!"
Meng De snapped his head up, his expression hardening into stone.
"What?! How the hell did the dead-beat Cao Clan manage to strike a deal with them?" he growled, his voice vibrating with a dangerous, dark undertone.
"I heard the Tang Clan had established an absolute, flawless monopoly over the entire market in Thousand Waves City! Why on earth would they cast their gaze toward our territory?!"
"I-I saw the foreign flags myself!" another breathless deacon wailed, wiping the cold sweat from his brow as his hands trembled.
"I didn’t recognize the crest at first, Union Head, but now that the Head Treasurer mentions it... there is no mistake! The Cao Clan has really locked hands with the Tang Clan!"
He fell to one knee, looking up at the council with wide, panicked eyes.
"A massive, armored transport convoy entered their estate at dawn under the official emblem of the Tang Clan! They aren’t relying on our local herbs anymore, Union Head! They have a massive, wealthy powerhouse backing them from the outside, and they’re bypassing our stranglehold completely!"
The Head Alchemist of the union turned completely pale, his hands shaking so violently that the jade reports he held clattered against one another. He looked at the senior elders with wide, terrified eyes.
"The Tang Clan is interfering directly?" the Head Alchemist choked out.
"If we do not respond to this threat immediately, our entire low-to-mid tier market share in Crimson Iron City will be permanently erased by sunset! We must lower our prices! We must drop our discount to fifty-seven percent right now to fight back!"
Sitting in the shadows at the far corner of the grand room, safely hidden behind a decorative silk screen, was Bai Ruolan.
She listened to the chaotic, high-pitched screams of the panicked elders, her beautiful blue eyes wide with a strange, breathless realization.
While the council members were completely losing their minds over the sudden, terrifying appearance of the Tang Clan, Ruolan’s sharp mind was working at a furious, calculating pace.
To her, this foreign entity was nothing more than an unexpected, predatory wolf trying to hijack the market share that she and her senior brother had fought so hard to conquer.
A sharp, determined light flared within her brilliant blue eyes.
Her heavy breasts rose and fell rapidly beneath her loose alchemist robes, her breathing quickening from the pure, intoxicating adrenaline of the crisis.
’Senior Brother Mo gave me such a magnificent opportunity to prove myself and become the head of the Union. I absolutely cannot waste it by letting the Cao Clan win,’ she thought fiercely, her small hands clenching into tight, white-knuckled fists against her lap.
’The Cao Clan actually thinks they can bring in foreign lapdogs from Thousand Waves City to crush us? They think they can use a temporary influx of high-purity pills to steal our momentum and ruin my brother’s design? I won’t let them.’
She didn’t know how the Tang Clan had managed to refine the corrupted recipe into such an absurd, ninety-six percent purity, but as a recognized genius alchemist, she knew that a true commercial counterattack required more than just reactive, matching discounts.
If the union blindly dropped their prices to fifty-seven percent as the elders were hysterically demanding, they would be falling directly into a bleeding trap, draining their own treasury while the Cao Clan rode the high of their new, mysterious backing.
’We need to strike where it hurts,’ Ruolan calculated coldly, her sharp alchemical mind rapidly deconstructing the logistical battlefield.