Chapter 220: Chapter 220: The Real Show Hasn’t Even Begun
"This is fun to you?" Ruolan asked, staring at him in a mixture of awe and disbelief.
"Playing with the entire city’s market like a board game?"
"Obviously. It is so much fun," he said with a brilliant, unbothered smile.
He reached out and tapped a finger lightly against the jade vial clutched against her chest, locking his golden-tinged gaze entirely with hers.
"Well, forget about that for now. Just think about the grand stage."
"When Lord Meng De sees that your Alchemy Faction has entirely crushed your greatest rival while Zhao Tianxing’s weaponsmiths did absolutely nothing, he won’t be able to justify passing you over."
"Even his nepotism has limits when faced with absolute financial supremacy. This isn’t just about destroying the Cao Clan, Ruolan, this is your path to becoming the absolute Leader of the Golden Cauldron Merchant Union."
A fierce, predatory light ignited within her brilliant blue eyes, replacing every shred of anxiety with a cold, ruthless ambition.
Her heart hammered wildly as the path to ultimate power opened up right before her.
"They wanted to use the Ge Clan’s wealth to bury us, and Zhao Tianxing wanted to use my stagnation to take the throne," she said, a sharp, elegant smile curling the corners of her beautiful lips as she looked back up at Shen Yu.
Her voluptuous figure commanded the room as she swept past the dais, her disheveled indigo robes fluttering around her slender waist.
"Instead, I am going to utterly suffocate them all. I am going directly to Lord Meng De and the Grand Elders right now to call an emergency council."
"We will bypass Zhao Tianxing entirely and prepare an absolute, aggressive market launch for tomorrow morning."
She stopped right at the threshold of the hidden door, turning her head back to look at Shen Yu.
Her blue eyes were overflowing with a profound, unshakeable gratitude, mixed with a deep sense of awe for this mysterious, eccentric cultivator who had practically handed her the keys to the city and the union.
"I owe you everything, Senior Brother Mo," she said softly, her voice carrying a genuine, heavy weight.
"Don’t thank me just yet, Little Alchemist," Shen Yu replied, his lips stretching into an enigmatic, dark smirk as the pieces of his grand, multi-layered trap fell perfectly into place.
"The real show hasn’t even begun."
"Now go," Shen Yu said smoothly, his eyes crinkling with a playful yet distant smile as he leaned back from the stone dais.
"Take care of your business, Little Alchemist. I have a few people to teach, so I shall be off."
Before Bai Ruolan could even open her mouth to ask where he was going, Shen Yu’s slender form blurred.
A faint, localized ripple in the air currents was the only warning before he activated the Phantom Void Mirage Step.
His green-haired figure instantly dissolved into absolute nothingness, vanishing from her private refining chamber as if he had been a mere illusion all along.
Ruolan blinked, staring at the empty space with a mix of awe and lingering excitement.
Clutching the jade vial tightly to her chest, she shook off her daze and rushed out of the room to crush her internal and external rivals.
Meanwhile, having slipped cleanly past the Golden Cauldron Union’s outer defensive arrays once more, Shen Yu re-emerged in a secluded alleyway near the edge of the city.
His playful demeanor instantly melted away, replaced by the cold, calculating focus of a hunter who had just spotted his next prey.
’Three days until the banquet, which means Young Master Ge will be arriving at the city gates tomorrow to finalize the pre-arrangements,’ Shen Yu calculated rapidly as he navigated the route.
Flowing Spring City resided on the exact opposite side of the treacherous, jagged Crimson Mountain Range.
To get here, any large-scale merchant caravan would have to traverse the winding, main trade road that cut directly through the rugged mountain passes.
If the young master was scheduled to arrive tomorrow, their heavily guarded convoy would likely be right in the middle of the mountain range by nightfall, halfway between the two cities.
With his target locked, Shen Yu didn’t waste a single second.
He burst into a dead sprint, utilizing a specialized, high-speed movement technique from his deep treasury of past-life memories.
His body became a green and dark-clad blur, easily bypassing the distracted guards at the northern gates as he shot out of Crimson Iron City like an arrow released from a bow.
He bounded onto the rugged dirt road, his boots barely touching the earth before he leaped forward again, covering dozens of meters with every single stride.
The jagged, metallic-red peaks of the mountain range loomed larger and larger ahead of him, casting long, ominous shadows under the afternoon sun.
His objective was simple yet ruthless.
He was going to intercept the Ge Clan’s caravan in the dead of the mountains, completely cut off from any reinforcements.
By unleashing his simulated Nascent Soul pressure, he would thoroughly terrorize the young master, planting a seed of absolute, unshakeable dread in his heart.
He would make the Ge Clan believe that associating with the doomed Cao Clan was a one-way ticket to provoking a temperamental, ancient monster.
By the time he was done, the young master would be fleeing back to Flowing Spring City in a state of absolute panic, completely abandoning any foolish notions of an alliance before he even laid eyes on the city gates.
...
Deep within the jagged passes of the Crimson Mountain Range, a heavily guarded merchant caravan snaked its way along the rugged dirt road.
At the center of this formidable convoy rolled a massive, ostentatious carriage crafted from imported sandalwood and reinforced with gleaming brass fixtures.
Inside the carriage, completely insulated from the rocky bumps of the road by layers of plush silk cushions, sat Young Master Ge.
To say Ge Xuan was a man of excess would be a severe understatement.
He was a certified fatass, his bloated, round figure overflowing from his expensive, gold-embroidered robes like bread dough escaping its tin.
His multiple chins shook without every shift of the carriage, and his sausage-like fingers were heavily encrusted with spiritual jade rings.
Currently, the arrogant young master was completely ignoring the strategic importance of his upcoming political marriage to the Cao Clan.
Instead, he was thoroughly engrossed in his favorite pastime.
"Ahhh...AHhhhh...aHHhh"
