Shameless Immortal: Emperor of Ten Thousand Beauties

Chapter 241: Chapter 241: We Will Match Them Step for Step

The next morning, Crimson Iron City woke up to an atmosphere that felt less like a commercial marketplace and more like an active, bloody battlefield.

Long before the morning fog could rise from the cobblestone streets, heavy spiritual formations flared to life outside every single one of the Cao Clan’s retail dispensaries.

Massive, blood-red banners unrolled from the rooftops, completely blocking out the morning sun.

Written across them in aggressive, jagged calligraphy were the new, desperate numbers.

"TIER 0 TO TIER 2 CULTIVATION MEDICINES—FIFTY-FIVE PERCENT DISCOUNT! UNBEATABLE PURITY!!"

The sheer madness of the number sent an instant shockwave through the early morning crowds.

Rogue cultivators, who were already lined up outside the Golden Cauldron’s outlets, blinked in utter disbelief before rubbing their eyes.

"Fifty-five percent?!" a Body Refining miner gasping out, his voice echoing in the chilly air.

"Are the Cao Clan elders sharing a collective cultivation psychosis? They are actively throwing away their family fortune!"

"Who cares if they’re crazy? A discount is a discount!" another screamed, instantly breaking away from the union’s lines.

"Yesterday the union stomped them, but now the Cao Clan is practically begging us to take their pills for free! Hurry up before they realize their mistake and change it back!"

Like an ocean tide shifting its course, a massive chunk of the mercenary and rogue population violently pivoted.

Within an hour, a frantic, chaotic buying frenzy exploded outside the Cao Clan’s storefronts.

Their doors were nearly broken down as desperate cultivators threw down low-grade spiritual stones and mortal gold coins, grabbing boxes of mass-produced pills as if they were divine heritages.

Inside the main branch dispensary, the Cao Clan’s chief manager watched the chaos with a stomach full of lead.

Though the cash register was constantly ringing and piles of stones were finally flowing back into their empty trays, his hands were shaking as he tallied the books.

Every single transaction was a calculated, bleeding wound to the clan’s treasury.

They were losing money on the raw ingredients of every single bottle sold, actively burning through their remaining capital just to keep the momentum alive.

Up on the top floor of the Golden Cauldron’s grand headquarters, the mood was the complete opposite of frantic.

Shen Yu stood by the large, arched window of his private chamber, lazily watching the shifting ant-like crowds down the street rushing toward the Cao Clan’s banners.

He was dressed in a simple, loose-fitting green robe today, his long hair falling casually over his shoulders.

n his right hand, he slowly rotated two pristine, high-grade spiritual jade stones, the smooth clicking sound rhythmically echoing in the quiet room.

Click. Click. Click.

Beside him, Bai Ruolan was frantically pacing back and forth, her small, delicate nose scrunched up in a mixture of anger and annoyance.

She was wearing her official alchemist robes, though the elegance of the silk did nothing to hide how flustered she was.

"Senior Brother Mo! How can you be so relaxed right now?!" she huffed, stamping her foot as her ample chest heaved under her robes.

"Our logistics elders just brought in the morning report! The Cao Clan actually dropped their prices to fifty-five percent! More than a third of our low-end customer base has already run back to their shops!"

"The elders are panicking down in the council hall, demanding we drop our prices to fifty-six percent to crush them once and for all!"

Shen Yu didn’t immediately answer.

Instead, a sharp, thoroughly wicked smirk curled his lips beneath the shadow of his long bangs.

His pupils gleamed with amusement as he watched a heavily laden Cao Clan transport carriage struggle to navigate through the greedy crowd below.

"Let them run, Little Alchemist," Shen Yu murmured, his voice laced with a relaxed, eccentric purr that instantly made the frantic girl freeze in her tracks.

"But... but Senior Brother!" Ruolan stammered, looking up at him with her large, bewildered blue eyes.

"If we just let them take the market momentum back, all the progress we made yesterday during the auction will be—"

"Will be what? Delayed by a single afternoon?" Shen Yu interrupted smoothly, turning around to face her.

He stepped forward, his sudden, towering presence causing Ruolan to subconsciously take a step back until her hips pressed against the edge of his mahogany desk.

He leaned down slightly and said, "You are looking at the surface, my dear alchemist. Cao Yan thinks he is a tactical genius. He thinks that by triggering a frantic buying frenzy, he can forcefully liquidate his stagnant stock, generate immediate cash flow, and clear his immediate debts to survive the winter."

Shen Yu’s smirk widened into a terrifyingly sharp expression.

"But he forgot one crucial detail. To sustain a buying frenzy of that magnitude, you need a constant, endless supply of raw materials to keep refilling the shelves. Otherwise, the moment your warehouses run dry, the crowd’s greed will turn into a furious backlash."

Bai Ruolan blinked, her sharp alchemical mind rapidly processing his words. A sudden, brilliant realization lit up her eyes.

"Wait... the raw herbs! The Earth-Purging Moss and Crimson Core Grass required to make those low-tier mining pills!"

"Exactly," Shen Yu chuckled, a dark, low sound that vibrated in his chest.

"To mass-produce those thousands of boxes yesterday, they must have exhausted nearly eighty percent of their internal herb reserves. And where do you think they get their emergency refills when their own gardens run dry?"

Ruolan’s hands flew to her mouth, a small, childish gasp of pure horror and admiration escaping her lips.

"The local herb merchants and the external transport convoys... which are entirely controlled or monitored by our Golden Cauldron Union!"

"Precisely. But we aren’t just going to choke their supply lines in secret, Ruolan. We are going to play their game in the open first," Shen Yu purred, a predatory gleam flashing in his golden eyes. He walked over to the grand communication array on his desk.

"Agree to what council elders had discussed. No, tell them to drop our prices to fifty-seven percent right now."

Ruolan went wide-eyed. "But Senior Brother! If we drop our prices too, we’ll force them into a corner!"

"That is exactly the point," Shen Yu laughed softly, the sound full of mocking amusement.

"Cao Yan is running on pure desperation. When he sees the Golden Cauldron retaliate and threaten to steal his momentum back, panic will cloud what little judgment he has left. He will have no choice but to double down. To stay alive in the eyes of the crowd, he will blindly slash his prices even further, to sixty, maybe sixty-five percent."

He leaned against the window frame, his fingers casually tapping a slow, rhythmic beat.

"We will dance with them for a few rounds, matching them step for step, driving the psychological pressure to a boiling point. We will force them to lower their prices to a suicidal degree, draining the very last drop of their liquid capital. And right when they are completely overextended, standing at the absolute precipice of financial ruin..."

Shen Yu’s voice dropped to a chilling, razor-sharp whisper.

"...we pull the rug out from under their feet and cut off their herb supply entirely. They will have promised the entire city impossible quantities of pills at dirt-cheap prices, with zero raw materials left to fulfill the orders."

"Unable to produce, unable to pay their debts, and facing the wrath of thousands of furious cultivators... the Cao Clan will collapse into absolute, irreversible bankruptcy. We aren’t just beating them, Little Alchemist. We are making them execute themselves."