Shameless Immortal: Emperor of Ten Thousand Beauties

Chapter 242: Chapter 242: The Five-Day Dance of Death

What followed over the next five days was an economic bloodbath that would be spoken of in the teahouses of Crimson Iron City for decades.

It was a slow, agonizing psychological torture disguised as a commercial war, and just as Shen Yu predicted, the Cao Clan walked blindly into the noose.

On the first afternoon, when the Golden Cauldron Union unrolled their own massive gold-trimmed banners announcing an immediate fifty-six percent discount, the manic energy in the streets instantly split.

The crowd ran back to the union’s shops, drawn by the superior alchemical purity.

Inside the Cao Clan council hall, Patriarch Cao Yan received the news like a slap to the face. Panic clouded his judgment.

Surrounded by bleeding ledger books and terrified elders, he pushed his chips into the center of the table.

"They think they can choke us?!" he roared.

"Match them and add a point! Drop it to fifty-seven!"

The bait was taken.

The dance of death began.

Every single morning, as the sun broke through the heavy mountain fog, the entire population of the city would stampede to the central market square, not to buy pills immediately, but to stare at the discount boards of the two giants.

The next day, the union smoothly slid their prices to fifty-eight percent.

By mid-afternoon, the Cao Clan responded with a desperate, trembling fifty-nine percent, their elders physically sweating as their profit margins evaporated into negative numbers.

On day three, the union casually bumped their discount to sixty percent.

The psychological pressure in the city was so thick it was suffocating.

Cultivators were buying pills by the crate, hoarding them like gold.

Cao Yan, staring at completely empty streets outside his dispensaries, lost his mind and ordered a drop to sixty-one percent.

Day Four: The union matched it with sixty-two percent.

By now, the Cao Clan was actively bleeding out.

They were selling pills at a catastrophic loss.

Every bottle walking out of their doors took a chunk of their foundational treasury with it.

But Cao Yan was entirely overextended, stopping now meant admitting total defeat and losing the crowd forever.

With bloodshot eyes and a cracking voice, he ordered the ultimate suicidal counter: sixty-three percent.

By the fifth day, the atmosphere in the Cao Clan estate was dead silent, resembling a funeral home.

"Patriarch..." the finance elder whispered, his hands trembling so violently he could barely hold his brush.

"Our liquid treasury... is completely empty. We have liquidated our secondary spirit-stone veins, we have delayed the wages of our outer guards, and we have poured everything into maintaining the sixty-three percent discount. If we do not make a massive profit back by tomorrow to cover the ingredient costs... our capital chain will snap entirely."

Cao Yan sat slumped on his throne, looking a decade older. His hair was disheveled, and his breathing was shallow.

"But the stock is moving," he muttered like a delusional gambler.

"The cultivators are buying. We are accumulating raw gold and stones from the sales, even if it’s a loss... we have cash flow..."

"But we have no herbs left to replenish the shelves!" the logistics head wailed, falling to his knees.

"To sustain this five-day buying frenzy, we have drained ninety-nine percent of our warehouses! Our private gardens are bare roots! Patriarch, if we don’t buy a massive bulk order of Earth-Purging Moss and Crimson Core Grass today, tomorrow morning our shelves will be completely empty. The cultivators who already paid advance deposits for their crates will tear our shops down!"

Cao Yan slammed his fist weakly against the armrest.

"Then buy them! Contact the independent herb merchants from Flowing Spring City! Pay them whatever they want from the gold we collected today!"

Up on the top floor of the Golden Cauldron headquarters, Shen Yu stood in the exact same spot by the window, swirling a cup of premium spiritual tea.

Beside him, Bai Ruolan was no longer pacing frantically. Instead, she was looking at him with an expression bordering on absolute reverence, her bright blue eyes wide with awe.

"Senior Brother Mo," she whispered, her voice bubbling with a sweet, lethal excitement.

"It played out exactly as you said. The Cao Clan just announced a sixty-three percent discount to maintain their fading momentum. They have completely exhausted their internal reserves. Our shadows just reported that Cao Yan’s managers are currently frantically meeting with every single major herb supplier in the commercial district, desperate to buy emergency stocks of Earth-Purging Moss."

Shen Yu took a slow, elegant sip of his tea, a thoroughly wicked, brilliant smirk spreading across his face. His golden pupils flared with a chilling, predatory light.

"They have walked to the edge of the cliff, Little Alchemist," Shen Yu purred softly.

"They have drained their gold, alienated their allies, and promised thousands of armed, ruthless cultivators mountains of cheap pills they cannot make."

He set his teacup down with a sharp, echoing clink against the mahogany table.

"Send the command to our logistics department. Activate our exclusive contracts with all local and external herb merchants. Every leaf of Earth-Purging Moss and Crimson Core Grass within a three-hundred-mile radius is to be bought by the Golden Cauldron at market price, effective immediately. If any merchant refuses, remind them who holds the trade licenses in this region."

Shen Yu leaned forward, his voice dropping to a dark, ruthless whisper that sent a thrill straight down Ruolan’s spine.

"Tomorrow morning, when the Cao Clan goes to buy their raw materials, they will find nothing but dust. The stage is set, Ruolan. The Cao Clan has tied the noose around their own necks... now, we kick away the chair."

-x-

A/N: Weekly PS: 64/100 Monthly GT: 40/30

Hey guys! Since we’ve been missing the weekly goal lately, I’m going to adjust the numbers so it’s not so out of reach. Starting Monday, the new goal will be lowered to 80 PS for 1 bonus Chapter.

Let’s smash this new milestone next week! Thanks for all the support!