Shameless Immortal: Emperor of Ten Thousand Beauties

Chapter 243: Chapter 243: Vanishing Like a Passing Breeze

The morning of the sixth day arrived not with the usual chaotic hustle of a market war, but with a tense, unnatural stillness that choked Crimson Iron City.

Outside the Cao Clan’s grand flagship dispensary, a massive, unruly ocean of people had already gathered before the first light of dawn.

Thousands of rogue cultivators, mercenary groups, and iron miners stood packed shoulder-to-shoulder, holding copper receipts and wooden deposit tokens tightly in their calloused hands.

Having paid upfront for bulk crates of the suicidal sixty-three percent discounted pills the day before, their greed had completely transformed into a desperate, volatile hunger.

Inside the locked doors of the dispensary, however, the atmosphere was a literal living nightmare.

"What do you mean there are none?!" Cao Yan’s voice exploded through the communication talisman, so laden with raw, unadulterated panic that the jade token in the chief manager’s hand nearly cracked.

"Patriarch, they’re gone! All of them!" the chief manager shrieked back, his voice cracking into a high-pitched wail as he stared out the iron-barred back window at an empty courtyard.

"The independent herb merchants from Flowing Spring City, the local gathering guilds, the wilderness scouts, everyone! We sent our buyers with chests of gold to their warehouses at midnight, but the doors were already sealed!"

"The Golden Cauldron Merchant Union bought every single blade of Earth-Purging Moss and Crimson Core Grass in the province three hours before we even arrived!"

"They paid double?!" Cao Yan roared from the council hall, his mind violently spinning.

"No, Patriarch! They didn’t even have to!" the manager wept, clutching his hair. "The union used their supreme administrative trade licenses! They invoked the emergency monopoly clause! Any merchant who sells to us face total blacklisting from the Union Forever! Patriarch, we have zero raw materials. The cauldrons are cold. And... and the crowd outside..."

BOOM!

A violent shudder rippled through the front walls of the dispensary as a powerful shockwave shook the foundation.

Outside, the restless crowd had finally run out of patience.

The heavy oak doors groaned under the immense physical pressure of hundreds of late-stage Body Refining and early Foundation Establishment miners slamming their weapons against the wood.

"Open the gates! Where are our pills?!" a burly, scarred miner bellowed from the front, his voice amplified by true Qi.

"We paid our life savings in advance yesterday! If you don’t hand over the crates by sunrise, we’ll tear this entire street down!"

"Cao Clan! Don’t tell us you’re trying to scam our hard-earned spiritual stones!" another group of rogue mercenaries roared, drawing their heavy iron broadswords.

The manic energy of a crowd looking for a bargain had instantly soured into the lethal rage of a mob that felt cheated.

Up on the private balcony of the Golden Cauldron headquarters, the view was absolute perfection.

Shen Yu leaned loosely against the stone balustrade, a delicate white porcelain plate in his hand.

He casually picked up a candied spirit-berry and popped it into his mouth, his hidden golden pupils reflecting the brilliant, chaotic fires starting to light up down the street.

The distant, angry roars of the rampeding cultivators were like an exquisite theater performance played just for him.

Beside him, Bai Ruolan was practically vibrating with an electric, breathless excitement.

Her large, beautiful blue eyes were wide as she watched the Cao Clan’s defensive wards violently flicker under the assault of their own angry customers.

"Senior Brother Mo..." she whispered, her hands tightly clenching the fabric of her loose alchemist robes, her heavy breasts rising and falling rapidly with her quickened breathing.

"It’s... it’s completely over for them. The guards can’t hold the line. The crowd is going to breach the main vault within minutes."

"A beautiful sight, isn’t it, Little Alchemist?" Shen Yu purred, his voice laced with that familiar, wicked eccentricity as a slow, thoroughly predatory smirk curled his lips.

He set the porcelain plate down on the railing and turned his gaze toward the sky, where the morning sun was finally piercing through the heavy iron fog.

"They spent five days building a mountain of empty promises, thinking they could out-gamble a titan," Shen Yu murmured, his fingers casually tracing the smooth line of his jaw beneath the shadow of his hood.

"They didn’t realize that in the world of commerce, momentum is a double-edged sword. If you ride the tiger of the crowd’s greed, you must feed it. The moment you run out of meat... the tiger eats you."

"What do we do now?" Ruolan asked, her voice dropping to a thrilled, submissive whisper as she stepped closer to him, entirely intoxicated by the sheer brilliance of his absolute control over the city’s fate.

"Do we deploy our martial enforcers to clean up the mess?"

"Deploy them? Heavens, no. Why waste our men’s energy?" Shen Yu chuckled, a dark, low rumble that made Ruolan’s heart skip a beat.

He turned around, his loose green robes fluttering elegantly as he walked toward the door.

"Call the logistics elders. Tell them to open all the primary dispensaries at a standardized, regular price. No discounts. No bargains."

He paused at the threshold, looking back over his shoulder, his hidden golden pupils flashing with a chilling, absolute finality.

"As for the Cao Clan..." Shen Yu murmured, a thoroughly wicked, mocking amusement lingering in his voice.

"They have thousands of unfulfilled orders, zero capital, no raw materials, and a massive, furious mob tearing their inheritance apart brick by brick. By sunset, they will either be entirely bankrupt or ceased to exist altogether."

Then, his playful, eccentric demeanor softened slightly.

He turned his body fully toward her, his piercing gaze locking directly into her wide, brilliant blue eyes.

"I will be leaving the forge city for a few weeks, Little Alchemist," he said smoothly, his voice dropping to a relaxed, quiet purr.

"There are other regions and distant cities I need to explore. But do not worry... I will return once my curiosity is satisfied."

Bai Ruolan froze, the sudden words catching in her throat.

Over the past several days, as they spun a web of ruin around their enemies, she had gradually, deeply come to enjoy his presence, growing entirely fond of his terrifying brilliance and sharp wit.

A sudden wave of reluctance and quiet longing brushed against her heart.

Yet, hearing his clear promise that he would come back to her, she suppressed her childish urge to pull at his dark sleeve.

Instead, she offered him a beautiful, vibrant smile, her cheeks flushing a soft pink.

"I will manage the union well while you are away, Senior Brother Mo. Have a safe journey... and come back soon."

Shen Yu let out a low, satisfied chuckle.

With a final, enigmatic smile curling his lips beneath the shadow of his hood, his form suddenly blurred, and he vanished from the private chamber like a passing breeze, leaving behind only the faint scent of premium tea and the fading echoes of a collapsing clan down below.