Shameless Immortal: Emperor of Ten Thousand Beauties

Chapter 246: Chapter 246: I Will Gladly Serve a Demon!

The absolute silence that followed "Mo Liu’s" sudden departure was heavier than the defensive arrays shielding the estate.

For several breaths, no one in the hall moved.

The lingering aroma of the Pure Flow Pills hung sweetly in the air, a cruel contrast to the muffled, vibrating thuds of the angry mob still battering the compound’s outer walls.

Cao Yan slowly rose from his knees, his movements stiff, like an old man whose joints had turned to stone.

His bloodshot eyes shifted from the empty space where the dark-robed expert had just stood to the velvet-lined wooden crate resting on the center of the table.

"Patriarch..." the finance elder squeaked, his voice cracking with a terrifying mixture of greed and dread.

"One hundred vials... for free. The purity alone... if we distribute these to the high-stage rogue leaders outside right now, we can buy ourselves a few days! We can appease the vanguard!"

"Appease them? And then what?!" one of the Golden Core Elders snapped, his face contorted in a grimace.

He slammed his hand on the table, though his eyes kept darting toward the crate.

"Did you not hear that monster’s terms? Eighty percent of our primary iron ore production for the next ten years! Absolute obedience behind the scenes! Signing that contract isn’t salvation, it’s turning the Cao Clan into a blood bank for the Tang Clan of Thousand Waves City! We will be slaves in our own territory!"

"But if we do not sign, we die today!" the finance elder shrieked back, pointing wildly toward the shaking iron doors of the hall.

"The Golden Cauldron has completely severed our herb supply! By tonight, the capital chain snaps, the pill deposits are forfeited, and the mob will string our corpses up from the city gates! Slave or corpse, Elder, which status lets our lineage continue?!"

The hall instantly degenerated into a fierce, screaming debate.

Elders who had stood proud just a week ago were now shouting like desperate beggars, their faces flushed, their arguments fueled by the primal terror of impending erasure.

Cao Yan didn’t join the bickering.

He walked slowly back to his throne and slumped into it, looking completely hollowed out.

He picked up the single crystalline vial he had caught earlier, turning it over in his hand.

The dark green pill inside caught the flickering torchlight, gleaming like a demon’s eye.

Absolute obedience.

The words tasted like ash in his mouth. If he agreed, his family would survive, but the name "Cao" would lose all its weight.

They would become nothing more than a lethal weapon wielded by a distant shadow to draw the blood of the Golden Cauldron.

But if he refused...

Boom!

A particularly violent explosion rattled the windows of the council hall.

A piece of the decorative plaster ceiling broke loose, crashing into dust on the floorboards.

A communication talisman on the table flared to life, a guard captain’s desperate voice echoing through the panic.

"Patriarch! The outer southern defensive node has collapsed! The rogue mercenaries have breached the courtyard! We are falling back to the inner pavilion! We need reinforcements—"

Cao Yan cut off the transmission with a flick of his fingers.

He closed his eyes, his chest heaving with a deep, ragged breath.

He thought of his ancestors, he thought of the dying Nascent Soul ancestor in deep death-seclusion who wouldn’t lift a finger for a commercial collapse, and he thought of the mockery he had endured from the Golden Cauldron’s auctioneer yesterday afternoon.

When Cao Yan opened his eyes, the hesitation was entirely gone, replaced by a cold, venomous light.

"Enough!" Cao Yan’s voice thundered through the room, instantly choking out the elders’ arguments. He stood up, his gaze locking onto the crate of high-purity pills.

"Take those one hundred vials," the patriarch commanded, his voice dropping into a chillingly calm tone.

"Distribute them immediately to the loudest, strongest sect representatives and rogue leaders in the courtyard. Tell them it is a premier sample of the Cao Clan’s upcoming supply. Promise them that if they disperse today, every single advanced Pure Flow Pill will be delivered to them tomorrow morning at a fifty-five percent discount."

The elders stared at him, their breath catching.

"Patriarch... then your decision regarding Senior Mo Liu’s contract...?" the finance elder whispered.

Cao Yan let out a dark, mirthless laugh, his knuckles whitening as he gripped his robe.

"The Golden Cauldron wants an execution. The Ge Clan left us to hang. If this ’Mo Liu’ wants a weapon to slash the union’s throat, then I will gladly be that blade."

"Let the Tang Clan take our iron. Let them take our autonomy. As long as I live to see the Golden Cauldron Merchant Union burn to the ground, I will gladly serve a demon!"

He slammed his fist against the armrest, his late-stage Golden Core aura flaring to its absolute peak.

"Prepare the ink and the ancestral seals! Tomorrow morning, at dawn... we sign the contract, and we drag the Golden Cauldron down into the abyss with us!"

"For now, quell their thirst," Cao Yan commanded, his voice deadpan and icy as he gestured sharply toward the velvet-lined box.

"Take those one hundred vials and throw them directly to the mob outside. Let those ravenous wolves get a taste of this ninety-six percent purity. When they realize what kind of medicine we are holding, their rage will instantly turn back into greed. They will disperse on their own, desperate to preserve their standing with us so they can secure the actual crates tomorrow."

The finance elder scrambled forward like a starved dog, eagerly hoisting the heavy wooden crate into his arms. "Yes, Patriarch! Right away!"

Within minutes, the inner pavilion doors creaked open just enough for a squad of trembling guards to project their voices via true Qi.

The finance elder stood behind the iron-reinforced balcony, shouting above the din of clashing steel and angry roaring.

"Cultivators of Crimson Iron City, halt your blades!" his voice thundered across the chaotic courtyard.

"The Cao Clan has not scammed you! Our delay was simply due to the arrival of a divine cargo! Look upon the skies!"

-x-

A/N:

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