Shameless Immortal: Emperor of Ten Thousand Beauties

Chapter 261: Chapter 261: Something Big Is Brewing

A faint smile touched Shen Yu’s lips beneath his hood as he watched his people excel.

Upon exiting the sweltering chambers, Shen Yu turned to Li Na.

"Issue a mandatory order. Every alchemist is to take a compulsory day off tomorrow.

They need to actually spend the wealth they are earning, not just wither away over a cauldron."

Li Na smiled softly, her respect for his leadership deepening. "Understood, Young Master."

Shen Yu reached into his sleeve, pulling out a crisp slip of paper, and slid it smoothly across the ironwood desk toward her.

Li Na caught it, her eyes scanning the dense, incredibly complex alchemical formulas and intricate brushwork before she looked up at him questioningly.

"What is this?"

"A brand-new pill recipe," Shen Yu replied, his disguised green eyes flashing with an enigmatic, dangerous light.

"The moment the Golden Cauldron Union releases an advertisement regarding a newly engineered medicine, take this formula and sell it directly to the Fan Clan."

Li Na furrowed her brow, a hint of genuine doubt surfacing.

"Do you truly believe the union has the capability to engineer a pill that can challenge yours?"

Shen Yu’s smirk turned thoroughly wicked beneath his hood.

"The union? Absolutely not. But she certainly can."

Li Na didn’t need him to clarify the name. She knew exactly who he was talking about, the union’s genius prodigy, Bai Ruolan.

Silently acknowledging his terrifying foresight, she gave a firm nod, but another thought quickly occurred to her.

"But why are we giving this recipe to the Fan Clan?" she asked, her tactical mind trying to parse his angle.

"If it’s that potent, shouldn’t we keep it for ourselves or use the Cao Clan to distribute it?"

"Obviously, it is to maximize the chaos," Shen Yu purred, leaning his head back slightly.

"Everyone in the city knows that this is the defining moment to prove who stands at the apex. The powerhouse that emerges victorious from this economic war will inherit the entire province’s market."

He smiled, a cold, calculating expression that promised absolute ruin for his competitors.

"I want every single major contender to throw themselves blindly into this fire. Let them bleed each other dry and wipe themselves out. When the dust finally settles, we will be the only ones left standing to claim the largest share of the empire."

Hearing the sheer scale of his ruthlessness, a appreciative smile spread across Li Na’s lips.

She no longer questioned his methods, completely captivated by the absolute perfection of his trap.

Having concluded the primary business he came for, Shen Yu was just about to execute his Phantom Steps when Li Na abruptly spoke up, her voice snapping back into a professional tone.

"Young Master, I nearly forgot to mention, a secret missive from Matriarch Tang arrived late last night."

Shen Yu paused, turning his gaze back toward her.

His eyes traveled down, deliberately lingering on the tight, indigo silk covering her rounded rear.

"Hmm... I think you’re getting a bit rusty staying cooped up in this office, Li’er," he purred, a thoroughly wicked smirk playing on his lips.

"Perhaps we should find some time to spar in private. I’m sure it would help you remember your duties much better."

A fierce blush instantly bloomed across her sun-kissed cheeks.

Choosing to ignore his blatant teasing, she quickly extended a sealed scroll toward him.

Shen Yu reached out and took it, his fingers deliberately lingering against her soft skin.

Li Na instinctively jerked her hand back, her heart skipping a beat.

Shen Yu let out a low, amused chuckle before breaking the seal.

As his eyes scanned the dense inscriptions on the scroll, the playful demeanor vanished.

A deep frown settled over his features, and as he read further, his expression darkened significantly.

According to the Yilan’s report, the flawed, highly toxic pills the Peng Clan had mass-produced prior to their fall were suddenly flooding the markets of several neighboring cities.

Because those mid-tier territories lacked high-grade alchemists capable of identifying or neutralizing the deep-seated impurities, the local cultivators were suffering severe meridian damage.

More alarmingly, the intelligence report explicitly stated that these toxic batches hadn’t been supplied by the Golden Cauldron Merchant Union.

They were originating from a completely separate, highly covert source.

Shen Yu folded the scroll, his voice turning ice-cold as he looked back at Li Na.

"Send an immediate reply to Aunt. Tell her to mobilize our merchant caravans and flood those affected cities with our high-purity cleansing pills. Undercut the local market prices by a full 30%. We will completely secure the populace’s trust while simultaneously bleeding this hidden competitor’s profit margins dry."

Li Na nodded sharply, recording the command.

"It will be done immediately, Young Master."

Shen Yu turned toward the stairwell, his golden pupils narrowing in deep calculation as he prepared to leave.

’A completely different source...’ he mused silently. ’The pieces are moving too fast. Something big is brewing in the shadows of this empire.’

Saying this, his physical form blurred instantly, vanishing from the corridor without leaving behind a single whisper of wind.

Li Na exhaled, looking at the empty space where he had stood just a second ago.

Shaking her head, she turned back toward her office table to resume her paperwork.

But the very instant her back was turned, the air behind her shifted.

Deactivating his phantom steps with absolute precision, Shen Yu materialized out of thin air, completely bypassing her seasoned warrior instincts.

Before she could even register the sudden spike in temperature, his hand came down in a sharp, resounding slap directly across the tight, indigo silk covering her athletic ass.

SMACK!

Li Na gasped, her entire body jumping from the sudden, stinging impact.

She instinctively tried to leap forward, but he was already leaning in close, his lips almost brushing her earlobe as his voice dropped into a final, teasing purr.

"Goodbye, Li’er."

"You—!"

Li Na whipped around, her sun-kissed face flushing a brilliant, furious crimson as she threw a sharp, lightning-fast backhand strike meant to take his head off.

But her palm only sliced through empty air, meeting nothing but the fading scent of cold water.

Shen Yu was already halfway up the spiral stone staircase, his low, mocking laughter echoing beautifully down the damp tunnel.

Clenching her thighs together as a sudden, betraying heat bloomed deep within her lower core, Li Na rubbed her stinging rear and gnashed her teeth, glaring up into the dark, empty stairwell.

"That fucking playboy," she hissed under her breath, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs. "Golden Paragon, my ass!"