Shameless Immortal: Emperor of Ten Thousand Beauties

Chapter 288: Chapter 288: City Lord’s Announcement

Inside the main pavilion of the Cao Clan, the atmosphere was thick with the same suffocating panic that had gripped the Union.

Ledger scrolls were scattered across the floor, and elders were pacing frantically, their faces pale with anxiety.

"The Fan Clan’s new pill is a disaster for us!" Patriarch Cao roared, throwing a tactical market report onto the table.

"Nearly forty percent of our mid-tier customer base abandoned our storefronts in a single afternoon! The pills we imported from the Tang Clan are sitting in our warehouses, eating up our capital! If this continues, the Fan Clan will choke us out of the city entirely!"

Sitting calmly in the corner of the room, draped in an elegant black robe that made him look like a shadow detached from the chaos, Shen Yu casually swirled a cup of spiritual tea.

He didn’t look bothered in the slightest.

To his side, Cao Yan stood like a loyal shadow, her eyes fixed entirely on him, completely ignoring her father’s frantic pacing.

"Calm down, Patriarch," Shen Yu murmured smoothly, his voice instantly cutting through the noise in the room.

He took a slow sip of his tea, his green eyes flashing with a cold, absolute certainty. "The Fan Clan is merely experiencing a temporary surge. They threw all their liquid resources into buying a recipe and mass-producing it. Their supply chain is fragile."

"Then what do we do, Senior Mo?" Patriarch Cao asked, turning to him desperately. Over the past month, Shen Yu’s strategies had brought the Cao Clan back from the brink of ruin, earning him the absolute trust of the leadership.

"Lower the prices," Shen Yu commanded, a slow, predatory smirk crossing his handsome features.

"Undercut the Fan Clan by fifteen percent on your standard stock. Flood the market. Force them into a price war. We wait, we let them bleed, and then we crush them."

Hearing his words, Cao Yan didn’t hesitate for a single second. She stepped forward, her voice dripping with absolute submission to his judgment.

"We will do exactly as you say. Father, order the pavilions to slash the prices immediately. We trust Senior Mo’s calculation."

Patriarch Cao hesitated for a moment, but seeing his daughter’s unwavering confidence and remembering Shen Yu’s past successes, he gritted his teeth and nodded.

"Very well! Slash the prices! We will starve the Fan Clan out!"

Shen Yu leaned back against the sofa, a dark satisfaction settling deep within his chest.

The Union was bleeding, the Fan Clan had blindly swallowed the bait, and the Cao Clan was dropping its prices to force a mutual economic slaughter.

Every single piece on the chessboard was moving exactly where he had dictated

The grand collapse of the city’s economic powers was just a few steps away.

Until the sky itself seemed to tremble.

BOOM!

A deafening, majestic chime echoed from the very center of the city, vibrating through the spiritual stones of the Cao Clan pavilion.

It wasn’t an alarm, nor was it a sign of an attack. It was the sounding of the Crimson Iron Bell, a divine artifact that only rang when the City Lord himself was making an official decree to the entire populace.

Shen Yu’s golden eyes narrowed slightly, his fingers tightening around his teacup.

Suddenly, a massive, booming voice amplified by immense nascent soul cultivation energy rolled over the entire city, echoing in the minds of every cultivator.

"People of the Crimson Iron City, I, the City Lord, hereby declare an official decree. For decades, the City Lord’s manor has never interfered with the commerce of the pill market. However, by the divine mandate of the Crimson Lotus Empire, an official Imperial Pill and Weapon Refining Competition will be held in this city in exactly two weeks."

The voice paused, letting the weight of the announcement settle before delivering a line that shook the foundation of every major clan.

"Whichever organization, be it a clan, a guild, or an independent faction, wins this grand competition will be granted the Exclusive Imperial Procurement Rights for the entire region under the Crimson Iron City. The winning faction will be backed, funded, and protected directly by the imperial throne. Detailed regulations and specific requirements will be officially revealed in one week. Prepare your alchemists and blacksmiths."

The booming voice faded, leaving a deathly, ringing silence inside the Cao Clan room.

Shen Yu slowly set his teacup down, his face entirely unreadable, though a rare, dangerous coldness flashed deep within his golden pupils.

This was completely out of his calculations.

He had intricately mapped out the psychological greed, the supply chains, and the underlying hatred of the three major factions to orchestrate a slow, agonizing mutual destruction.

But the sudden intervention of the Azure Empire, using the City Lord as a mouthpiece, had instantly flipped the board.

Outside the window, the frantic, desperate energy of the market war began to visibly evaporate.

Cultivators who were just seconds ago fighting in lines to buy the Fan Clan’s new pills or scrambling toward the Cao Clan’s discounted storefronts stopped in their tracks.

The frantic buying didn’t stop entirely, but the frenzy was gone.

The desperate panic that Shen Yu had painstakingly cultivated over the last month was turning to dust in a matter of seconds.

Nobody cared about a localized price war anymore.

The entire focus of the city’s populace, the rogue cultivators, and the wealthy elites had shifted entirely to the upcoming Imperial Competition.

Exclusive imperial backing meant an infinite supply of resources, legendary status, and a mountain of wealth that would dwarf a hundred city markets combined.

The chaotic, muddy waters Shen Yu had created were suddenly forced into a singular, hyper-focused channel.

Cao Yan noticed the sudden shift in his aura and took a step toward him, her brow furrowing with worry.

"Senior Mo... this imperial decree... it changes everything. If the Alchemist Union wins this, they will become untouchable. The economic collapse we were forcing... it won’t matter if they get the Empire’s backing."