Chapter 707: Joint Pressure

Su Che knew that Fairy Guanghua wasn’t concerned about whether he could move around freely, but rather wanted to confirm the inventory capacity of the Treasure Shop. If this couldn’t be confirmed in advance, bringing a large group of fellow disciples without enough magical artifacts in stock would result in an embarrassing situation—something like saying, “I’m very sorry, but after all these sales, we no longer have more than three hundred items.” In that case, she too would lose face and struggle to explain to her disciples.

So, Su Che said with a smile, “We can agree in advance that for customers introduced by the fairy, if they purchase a total of one thousand high-quality magical artifacts, our shop will give her ten matching top-grade artifacts as a thank-you. I guarantee it won’t harm the fairy’s reputation at all. If anything goes wrong, feel free to punish me.”

“Alright, that’s on you!”
Fairy Guanghua glared fiercely, her gaze sharp and deadly, with terrifying penetrating power. “If you make me lose face, I’ll make sure to hold you accountable!”

Su Che chuckled and repeated, “It won’t happen, absolutely not.”
This Fairy Guanghua clearly seemed like someone who spoke harshly but had a kind heart—her character was surely good. Su Che believed his judgment was absolutely correct.

“Well then, I’m leaving. I expect to bring them here in about half a month.”
Before turning away, Fairy Guanghua touched her bald head first, then gave Su Che a few instructions, clearly meaning: Make sure everything is ready for me, or I’ll beat you senseless…

As her imposing figure disappeared outside the shop, Lao He sighed deeply, “This fairy is truly tough!”
Fei Yun also transmitted a message to Su Che, saying, “She’s the most graceful female fairy I’ve ever seen.”

Su Che smiled and said, “If you like her, you can become like her too.”

“Do you really like this kind of person?” Fei Yun stared at Su Che in shock, as if to say, “No wonder you’re not attracted to women—turns out you prefer such top-notch beauties…”

Su Che turned and left. There was no point arguing about such things—it would only make things worse.

On the first day of opening, Tianxuan Treasure Shop did well in business but still lost over seventy thousand immortal crystals!

How could there be a loss?
The reason was: They sold nine top-grade magical artifacts and five medium-grade ones, earning twenty-three thousand immortal crystals.
Since the magical artifacts from the Immortal-Demon Battlefield had almost no cost, those twenty-three thousand were essentially pure profit.

It was only the first day of operation, and with such low awareness, selling a dozen or so magical artifacts was already quite good. It was thanks to the abundant stock at Treasure Workshop, the wide range of choices for customers, the inherent advantages of the immortal artifacts themselves, and the free promotion via the large screens in the central square that these deals could be made.

However, there was an immortal in the later stages of the Xuanxian realm who came to sell his own living world. After the deal was finalized, he took away 100,000 immortal crystals from Su Che. In total, the loss amounted to 77,000.

In Haoyuan Heavenly Market, there were basically fixed standards for purchasing living worlds. First, the ecological environment of the small world had to be intact—not a desolate wasteland meant merely to hold people. Second, the price was calculated based on the number of intelligent beings: 5 billion beings were worth 10,000 immortal crystals, while 50 billion beings were worth 100,000. This showed just how low the value of mortal beings was in the eyes of true immortals. A mortal planet like Qiyuan Star could only be valued at 100,000 shiny immortal crystals in the immortal realm. Such were the insignificant beings.

For true immortals, mortal beings were wild, while those in living worlds were their captive beings. That was the only difference.

On the second day, there was no loss—instead, a profit of over 50,000 was made. On the third day, the profit exceeded 60,000. On the fourth day, another small world with 30 billion beings was purchased, yielding a profit of just over 20,000. On the fifth day…

In less than ten days, the rumor about Tianxuan Treasure Workshop’s “Magical Artifact Bazaar” spread once again among all merchants in Haoyuan Heavenly Market. Some competing shops inevitably felt a sense of crisis.

“This is unacceptable! Once it gains such fame, all future customers looking to buy magical artifacts will be taken away by Tianxuan Treasure Workshop. Where will we find business then?”

“The key question is: where does he get so many products? How can he maintain a stock of over a thousand magical artifacts every day?”

“I heard he’s a young master from some alchemy family who’s here to gain experience… Isn’t he just coming here to cause trouble?”

“Ugh, this is frustrating! The problem is, he has ample stock and high-quality products. There’s no unfair competition or disguised dumping. Even if we go to the authorities to complain, we can’t do anything about him.”

“It’s only been ten days. It’s not too late to find a way to stop him. I think we should unite with more than a dozen merchant alliances like Tianbao Ruixiang to give him a warning and urge him to stop this trend soon.”

“Yes, we must do that…”

Dozens of merchants whose main business was selling magical treasures gathered together and came up with such a resolution. The least experienced among them had been in the Haoyuan Heavenly Market for millions of years, and they had long established a cooperative relationship akin to an alliance for mutual defense. What they disliked the most were special elements like Su Che who disrupted the market. That night, they determined a strategy to deal with Su Che, and early the next morning, the news reached the ears of the old man known as “Old Monkey.” It had to be said that after spending most of his life in the Haoyuan Heavenly Market, he was quite astute.

“I’ve got some news for you!” Old Monkey appeared before Su Che and said right away, “Very important news that’s extremely unfavorable to you. How about I charge you just 5,000 immortal crystals?”

“Let me guess first. If I’m right, I’ll only pay you 1,000 immortal crystals, how about that?” Su Che replied with a smile.

Old Monkey was taken aback but inwardly admitted that this kid was quite generous—would even give him immortal crystals if he guessed correctly…

“Alright, then guess,” Old Monkey nodded cheerfully.

“Is it that someone wants to put pressure on me, just because…” Su Che gestured toward the reception hall behind him, “their business model of treating guests with countless treasures bothers them?”

“Haha!” Old Monkey scratched his cheek and laughed. “Good! Go on, tell me how they plan to deal with you.”

“Basically, they’ll unite and give me a warning first. If that doesn’t work, they’ll resort to framing me—pretending to be guests and complaining about me to the authorities. Or they might try to stir up conflicts between me and merchant alliances like Tianbao Ruixiang, using others to kill me…” Su Che said slowly, “It’s more or less these tactics. The same goes for the mortal business world; nothing unusual about it.”

“Hmm…” Old Monkey shook his head feigning profundity before reaching out, “Pay me!”

Su Che readily gave him 1,000 immortal crystals. It wasn’t out of generosity, but to avoid displeasing the old man, as he still relied on him to bring him information in the future. Although he had predicted the situation this time, he wasn’t sure about the next one. Having such a shrewd old fox willing to keep an eye out for him was quite useful.

Old Monkey accepted the immortal crystals with a satisfied look and asked, “So, have you thought of how to deal with it?”

“I have some ideas,” Su Che replied, “But I’d also like to hear your suggestions.”

The old monkey slammed the table with enthusiasm, declaring, “Alright, out of respect for our friendship, I’ll give you a good idea—for free.” Then, using a secret communication method, he quickly whispered something in Su Che’s ear.

Whoa! Su Che scattered another thousand immortal crystals in front of him. “Friendship aside, this idea is indeed great.” Seeing the pile of shiny immortal crystals, the old monkey’s eyes gleamed as if he might sink into them and never emerge. He reached out to grab them, but only managed to pick up one crystal. Holding it in his hand, the old man trembled as he stood up, muttering, “This idea was my own; it costs nothing, so it’s not worth a thousand.” After taking a few steps, he threw the crystal back at Su Che and raised his voice, “If it’s free, then it’s a gift! Do you think you can underestimate me?”

“You old man…” Su Che shook his head and laughed. The old monkey staggered out of the shop.

An hour later, Su Che received an invitation from the Administration Office: a meeting would be held at noon that day, and all merchants were asked to send representatives on time. “Pretty fast service,” was Su Che’s only comment.

At noon sharp, exactly a hundred shops showed up in the Administration Office’s meeting hall. Aside from representatives from a dozen large merchant alliances, the remaining eighty were shop owners mainly dealing in magical artifacts, including Su Che. Shao, the top official of the Administration Office, personally presided over the meeting. Without any unnecessary talk, he got straight to the point and said, “Today’s meeting is about the formidable strength of Tianxuan Treasure House, which has gathered a thousand magical artifacts at once. Let’s discuss whether this trend is beneficial or harmful to Haoyuan Heavenly Market.”

As soon as he said this, everyone’s gaze turned to Su Che. All present were at least at the Xuanxian cultivation level. After all, they were either shop owners or representatives of merchant alliances. Without reaching the Xuanxian level, it would be impossible to make a name for themselves in Haoyuan Heavenly Market. Even if there were one or two exceptions, after millions of years of operation in the market, they should have reached the Xuanxian stage by now.

With everyone’s attention focused on him, Su Che lacked the strength to withstand such pressure. The Huali Immortal Wood chair beneath him, capable of bearing the weight of towering mountains, creaked loudly before breaking into pieces after just three breaths.

Su Che suddenly stood up, taking four quick steps back, yet he still managed to stay standing firmly.
The hundred True Immortals sitting around were stunned—they really didn’t expect a mere minor immortal to withstand such a blow.
It wasn’t meant to hurt him; they had planned to embarrass him by making him sit on the ground as a form of intimidation. But instead, he cleverly defused the situation using the wooden chair beneath him.
In fact, they had overestimated Su Che’s skills and underestimated his physical strength.
Having fused hundreds of thousands of Demon God bones, although he hadn’t yet fully unleashed the power of the Demon Gods, his bone density was on par with that of these Xuan Immortals.
“That won’t be enough to defeat me,” Su Che thought with a cold smirk.