"DING! Quest accepted: 'Help Rainy Day Tower suppress Celestial Phoenix Tower.' Completion Reward: 5,000 EXP, +100 Affection with Zi Yuwei, five hundred taels of Gold, +10 Humanity Points."
Yi Tianyun accepted the quest as soon as he entered. 'I can't believe this increases my Humanity Points, too.' As for who this Zi Yuwei was, it went without saying she had to be someone very close to Rainy Day Tower.
'Looks like quests are everywhere. So many random ones, I can't even keep up!'
His eyes flashed. 'I get to crush my enemies and get rewards for it? Why wouldn't I do it?'
He felt that just by making a round trip here, his cultivation could rise by several levels. 'By the time we get to the Celestial Sinking Ruins, forget about me having the lowest cultivation level—I'll be crushing everyone!'
The waiter who came to greet them was stunned by the sight of so many Spiritual Artifacts. Spiritual Artifacts weren't cheap, especially mid-grade ones, which would absolutely fetch a good price!
"S-Sir, please wait a moment. I'll go get the Purple Pavilion Master right away..."
The waiter hurried upstairs to find the Pavilion Master. A moment later, a young woman in a purple dress swiftly descended the stairs. This was the Purple Pavilion Master, Zi Yuwei.
Zi Yuwei walked over. She was exceptionally beautiful and looked to be in her early twenties, yet she was already the Pavilion Master of Rainy Day Tower. One would never have guessed.
Her eyes lit up the moment she saw the ten mid-grade Spirit Swords stuck in the floor. "Not bad at all. Ten mid-grade Spirit Swords. Are you planning to sell them to us?"
"You could say that, but I'd be more interested in seeing you lower the price a bit to compete for customers with Celestial Phoenix Tower. I can provide the Spiritual Artifacts—I'm capable of refining them. You can set the price, as long as it's lower than Celestial Phoenix Tower's."
"As for the profit split, you can decide that as well. I'm willing to take a smaller cut. All you need to do is provide the materials, I'll do the refining, and you handle the suppression tactics. How does that sound?"
On the surface, the deal didn't seem profitable at all, but for Yi Tianyun, it was the best deal imaginable. By exploiting their rivalry, he could use a continuous supply of their materials to refine weapons. Not only would he gain EXP, but he would also complete his quest. Why wouldn't he do it?
"It seems you have a grudge against Celestial Phoenix Tower, young master?" Zi Yuwei said with a faint smile.
"Something like that. So, are you willing to take this deal?" Yi Tianyun asked, smiling at her.
"Of course. We'd be delighted."
Zi Yuwei's almond-shaped eyes narrowed slightly. Though she was young, a plan was already taking shape in her mind.
An Ling and Qin Xue looked at each other, completely bewildered. What was going on? How did this situation escalate so suddenly?
"Martial Sisters, I need to ask for your help. Please go with Miss Jiu and bring her brother here for the antidote. I can't get away right now."
Of course, Yi Tianyun hadn't forgotten about the matter. He had originally planned to find her brother right after his shopping, but that seemed impossible now. He had no choice but to ask them for help.
"No problem. We'll go right now."
The two Martial Sisters nodded and left with Jiu Lingyun. Since Jiu Lingyun's brother was poisoned, the matter certainly couldn't be delayed.
While preparations were underway on one side, things at the Celestial Phoenix Tower were quiet. Aside from the small incident earlier, there were no major issues.
"Hmph. You want to fight me? I'll make sure you people from Merak Palace can never buy anything here again!"
Master Kong snorted coldly, feeling immense anger. He remembered being kicked and humiliated, an insult he definitely couldn't swallow. A hint of killing intent flickered in his eyes as he thought about how to get rid of Yi Tianyun and vent his frustration.
"Master Kong, it seems Merak Palace has offended you. That's their mistake. Given Merak Palace's situation, without any Blacksmiths of their own, they have a hard time meeting their weapon demands. Most of them come here to find a Blacksmith, so provoking you was indeed not a very wise move."
Pavilion Master Liang was buttering Master Kong up.
Master Kong was young and had no problem becoming a fourth or fifth-grade Blacksmith in the future, which was why Pavilion Master Liang was willing to offend Merak Palace.
Just as they were enjoying their chat, a guard rushed in from outside. He bumped into a nearby table, and a teacup fell to the floor, shattering with a CRASH.
"What's going on? What's all the rush? Don't you know how rude that is!" Pavilion Master Liang scowled.
"Pavilion Master Liang, th-the Rainy Day Tower... they've started selling mid-grade Spiritual Artifacts for ten thousand taels less than us..." the guard said hurriedly.
"What!"
Pavilion Master Liang and Master Kong both shot up from their seats in shock, finding the news utterly unbelievable.
"Have they gone mad? Ten thousand taels less... that's almost the price of half a low-grade Spiritual Artifact! Are they trying to go bankrupt!" Pavilion Master Liang exclaimed in shock.
"Well, it seems to be a client's idea. They're having Rainy Day Tower sell the items for them. They've already pulled away a lot of our customers," the guard said.
"A client's idea? What client is so generous that they're willing to sell at such a low price?" Pavilion Master Liang said, his face grim.
"I think... it was the one you threw out earlier..." the guard stammered.
"What!?"
Pavilion Master Liang was dumbfounded once again. He said in a low voice, "How could it be him? Isn't he from Merak Palace? How could he be selling Spiritual Artifacts? Merak Palace barely has any Spiritual Artifacts, so why would he sell them so cheap? Is he an idiot? He must be desperate because we pushed him too far."
"Th-that must be it. We must have pushed him into a corner, so he's resorting to this. Let's just see how many he can sell. Once he's sold out, won't the rest of the customers just come crawling back to us?"
Master Kong was stuttering slightly because he knew that Yi Tianyun was capable of Artifact Refining. If Yi Tianyun kept this up, they would truly be helpless.
He could only hope that Yi Tianyun wouldn't be able to sustain it and would eventually give up.
"That's a possibility. We pushed him into a corner, so now he wants to use Rainy Day Tower's power to suppress us?"
Pavilion Master Liang sneered, "He's too naive. We'll send our own people to buy up all their cheap Spiritual Artifacts. Anything we buy is a profit for us!"
They immediately ordered their men to go buy the Spiritual Artifacts. However, the items were quickly snatched up and sold out. But before long, another batch of Spiritual Artifacts was put out for sale, still at the same low price.
Pavilion Master Liang immediately sent his men to buy them out. But just as soon as they were bought, another batch of artifacts was fresh out of the forge. A dozen more Spiritual Artifacts appeared, as if out of thin air.
"How are there still more? Don't tell me Rainy Day Tower is selling off its own stock at a loss!?"
Pavilion Master Liang frowned, feeling that something was very wrong. If they were doing that, wouldn't that be the act of a fool?
Master Kong, however, said nothing. He already knew what was happening. It was definitely Yi Tianyun, starting to poach their customers with low prices.
He remembered what Yi Tianyun had said before he left—that he would make Celestial Phoenix Tower regret its actions. Could this tactic of luring away customers be what he meant by making them regret it?