Profound Heaven Soul Sovereign

Master Hongde of the Ancient Pill Tower, who had been treating Steward Guan, had wanted to ask about the situation, only to be thrown out by a grim-faced Guan Wei. The incident left Hongde fuming.

Now that the Profound Light Pavilion was open, the stir it created immediately gave the Ancient Pill Tower a profound sense of crisis.

Sure enough, just days after the Profound Light Pavilion opened, the Ancient Pill Tower’s Pill business plummeted by roughly thirty percent. Moreover, that number only continued to climb as time went on.

The Ancient Pill Tower had originally leased the former Treasure Hall Pavilion to meet business demand, with plans to open it soon.

But with the Profound Light Pavilion causing such a stir, the Ancient Pill Tower was starting to lose confidence in opening the Treasure Hall Pavilion branch.

When even their flagship store was beginning to falter under the Profound Light Pavilion’s pressure, the prospects for a new branch were unthinkable.

"Have you investigated where the Profound Light Pavilion is getting its Seventh-Grade Pills? As far as I know, they only have one Seventh-Grade Alchemist, right?"

So said Qi Liming, the Master of the Ancient Pill Tower, his face dark and his gaze terrifying.

Xi Yichun voiced his own confusion. "We’ve looked into it. The Profound Light Pavilion truly does only have that one new Seventh-Grade Alchemist. Logically speaking, no matter how skilled he is, one Seventh-Grade Alchemist couldn’t possibly refine so many Seventh-Grade Pills in such a short amount of time."

At the side, Master Hongde and another gray-haired elder frowned deeply.

The two of them were the Ancient Pill Tower’s two Medicine Kings, so they naturally knew how difficult Seventh-Grade Pills were to refine. Even if the two of them were to do it, their success rate would only be thirty percent, and that was only for Pills they were already familiar with.

One Tier Eight Spirit Medicine plus three types of Tier Seven materials... At the price the Profound Light Pavilion was charging, they themselves would barely make any profit. With a bit of bad luck, they might even lose money.

And that was just analyzing the cost of materials. If you factored in the Profound Light Pavilion’s rent and the effort spent on Alchemy, then frankly, Hongde and the others were certain they would be operating at a loss.

They couldn’t understand how the Profound Light Pavilion was sustaining itself.

Qi Liming said in a deep voice, "Are you suggesting they have other powerful Alchemists backing them?"

"Well..." Xi Yichun gave a wry smile. "That, I do not know."

"You don’t know? Then what do you know?" Qi Liming shot him a cold, furious look.

"Tower Master." Just then, Master Hongde suddenly spoke up. "I have an idea, but I’m not sure if it’s feasible."

"Let’s hear it."

"The Profound Light Pavilion’s Pill prices are extremely low, at least twenty percent cheaper than the market rate for Seventh-Grade Pills. I estimate that price is at-cost, or maybe even a loss. I have reason to believe this is a big promotion for their grand opening, with the goal of attracting more foot traffic."

At this, Master Hongde couldn’t help but smile faintly. "If that’s the case, why don’t we pose as customers and buy up all of the Profound Light Pavilion’s cheap Pills?"

Qi Liming frowned. "Buy them for what? Even if the Profound Light Pavilion’s Pills are cheap, we don’t need them, do we?"

Master Hongde chuckled. "Tower Master, of course we wouldn’t be buying them to use ourselves. Their Pills are cheap now, but they’ll definitely raise the prices later. We just need to buy them now, stockpile them for a while, and then sell them off after the price returns to normal. We could turn a tidy profit in an instant. Why not take advantage of it?"

"Hey, that’s not a bad idea at all." The eyes of the other elder at his side lit up.

"Master Zhen Li, you think this will work too?" Qi Liming asked, his voice heavy.

"How should I put this?" Master Zhen Li said with a frown. "In theory, the plan is workable. The Profound Light Pavilion’s Pill prices are indeed much lower than the normal rate for Seventh-Grade Pills in Celestial Capital Prefecture. However, there are some uncertainties."

"First, the Profound Light Pavilion’s Seventh-Grade Pills must be exchanged for Tier Eight materials; they can’t be bought with Profound Stones. This means a large-scale acquisition would severely deplete the Ancient Pill Tower’s own inventory of High Tier Spirit Medicines."

"Second, and this is the most critical point, the Profound Light Pavilion must raise its Pill prices within a certain period. If their prices stay that low forever, then the Ancient Pill Tower will suffer a huge loss. Not only would we be stuck with a large stockpile of Pills we don’t need, but our own Spirit Medicines would also be completely depleted."

"Of course, based on my and Hongde’s analysis, the Profound Light Pavilion’s current price for Seventh-Grade Pills is unprofitable. Therefore, there’s a very high probability that they will raise their prices in the future. If that’s the case, the Ancient Pill Tower is guaranteed to make a profit."

Zhen Li’s words cemented Qi Liming’s resolve.

"Good. We’ll do just that." His gaze turned icy. "You will secretly acquire all of the Profound Light Pavilion’s Seventh-Grade Pills. Meanwhile, Xi Yichun, you are to investigate the backgrounds of the people with Su Xiuyi. For the Profound Light Pavilion to expand into so many different fields at once, the people he has with him can’t possibly be simple. They won’t be a bunch of nobodies."

"Yes."

Xi Yichun and the others replied in cold voices.

"The Profound Light Pavilion dares to block my path. I’ll make sure they lose every cent, go bankrupt, and die without a proper burial."

A bone-chilling glint flashed in Qi Liming’s eyes, radiating murderous intent.

Over the next few days, the Ancient Pill Tower began frantically buying up the Profound Light Pavilion’s Seventh-Grade Pills in secret.

Practically every Pill was snatched up the moment it was put on sale. The frenzied buying caused a huge sensation.

"Young Master Ye, something seems off about these Seventh-Grade Pill purchases."

As the President of the Divine Walk Commerce Association, Dongfang Xuan was also in charge of managing the Profound Light Pavilion. He quickly noticed something was amiss.

Every day, as soon as the Seventh-Grade Pills went on sale, a group of people dressed as Loose Cultivators would quietly appear and buy them up in large quantities.

Dongfang Xuan didn’t pay much mind for the first two days, but as it continued, it quickly caught his attention.

He secretly summoned Su Xiuyi, but it turned out Su Xiuyi didn’t recognize a single person in the group.

As an old-timer who had lived in the West District of Celestial Capital Prefecture for decades, Su Xiuyi was familiar with most of the well-known Loose Cultivators in the area. But the fact that he didn’t recognize a single one of the Loose Cultivators who had come to buy Seventh-Grade Pills in the past two days was rather strange.

As a result, the matter was quickly reported to Ye Xuan.

In addition, Dongfang Xuan also noticed an increase in powerful experts frequenting the Profound Light Pavilion. Judging from their expressions and actions, they seemed to come from factions with significant backgrounds, and their gazes toward the Profound Light Pavilion were all rather hostile.

This put Dongfang Xuan on high alert.

"Those Loose Cultivators have obviously been sent by some organization. We don’t need to concern ourselves with them."

Ye Xuan smiled coldly. He was so sharp that with a moment’s thought, he knew what the other party was planning.

’If they think they can make the Profound Light Pavilion take a loss this way, that’s just laughable.’

"However, we do have to consider these powerful experts who have suddenly appeared."

Ye Xuan knew that the Profound Light Pavilion’s explosive popularity had begun to attract the attention of major powers.

This was especially true for the Alchemy Dao titans and top families from other city districts. The Profound Light Pavilion was starting to encroach upon their market share for Pills.

This naturally drew their hostility.

But when you’re in business, you can’t just refuse to open your doors because you’re afraid someone might be targeting you.

However, Ye Xuan and his group also knew that the Profound Light Pavilion’s current strength was not yet enough to act without restraint in Celestial Capital Prefecture. To truly provoke the collective wrath of the Alchemy Dao powers would be a loss that far outweighed any gain.

After all, Pills were only one part of the Profound Light Pavilion’s business. Artifact Refining, Arrays, and Soul Refining were also highly profitable.

There was no need for Ye Xuan and his group to offend everyone in Celestial Capital Prefecture over the matter of Pills alone.

"Here’s what we’ll do. Starting tomorrow, we’ll place a limit on Seventh-Grade Pill exchanges."

Ye Xuan made his decision.

In truth, that wasn’t the only reason he made this decision.

He also had another reason.

The demand for Pills these past few days had been so explosive that they had reached a point where they could hardly keep up.

In order to exchange for more materials, Ye Xuan and Elder Yao had been refining almost every moment, leaving no time for cultivation or rest.

This was clearly not sustainable.

And once the supply of Seventh-Grade Pills was limited, he and Elder Yao would only need to spend a little time each day on refining, freeing up most of their time for cultivation.

After all, making money was only a part of life. What Ye Xuan and the others needed more was to increase their own strength.

Once the decision was made, the Profound Light Pavilion began restricting its sales starting the very next day.

For items like Seventh-Grade Pills, there were only ten available per day. Once ten were sold, there would be no more; customers would have to come back the next day.

Items like Array Discs and Profound Soldiers were subject to the same policy, with daily supply limits.

But what Ye Xuan and his group hadn’t expected was that while their original goal had been to avoid a coordinated boycott from the powers in other regions, this very "hunger marketing" strategy had instead made the Profound Light Pavilion even more popular.

Every morning, long before the Profound Light Pavilion opened, the entrance was already a sea of people. Some Martial Artists, desperate to exchange for a Seventh-Grade Pill, had even lined up at the door when it closed the day before, waiting for an entire night.

This level of enthusiasm left Ye Xuan and his group dumbfounded, exclaiming that they couldn’t keep up.

Ye Xuan keenly perceived that the market demand in Celestial Capital Prefecture was even greater than he had imagined.

There were simply too many powerful experts in Celestial Capital Prefecture. How could such a small number of Seventh-Grade Pills possibly satisfy the demand?

Only a fool passes up a chance to make money. Seeing such a wildly popular scene, Ye Xuan’s mind began to spin, searching for another way to profit.

Returning to open sales like before was out of the question; it would undoubtedly re-ignite the coordinated opposition from Celestial Capital Prefecture’s major top powers.

Dongfang Xuan could clearly perceive that ever since they had restricted sales, the number of powerful experts visiting the Profound Light Pavilion with hostile gazes had significantly decreased.

And so, with a turn of his thoughts, a brilliant idea popped into Ye Xuan’s head.

Early the next morning, the crowd discovered that a new sign had been erected at the entrance of the Profound Light Pavilion.