The Jade Pavilion's boardroom smelled of sandalwood and restrained tension.
Adrian, still wearing a bandage across his cheek and his right arm in a sling, held a brush in his left hand as he tried to jot down figures in a ledger.
Beside him, Su Meilan presided over the meeting with icy elegance. She had put her veil back on, but her eyes were twin daggers that sliced through any attempt at levity.
"Next candidate," Adrian said in a flat voice.
The door opened, and Madame Rose entered.
She didn't walk so much as glide.
She wore a crimson silk dress so sheer it looked more like a suggestion than an article of clothing. But what truly dominated the room—and everyone's field of vision—was her generous cleavage, which challenged not only the laws of decency, but also those of mystical gravity.
"Honorable Directors," Rose purred, leaning deeply across the table until she was directly in front of Adrian. "I've come to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime. The Crimson Cloud Paradise. A premium establishment for... spiritual recreation."
Adrian blinked.
Out of pure biological survival instinct, his eyes drifted downward by exactly one millimeter.
Just one.
THUD!
A sharp kick slammed directly into his right shin—right on top of the bruise Ye Chen had left during the tournament.
"Gah!"
Adrian dropped his brush, sending it rolling across the table and smearing ink over an entire quarterly financial report.
"Is something wrong, Partner?" Su Meilan asked with poisonous sweetness, never taking her eyes off her documents.
Her leg remained beneath the table, ready for a second strike.
"J-just... a cramp," Adrian managed, straightening himself and fixing his gaze firmly on the ceiling. "Residual energy from the tournament. Please continue, Madame. And... perhaps don't lean in quite so much. The room's airflow is rather limited."
Madame Rose smiled, fully aware of the effect she had.
She straightened slightly... only to rest both elbows on the table, somehow making her "sales presentation" even more impossible to ignore.
"You see," Rose explained, "cultivators live very stressful lives. My proposal is a brothel—pardon me—a Recreational Dual Cultivation Sanctuary. I'll need an initial investment of five hundred thousand spirit stones for silk furnishings and jasmine fragrances."
Adrian instinctively shifted into business mode.
His comfort zone.
"Let's discuss the numbers, Madame. What's the expected Return on Investment? Staff turnover rate? Do you have contingency plans for Qi-transmitted diseases?"
"Oh, Director Valmont..." she whispered, leaning in once more. "The returns are... immediate. If you'd like, we could discuss the details of staff turnover... in private."
The air suddenly turned cold.
It felt as though the temperature in the room had dropped by ten degrees.
CRACK.
The leg of Adrian's chair groaned under the pressure of Su Meilan's boot.
She wasn't kicking him anymore.
She was now crushing his foot with the weight of a mountain.
"Adrian," Meilan whispered into his ear, "if you look at this woman's 'business plan' like that one more time, I swear upon the Great Dao your next investment will be in a luxury coffin."
She smiled sweetly.
"With a one hundred percent discount."
Adrian swallowed, staring fixedly at a damp stain on the opposite wall.
"Madame Rose," he said in a voice that had climbed an entire octave, "we certainly appreciate your... assets. However, we're currently seeking investments that are... more tangible. Less... pneumatic. The committee"—he cleared his throat—"whose members apparently have exceptionally heavy feet today, declines your proposal."
Rose pouted.
Realizing this negotiation would have to happen somewhere else and at another time, she adjusted her neckline with a graceful motion that nearly blinded Adrian with reflected light before swaying out of the room.
When the door finally closed, silence settled over the boardroom.
Adrian sighed, rubbing his battered shin.
"Was the physical violence really necessary, Meilan? I was evaluating the market viability of recreational services."
Su Meilan ripped off her veil with one violent motion, revealing a face crackling with fury.
"Evaluating the market? You practically buried your face in her cleavage to audit the books, Adrian! You didn't even blink!"
"It's hard to blink when there's an entire mountain of silk ten centimeters from your face!" he protested. "Besides, you're the one who said we needed to diversify our investment portfolio!"
"Diversifying doesn't mean financing sin, you idiot!"
She hurled a bamboo scroll at his forehead.
"The next applicant raises Spirit Pigs. And you'd better not stare at their breasts either, or I swear I'll—"
The investment committee was deteriorating at an alarming rate.
Adrian discreetly massaged his shin while the Spirit Pig breeder enthusiastically explained the precise texture of his pigs' manure and its remarkable applications as premium-grade fertilizer.
"It's a circular economy, Director Valmont," the farmer said, blissfully unaware of the cold war raging across the table. "The pigs consume spiritual waste, produce Qi-rich fertilizer, and that fertilizer—"
Adrian nodded mechanically, carefully avoiding Su Meilan's gaze.
Each word the farmer spoke seemed to sharpen the invisible dagger in her eyes just a little more.
Then...
Reality froze.
[DING!]
[PLOT EVENT ALERT: MAIN CHARACTER HAS ENTERED!]
The System—which had remained in bitter silence ever since the disaster at the tournament—returned with a voice that was somehow both more authoritative...
...and even more unbearable.
System:
"Attention, bargain-bin administrator!"
"Stop sniffing pigs and get ready."
"The Second Heroine, Li Xiao, has just entered the Chamber of Commerce."
Another notification immediately appeared, flashing crimson.
"Pride wounded."
"Debt ledger on fire."
"Mandatory objectives:"
- Save her financially.
- Don't touch her.
- Don't stare at her for too long.
- That woman belongs to the Hero.
Then came the inevitable threat.
"Failure penalty: one thousand poisoned needles, immediate launch into an active volcano, and one hundred Heavenly Dao lightning strikes directly against your soul."
"Behave yourself."
Adrian froze.
Su Meilan noticed instantly.
"What now?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. "Another Madame Rose? With... bigger assets?"
"Worse," Adrian muttered as he adjusted his robe.
"The competition..."
"...and an overdue account receivable."
The boardroom doors did not open.
They announced themselves.
There was no knock.
Only the clean, lingering fragrance of refined medicinal herbs... and a presence that demanded space.
Li Xiao stepped inside.
Despite the crisis consuming her clan, she wore immaculate emerald robes. Her long hair was gathered into an elaborate hairstyle secured by silver hairpins that were as practical as they were ornamental.
She spared neither the pig farmer nor the lavish furnishings a glance.
Instead, her sharp, intelligent eyes—filled with carefully restrained desperation—locked directly onto Adrian.
"I've read your... 'invitation,' Director Valmont," she said, tossing the cream-colored letter sealed with black wax onto the conference table.
The letter landed directly on top of the brothel blueprints...
...and the Spirit Pig breeding diagrams.
"It is the most arrogant, technical, and insulting proposal I have received in twenty years of cultivation."
Su Meilan slowly rose from her seat.
The atmosphere around her shifted.
The Fairy of Commerce had awakened.
"Master Li," she said with a flawless smile that never reached her eyes, "welcome to the Tianxu Chamber of Commerce. I wasn't aware the Southern Li Clan had become so... dependent on our charity."
Li Xiao's jaw tightened.
She looked at Su Meilan as though examining an unfamiliar specimen beneath an alchemical microscope.
"This isn't charity, Director Su."
She paused briefly.
"It's an asset negotiation."
Another pause.
"Although I am surprised to see you here. I had assumed Adrian Valmont managed this office alone."
[DING: System Warning — 5% Output]
An unpleasant tingling crawled down Adrian's spine.
"Ladies," he interrupted, standing up, "let's save the formalities—and the barbed remarks—for later."
He turned toward Li Xiao.
"Master Li, please have a seat."
Then he glanced at Su Meilan.
"Meilan, bring me the Southern Li Clan audit report."
He sighed.
"We have a great deal to discuss...
...and very little capital to waste."
Li Xiao sat down across from him, crossing her legs with practiced elegance.
"Tell me, Valmont," she said coolly.
"Do you truly believe you can acquire my clan in exchange for forty percent of my patents?"
Her gaze sharpened further.
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he studied her the way a merchant studies another man's furnace—not for the flames...
...but for the cracks.
"Master Li," he finally said in an unexpectedly calm tone, "if I intended to acquire your clan, this room would be full of Commercial Dao lawyers..."
His eyes drifted toward the blueprints lying on the table.
"...instead of Spirit Pigs."
Su Meilan raised an eyebrow.
Li Xiao didn't smile.
"Then be direct," she replied.
"My time is worth more than my pills."
Adrian nodded.
"Excellent."
"Let's discuss survival...
...not pride."
He slid a single sheet of paper across the table.
No contracts.
No blood oaths.
Just numbers.
"The problem with your clan isn't quality," Adrian continued.
"It's cash flow."
"You produce too little, too expensively, and too slowly."
"The Chamber of Commerce produces more, cheaper, and consistently."
"Competing head-on is..."
He paused deliberately.
"...unsustainable."
Li Xiao's fingers tightened against the tabletop.
"Are you mocking me?"
"On the contrary."
"I'm offering you a way out without humiliating you."
Su Meilan spoke next, her voice gentle.
"The Chamber proposes an alchemical cooperation agreement."
Li Xiao immediately looked up.
"Explain."
Adrian continued.
"Step One."
"The Chamber guarantees your clan's raw material supply for the next six months."
"Fixed prices."
"No speculation."
"No hidden auctions."
That caught her attention.
She couldn't hide it.
"And what do you receive in return?"
"Nothing."
He smiled faintly.
"...For now."
Silence thickened inside the room.
"Step Two."
"Your pills will continue to be sold under the Li Clan's name."
"Your reputation remains untouched."
"But distribution moves through our commercial network."
Li Xiao frowned.
"That's merely distribution."
"Exactly."
Adrian smiled.
"Harmless."
"Transparent."
"Convenient."
Su Meilan added,
"The Chamber only takes a minimal percentage for logistics and commercial protection."
"Far less than what you're currently losing by operating alone."
Li Xiao calculated the figures in her head.
The numbers...
fit.
Far too well.
"And Step Three?" she asked cautiously.
Adrian didn't avoid the question.
"Step Three only happens if the market continues to decline."
"And if it does..."
"You may license selected secondary formulas to the Chamber for large-scale production."
"License?" she repeated.
"Not sell?"
"Never."
Adrian answered without hesitation.
"The Li Clan's knowledge is sacred."
"We merely..."
He paused.
"...help it circulate."
Something uncomfortable stirred inside Li Xiao's chest.
It wasn't anger.
It was relief.
"And if I refuse the third step?"
Adrian shrugged.
"Then the agreement ends after Step Two."
"You survive."
"So does your clan."
"No debt."
"No trade war."
A brief silence followed.
"But the market won't wait," he said quietly.
"And neither will the Chamber."
Li Xiao lowered her gaze to the document.
There were no obvious traps.
No coercion.
Only one cruel truth.
Alone...
she was losing.
"This isn't charity," she murmured.
"It never is," Adrian replied.
"It's a long-term investment."
For the first time since the meeting began, Su Meilan smiled.
"Welcome to the modern market, Master Li."
Li Xiao closed her eyes for a brief moment...
...and nodded.
Somewhere beyond mortal perception, the System began issuing warnings...
even though it no longer understood why.