43: Chapter 43 Business Suppression, Cutting Off the Source

The System's warning rippled through Gu Yan's heart, but it didn't stir up too much of a wave.

Level 8 Qi Refining is indeed a significant trouble.

But, it is merely trouble.

His greatest reliance now is not his own cultivation, but his two sons who possess Spiritual Roots, and... Liu Ruyan's Heaven-Defying "Profound Yin Body".

As long as he is given enough time, let alone Level 8 Qi Refining, even if a Foundation Establishment Cultivator were to come in person, he might not be without the strength to fight back!

However, the System's reminder also made him feel a bit vigilant.

Town Mayor Zhao Hong is a man of deep schemes; since he chose to endure for now, his next moves will surely be thunderous, insidious, and vicious.

Sure enough.

Early the next morning, trouble came knocking at the door.

A "Tax Inspection Team" composed of guards from the Town Mayors Office, beating gongs and drums, charged directly into the Gu Family's rice shop on East Street.

Using the excuse of "having received a report that the Gu Family is evading taxes," they seized all the account books and stored grain in the shop without explanation! They then plastered a huge seal stamped with the Town Mayor's official seal onto the front door of the rice shop!

Immediately after, the same scene played out successively at the Gu Family's cloth shop and farmland management office.

In less than half a day, all the industries the Gu Family relied on for survival in Luoyun Town were completely paralyzed!

When the news reached the mansion, the entire Gu Family was in a state of panic.

"Old Ancestor! This... what should we do!" Steward Gu Zhong, sweating profusely, paced back and forth in the study, "Without these shops, we... our entire Family of dozens of people will be eating away our savings, we won't be able to last long!"

"What are you panicking about?" Gu Yan remained calm and composed, holding his teacup and sipping tea slowly, "The Town Mayors Office is just beating the grass to scare the snake; it hasn't reached the point of breaking our bones. Our granary still has enough food to feed the whole Family for half a year. He can seal our shops, but can he really break into my Gu Family to steal our grain?"

Steward Gu Zhong calmed down slightly upon hearing this.

However, he still underestimated Town Mayor Zhao Hong's methods.

Drawing fire from beneath the cauldron was never just a single move, but a chain of schemes.

The second move followed closely.

In the afternoon, several major grain merchants who had been cooperating with the Gu Family and supplying grain to the rice shop unanimously sent people to inform the Gu Family that, due to "insufficient surplus grain at home," they would suspend all grain supplies to the Gu Family starting from that day.

Immediately after, the silk suppliers for the cloth shop also severed their cooperation for the same reason.

Even the small vendors who usually supplied vegetables and meat to the mansion dared not come to the Gu Family's door anymore.

The supply chain was cut off!

This was meant to completely cut off the Gu Family's roots!

If sealing the shops only meant the Gu Family could not operate temporarily.

Then, cutting off all supply channels was equivalent to sentencing these Gu Family industries to... death!

It wasn't over yet.

The third move, a vicious public opinion attack, followed.

Overnight, many "storytellers" appeared in the major taverns and teahouses in town.

The stories they told had different versions, but the core content was surprisingly consistent.

It was nothing more than saying that the Gu Family's Old Ancestor, Gu Yan, had used some wicked method to regain his youth. Now, because of his eccentric behavior, he had offended a certain "Immortal Master" from a superior sect who was traveling here.

That Immortal Master had already declared that within three months, he would surely bring down heavenly lightning and blast the entire Gu Family into powder!

Such a mysterious rumor spread extremely fast in Luoyun Town, a place that already revered ghosts and gods!

For a time, the entire Luoyun Town feared the Gu Family and avoided them like the plague!

Small families that had originally wanted to curry favor with them all closed their doors and did not come out.

Even when walking on the street, ordinary people would see the Gu Family's servants as if they were seeing a god of plague, taking a detour from far away.

Isolation!

Complete and thorough isolation!

Seizing industries, cutting off supplies, spreading rumors...

One link after another, every move was fatal!

Town Mayor Zhao Hong didn't even use a single soldier, yet he forced the Gu Family, this newly risen and arrogant "Number One Family", into a desperate situation of total isolation, waiting for their doom!

[Host, according to my business database analysis, your current situation is usually called 'Commercial Siege' in the neighboring urban plane.]

In his mind, the System's voice, which loved to watch the chaos, sounded again.

[Generally speaking, there are three conventional solutions for reference.]

[Plan A: Find a business tycoon with a more powerful background, become their live-in son-in-law, and use the father-in-law's power to reverse-acquire the opponent.]

[Plan B: File for bankruptcy protection, intentionally sell the company to the opponent at a low price, and then, while they are smug, detonate the financial bomb you have long buried, short their stock price, and complete an epic counter-kill of a snake swallowing an elephant.]

[Plan C: Go buy a lottery ticket and win 500 million.]

[...Oh, sorry, I forgot this is the World of Cultivation. Never mind, Host, you're on your own. I'm going to watch a show, bye.]

Gu Yan's eyelid twitched wildly as he listened.

He now seriously suspected that this System had caused a work error and was sixty years late because it was addicted to watching urban son-in-law power-fantasy novels back then.

Inside the study, the atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

Steward Gu Zhong spread out the account books in front of Gu Yan.

"Old Ancestor, look..." His voice was a bit hoarse and powerless, "This is all our current working capital... there is less than three hundred taels left."

"The expenses for the dozens of people in the mansion, plus the living expenses for the two wives and the two young masters... if there is no more income, at most... at most we can only last another half a month."

The numbers in the account books were getting uglier day by day.

Inside the house, however, it was gloomy and miserable.

Gu Yan listened quietly, his fingers tapping gently on the desk, one beat at a time.

He didn't look at the account books.

Because he knew that the key to breaking the situation was never in them.

Town Mayor Zhao Hong's overt scheme was indeed vicious.

He used his power as Town Mayor to carry out a complete "dimensional reduction strike" against the Gu Family.

At the level of "rules," Gu Yan had no chance of winning.

Since that's the case...

Then...

Jump outside the rules!

Gu Yan's tapping stopped.

He slowly stood up.

"Uncle Zhong."

"This old servant is here."

"Clear out the best guest room in the mansion and clean it up. Also, go to the market and buy me the best... Pill Furnace."

"Pill Furnace?" Steward Gu Zhong was stunned, his face full of confusion.

Gu Yan did not explain.

The corners of his mouth slowly curled into an unfathomable and meaningful arc.

"Town Mayor Zhao Hong..."

He walked to the window, looked in the direction of the Town Mayors Office, and muttered to himself.

"You cut off my grain supply and my financial path."

"I will let you see what is truly..."

"Technological barrier."