Chapter 95: The Golden Phoenix Restaurant Falls and The Core Formation Realm Expert Arrives ( BONUS GT - )

Chapter 95: The Golden Phoenix Restaurant Falls and The Core Formation Realm Expert Arrives ( BONUS GT Chapter )

The Golden Phoenix Restaurant used to be the richest, most elegant place on the whole Azure Merchant Street. Now it just looked dead.

The big wooden doors were locked tight. The signboard above hung crooked, like it had given up completely. For three full days the place had been forced shut. The street outside, which used to be packed with cultivators and merchants from morning till night, was quiet and empty. Even the usual street vendors had moved somewhere else.

Inside the main hall, though, it was a complete mess.

"Trash! All of you are trash! Useless pieces of shit!"

Wang Xiong was completely losing it. His face was twisted, eyes bloodshot, spiritual energy leaking out of him without any control. He used to be the arrogant owner everyone on this street feared. Right now he just looked like a man watching his entire life collapse in front of him.

He grabbed a jar of aged spirit wine, the really expensive kind that only high level guests used to order and smashed it hard on the floor.

Crash

Wine spilled everywhere, soaking into the thick expensive carpet. He didn’t care. He kicked a heavy wooden table so hard it flew across the hall and slammed into the wall, shattering into pieces.

Bang

"How the hell does my restaurant die?! How?!" he shouted, his voice cracking. He picked up a plate of mid grade spirit beast meat worth hundreds of thousands of spiritual stones and flung it at a pillar. Grease and meat stuck to the wall and slid down slowly. "I poured so much money into this place! So many resources! I built this from nothing! And those dogs still took everything from me!"

Li Ao, the head manager, stood nearby soaked in cold sweat. His robes were already damp, legs shaking under him. He didn’t dare open his mouth at first. He had worked under Wang Xiong for years and had never seen him this angry.

"Boss... Boss Wang, please calm down," he finally managed to speak with a trembling voice. He wiped his forehead with a shaking sleeve. "The matter... it’s already happened. That restaurant has some Young Master Yu behind it. Our business is just... temporarily stuck. If we lower prices a bit and wait it out, things will get better. Customers will come back..."

"Temporarily? Lower prices?!"

Wang Xiong spun around, grabbed Li Ao by the collar, and lifted him up.

"Are you telling me to calm down right now? Look around! Guests are gone! The ingredients are rotting in the warehouse! My daily Nine Hundred High Grade Spiritual Stones is now zero! Zero! Do you even understand what that means? And some random young master dares to step on my head? Those blind dogs who couldn’t recognize my value are really courting death!"

Li Ao’s face turned purple from the tight grip, but he still tried to speak.

"Boss Wang, we can’t provoke them right now... I really think that Young Master Yu isn’t someone we can afford to offend. The way his restaurant is growing, the people supporting him... it doesn’t feel normal."

"Shut up! Don’t teach me how to do things!"

Wang Xiong threw him hard to the ground. Li Ao hit the floor with a painful grunt but didn’t dare get up immediately. Wang Xiong paced back and forth across the hall, chest heaving, fists clenched so tight his knuckles had turned white.

"I, Wang Xiong, built this Golden Phoenix with my own hands. Used the profits year after year to reach Peak Foundation Establishment Realm. Now the money’s gone, the resources are cut off. If I don’t destroy that place, how am I supposed to swallow this anger? How do I face the other bosses in the city? They’ll all laugh at me!"

He raised his hand, about to smash another chair—

A cold wind suddenly swept through the hall.

Bang

The heavy doors were pushed open from the outside with force.

A group of people walked in.

There were thirty to forty of them. Most wore tight black night clothes with masks covering their faces. Their auras were heavy and oppressive, filling the hall the moment they entered. Even the air felt thicker.

The weakest among them were already at the third layer of Qi Condensation Realm. The ones leading the small squads at the front were all at Peak Foundation Establishment Realm. That kind of lineup alone could tear through half of Azure Merchant Street without much trouble.

But the real danger was the old man walking slowly in the middle of the group.

White hair, deep wrinkles, thin body. At first glance he looked like any ordinary old man. His eyes, though, were sharp like cold stars in the night sky. A heavy, crushing pressure leaked from him without him even trying, making the air in the entire hall feel solid. Breathing became slightly harder just from standing near him.

Peak Core Formation Realm.

On this street, someone at that level was a true overlord. He could crush Wang Xiong with one finger and no one would dare to say a word.

Li Ao, still on the floor, felt his pupils shrink the moment he sensed that aura. His heart jumped hard. He scrambled up as fast as he could, ignoring the pain in his body, and bowed so low his forehead nearly touched the ground.

"Greetings, Senior! Greetings to the esteemed Senior!"

His voice was filled with pure fear and respect.

The black clothed men stood silently behind the old man, heads lowered, not making a single sound.

Wang Xiong immediately dropped the broken chair he was holding. He forced his breathing under control and straightened his back. In front of a Peak Core Formation Realm expert, his own Peak Foundation Establishment cultivation was nothing. He knew that much clearly.

"Senior Chen... you’re finally here."

His voice still carried resentment and unwillingness, but he kept it controlled. He stepped forward carefully, fists still clenched tight. Staring at the old man’s calm face, he couldn’t hold the question back any longer.

"Senior Chen... I want to ask. Why did your assassination attempt fail?"