"What appears to be the problem?" Yun Lei inquired.
"Both of these gentlemen wish to purchase large quantities of clothes, they got in a dispute over who should get to do so."
Yun Lei knew exactly why those people wished to purchase such a massive amount of their stock. Buy it for cheap and sell it for a profit. It was elementary economics. With how cheaply the Thunder Cloud Company sold their high-quality clothes, the profit margins would be huge.
But of course, how could Yun Lei let himself be taken advantage of so easily? He was giving up a lot of his profits in order to earn the approval of the masses. How could he let someone else profit even though he himself hadn't?
"One piece of clothing per customer, that is all our shop sells." Yun Lei said as a small smile appeared on his face. "Of course, there is no such limit on the purchase of apparel from our premium line. Perhaps, you should let our patrons purchase that instead."
"As the Young Master commands." The staff member said while slowly backing away, head still bowed.
This arrangement wasn't very pleasing to either of the fat merchants, however, they couldn't directly use violence to get what they wanted since they now knew that there was a cultivator there. This didn't mean that they would quietly leave, though. Of course, they wouldn't leave quietly.
"Do you even know who I am?" One of the merchants started speaking while pointing towards the identification plate at his hips. "I'm a merchant involved with the Dajian Sect."
He puffed out his chest with a smug smile on his face, as if he had just revealed that he was some sort of a reincarnation of one of the gods or something. Yun Lei just found the act laughable. The merchant wasn't even in the sect, he was just 'involved' with it. Yet, he was bragging like he was the son-in-law of the Sect Master himself.
The merchant, whose nose was still pointed towards the sky, looked towards the young man to find that rather than fear and reverence, his eyes were filled with amusement, as if he was watching a monkey perform on the streets.
The merchant hadn't tried to be violent because one of the staff members was a cultivator yet they hadn't even considered why said cultivator was being so reverential towards him. How could Yun Lei think of them as anything other than amusing, rather overweight monkeys?
"Y-You..." The merchant's face turned red with both anger and embarrassment. He wanted to do nothing more than have his subordinates hold down that bastard before kicking his face in, over and over.
"I do not know who you are and I do not know this Dajian Sect. However, since you are creating a fuss, here, in my shop, you clearly do not know who I am either." The amused smile on Yun Lei's face faded like a mirage before a cold, indifferent look appeared on his face.
"I will give you ten seconds to leave this shop on your own two feet."
The Young Master hadn't said much but his words were more than enough to express his intent.
There were many ways he could have dealt with that situation. Just releasing a tiny bit of his aura would be more than enough to intimidate those fat merchants who had never even faced danger in their lives before. Perhaps, if he had done that, they would have indeed left the store without causing a fuss.
But unfortunately for the merchants, that was not what he wanted to happen. He wanted the merchants to stubbornly stay right where they were, so they could get both of their legs broken. They would make very good examples.
The staff working in the Thunder Cloud Apparels had been given very strict orders to remain extremely polite to everyone who entered the shop at all times. There were many people who mistook that politeness for weakness and tried to take advantage of them.
Would a tiger suddenly lose its fangs just because it didn't always bare them? Of course, it wouldn't and Yun Lei wanted to let everyone know that the Thunder Cloud Company was a tiger. Let them know that it was a tiger that could show just how dangerous it could be whenever it pleased.
Ten seconds was not a long period of time by any means. Yet it wasn't so short that it felt like just an instant. Slowly, but swiftly at the same time, the seconds passed by. Both the merchants didn't seem to have any intention of moving a single inch.
"How predictable." Yun Lei uttered two simple words after the ten seconds were up. Like lightning, the staff members struck both of the fat men with her profound energy, breaking their legs and shattering their knees. Both of them would never walk again.
As their anguished cries filled the air, she picked them both up like bags of trash and threw them out of the shop. The city guard let out a whistle of approval as the two fat men flew through the air and landed dab smack in the middle of the busy road with a loud thud, causing dust to rise up everywhere.
The parties of both merchants were so shocked by everything that had happened that they could only blink and watch their superiors writhing around on the ground in pain, a dumb look on their faces.
"Ten seconds." Like a messenger of King Yama, Yun Lei spoke those ominous words to the rest of the people still inside the shop. In just five, the place was empty besides Yun Lei, Situ Yue and the staff members. Fear of death was quite the lubricant when it came to making people move their legs.
"I'll light some incense for you." The city guard told the two merchants as he joined his hands and lowered his head.
Unlike the guard, who was making jokes, the rest of the people who were watching the scene were completely dumbstruck. The only sounds that filled the street that had turned deathly quiet, were the screams of the two fat, middle-aged men.
Senior Mo was having an average afternoon of hard work, as he seemed to be having for the last couple of days. The restaurant Thunder Cloud Company was planning to open had entered its final phase of the renovations, making him far busier than he normally would have.
He would not be able to forgive himself if even a single thing was not perfect. Which was why every single detail, he would personally look over before finalising them. He could very clearly tell that the Young Master had put a lot of faith in him and he wouldn't be able to bear betraying that faith.
As he was making sure that tiny details about the restaurant, that no one besides him would even be able to notice, were perfect, he began hearing loud screams from the street out front.
He exited the building to find two injured people on the streets who were screaming their lungs out. Someone getting attacked in the city was somewhat of a rare thing but that alone wasn't enough to draw his interest; it wasn't his job to care. A few city guards would soon arrive to deal with the situation as they always did.
What did grab his attention, was the fact that both of the injured men seemed to have been thrown out of the Thunder Cloud Apparels.
"Boss! Here, take this." The subordinates quickly moved to assist their superiors, shoving all kinds of pills in their mouths.
Naturally, Senior Mo didn't think any of the staff members would have the gall to injure a customer to that degree before throwing them out. Which meant that there were only a few possibilities. Either they had lost their minds or they had received permission from a superior.
Since he had given no such permissions, the only other person with enough authority to make such a thing happen was the Young Master himself.
The old man hurriedly entered the apparel shop to find Yun Lei standing there with Situ Yue behind him.
"Ah, Senior Mo, you came at a good time." The Young Master said with a smile. "Do you know about the Dajian Sect?"
"The Dajian Sect?" Senior Mo was a bit confused as to why the Young Master suddenly wanted to know about a sect but he started explaining regardless.
"The Dajian Sect is the most powerful sect in our entire kingdom. They are situated in the Eastern Region as well."
"Hmm, I see." Yun Lei nodded his head. "Are they stronger than Ether Cloud?"
That was the thing he wanted to know about the most. Sects tended to be very arrogant since they thought they were above every other organisation. They would not accept any form of disrespect without retaliating.
Although the merchant wasn't a member of the sect, he seemed to have enough of a connection to it that they had given him an identification plate. There was a chance that they might do something about the whole ordeal.
"If we only compare the forces of Ether Cloud, they are undoubtedly stronger. But if we consider the fact that both the Patriarch and the Grand Elder are Blood Cleansing Realm Cultivators, our side would come out on top, ten times out of ten."
"If that is the case then we probably have nothing to worry about." Yun Lei said with a nod.
"Why would we have a reason to worry in the first place?" Senior Mo inquired.
"One of those noisy things has a connection to the Dajian Sect, apparently."
"I will inform the family about this matter. Please excuse me, Young Master." Senior Mo spoke in a hurry before he immediately shot off towards the Yun Estate.
"Well then, this minor matter seems to be resolved," Yun Lei turned towards his staff before saying. "If people keep bothering you for longer than ten minutes and refuse to listen to reason, feel free to give them the same treatment."
"As the Young Master commands."
After the subordinates had carried away their superiors, the quiet street had come alive with a buzz of activity. Many people were whispering to each other, pointing at the apparel shop. This incident had told them one thing: Thunder Cloud was not to be messed with.
As for Yun Lei, he leisurely left the shop before continuing on his walk. Although he hadn't come to the city with any particular goal in mind, he thought he might as well do a few things since he was already there. He walked to the centre street, which wasn't very far from where his own shop was and entered the Alchemist Guild endorsed apothecary.
The place was as busy as always, people running in and out of the doors. Some were entering in a hurry, some were leaving in a hurry. For many of those people, medicine was a matter of life and death, after all.
"How may I help you?" A woman standing behind the reception desk asked Yun Lei after seeing him approach.
"I require a list of ingredients," he said. He hadn't carried a brush or paper with him so the receptionist began writing down every name he spoke aloud.
"Will that be all?"
"Yes."
Although he could have very easily gotten the ingredients from the Yun Family, what he wanted it for was a secret project he had been theorising for a while now.
Despite being rather good at alchemy, the only thing Yun Lei had made were Blood Clotting Pills. He wanted to make higher-ranked pills in the future since they would be a massive help. He might end up failing and wasting a lot of ingredients but that loss would be more than bearable if he was able to be successful in the end.
"We will prepare these ingredients as soon as possible, sir. Please wait for a moment."