“Ancestor, Members of the Board,” Sun Yi began, his voice calm. “I am scheduling the acquisition and liquidation of the Black Wind Stockade and Evil Spirit Valley. The deadline is twelve months from today.”

The silence in the Central Hall was deafening. The Elders stared at him as if he had just suggested they cultivate by eating lava.

Even Patriarch Qingxuan, who had grown accustomed to Sun Yi’s radicalism, looked stunned.

“Sect Leader,” Qingxuan said slowly. “You want to erase the two dominant powers of the Chaos Demon Commandery? In one year?”

“Why the long faces?” Sun Yi spread his hands. “They have spies in our HR department, they launched a kinetic strike against me inside our own headquarters, and they throttle our market share. If we don’t liquidate them, are we saving them for the New Year’s gala?”

Qingxuan sighed, rubbing his temples. “Since we arrived in this region, those two factions have been a knife at our throat. They fear our growth. The assassination attempt was bold, yes, and they deserve punishment. But Sun Yi… this feels like an emotional reaction. You cannot leverage the entire sect’s future on a vendetta.”

Sun Yi smiled. “You think this is about feelings?”

“Is it not?”

“Ancestor, please.” Sun Yi waved a finger. “I don’t make business decisions based on anger. Liquidation was always the end game. The assassination just moved up the timeline. The market conditions are now ripe.”

“Ripe?” Elder Jin Jue choked. “Sect Leader, do you know their capitalization? They have Nascent Soul chairmen. Black Wind has thirteen Golden Core executives. Evil Spirit Valley has eleven. We have… five. In a direct hostile takeover, we don’t just lose; we get delisted. Permanently.”

The other Elders nodded grimly. Elder Han Yun added, “Even if we mobilize every disciple and burn every asset, the math doesn’t work. We have zero percent probability of success.”

“Rash action is suicide,” Qingxuan agreed, his voice heavy. “We are growing. We have cash flow. If we stick to your 5-Year Plan, we will eventually surpass them. Why risk it all on a gamble now?”

Even Er Gouzi, sitting in the back, looked down at his shoes, unable to meet Sun Yi’s eyes.

Sun Yi looked at the fearful faces of his executive team and laughed.

“Heh. Ancestor, Elders… who told you we were going to do the fighting?”

The room froze.

“If not us,” Qingxuan asked, bewildered, “then who?”

Sun Yi leaned back in his chair, channeling the arrogant ease of a venture capitalist with infinite runway.

“The Chaos Demon Commandery is a talent desert. But outside? The Heavenly Saint Commandery is full of freelancers. Is it really that hard to find a contractor to handle a demolition job?”

He tapped the table. “Money makes the devil push the millstone. As long as the fee is right, there is always someone willing to get their hands dirty. Doing the fighting yourself? That’s low-end thinking. That’s manual labor.”

The Elders blinked. The concept was alien to them. In the cultivation world, you fought your own battles. You defended your own honor.

“Ancestor,” Sun Yi asked, “what is the going rate for a freelance Nascent Soul consultant? One engagement, high intensity.”

Qingxuan frowned, doing the mental calculation. “To hire a Nascent Soul cultivator for a life-and-death battle? It is exorbitant. At least… five million Points in resources.”

Sun Yi’s eyes widened. “That’s it?”

“That’s it?!” Qingxuan nearly fell off his throne. “That is five million Spirit Stones! That is an astronomical sum!”

“It’s cheap,” Sun Yi said, grinning like a shark. “If five million gets me a nuclear deterrent, then for fifty million, I can hire ten of them. With ten Nascent Soul experts, do the Black Wind Stockade and Evil Spirit Valley even exist anymore?”

The room went dead silent.

“And if Nascent Soul experts are that price,” Sun Yi continued, pacing the room, “then Golden Core mercenaries must be bargain bin prices. Why should our employees bleed? Why should we risk our human capital? We have capital capital. We just throw money at the problem until the problem is dead.”

“We are sitting on 500 million points of liquid assets,” Sun Yi pressed. “If we don’t convert that wealth into security, our neighbors will come for it. They will unite, siege us, and drain us dry. We must strike first. Preemptive acquisition.”

“Besides,” Sun Yi added, adopting a righteous tone, “Black Wind and Evil Spirit are cults. They sacrifice mortals. They practice dark arts. I’m sure there are plenty of ‘righteous’ experts in the Heavenly Saint Commandery who would love to earn a paycheck while ‘cleansing evil.’ We’re just sponsoring their justice.”

Qingxuan sat back, his mind racing.

It was… horrifyingly practical.

The cultivation world was brutal, but it followed rules. You fought for resources. You fought for survival. But Sun Yi was proposing something different. He was proposing war by proxy. He was treating war not as a test of strength, but as a transaction.

“It hurts to spend the money,” Sun Yi said softly, seeing their hesitation. “But think of the ROI. Once we control the entire Chaos Demon Commandery, the Myriad Demon Forest is exclusively ours. No competitors. No friction. The long-term yield is infinite.”

Qingxuan took a deep breath. The killing intent he had felt earlier surged back, mixed with a newfound appreciation for his young CEO’s ruthlessness.

“Elders,” Qingxuan said, his voice steel. “Vote.”

Jin Jue stood up, eyes burning. “The Sect Leader is right. High risk, infinite reward. I vote yes.”

“Agreed,” Han Yun said.

“This plan is… terrifyingly effective,” Ye Luo admitted. “I support it.”

“Full support,” Qin Chu nodded.

“No objections,” Li Tai said.

Qingxuan slammed his hand on the armrest. “Passed. We liquidate the competition. Sun Yi, you have the floor. How do we execute this?”