Sun Yi ran the mental calculations one last time. The numbers balanced. He looked up, a confident, corporate smile firmly in place.
“We have secured sufficient capital from the Myriad Demon Forest,” Sun Yi began, addressing the room. “Once the inventory is processed, I need the Patriarch to personally transport the assets off-site. You’ll be heading out of Qingyun territory to handle the… headhunting.”
Patriarch Qingxuan nodded gravely. “Leave the recruitment to me.”
“A reminder, Chairman,” Sun Yi added, his tone sharpening slightly. “The source of these funds must remain strictly off the books. We’re laundering these resources through external markets. The capital must be clean; no one can connect this sudden influx of wealth back to the Qingyun Sect.”
Qingxuan nodded again, a look of realization crossing his face. He hadn’t considered the forensic accounting aspect, but Sun Yi’s meticulousness was reassuring.
Sun Yi continued down his agenda. “In addition to the freelance Nascent Soul experts, we need to contract a significant number of Golden Core mercenaries. As for the compensation package? We don’t need to dip into our reserves for that.”
He leaned forward, tapping the table. “The treasuries of the Black Wind Stockade and Evil Spirit Valley are their sign-on bonuses. We explicitly waive our rights to the loot. Let the contractors divide the spoils amongst themselves.”
The Elders exchanged glances. Giving up two sects’ worth of accumulation?
“Think about the overhead,” Sun Yi explained. “Transporting, cataloging, and liquidating their messy inventory is a logistical nightmare. By offering it as a commission, we incentivize the mercenaries to fight harder. We don’t want their trash; we want their market share.”
“Once the competition is liquidated,” Sun Yi said, his voice dropping an octave, “the Chaos Demon Commandery will face a power vacuum. That is when Qingyun steps in for the hostile takeover. We stabilize the market, suppress the chaos, and achieve total monopoly.”
He paused, letting the vision of a unified market sink in. “However, maintaining a monopoly requires force projection. Our current personnel are under-qualified. We have a one-year runway to upskill our workforce.”
“The Board is no longer cash-poor,” Sun Yi declared. “With the right internal policies, we can drastically increase our average combat power before the fiscal year ends.”
Elder Qin Chu smiled. “With the Sect Leader’s fifty percent discount on resources, and the new spirit rewards for breaking through, the disciples’ zeal should soar.”
“Should we lower the contribution cost further?” Elder Han Yun suggested, caught up in the excitement.
“Agreed,” Elder Ye Luo chimed in. “Why not a ninety percent discount? Just like the ‘subsidy’ we offered for the Myriad Demon Forest expedition?”
Sun Yi frowned, shaking his head immediately. “Absolutely not. That destroys the value proposition. If resources are too cheap, the disciples will become welfare cases. We are running a sect, not a charity. We need to cultivate hunger, not complacency.”
He tapped a jade slip on the table. “I vetoed the price drop. Instead, I’ve drafted a new financial instrument. A ‘Student Loan’ program, if you will.”
The jade slip floated across the table to Patriarch Qingxuan.
The Patriarch scanned the data, his brow furrowing. “Sect Leader… isn’t the cost of return tribute a bit heavy?”
The terms were simple: Any disciple could borrow points from the Sect. The loan maturity date was five years. The repayment? Double the principal.
On Earth, this would be criminal usury—a 100% interest rate. But here? This was the cultivation world. There were no regulators.
“It is not high. It is an investment in their future,” Sun Yi countered smoothly. “A Qi Refining disciple can borrow up to fifty thousand points. That is enough capital to fast-track their cultivation by years. Once they are stronger, their earning potential increases exponentially. Earning one hundred thousand points is hard for a rookie, but trivial for an expert. We are simply letting them leverage their future earnings today.”
The Elders read through the prospectus. The logic held up. It was brutal, efficient, and mathematically sound.
Sun Yi watched them, relieved. In his mind, this was the ultimate trap: the cycle of debt. By locking the disciples into high-interest loans, he forced them to work harder, raid more dungeons, and generate more value for the company just to service their debt. It solved the cash flow problem and the motivation problem simultaneously.
“It prevents sloth,” Sun Yi added, delivering the closing argument. “If they don’t work hard, they default. The pressure will forge diamonds.”
Patriarch Qingxuan nodded slowly. “It empowers the disciples without spoiling them. A brilliant policy. This seat approves.”
“Approved,” the Elders echoed.
Sun Yi tossed a copy of the jade slip to the young man standing by the door. “Changqing.”
Er Gouzi froze, then snapped to attention.
“You are to execute the rollout of this financial product immediately. Market it aggressively. Every disciple needs to know they can ‘buy now, pay later.'” Sun Yi’s gaze was steady. “Coordinate with HR—Elder Qin Chu—to ensure smooth implementation. Report any bottlenecks directly to me.”
“Changqing.” The name hung in the air. Er Gouzi—no, Changqing—felt a lump in his throat. He was the Deputy Sect Leader now. The derogatory nickname ‘Two-Dog’ had been retired by the boss himself. It was a rebranding.
“Sect Leader, rest assured!” Changqing bowed deeply, his voice trembling with emotion. “I will not fail this task!”
“Good. Go handle it. And send me the inventory catalog for the latest batch of raw materials.”
“At once!” Changqing bowed again to the Elders and exited, walking taller than he ever had in his life.
Patriarch Qingxuan watched the boy leave, then turned back to Sun Yi. “Is there anything else on the docket?”
Sun Yi scratched his head, the corporate mask slipping just a fraction. “Actually, yes. I have a technical query for the R&D department.”
He hesitated. “I was reviewing the archives in the Scripture Library and found a research journal by a predecessor named Feng Luo. He proposed a theoretical framework for bio-engineering a second dantian.”
The atmosphere in the room instantly chilled.
“You read Feng Luo’s manifesto?” Patriarch Qingxuan looked alarmed.
“I did,” Sun Yi admitted. “The logic is sound. It’s essentially installing a dual-core processor. Doubling the mana capacity would double the output. It’s a massive competitive advantage.”
“Stop right there,” Qingxuan warned, waving his hand dismissively. “Feng Luo was a generational genius, and that ‘theory’ is what killed him. It is vaporware, Sun Yi. Unstable code. Trying to open a second energy center will crash your system.”
“The safest path to the Dao is traditional cultivation,” Elder Jin Jue added nervously. “Please, Sect Leader, do not court Qi deviation. That creates a liability the sect cannot afford.”
Sun Yi sighed internally. Traditionalists. No vision for innovation.
“I’m not going to install it on the production environment yet,” Sun Yi lied effortlessly. “I’m just… conducting a feasibility study. I won’t risk my life.”
He turned to Qin Chu. “However, the literature mentions a species called the Mi Luo Beast. It naturally possesses dual-dantian architecture. Did our harvest from the Myriad Demon Forest yield any biological samples? If we have a live specimen, I want it delivered to my lab for reverse-engineering.”
Elder Qin Chu saw the stubborn glint in Sun Yi’s eyes—the look of a man who wouldn’t stop until he hit a brick wall.
“Very well,” Qin Chu sighed. “I will check the inventory.”
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