Chapter 74: Chapter 74 - Executive Overkill and the Self-Inflicted Epidemic

The next morning, the crisp mountain air of Clear Cloud Peak was broken by Lu Canghai’s highly satisfied voice.

"They left at dawn," Lu Canghai announced as he took a slow sip of his tea. "The Sect Master and Junior Brother Jian Wushuang. They took the vault key and personally departed for the Golden Toad Underground Exchange."

Su Bai nearly tripped over his own feet.

’The Sect Master went personally?’ Su Bai thought.

In the cultivation world, the hierarchy usually mirrored a massive conglomerate. Experts in the Void-Shattering Realm, like Sect Master Li Xuanzong, were the ultimate CEOs. They stayed in their towers, cultivated the Dao, and sent mid-level executives to handle field operations.

But Li Xuanzong was built different. Instead of delegating the Lockbox 404 raid to an elder, he had decided to handle the hostile takeover himself. And he had brought Jian Wushuang, the Master of Azure Sword Peak, who sat at the absolute pinnacle of the Nascent Soul Realm and was a hairsbreadth away from Void-Shattering himself.

To deploy a Void-Shattering titan and a Peak Nascent Soul sword-maniac to raid a black-market vault wasn’t just overkill... It was the equivalent of using a nuclear warhead to clear a traffic jam.

"Who could possibly survive crossing those two?" Su Bai muttered out loud.

"Nobody," Lu Canghai smirked viciously. "Which is exactly why the Sect Master went. If the demonic collaborators have laid a trap around that lockbox, or if the Righteous Bureau’s corrupt officials try to silence the evidence... they are going to walk straight into a meat grinder."

Su Bai felt a profound wave of relief. He had successfully escalated a catastrophic liability straight to the C-suite, and upper management was handling it with extreme prejudice.

With his schedule suddenly cleared of impending doom, Su Bai had a rare commodity: free time.

His first order of business was checking on his new intern.

Su Bai coasted down to the Outer Sect Pavilions. When he arrived, he stood quietly on the periphery of the main courtyard, then observed the new disciple orientation.

Yan’er was sitting cross-legged on a meditation mat in the front row. She was listening intently to an Outer Sect Elder who was gently explaining the sect’s rules. Several older female disciples hovered nearby, occasionally adjusting Yan’er’s posture with bright, doting smiles.

Su Bai smiled faintly. Yan’er was already universally loved.

When the intake elders had tested her, they found her Spirit Root was mixed and of average quality. In some of the more ruthless orthodox sects, she would have been relegated to a lifetime of scrubbing floors. But the Radiant Sky Sect had always operated on a different philosophy: Temperament and character outweighed raw talent.

Seeing that she was safe, thriving, and happily integrating into the sect culture, Su Bai decided not to disturb her focus.

He turned and began walking down the mountain path. He immediately drew the attention of several passing Outer Sect disciples.

"Senior Brother Su!" a young man called out. "Senior Brother, when can we hold ’Office Hours’ again?"

The surrounding disciples perked up. They looked at Su Bai with eager, almost fanatical eyes.

Su Bai sighed internally.

"Cultivation must rely on steady foundations, Junior Brothers and Sisters," Su Bai advised sagely. "I will only open Office Hours again if a large group of you suffer from severe Qi blockages. Until then, focus on your breathing exercises."

With a polite nod, Su Bai summoned his sword and flew off toward Verdant Peak.

He had absolutely no idea that his casual corporate deflection had just drastically altered the ecosystem of the Outer Sect once again.

Left behind on the path, the disciples exchanged highly calculating glances.

’He said he will only do it if we have severe Qi blockages...’ one disciple thought.

Because the recent, miraculous Dao Manifestation had flawlessly purged their bodies of impurities, no one in the Outer Sect currently suffered from a severe Qi blockage.

Yet, rather than losing hope at his words, their eyes suddenly lit up with a collective, terrible idea.

Within the week, a bizarre and highly self-destructive trend would sweep the Outer Sect. Disciples would purposely begin eating massive quantities of low-grade pills just to artificially clog their own meridians with impurities, all to meet the "requirements" for his Office Hours.

While a surprising number of disciples actually managed to break through their bottlenecks using this absurd method, dozens more simply ended up with their meridians hopelessly clogged by toxic impurities.

But... that was an HR nightmare for another time.

...

Right now, Su Bai was on the lush grounds of Verdant Peak, on the way to the Alchemy Hall.

That’s when a familiar figure rushed out of the main Alchemy Hall.

"Senior Brother Su!" Liu Meng called out. Her eyes were wide with relief. She hurried over, immediately looking him up and down. "You’re back! Are your injured? Do you need a healing pill?!"

Su Bai felt a genuine pang of appreciation.

"I am completely fine, Junior Sister," Su Bai smiled warmly. "My foundation is perfectly intact."

Liu Meng let out a massive sigh of relief, patting her chest. "Thank the heavens. Oh, right, Senior Brother! Since you were gone, I’ve been stockpiling all the Pill Dregs from the Peak’s alchemy sessions. I have a full sack waiting for you."

Su Bai’s eyes instantly lit up with the radiance of a thousand suns.

"Junior Sister, you are a saint!" Su Bai praised her earnestly.

"Hehe," Liu Meng giggled at the praise.

As they walked side-by-side into the massive Alchemy Hall, Su Bai pulled a folded piece of parchment from his sleeve.

"Actually, Junior Sister, I came to ask for your expertise. I need to source a specific list of ingredients."

Liu Meng took the parchment. It was the material breakdown for the system-rewarded Nine-Severing Frost Pill.

As her eyes scanned the list, they progressively widened.

"Arctic Marrow-Root... Glacial Snow-Lotus... Yin-Frost Wyrm Scales... Black-Ice Spirit Sand?" Liu Meng muttered. "Senior Brother, these aren’t super rare, but they are incredibly specific. They are exclusively extreme-Yin, hyper-lethal cold-attribute materials. Most standard apothecaries wouldn’t dare stock these because handling them without freezing your hands off is a nightmare."

She looked at him curiously, clearly wondering what kind of terrifying pill he was trying to concoct. But true to her nature, and it was one of the primary reasons Su Bai valued her so highly, she didn’t pry into his proprietary secrets.

"Can you get them?" Su Bai asked.

Liu Meng grinned. A spark of confidence lit up her face. "Standard apothecaries can’t. But the Liu Family Auction House isn’t standard. I’ll go asked them this afternoon."

"Excellent," Su Bai said as his corporate heart soared.