"But there were only a little over six thousand Origin Pills in the reserves. There were some other resources, but not in large quantities. I cleaned out Kuang Xiong and his men's entire stash, and it still came to only a little over twenty thousand Origin Pills in total. I interrogated them. None of those fellows treated Origin Pills as money; their spending was astonishing. And that dead Qing Xiu wasn't any better. He repeatedly embezzled public funds to gamble. If he hadn't died, Heaven itself would have condemned him."
"We can't shoulder this burden for the young master. We need to send word back to the sect immediately. Everyone should settle their own accounts."
Desolate Ancestor was afraid Xu Yi would take the whole mess onto his own shoulders.
Xu Yi waved a hand. "There's no point talking about that. I've already made a solemn promise to True Man Scarlet Fire that I'll pay the Origin Pills before the end of the year, and exceed last year's total. Otherwise, do you think True Man Scarlet Fire would be so generous, making things convenient for me in every way? So I've already taken this burden onto myself. There's no point thinking about anything else."
Desolate Ancestor stared at him, dumbfounded, and didn't know what to say.
Xu Yi smiled faintly. "You don't need to worry about me. I know what I'm doing. By the way, have you found any capable people on your end?"
Desolate Ancestor said, "In terms of cultivation, these people may not amount to much, but when it comes to business, every one of the people I've picked is an expert. They've all been held back because their cultivation wasn't good enough, and so they've never been entrusted with important work. The young master plucked them from