"Could it be that he hadn't caught any fish in a long time, so he'd pulled in his net?"
Xu Yi was incredibly frustrated.
"Maybe I know where that palace is now?"
Zeng Qingfeng, who had come to after joining the group some time earlier, spoke up again, giving Xu Yi a glimmer of hope.
"Good. Old Zeng's still the proactive one."
Xu Yi praised him. His expression suddenly darkened, and in the next instant, everyone—including Bai Jizi—collapsed to the ground, wailing.
Xu Yi had activated the restriction on the Origin Seal Bead.
It lasted a full thirteen breaths before he stopped. Not one of them could get back to their feet.
They'd just seen Wu Xiu Jia punished, and some had privately thought he couldn't take much. But now that the punishment had fallen on them, even the hardest among them gave in. They had to admit that this pain was beyond what flesh and blood could endure.
"Brother Xu, what's the reason for subjecting us to this punishment without cause?"
Bai Jizi craned his neck and asked.
Xu Yi said, "Brother Bai, you've hit the nail on the head. There's no other reason. It's because none of you treated my business as your own."
Under ordinary circumstances, those words would have made everyone laugh until their sides split.
Who would treat someone else's business as their own? When had the world ever worked that way?
But when Xu Yi said it, Bai Jizi was speechless.
Given the predicament they were in, Xu Yi had every right to use that reason. They didn't even have room to argue.
Xu Yi continued, "I know what you're thinking. You want to let things fall apart, figuring some risks aren't worth taking. After all, the benefits go to me, and you get