The Empire Was One Big Web of Personal Connections!

The Old Man's words left Su Ye stunned. The Empire had moved fast. He had barely returned, and it had already settled the Gu Family affair.

It had acted cleanly and decisively, without the slightest delay. Most importantly, the Gu Family had not caused a stir.

"Old Man, the Gu Family had three branches. One was wiped out, and another was expelled. Are we really letting them off that easily?" Su Ye asked.

"What else do you want?" the Old Man asked, giving him an exasperated look.

"Wipe them out down to the last root?" the Old Man added.

Su Ye: ...

"The Gu Family did wrong, but it also made contributions. Wiping out one branch was enough. It's surrendered more than half its holdings, too. If the Empire destroyed the whole family, it would look heartless," the Old Man said quietly.

Su Ye curled his lip. "Isn't this exactly what they mean when they say the trouble with everything under heaven is that we're all tangled up with one another?"

The Old Man glared at him. "You think you're the only one who knows that? This isn't a children's game. We have to consider the consequences. If the Empire went that far, there'd be no end to the turmoil afterward."

"The Gu Family made plenty of contributions to the Empire. Erasing one branch was enough. They're down to one now. What more do you want? Erase them completely? Old Gu's patron isn't even dead yet," the Old Man said irritably.

Su Ye curled his lip. He was clearly still unhappy. The Gu Family had set him up before, and he remembered that it owed him ten trillion Divine Crystals.

That was right. Principal and interest together came to ten trillion Divine Crystals.

Never mind how the Gu Family had