Old Ancestor Taichu jumped in fright, the smile freezing on his face.
Old Ancestor Hunyuan and Old Ancestor Wuji exchanged bewildered looks, unable to figure out what was going on.
"Look at the stuff on the ground." Zhou Xuan pointed at the heap of junk. "This is what you've been turning in lately?"
Old Ancestor Taichu coughed twice, trying to explain. "Fellow Daoist Zhou, this... this is only some of what our subordinates collected. Most of our haul is still the remains of high-level demon beasts. There's certainly no shortage of those."
"No shortage?"
Zhou Xuan gave a cold laugh.
"You sealed off Central Province's ten highest-ranked forbidden zones. Tens of millions of independent cultivators can't get in, so they can only pick up trash outside. You collect their trash, then bring it here to trade for crystal stones."
Zhou Xuan leaned forward, his hands folded on the table.
"Do you think you're very clever?"
Old Ancestor Taichu's expression shifted slightly, but he quickly regained his composure.
He felt this was no great matter at all.
"Fellow Daoist Zhou, you can't put it that way."
Old Ancestor Taichu straightened his back and spoke with righteous confidence.
"The strong have always devoured the weak in the Cultivation World. Our great sects have deep foundations, so we naturally deserve the best resources. Those independent cultivators are weak. Entering the major forbidden zones would only send them to their deaths. We're protecting them."
Old Ancestor Hunyuan chimed in beside him. "Exactly. Besides, collecting all the scrap and delivering it to the Immortal-Burying Abyss in bulk saves Fellow Daoist Xuanming the trouble of tallying it up transaction by transaction. Isn't that more efficient?"
Old Ancestor Wuji nodded along. "The sects eat the meat, and the independent cultivators drink the broth. That's been the rule