Ji Chen turned a page.
"The major sects' reactions have been rather subtle, too. Last month, the Taichu Immortal Vein was working like its life depended on it. This month, its teams' attendance dropped by thirty percent. The Hunyuan Immortal Vein is even worse. For five days straight, it only sent over two carts of offcuts, all of the lowest grade."
He closed the ledger and looked up at Zhou Xuan.
"I had the Heavenly Strategy Pavilion's people sound them out. The reason is simple. All the easy-to-kill demon beasts on the outskirts have been swept clean, and the remaining high-level great demons have retreated into the deep forbidden zones. Those places have dense turbid qi and treacherous terrain. A single expedition suffers losses of over thirty percent. The old ancestors did the sums, decided it wasn't worth it, and started dragging their feet."
Zhou Xuan set his bowl on the table.
"Dragging their feet," he repeated.
"To put it more nicely, they call it a 'strategic withdrawal.'"
Ji Chen turned to another page.
"Old Ancestor Taichu's exact words were 'conserve our strength and await the right moment.' Hunyuan was more blunt. During a meeting with his elders, Old Ancestor Hunyuan said, 'Crystal stones are good, but our lives are worth more. There's no need to work ourselves to death for the Immortal-Burying Abyss.'"
The stone chamber fell silent for several breaths.
A rustling came from the corner. Half of Old Ancestor Xuanming's head emerged from the passage entrance, his Tortoise Shell Shield raised so that only his two eyes showed as he peered inside.
"Token Master, I noticed the same thing at the Purifier just now. The scrap delivered these past two days doesn't even pile up to knee height. The Purifier is practically running on empty."
Seeing that