He remembered!
After transmigrating into this world, he had scraped by in the mortal realm. To squeeze every last bit of value out of the workers under him, he had used this very method!
Set performance targets that were impossible to meet, then weed out those who worked slowly or were too old.
Replace them with newly recruited, younger, cheaper labor, keeping the whole workshop running at peak efficiency!
And back then, Liu Ruyan, ragged and homeless, had been taken in by him at the workshop.
She had seen it all with her own eyes!
"Damn it!"
Zhou Xuan cursed inwardly, a surge of indescribable fury and absurdity shooting straight to his head!
"Liu Ruyan, you really did learn fast!"
"Using my own knife to cut off my head?!"
At that moment, Zhou Xuan finally understood everything.
He, the black-hearted capitalist, had ended up as someone else's pack mule?
In the end, all Zhou Xuan's anger turned into a silent sneer.
Meanwhile, atop Main Peak, in the Spirit Sword Pavilion.
Inside the Sect Master's Main Hall, wreathed in clouds and mist, the spiritual energy was so dense it almost seemed to take physical form.
A lean, middle-aged Daoist in a dark robe held a Jade Slip in his hand, a satisfied smile on his face.
He was Lu Yuanshan, current Sect Master of the Spirit Sword Pavilion and a mighty Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.
Below him, Liu Ruyan stood quietly in a moon-white gown, her bearing cool and composed.
"Not bad."
Lu Yuanshan set down the Jade Slip and looked at his newly accepted direct disciple, also the designated next Saintess. His eyes brimmed with approval.
"Ruyan, your proposal for improving the management of the Chore Servant Courtyard is quite ingenious."
"Dismiss those at the bottom, set performance targets, and spur the lowest-ranked disciples to strive harder. At the same time, this can help the Sect cut unnecessary costs and lighten its burden."
"Though you've only implemented it in a small Chore Servant Courtyard, if it can be expanded, then in time it may completely transform the Spirit Sword Pavilion's culture."
"It might even nurture some genuinely useful talent from among the lowest-ranked disciples."
Sect Master Lu Yuanshan's voice was warm and firm, every word brimming with praise for Liu Ruyan.
"Thank you for your praise, Master. I've only done what little I could."
Liu Ruyan bowed slightly, her voice cool and her manner neither servile nor arrogant.
But beneath her wide sleeves, her slender hands quietly clenched, a swell of smug satisfaction rising in her heart.
"Heh."
Lu Yuanshan chuckled and regarded her with a penetrating gaze.
"I'm curious. You came from the mortal realm, and you've only been in our Sect a short while."
"This method of managing people through survival of the fittest and unlocking their potential is well thought out. It's not something an ordinary cultivator would come up with."
"Could it be that you encountered something similar back in the mortal realm?"
The Sect Master asked casually, but Liu Ruyan's heart gave a sudden leap!
Unbidden, an image flashed through her mind: a young man in a smoke-filled workshop, wiping sweat from his brow as he spouted one harsh rule after another to the workers beneath him.
That figure had once been the only light in her dark world.
But now, he had become the Heart Demon she had to sever as she devoted herself to the Dao.
Liu Ruyan's face paled ever so slightly for a moment, but she quickly suppressed the flicker of unease.
She lifted her head and met the Sect Master's searching gaze, her cool eyes perfectly calm.
"Reporting to Master, I never encountered anything like that."
Her voice held not the slightest tremor, as if she were stating the simplest fact.
"These thoughts came only because I saw some of the Sect's chore disciples wasting their time and the Sect's resources instead of striving to improve. I couldn't bear it, so I spoke from the heart."
"This disciple believes that cultivating immortality means defying the heavens, fighting heaven, fighting earth, and fighting other people!"
"Without a heart that presses fearlessly onward, even if one resides in an Immortal Gate, one is no different from a mortal ant."
"The Sect's resources are precious and should not be wasted on those with no prospects. Better a brief pain than a prolonged one. Only then can those with true potential and a steadfast Dao Heart distinguish themselves."
Her words rang out with absolute conviction and righteous indignation.
"Well said! Better a brief pain than a prolonged one!"
At Liu Ruyan's words, Lu Yuanshan clapped his hands and laughed, his approval growing stronger!
With a sigh, he said ruefully, "I've led the Spirit Sword Pavilion for over a century. I've long wanted to make sweeping reforms to this long-standing, deep-rooted system of management within the Sect."
"Unfortunately, the Sect is riddled with factions. Pull one thread, and the whole thing moves. I could never quite bring myself to take the plunge."
He looked at Liu Ruyan, his eyes full of expectation.
"You possess peerless talent, a steadfast Dao Heart, and such foresight. You are truly a blessing to the Spirit Sword Pavilion!"
"Ruyan, focus on your cultivation. Once your cultivation advances further and you've truly come into your own, I'll gradually entrust the Sect's internal affairs to you!"
The Sect Master's words struck Liu Ruyan's heart like a bolt of thunder!
She abruptly raised her head, unable to suppress the excitement in her eyes for the first time!
Power!
The title of Saintess was merely the Sect's recognition of her talent—a name, a symbol.
But managing the Sect's internal affairs meant real power!
It meant she would truly take part in the workings of this vast Sect. Every word and action of hers would affect countless people's fates!
She had joined the Sect at an older age, and her foundations were far weaker than those prodigies who had grown up within its walls.
Though her talent was greater and she cultivated faster, plenty of people in the Sect still resented an outsider like her being named Saintess.
Only by seizing real power could she silence every dissenting voice for good!
She could almost see a golden Heavenly Path unfurling beneath her feet!
And Zhou Xuan—he was destined to be nothing more than an insignificant stepping-stone on that path.
Forcefully suppressing her delight, Liu Ruyan took a deep breath and bowed gracefully before Sect Master Lu Yuanshan.
"Thank you for nurturing me, Master! I will not disappoint your expectations!"
In the Chore Servant Courtyard, Wang Fugui's shrill, spiteful voice lingered over the square for a long time before finally fading away.
The crowd did not disperse at once. Suppressed sobs, silent choking breaths, and rows of bewildered, hollow stares together painted a portrait of earthly hell.
Zhou Xuan silently turned and retreated to his wooden shack, half of which had been blasted away.
He shut the barely closable broken door, shutting out all the despair and cries of anguish outside.
The room was dark. Only a few slivers of light struggled through the cracks between the boards.
Zhou Xuan stood in the darkness, his face betraying nothing, but a monstrous storm was raging within him.
He had thought his greatest enemies were the rules of this world, the lofty cultivators, and that damned lack of a Spirit Root.
But in the end, the first person to drive him toward certain death was the woman he had once pulled out of the mire!
And she had used the very methods he knew best—the ones that worked best!
"Heh..."
A low, cold laugh rose from Zhou Xuan's throat, brimming with scorn.
He slowly walked over to the corner and, with a thought, brought out everything he had obtained that day.
The floor was instantly piled with things.
Twenty-two First-rank Demon Cores brimming with impure spiritual energy, dozens of Sharp Metal Talismans, and the remaining cinnabar, beast blood, and wolf-hair brushes.
And the three treasures he had dug out of the rubbish heap and pinned his hopes on.
His gaze fell first on the stack of talismans.
The Talisman Money Printing Machine plan was the fastest, safest way he could think of to earn Gold Touch Value.
Given enough time, he was confident he could save up the thousand points of Gold Touch Value required to upgrade his Spirit Root within three months!
But now, Liu Ruyan's move had thrown every plan of his into disarray!
What he lacked most right now was time!
Before you continue