Personal gains

"Collective punishment?!"

The Huan Kingdom's ministers were struck dumb with horror. This was a truly terrifying legal institution!

Jian Shang frowned and explained, "If one more person takes their own life, make everyone belonging to that faction do the same. They'll suffer less that way!"

"As you command!" The ministers suddenly understood.

Otherworlders were different from natives. So far, there had never really been a known case of an Otherworlder being imprisoned for a prolonged period, and even captured Otherworlders were rare. These people had only been caught red-handed because they had "misunderstood" Jian Shang's actions.

By "collective punishment," the Huan King meant forcing them all to take their own lives. After all, even Loose Immortals dared not lightly enter the Investiture of the Gods Hall, let alone the Otherworlder Alliance. At present, they probably did not even have a single Otherworlder who could fly. A prison break was certainly impossible.

On reflection, it made sense. Regardless of the ransom demanded, those Otherworlder Faction leaders would certainly be bought back, because their cultivation methods, items, and other possessions were worth far more than their individual lives. Although core members were also worth far more than their ransoms, beyond comparison with ordinary Otherworlders, grains of sand piled up could build a tower. With so many captives, the various factions might be unwilling or unable to produce that much ransom in one payment.

The ransoms were already low. Now that half the captives had taken their own lives, the factions would effectively pay only half as much. How could they be allowed such a "bargain"!

"Your Majesty! We obtained many of the special formation manuals and rare cultivation manuals you instructed this humble minister to watch for. There are approximately three thousand seven hundred special formation manuals and one hundred seventeen rare