"Junior Sister, you really should eat more!
Look at all these delicacies! They're freshly cooked, top-quality beasts slaughtered on the spot!
Our sect has expressly forbidden selling this stuff now, but as long as you privately sign a written pledge with the seller, you can still get your hands on it without anyone being the wiser~"
A handsome, elegant young man spoke with a broad smile. His knife rose and fell as he swiftly sliced several tender, sizzling pieces of lamb off the roasting rack, then eagerly offered them to the lovely young woman seated beside him.
Just a few days earlier, the sect's higher-ups had suddenly issued a new rule: from that day onward, no disciple was permitted to openly sell any goods within the sect.
Anyone caught in the act would be punished without mercy-not only would both buyer and seller face severe penalties, but anyone who knew and failed to report them, or tipped them off, would also be punished!
As a result, the once-bustling Grove had been cleared out entirely, leaving buyers and sellers alike afraid to make a move.
Under the new rules, unless they had special connections with certain powerful figures, they could no longer conduct their transactions as brazenly as before.
At most, they could only wait for a moonless, windswept night to secretly sell their wares to a handful of people with the right connections.
As for the vast majority of ordinary disciples... alas, they could forget about buying any rare treats and obediently line up for their meals at the Cafeteria!
Yet many sect disciples who had grown accustomed to delicacies from mountain and sea found this change utterly unacceptable.
After all, they were used to fine clothes and sumptuous meals. How could they stomach thin broth and bland, meager