117: Integrate resources

The Sect Master has entered seclusion.

The Demon Shadow Tower is eyeing us covetously.

The other six Sects are even more covetous of the exploration rights to our Sect's "Ancient Legacy"!

Internal and external troubles! The edifice is about to crumble!

And their future hope, surprisingly, rests on two inexperienced… youngsters?

Everyone's gaze subconsciously converged on the two figures in the center of the main hall, forming a stark contrast.

One black, one white.

Su Qingyue stood quietly, her snow-white robes already soaked with hot tears. Her once serene eyes now held only endless sorrow and… dependence.

Beside her, Lin Ye slowly rose from the ground.

He slowly turned around, meeting the seven gazes filled with complexity, doubt, and a faint hint of scrutiny.

There was no trace of panic or unease on his handsome face.

As they looked at the slender young man before them, whose eyes were disturbingly calm, their hearts, which had already sunk into an abyss, inexplicably trembled violently!

"Lin… Lin Ye…" an Elder spoke with difficulty, his voice hoarse, "Now that the Sect Master is in seclusion, the Sect is leaderless. Outside, powerful enemies surround us. What… should we do?"

His words echoed everyone's sentiments.

Lin Ye did not answer immediately.

He simply walked calmly to the Sect Master's throne, which symbolized the highest authority of the Sect.

"Elders," he began slowly, "I ask you, why has our Qingyun Sect declined to this extent?"

At these words, all the Elders' faces turned pale.

"Is it because our Sect lacks Geniuses?" Lin Ye slowly turned, his dark eyes, like two invisible sharp swords, fixed intently on them, "No! We have a peerless Genius like Senior Sister Qingyue! We also have tens of thousands of Outer and Inner Sect Disciples who, despite their mediocre Aptitude, still harbor dreams!"

"Is it because our Sect's Cultivation Techniques are inferior to others?"

"No! Our Sect has a Legacy of a thousand years; within the Scripture Pavilion, there are countless divine Cultivation Techniques and Secret Manuals!"

"Is it because our Sect's resources are truly so scarce that we've reached a dead end?!"

He suddenly raised his voice, his questions like resounding slaps, fiercely striking the faces of every Elder present!

"None of that!"

He spoke each word distinctly, his voice cold as a blade!

"It's because of unfair resource distribution, where the strong grow stronger and the weak grow weaker! Those with connections can arbitrarily embezzle others' portions! Those without background can only struggle bitterly in despair!"

"The Legacy of Cultivation Techniques is outdated and hoarded! Those truly powerful Cultivation Techniques are kept under lock and key, with ordinary Disciples not even having the right to look at them! And the basic methods are abstruse and difficult to understand, yielding half the results for twice the effort!"

"The hearts of the people have long since scattered!"

"What can a Sect, whose internal structure is already so rotten, use to contend with external enemies?!"

His words were so sharp, and so… to the point!

They made the seven Core Elders, who had previously been so high and mighty, blush and lower their proud heads in shame!

"Therefore," Lin Ye slowly raised the Sect Master's token in his hand, which symbolized supreme authority, and two blazing flames, capable of igniting the heavens and earth, burned in his dark eyes!

"From today onwards, all of this…"

"It's time for a change!"

...Three days later.

Three "New Policies," personally issued by the Sect Master's token, capable of overturning the Qingyun Sect's centuries-old traditions, were dramatically announced!

First: Abolish the old system and re-establish the contribution points system!

Effective immediately, all old systems of monthly allocations based on identity and Rank are abolished! Whether a Core Elder or an Outer Sect handyman, there will no longer be any fixed resource allocation!

Everything, from the most basic Medicinal Pills and Spirit Stones to the qualifications to enter Holy Lands like the "Nine Revolutions Spirit Pool" and the "Enlightenment Hall," must be exchanged for one thing—contribution points!

And the ways to acquire contribution points were even more diverse and unprecedented!

In addition to traditional completion of Sect missions, "Preaching and Teaching" was added: those with profound Cultivation can give lectures, answering questions for lower-Rank Disciples, and earn contribution points based on the number of listeners and the effect!

"Innovation and Development" was added: anyone who can improve existing Sect Cultivation Techniques, Pill Formulas, or array diagrams, even if only by a tiny bit of efficiency, once evaluated, can receive a massive amount of contribution points!

"Knowledge Sharing" was added: any Disciple who gains insights, maps, or intelligence during their external training can submit it to the Sect in exchange for contribution points!

...This was a new "KPI assessment" system, full of "modern thinking"!

It completely broke the deeply entrenched class barriers within the Sect!

It gave all Disciples struggling at the bottom a… real hope to change their destiny through effort!

Second: Expand sources and reduce expenditures, integrate Sect resources!

Led personally by Lin Ye, with Su Qingyue assisting, an unprecedented thorough investigation and integration was carried out on all resource-producing areas within the Sect, such as Spirit Stone mines, Spirit Medicine gardens, Pill Refining Rooms, Artifact Refining Pavilions, and so on!

All stewards and deacons who held positions but did not fulfill their duties, or engaged in corruption, regardless of their background, were to be… severely punished without leniency!

All produced resources would no longer pass through any intermediaries but would be directly integrated into the Sect's central treasury for unified allocation!

Every consumption of resources, every expenditure of contribution points, would be clearly recorded and made public monthly on the jade tablet in the Merit Hall!

This was an anti-corruption storm, like scraping poison from a bone!

It severed countless black hands reaching for the Sect's resources!

It placed the entire Sect under an unprecedented… sunlight!

And the third, and most maddening, rule for everyone!

Cultivation Technique… Open Source!

More than a dozen basic Cultivation Techniques, personally "optimized" and improved by Lin Ye, including simplified versions of the "Iron Sand Palm," "Golden Bell Shield," "Wind Control Art," and so on, would all be placed in the Outer Sect Scripture Pavilion!

Any Disciple, for just a small amount of contribution points, could… freely copy them!

Not only that!

The Sect would establish a "Cultivation Technique Improvement Hall," personally overseen by Lin Ye!

Any Disciple who could further optimize these dozen or so basic Cultivation Techniques, or innovate and create stronger subsequent Cultivation Techniques, would, upon adoption, be rewarded with… ten thousand contribution points!

Boom!!!

The tens of thousands of Outer and Inner Sect Disciples, who had been plunged into endless despair and confusion due to the Sect Master's seclusion, after a brief moment of stunned, erupted into a mountain-shaking, tsunami-like… frenzy!

"Heavens! Am I seeing things?! One contribution point for a Cultivation Technique?!"

"Preaching and teaching can also earn contribution points?! Then my Qi Refining Realm ninth-layer Cultivation… won't I get rich?!"

"Hahaha! Our era… has arrived!!"

Countless Disciples, as if mad, poured out of their Immortal Caves!

They rushed to the Scripture Pavilion to snatch up the "Divine Cultivation Technique Secret Manuals" they had once dreamed of!

They rushed to the mission stone wall to find the "great fortune" that could make them soar to success!

They rushed to the Martial Arts Training Ground to Cultivate desperately, to research, to create!

An unprecedented wave of fervor, full of endless vitality and hope, swept through every corner of the Qingyun Sect!

The ancient Sect, which had long been decaying and silent for a hundred years, at this moment, seemed to have been injected with the most potent stimulant, once again radiating a vibrant vitality capable of making the heavens and earth change color!

...At the peak of Luoyun Peak.

Lin Ye stood quietly, looking down at the Sect below, which had already transformed into a sea of joy, and an unprecedented brilliant light flickered in his dark eyes.

"This is just a… beginning."

He murmured softly.

He knew that he was personally creating an… unprecedented era of Cultivation!