74: Chapter 74: The Emergence of Equity (within the Peak)

The night was deep, yet the lights remained on in the simple wooden hut at the foot of Heng Mountain used for meetings.

The room was thick with smoke—it was Shen Xingzhou smoking, but it was also the burning anxiety in everyone's hearts.

A long table was surrounded by the core members of Hengchuan Peak.

Shen Xingzhou, Wen Xi, Su Ciyao, Senior Sister Xie Handeng, and Peak Master Luo Qingyi, who had been resting with her eyes closed.

Shen Xingzhou held a charcoal stick in his hand and drew a horizontal line on the stone slate behind him used for accounting.

On the left, he wrote "Status Quo"; on the right, he wrote "Future".

"I won't beat around the bush with you all."

Shen Xingzhou turned around and slapped the charcoal stick onto the table, producing a crisp sound.

"The spirit boat from the Central Continent came today. I am clear about the conditions they offered. Wen Xi wants that array platform capable of calculating all Heavenly secrets, and Su Ciyao wants a stable life without worrying about food or clothing."

"Hengchuan Peak cannot provide these right now. At least not in the short term."

Wen Xi pushed up her glasses, said nothing, and simply lowered her head.

Su Ciyao, on the other hand, looked at the ceiling with an innocent expression, her fingers tapping lightly on the table.

"But!"

Shen Xingzhou's voice suddenly rose, "If you go to the Central Continent, you will be Advanced consumables. You would be working for their Heavenly Dao. No matter how accurate your calculations are, you will only be tools."

"But here at Hengchuan Peak…"

He wrote a few words heavily on the right side of the stone slate: [Peak Internal Equity].

"I want to change the way we play."

Shen Xingzhou pointed at the accounts on the stone slate, "Let's calculate the total. The current profits from the Munitions Line, the income from external projects, and the war damage costs saved through System optimization… these originally belonged to the Sect or went into my own pocket."

"Now, I am bringing them out."

[Peak Internal Equity Proposal (Draft)]

[Distribution Targets:]

Net income from external sales of the Munitions Line (excluding Sect tasks)

Real profits from external "dirty work" projects (such as orders from the Central Continent)

Resources saved through internal optimization (converted into points)

[Participants:]

Core Founding Level: Peak Master Luo Qingyi, Shen Xingzhou

Technical and Management Level: Wen Xi, Su Ciyao, Senior Sister Xie Handeng

Backbone Level: Team leaders of each production line

[Rights:]

Dividend Rights: Year-end settlement, with resources, Spirit Stones, and even privilege items distributed according to the equity ratio.

Voting Rights: Major decisions within the Peak (such as what projects to accept, what technical path to take) will be decided by a "voting System" instead of being a one-man show.

Wen Xi raised her head, her gaze piercing through her lenses, staring fixedly at the lines of text on the stone slate.

She was not someone inexperienced; on the contrary, she was an extremely rational person.

She saw the essence of this proposal at a glance.

"Peak Master."

Wen Xi spoke, her voice chillingly calm, "This is not Karma distribution. Karma is the Sect's currency, but this thing…"

She pointed to the words "Equity".

"This is turning Heng Mountain into private property, and we are dividing the profits of this private property."

"This is a game of management rights. This is… testing the edge of rebellion."

"As long as we don't touch the Sect's legal Karma and don't steal the imperial court's taxes, this is internal incentive."

Shen Xingzhou stared into her eyes, "You are not my subordinates. You are not wage workers earning a fixed salary."

"You are partners 'betting with me that this broken peak can make a comeback'."

"The Central Continent can give you the best array platform, but that array platform is surnamed 'Central Continent', and you are just an operator."

"At Heng Mountain, even if we only have one broken stone slate, this stone slate is surnamed 'Us'."

Wen Xi fell silent.

Her fingers were unconsciously drawing circles on the tabletop.

The scales of rationality were swaying violently in her heart.

On one side was a ready-made, top-tier paradise.

On the other side was an unknown, risky wilderness that nevertheless held "ownership".

For a true scholar, "tool" and "master" are two concepts worlds apart.

Su Ciyao also stopped tapping the table.

She looked at Shen Xingzhou, and for the first time, there was a glimmer of genuine respect in her eyes.

This concept of "Equity", in this cultivation world with strict hierarchy, was heresy among heresies.

But it was too tempting.

Because it meant—dignity.

"But…"

Senior Sister Xie Handeng suddenly spoke, her hand pressing on the hilt of her sword, "If this rule gets out, how will the Sect view it? How will the other peaks view it?"

"Privately distributing benefits, forming cliques for personal gain."

"These eight words are enough to raze our Heng Mountain to the ground."

The atmosphere in the room instantly froze.

Everyone involuntarily looked at the woman sitting in the corner.

Peak Master Luo Qingyi.

The nominal Peak Master of Heng Mountain, and also the person with the highest cultivation and most stable status here.

If she did not nod, this "Equity Proposal" of Shen Xingzhou's would be a piece of waste paper.

Or even a death warrant.

Peak Master Luo Qingyi remained with her eyes closed, holding that wine gourd that never left her side.

After a long while, she slowly opened her eyes; those eyes, which were always hazy with drunkenness, were now frighteningly clear.

She glanced at the proposal on the stone slate, then at the anxious Shen Xingzhou.

"I used to think you were just a crafty merchant, calculating all day long."

Peak Master Luo Qingyi picked up the wine gourd, tilted her head back, and took a swig; the pungent smell of alcohol permeated the room.

"But this account is calculated quite interestingly."

She extended a finger, pointing at Shen Xingzhou, then at Wen Xi and Su Ciyao.

"In this world, cultivation in the end is all for 'immortality'. For immortality, fathers and sons turn against each other, masters and disciples become enemies."

"Since everyone has to live for themselves, putting interests clearly on the table is actually cleaner than all that empty 'Sect gratitude'."

She stood up, swayed over to the stone slate, and slapped it heavily below the line "Peak Internal Equity".

That palm, without Qi, was like a mountain settling the score.

"I approve of this matter."

"I will also hold a share. In the future, when Heng Mountain makes money, I want dividends too."

Peak Master Luo Qingyi turned back, looked at everyone, and a heroic smile curled at the corners of her mouth.

"Listen to Shen Xingzhou. Work with him, don't let yourself lose out."

"If the sky falls, I'll hold it up."

Boom—!

In the hearts of Wen Xi and Su Ciyao, it felt as if something had finally settled.

This was no longer "rebellion".

This was "rebellion with backing".

As long as Peak Master Luo Qingyi was the big tree to lean on, and as long as this community of interests could actually distribute money, then the rumors outside were all nonsense.

"Good."

Wen Xi pushed up her glasses, the confusion in her eyes completely vanishing, replaced by a frantic desire to calculate, "Then I apply for the technical transformation revenue of the Munitions Line to be counted as 'technical equity'."

"Deal."

Shen Xingzhou smiled, his teeth flashing white.

Su Ciyao also smiled, her eyes alluring, "Then when I speak externally in the future, it won't just be about being sweet-talked; I'll be maintaining our 'company's' brand image, right?"

"I'll count it as yours."

Shen Xingzhou answered decisively.

...~

The bustle faded, Shen Xingzhou saw everyone off and sat alone in the empty room.

After the heroic ambitions just now receded, the cold red warning on the System interface felt like a bucket of cold water poured over his head.

The slap Peak Master Luo Qingyi gave just now had indeed set the tone.

But from the perspective of the Heavenly Dao and the Sect, this action was also equivalent to planting a red flag on top of Heng Mountain.

[High-Risk Behavior Identified]

[Behavior Judgment: Establishing Peak Internal Equity, forming an "Interest Community" independent of the Sect's laws.]

[Upper-Level Perspective Analysis:]

Default tags: "Unauthorized establishment of a small interest group" / "Gathering hearts with private interests".

Qualitative risk: Forming cliques for personal gain / Splitting the Sect.

[Real-time monitoring impact:]

Monitoring level: +3%

Current Heavenly Dao monitoring level: 48%

[System Special Note (Red Highlight):]

"In an old System with strict hierarchy, delegating rights and benefits to the bottom level will mostly be interpreted as a 'precursor to rebellion'."

[Warning:]

The Sect will be extremely sensitive to this matter. Other Peak Masters will view this as a threat.

Shen Xingzhou looked at that pulsing [48%]; it was only 12% away from the 60% red line that would trigger a [Sect-level Audit].

He had succeeded.

He had successfully kept Wen Xi and Su Ciyao, using a nearly insane method to tie everyone's fates together.

But he had also fanned the flames higher.

"Equity" is a good thing.

But in the cultivation world, "Equity" without sufficient military support is just a death warrant.

However, Shen Xingzhou did not shrink back.

He looked at the handprint Peak Master Luo Qingyi had left on the stone slate.

"Even if it is a death warrant, as long as everyone holds onto it together, it won't be that scary."

At the bottom of the System interface, along with this hastily established "contract", a line of text slowly popped up.

This was the System's final definition of this newly born, simple "company structure".

[Structure Established: Peak Internal Equity (Trial)]

[Current Status: Primitive Partnership]

[System Note:]

A ten-thousand-foot tower rises from the accumulated earth.

This rough "Peak Internal Equity" is the foundation.

On some day in the future, when it breaks through the shackles of the Sect and crosses the boundaries of the Human Race…

It will evolve into the true [Equity Structure] of the Three Realms Joint Company.

Shen Xingzhou closed his eyes.

He did not care about the future.

He only knew that tonight, Heng Mountain did not fall apart.

Tonight, they were in this together.