68: Monk's dignity? Worthless

Lu Yuan withdrew his hand from the identical stele.

A cold, data-stream-like sensation lingered on his fingertips.

He did not look back.

His gaze slowly swept across the entire sinkhole ruins; the countless broken stone pillars and decaying components were no longer mere trash in his eyes.

They were decomposed.

They were reconstructed.

Ultimately, they transformed into billions of the most basic engineering units.

Every detail of the repair blueprint corresponded one-to-one with the ruins before him.

The base for inscribing runes.

The conductor for transmitting Spiritual Qi.

The Medicinal Pills for stabilizing nodes.

Each item required an astronomical number.

This was not a cultivation, but a war.

An industrial war against time, against resources, and against this broken world.

He turned and walked out of the Forbidden Ground, his steps unwavering.

Han Yuexi followed behind him, looking at his back, and for the first time felt an indescribable sense of unfamiliarity.

It was not the decisive killing of a Cultivator, nor the grand ambition of a Mortal.

It was an absolute calm and control, treating the entire world as one massive engineering project, and he himself as the sole Chief Engineer.

Qingyun Sect, former Wang Family residence.

This place was now named "Qingyun Manufacturing General Bureau."

All surviving members of the Wang Family, whether Elders, Disciples, or women and children, were summoned to the former Wang Family's training ground.

Thousands of people gathered, utterly silent.

The air was filled with oppressive stillness and the hatred buried deep in everyone's eyes.

When Lu Yuan's figure appeared on the high platform, countless gazes, venomous, angry, yet filled with unconcealed fear, focused on him.

Lu Yuan looked down at the crowd below, as if examining a newly acquired, distressed asset awaiting reorganization.

His voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"From today onwards, the 'Qingyun Manufacturing General Bureau' is established."

"All members of the Wang Family will be reclassified according to their cultivation and skills."

"Alchemists, enter the Medicinal Pill Department."

"Artifact Refiners, enter the Magical Artifact Department."

"Talisman Masters, enter the Talisman Department."

"All others, enter the General Affairs Department, responsible for initial processing of Materials, transportation, and logistics."

His words were simple and direct, without any comfort, only cold commands.

An uncontrollable commotion began to rise in the crowd.

An old man with white hair and beard, dressed in an Artifact Refiner's robe, stepped forward.

He was Wang Zong, the chief Artifact Refiner of the Wang Family.

"Lu Yuan! You are humiliating us Cultivators!"

Wang Zong's words were filled with anguish, his voice distorted by extreme rage.

"We have spent our entire lives pursuing the Dao of Artifact Refining; every Magical Artifact is imbued with our painstaking efforts and spiritual essence!"

"You actually want us to repeat those meaningless processes?"

"This is a blasphemy against the Dao of Artifact Refining! This old man will never comply!"

His words ignited the flames in many people's hearts.

"Exactly! We would rather die than suffer this humiliation!"

Several Elders, who held respected positions in the Wang Family, also stepped forward, standing with Wang Zong.

They were the last and only backbone of the Wang Family.

Lu Yuan watched them quietly, his gaze unwavering.

He did not explain.

Nor did he refute.

He merely raised his hand and, pointing at Wang Zong, gently made a gesture.

An imperceptible stream of Spiritual Qi shot out.

Puff.

A very soft thud.

A small puff of blood mist burst open at Wang Zong's Dantian.

The anger on his face instantly froze, replaced by endless shock and pain.

He could clearly feel his two centuries of hard-earned cultivation frantically dissipating from that ruptured hole.

Wang Zong's knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground.

In a few breaths, he aged several decades, becoming a truly Mortal old man.

The entire scene was dead silent.

The faces of the Elders, who had just been righteously indignant, drained of color, their lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

Lu Yuan retracted his finger, his heart undisturbed.

Liquidating distressed assets required the most direct means to effectively establish credible deterrence.

His voice rang out again, still calm, as if nothing had happened.

"From today onwards, everyone's treatment and resource allocation will be strictly tied to their daily output."

Before him, a huge light screen appeared.

On the light screen was a shockingly detailed list.

"Complete one hundred basic rune inscriptions daily, and receive one 'Contribution Point.'"

"Purify ten portions of 'Crimson Copper Essence' daily, and receive one 'Contribution Point.'"

"Contribution Points can be exchanged for anything."

The content on the light screen began to scroll.

【Grain Abstinence Pill: 0.1 Contribution Points.】

【Qi Gathering Pill: 1 Contribution Point.】

【Human-rank Low Grade Cultivation Technique "Qi Guiding Art": 10 Contribution Points.】

【Human-rank High Grade Cultivation Technique "Azure Origin Sword Art": 100 Contribution Points.】

...【foundation establishment pill (Incomplete Recipe): 10,000 Contribution Points.】

【Contract for Regaining Freedom: 1,000,000 Contribution Points.】

Looking at the list, everyone's breathing began to grow heavy.

Especially the last two items, which tightly gripped their hearts.

They were a glimmer of light, forcibly torn open in endless despair.

Dignity, glory, Legacy... became worthless in the face of quantifiable survival and hope.

Lu Yuan observed the struggle and wavering in the expressions of the crowd below.

He knew that the Wang Family's resistance had collapsed.

One month later.

The once Immortal Qi-shrouded Wang Family mountain gate had completely transformed into a massive, ceaselessly operating factory.

The once high and mighty Geniuses of the Wang Family now sat numbly on an assembly line, their eyes vacant, but their hands swiftly repeating the same motion—engraving the simplest Spirit Gathering runes onto a standardized Flying Sword.

The once respected Alchemy Great Masters were now responsible for the initial purification of baskets of herbs; behind him, there were more than a dozen more delicate processes, each handled by different people.

No one spoke of Dao Heart or spiritual essence anymore.

All anyone cared about was the constantly flickering number, named "Contribution Points," on the Magical Artifact on their wrist.

Coercion and enticement constructed a new, cold order.

Lu Yuan stood in a huge warehouse.

Before him were mountains of brand new finished products.

Tens of thousands of Low Grade Flying Swords, all identical in specifications, each uniformly engraved with the words "qingyun type i" on their blades.

There were also hundreds of thousands of "Armor-Breaking Talismans," drawn at the lowest cost, neatly stacked in boxes, emitting a uniform scent of ink and Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

Han Yuexi appeared behind him at some point, gazing at this cold and shocking scene, speechless for a long time.

Lu Yuan did not turn around; he picked up a "qingyun type i" Flying Sword, his finger tracing the metal blade, feeling its uniform, impersonal coldness.

He knew this was just the beginning.

These products needed a huge market to be consumed.

He needed to use these cheap industrial goods to acquire the truly rare Materials required to repair that ancient grand array.

His gaze had already turned towards the entire Eastern Continent Cultivation world.

As he turned to leave the warehouse, he stopped by the former Wang Family's Scripture Pavilion.

He didn't care for most of the Cultivation Techniques, merely flipping through them casually.

Suddenly, in the bottom corner of a bookshelf, he pulled out a dust-covered, leather-bound, unique volume.

On the pages, three words were written in ancient script.

"Puppet Art."