"Lord Chang, do you really wish to see those five thousand names become nothing more than ink on a list of the fallen?"
"Absurd! This is the most ridiculous farce under the heavens!"
An enraged roar suddenly erupted, so powerful it caused the surrounding Defensive Arrays to shimmer with Spiritual Light.
The Director of the Dao Record Department, Chang Buyu, slammed his hand on the table. His stern face was contorted with fury, his beard and hair bristling as he pointed at Shen Xuance’s nose and bellowed:
"Shen Xuance! You are a veteran official of our Great Zhou. How can you utter such foolishness as ’desperate times call for desperate measures’?!"
"Foundation Establishment Without Talisman! What is the nature of this act? It is contempt for imperial authority! It is an attack on the very foundation of our nation!"
Chang Buyu stood up, black and white Qi swirling around him. He made no move to attack, but the force of his absolute devotion to the rules was like a crashing tsunami:
"If we make an exception today, what happens tomorrow? Will anyone who fancies themselves a genius be able to skip the Daoist Schools, disrespect their elders, and even collude with Demons to steal power? If everyone pleads ’extenuating circumstances,’ then are the thousands of iron laws of my Dao Record Department meant for wiping my ass?!"
"Director Chang, watch your words!"
Shen Xuance’s expression was as dark as storm clouds. Though he hadn’t put down his teacup, his Qi had already locked onto Chang Buyu. He sneered,
"What do you mean, colluding with Demons? Chu Bai was Slaying Demons! Three Foundation Establishment Divine Spirits, Lord Chang! You and I did nothing while a boy who just broke through fought for his life, and now you want to talk to me about rules?"
"You keep spouting off about attacking the foundation of the nation. Let me ask you, if those five thousand-plus future pillars of Qingzhou had all died in there, wouldn’t *that* have been a true attack on the foundation of our nation?! Is that a responsibility you, Chang Buyu, can bear?!"
"Those are two different matters!"
Chang Buyu refused to yield an inch, his gaze sinister. "Saving people is a merit; breaking the law is a crime! Now that this boy has reached Foundation Establishment, he is no longer under control. I propose we immediately perform Soul Searching on him to determine if his breakthrough method was a Forbidden Technique. Then, we cripple his Dao Foundation, reduce him back to a Mortal, and only then discuss his rewards! This is the only way to demonstrate the inviolability of the law!"
"Soul Searching? Cripple his Dao Foundation?!"
A murderous glint flashed in Shen Xuance’s eyes. "Old man Chang, you dare! He is the pride of Dayuan Prefecture! You’re trying to destroy the very roots of my Qingzhou!"
"Enough."
Just as the two were at each other’s throats, on the verge of coming to blows, a voice as cold as ice instantly froze the entire room.
Hee Wenyan, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke.
She merely set down her teacup, and the moment it touched the tabletop, the entire desk—forged from Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Iron—was instantly covered in a spiderweb of cracks.
"Alright."
Hee Wenyan spoke, her voice cool and detached, yet it carried the unique pressure of a high-level cultivator, instantly quelling their argument.
Her beautiful eyes shifted to Shen Xuance, her tone laced with an inscrutable meaning:
"Director Shen, there’s no need to be so protective. The boy is indeed talented, but that little stunt of his... he took things much too far."
Hee Wenyan extended a slender finger and drew a line in the air. "A Spirit Realm originally assessed as ’Class B’ was forcefully drained into a wasteland by him. How many Celestial and Earthly Treasures did the Celestial Observatory spend to stabilize that Secret Realm? We can’t just let that debt slide, can we?"
Shen Xuance’s heart skipped a beat. He detected an opening in Hee Wenyan’s words. She was talking about accounts, about interests—not clinging rigidly to the letter of the law like Chang Buyu.
’As long as it’s about interests, there’s room to negotiate.’
"Lord Hee is absolutely right."
Shen Xuance immediately seized the opportunity to de-escalate. "The boy was indeed reckless and caused a huge deficit in the national treasury. But this only proves how profound his foundation is, that his Dao Foundation is extraordinary. For a boy who just reached Foundation Establishment to be able to drain an entire realm... you all know better than I what that implies."
Hee Wenyan raised her beautiful eyes slightly, but there wasn’t a trace of a smile in them—only a chilling, heart-stopping glint:
"You two are arguing about the law, but what I lost was tangible resources."
She looked at Shen Xuance, her tone grim. "Director Shen, don’t talk to me about talent. How much did my Celestial Observatory invest to stabilize the Cyan Nether Realm? And now that boy has swallowed it whole, not leaving me so much as a single crumb."
"That was the Origin of an entire realm! Resources that could have cultivated several Foundation Establishment cultivators, or even nurtured a Golden Core!"
Hee Wenyan rose to her feet, her purple robes rustling. Behind her, the phantom image of a Star Disc faintly appeared:
"How do we settle this debt? Since he consumed my property, then he himself—even his Dao Foundation—is now my collateral."
"Director Chang said to cripple him? No. If he’s crippled, who will compensate me for my Spirit Realm?"
Hee Wenyan turned to Chang Buyu, her voice like a razor scraping bone. "I propose we refine him directly into a Daoist Soldier, strip him of his consciousness, and have him eternally suppress the Earth Fire Melting Furnace in the Celestial Observatory. He will refine artifacts for our Great Zhou for a thousand years to repay his debt!"
The moment she spoke, everyone present was stunned.
Shen Xuance’s face fell.
’Refine him into a Daoist Soldier? That’s a hundred times crueler than simply killing Chu Bai!’
"Lord Hee! Isn’t this measure a bit too..." Shen Xuance began to object.
"Too much?" Hee Wenyan sneered as the might of her Purple Mansion erupted, making Shen Xuance’s breath catch in his throat. "To steal the nation’s wealth is a crime punishable by death! The fact that I’m letting him live is already an immense act of mercy!"
Seeing the situation spiral completely out of control—with one side wanting to cripple the boy and the other wanting to refine him—Shen Xuance found himself unable to hold them off alone.
At that moment, the Merit Department Chief, Zhu Wuji, who had been sitting calmly in the main seat looking completely unperturbed, finally set down the scroll in his hands.
TAP.
He tapped his finger lightly on the table. The sound wasn’t loud, yet it carried a strange power of Decree, instantly calming the turbulent Spiritual Qi in the room.
"All three of you are running a little too hot."
Zhu Wuji’s gaze was profound as he began to speak slowly, his voice filled with the calm of someone in complete control:

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