Chapter 1698 - 947: Kunxu Charity Should Help Those Most in Need

"[sob] The whole environment’s been wrecked by these Upper Cultivators!"

As for what Zhang Yu said, some were half-convinced, some completely scoffed at it.

Some Lower Cultivators still held a sliver of extravagant hope in their hearts and decided to wait and see.

"Let’s just watch for a bit, maybe it’ll actually be true?"

But even more cultivators had already prepared for the worst and decided to go absolutely wild with slacking off at work.

"Since the Upper Cultivators dare to make me work with no rest, then I dare to strike back at them. And the best way to punish Upper Cultivators is to slack off! Let them taste the terror of their income silently shrinking!"

"Damn right! I’m gonna become a salary thief for the company! I’ll make sure every single coin of my pay is full of water, make those Upper Cultivators lose money hiring me!"

Some had already decided to leave the 16th floor and go find a job somewhere else.

"Keep this up and the 16th floor will sooner or later turn into a low-pay zone, a no-rest zone, with no Immortal Path environment at all, totally unfit for cultivation."

Some people also started scouting for job opportunities in other sects.

"Our sect is way too grindy, every day staying here I feel like I can’t breathe. I want to go to Joyful Union Sect and finally live like a human being. I heard they’re big on working from home, with flexible clock-in and clock-out times."

Right as the Spirit Realm and Law Realm of the 16th floor were stirred up by the news Zhang Yu had released, discussions flaring one after another and the heat climbing higher and higher—

The companies Zhang Yu had picked had also one after another received his invitations.

...

Inside the Wanjinxuan Realm managed by Kuang Zhiquan.

A Void Refining Cultivator named Wan Wuyi lowered a projection to inspect the operational status of the companies within the Small Realm.

His projection screen was plastered full with ads for his own gambling company, that was practically every second sending out invitations and gambling funds to people—so long as you met a certain number of bets and gambling hours, you could cash out from the platform.

Wan Wuyi couldn’t help praising, "Nice, nice, this Law Freeze is doing great. Average working hours keep going up, we should be able to lay off another batch of people next month. Not only will we save a chunk of labor cost, we’ll also gain a whole batch of new customers."

Wan Wuyi planned to give each employee a chunk of gambling funds before they left their jobs—just bet fifty times in a row and you can cash out.

"Once again we’re giving them a ray of Immortal fate, and at the same time boosting our company’s performance. Sigh, our gambling company really deserves to be called the kindest, most willing to promote Lower Cultivators in all of Kunxu."

"No wonder that according to the stats from the past ten years, cultivators who rose to fame through gambling rank first among all kinds of ’fortuitous encounters’."

"Speaking of which, that Lord Zhang really is a heaven-sent genius—just like that he boosted our performance so much. He’s our sect’s true Divine Sword of reform."

Listening to him, Kuang Zhiquan said from the side, "Lord Wan, Lord Zhang wants to invite you to talk about restricting working hours..."

Wan Wuyi turned his head and stared at him like he was an idiot. "Zhang Yu wants us to voluntarily limit working hours? Is that even legal? That’s literally sabotaging the business environment. Overtime that they don’t even have to pay for—what excuse do those Lower Cultivators have to get off work early?"

"Even if they cultivate for another hundred years they still won’t climb up, they might as well work more and earn us some money. One more year and I’ll be able to upgrade my Cave Mansion."

Kuang Zhiquan said, "Lord Wan, Lord Zhang is serious this time. If the turmoil keeps going, it’ll affect the law reform..."

Affect the reform? Can reform reach into our accounts and move the money?

Wan Wuyi snorted coldly in his heart and said aloud, "Say no more. Once the money’s in the account, you still expect anyone to spit it back out? Talking that kind of beast-talk—does Zhang Yu still qualify as a human being? Does he have even a shred of morality left?"

"And even if I agreed, would the shareholders behind us agree? Would the big shots in Ascension Hall agree? Would our company’s stock investors agree?"

"How does Zhang Yu even have the face to come and indulge in that kind of fantasy talk with me?"

With that, Wan Wuyi had already flicked his sleeve and left, clearly not planning to attend the meeting Zhang Yu was convening.

...

Inside the Small Realm where Lie Jinghong’s pilot Law Chains were being tested.

Tongfa Square was a giant lending platform in the Law Realm. Besides Immortal Coins, it could lend out all kinds of power, cultivation, lifespan...

Right now, inside a data center belonging to Tongfa Square in this Small Realm, a projection in the form of a young girl... was listening to Lie Jinghong’s meeting invitation.

Although this projection looked like a young girl, every single organ and Magic Remains on her body had a "return by" countdown, as if all of them had been borrowed.

She was the person in charge of this data center, Wang Guanyao.

Wang Guanyao said, "Sorry, Lei Xuanjun, law reform is important, but all the major platforms in the Law Realm directly represent the Immortal Emperor’s interests even more."

"We’re not laying people off for ourselves; we’re laying them off for the Immortal Emperor."

"The staff working 24 hours a day aren’t doing it for the company, they’re doing it for the Immortal Emperor. Before, we were shackled by overtime pay and couldn’t serve the Immortal Emperor 24 hours a day. Now we’ve caught up to this great era of free overtime, so of course we have to be loyal to the Immortal Emperor at every moment. If you don’t believe me, go ask them—who’s unwilling to work 24 hours a day for the Immortal Emperor?"

With that, she pointed a finger, and three discount coupons with 9.5% interest rates floated into view.

"Help me say sorry to Lord Zhang. These three coupons can count as a peace offering. With these coupons, if he comes to our platform to borrow money, the interest rate gets a 9.5% discount."

Watching Lie Jinghong’s projection vanish, Wang Guanyao snorted coldly. "What the hell does he think he is? Just because he’s the Ten Thousand Laws Divine Sword he thinks he can march in and snatch money?"

In Wang Guanyao’s eyes, the reduced labor cost was already profit safely tucked into her and the company’s accounts.

Zhang Yu asking her to limit working hours and increase headcount, in these times, was basically no different from stealing their money.

Especially since Wang Guanyao didn’t believe at all... that Zhang Yu was doing this to lower the working hours of Lower Cultivators.

As far as she was concerned, Zhang Yu wasn’t some brain-addled idiot who’d go around fighting for benefits for Lower Cultivators.

"He’s eight or nine parts definitely just using this as a pretext to extort benefits from all the major companies."

Thinking of some rumors about Zhang Yu, an ominous guess welled up in Wang Guanyao’s heart. "This Dual Cultivation sex fiend Zhang Yu... don’t tell me he’s planning to sleep his way through me as ’unspoken rules’?"

...

In Bu Yingshu’s Small Realm, she was speaking to the elder in front of her. "Auntie, you absolutely have to attend this roundtable Zhang Yu is convening."

The cultivator Bu Yingshu called "Auntie" was named Bu Aixian, also a member of the Ten Thousand Laws Immortal Clan, with the words "Loyal to the Emperor, Love the Sect" written in her eyes year-round.

She was also a famous philanthropist within Wanfa Sect, not only running her own charity organization but also taking the lead in donating money every year.

Yes, there were charity organizations within Wanfa Sect too—only, the money they raised was donated to the Immortal Emperor, Immortal Venerables, and Immortals.

In Bu Aixian’s view that was perfectly reasonable, since charity organizations should donate money to the people who most need money and are the most short of it.

"Those poor wretches down below, how much money are they missing anyway? At most they’re short a few hundred, a few thousand, a few ten-thousand Immortal Coins."

"Can they possibly be more short of money than my Immortal Emperor grandpa? My Immortal Emperor grandpa is short of hundreds of billions, tens of trillions of Immortal Coins. He’s the one in the sect who needs donations the most."

"Sharing my Immortal Emperor grandpa’s worries and rallying everyone to donate to him—that’s the greatest mission of my whole life!"

Right now, upon hearing Bu Yingshu’s words, Bu Aixian’s brows knotted, and the four words "Loyal to the Emperor, Love the Sect" in her eyes flashed brilliantly. "What’s Zhang Yu trying to do with this meeting? Has he set his sights on me?"

"Let me be clear first: every single coin my charity organization receives is willingly donated by everyone, and our aim is to help those who most need help within Wanfa Sect. I absolutely cannot betray their trust."

"All these years, every single coin that’s passed through my hands could withstand any audit in the sect and is fully compliant with sect policy and law. I will never break that rule."

Bu Yingshu had always deeply envied this aunt of hers.

After all, every year when the charity donation quotas were allocated, everyone basically had to give face. Anyone who refused to donate was someone who didn’t respect the Immortal Emperor, didn’t revere the Immortal Clan, and had forgotten who the true owner of the land beneath their feet was...

This kind of job where you go door to door directly asking for money had once been Bu Yingshu’s most envied profession.

Now hearing her aunt say this, Bu Yingshu hurriedly explained, "Auntie, don’t overthink it. Zhang Yu isn’t trying to get money out of you. He just wants to put some limits on working hours to keep the Lower Cultivators from losing too much and triggering sect-wide turmoil."

Hearing that, Bu Aixian furrowed her brows even tighter. "And you believe that? Doing it for those Lower Cultivators who aren’t short of a few coins?"

"Ying Shu, I’ve told you before—you’re just too quick to trust people."

"Reform requires growing pains, and Lower Cultivators have fewer assets—how much can they even lose? They’re obviously the best candidates to bear those pains. Such a simple truth, and Zhang Yu, coming out of the Reform Faction, doesn’t know it?"

"From where I’m standing, he’s clearly set his sights on the charity funds donated to the Immortal Emperor!"

"I knew it! I just knew it... these reform types, no matter how long they go on, they always end up tugging at my Immortal Emperor grandpa in the end! They’ve got their eyes on the Immortal Emperor grandpa’s pockets."

As she spoke, the four words "Loyal to the Emperor, Love the Sect" in Bu Aixian’s eyes grew even brighter, directly projecting outward and floating in the air all around.