Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 360 - 217: Weighing Gold on a Large Scale, Tianhe Leaves a Message

Chapter 360: Chapter 217: Weighing Gold on a Large Scale, Tianhe Leaves a Message

After pulling off a big heist, it was time for the division of the spoils.

Back at Jiushan, the valiant Jiushan disciples took their designated seats in the grand hall on Heavenly Palace Island and fixed their eyes on the center of the hall.

The most eye-catching item was the black boulder that Sister Zhang had brought back. Standing erect on the ground, its surface was dense with sword marks, seemingly telling a tale.

Next to the boulder, there was a desk that Zheng Fa usually used for work, and on the desk were five items—

A Yellow Gourd and a jade tube, both retrieved from the Water Mansion.

There were also three Storage Bags, one of which was stained with blood.

These belonged to those three Nascent Souls who had been blind to their own limitations...

Two of them recognized the situation and directly handed over their treasures. Sister Zhang and the others spared them—not out of mercy, but because Daoist Mu fled too fast, and silencing him would have been pointless.

It was the last one who turned out to be from the Great Freedom Demon Sect... an old adversary of the Jiushan Sect.

Enmity made their hostility particularly intense.

And so Sister Zhang and her party struck fiercely.

With that, there were three more Storage Bags added to the loot.

As for the collected building materials and the like, they weren’t worth much and naturally weren’t included in the distribution.

Everyone in the hall had their eyes on Zheng Fa, each bearing different expressions, but all waiting for Zheng Fa to speak.

Xiao Yuying, seated to Zheng Fa’s left, couldn’t help but recall a conversation with Lady Xuanhua prior to this:

"This archaeological project... the most difficult part is actually the distribution of treasures," Lady Xuanhua had said to Xiao Yuying, "A single misstep can lead to resentment from top to bottom, scattering unity."

Back then, Xiao Yuying didn’t respond, agreeing inwardly.

Lady Xuanhua continued:

"I’ve seen quite a few... Cultivators who’ve entered a Secret Realm together."

"In my view, those who can collaborate for a long time are either couples and relatives, sharing fortunes and misfortunes together, or master and servant, with clear distinctions of strength and weakness..."

"Others have all fallen out."

Xiao Yuying understood even more clearly:

For couples and relatives, there’s mutual trust, and what’s yours is mine and vice versa; dividing spoils is just a matter of each taking what they need.

For master and servant, it generally means the strong take more and the weak less, and the weaker ones may feel discontented—but after all, they are weaker.

But in the Jiushan Realm, it wasn’t so straightforward:

For one, there was her, an outsider.

For another, the number of participants was relatively high, making distribution more complicated.

Of course, Zheng Fa’s position in Jiushan Realm meant he could decide matters with a single word... but human hearts are less predictable.

"The so-called ’can only share the hardships, cannot share the joys together.’" Lady Xuanhua’s last words left a deep impression on Xiao Yuying, "To share hardships is for everyone to suffer together; fairness doesn’t matter. But to share the joys, seeking fairness... becomes difficult!"

Xiao Yuying came back to her senses and looked at Zheng Fa with a bit of curiosity: How would Zheng Fa allocate these items?

...

Of course, Zheng Fa knew what everyone was waiting for.

After some thought, he took out a small booklet.

Everyone could see that the cover of the booklet had seven large characters: "Principles of Spoils Distribution."

The hall fell silent, and everyone got a sense that they had grown accustomed to this...

"This set of principles was discussed and decided upon with Sister Zhang. Of course, it might not be perfect... If anyone has objections, feel free to speak up now."

He addressed the crowd.

Xiao Yuying was enlightened, immediately grasping Zheng Fa’s idea:

The old method—letting the system speak.

If the system was imperfect, they would synthesize opinions from all sides and fix it.

But once the system was established, no one should violate it.

In short, they aimed to reach a consensus and act according to that consensus.

Seeing that no one spoke, Zheng Fa opened the booklet and began to read:

"The first principle: knowledge sharing, distribution of treasures according to contributions."

He paused, taking a look at everyone. Seeing nods, he continued:

"The second principle: all spoils of war must be turned in to the Sect; private hoarding is not allowed."

Xiao Yuying wore a strange expression—this principle didn’t seem to be popular with Cultivators.

After all, Xuanwei cultivators traditionally held little trust in their Sects.

As she listened, she understood why Zheng Fa wanted to do this:

"Based on the value of the spoils obtained, members of the project team will be awarded corresponding good deeds."

"All spoils of war will also be exchanged for good deeds."

Xiao Yuying quietly asked, "Why go through such a roundabout way?"

Zheng Fa was imposing a procedure of exchanging good deeds between the team members’ merits and the distribution of spoils.

Seeing her puzzled, Zheng Fa smiled and explained:

"This has several advantages: first, the number of spoils and people don’t match; even if they do, it might not correspond to each member’s contributions, so good deeds are more flexible."

Xiao Yuying realized at once:

This was essentially the difference between bartering and using currency—more flexible and easier to value.

"Second, it’s because some spoils of war are of no use to us Jiushan Realm Cultivators. If they’re recorded as good deeds, they can also be exchanged for other things."

Xiao Yuying nodded again, feeling more and more convinced that this was indeed a good idea.

Sure enough, hearing Zheng Fa say this, the expressions of the project team members in attendance relaxed—not only were they not dissatisfied, but instead, they seemed to find Zheng Fa very considerate.

After thinking, Xiao Yuying asked further, "Then how do we determine the amount of good deeds for each person?"

"Every stage has corresponding good deeds allocated."

"Who knows what each person did at each stage? Based on their own word?" Xiao Yuying inquired further.

Zheng Fa smiled and pointed to a few disciples who had used the Imprint Talisman earlier, saying, "Haven’t we been recording the whole process?"

"..." Xiao Yuying’s eyes widened, only then understanding why Zheng Fa insisted on recording with the Imprint Talisman, "This was your intention?"