Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1195 - 1195 0693 Justifiable Reason_1

Chapter 1195: Chapter 0693: Justifiable Reason_1 Chapter 1195: Chapter 0693: Justifiable Reason_1 Chapter 0693: Ingenious pretext

Almost every member of the team faced a shortage of medicinal pills, and it was simply impossible to solve this problem with the current conditions. Even if the Princes were to supplement their subordinates with medicinal pills, it would be like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water—there would be no significant improvement.

After much consideration, Qi Tian decided that the only solution was for him to foot the bill, using his own collection to replenish the medicinal pills for those in the team who lacked them.

Qi Tian had initially found the treasure left by Master Ming Ren for his descendants in Wanjie City, and in Eastern Capital City, he had even emptied the treasure pavilions of two or three Princes. Additionally, during his travels outside, he had also obtained quite a number of natural treasures usable by Gold Core Realm cultivators. Distributing these gains to the hundred or so people in front of him would certainly be more than enough.

However, by doing so, Qi Tian would inevitably incur considerable losses. But upon reflection, Qi Tian recalled that since he left Eastern Capital City, he had come across several opportunities, successively killing Shen Ziyu, Pan, and other four cultivators at the Gold Core Stage Eighth Level, and had obtained treasures like colored glaze sand, a small space, and the tiny worm. Each opportunity had brought him significant gains. Compared to these gains, sacrificing some medicinal pills was not a big deal. Besides, inside the Inner Underground Palace of the Saint’s Tomb, there would surely be even more opportunities waiting for him. If he could reap a few more rewards, his current expenditures would definitely yield many times the return. With this calculation, Qi Tian would definitely not be at a loss.

Having decided to distribute medicinal pills to everyone, the next question was how to go about it. To minimize casualties, it was necessary to distribute high-quality and sufficient quantities of medicinal pills. However, this led to a concern: is it possible for everyone to think that Qi Tian doing this was a given, so that when they received the medicinal pills from Qi Tian, they felt entitled and ungrateful?

This situation was entirely possible, as offerings of grain can give rise to feelings of gratitude or resentment. This mentality was not only common among ordinary people but also widespread among cultivators. If the cultivators did not express any gratitude when they received the medicinal pills from Qi Tian, or only gave a perfunctory thanks without taking it seriously, they would brazenly continue to demand more from Qi Tian next time, seeing it as a matter of pride rather than shame. This outcome was definitely not what Qi Tian wanted to see.

Another concern was that if these people thought the medicinal pills were easy to come by, then they may not take them seriously and waste them recklessly—consuming lifesaving medicinal pills like they were common healing drugs for minor injuries. This was something Qi Tian could not tolerate and needed to take into consideration in advance.

To prevent these situations, Qi Tian had to take measures from the start to nip the problem in the bud. He needed to find a way.

After some thought, Qi Tian said, “Sir, the medicinal pills in your hands all have one issue or another. Relying on these pills to get through the challenges ahead and successfully seize the opportunities within the Inner Underground Palace is extremely difficult. We have shared hardships together, and I cannot bear to see any more of our comrades fall, so I have decided to aid everyone with some medicinal pills.”

Upon hearing this, everyone was overjoyed and praised Qi Tian’s decision. They might not know that Qi Tian had plundered the Treasure Pavilion of two or three Princes during the opportunity of the Gold Core Tribulation, but they were aware that Qi Tian had successively killed Shen Ziyu, Pan, and other four cultivators of the Gold Core Stage Eighth Level, and definitely had not gained little. Solving their medicinal pill shortage was presumed to be no big deal for Qi Tian.

Qi Tian gestured downward with his hand and said, “There’s a saying that actions should be justified. Most of you here are subordinates of the Princes, and for me to distribute medicinal pills to you without any reason wouldn’t be proper. I cannot just give you the pills because you lack them—you should all understand that. However, I cannot stand by and watch you lose your lives here due to a lack of medicinal pills. Therefore, I need to establish a reason to distribute these pills to you, fair and square. I have thought of a reason, and that is to base the quantity and quality of the medicinal pills distributed on each person’s contributions during our exploration of the Saint’s Tomb.”

The crowd looked at each other, at a loss. Aside from a few Princes, there was no hierarchical relationship between them and Qi Tian. Moreover, during this entry into the Saint’s Tomb, Qi Tian hadn’t asked them for anything. For instance, during the cleanup of the Outer Palaces, Qi Tian didn’t take a single item of everyone’s gains; instead, he had provided them protection several times throughout the process. With these precedents, it indeed seemed unreasonable for them to demand medicinal pills from Qi Tian. But then again, if it weren’t for Qi Tian, they wouldn’t have embarked on this expedition to the Saint’s Tomb.

Qi Tian continued, “Under these pressing circumstances, it would be pointless to wait until the exploration is over to reward your efforts and then distribute the medicinal pills. Therefore, I’ve decided to change the distribution method—I will distribute twenty medicinal pills in advance to each of you. Each will receive ten pills to replenish Spirit Qi and ten for healing injuries, with both types available in two different qualities—five pills of each quality. Each of the twenty pills will correspond to a certain number of merits. After we finish exploring the Saint’s Tomb, you will settle accounts with me. If your merits are sufficient, then my medicinal pills will have been a gift to you. Should the merits you’ve earned be insufficient, I am sorry, but you will have to return the pills according to the shortfall of merits. Of course, if you’ve earned particularly great merits exceeding the value of the pills, I will also provide additional rewards to those Sirs.”