Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan Chapter 2014 1476: Forced Compromise

Fearing for Li Debo's personal safety, the Elders vehemently opposed his decision to descend onto the battlefield to oversee affairs.

However, because he remained immovable in his insistence, the Elders reached a stalemate. They eventually compromised, provided he adhered to specific restrictions: he was forbidden from standing on the frontlines and was required to remain aboard a specially fortified spirit boat docked safely behind the main forces.

When Li Debo first departed from Mount Wanxian, the Elders behaved with standard decorum, avoiding any illicit deeds. Yet, as the Clan Leader stayed away for an extended duration, the sheer volume of precious spiritual objects passing through their hands became too tempting; their resolve steadily crumbled.

Once the initial Elder initiated the scheme, the others were either actively courted or reluctantly pulled in, finding themselves entangled in the conspiracy.

Before long, they had forged a tight, secretive network.

By framing the disappearing spiritual objects as routine logistics depletion and minor breakage, they made the losses look completely natural to any external observer.

They were inherently cowardly, however; fearing detection, they dared not pilfer massive amounts at once. Instead, they acted like rodents raiding a granary, nibbling away at the stockpile in tiny increments.

Though they exercised immense caution, they were unaware that one of their own had joined the group with a hidden agenda from the very beginning.

This individual was Elder Li Dehou, who had previously tipped off Li Debo, prompting the leader to prepare secret countermeasures.

The other Elders, knowing Li Dehou had previously remained clean, initially viewed him with suspicion.

However, he controlled a vital logistics node essential for moving the spiritual objects. Without his cooperation, their scheme could never expand beyond a paltry scale.

Suffering through the torture of seeing vast treasures moved daily without being able to claim a share, the other conspirators eventually learned that Li Dehou’s Dao companion, Liu Xianglan, had suffered a severe, foundation-shattering injury during her external training. She required vast resources just to stabilize her failing vitality.

Recovering her strength would cost even more; she was in dire need of these spiritual objects.

After testing his resolve, they successfully coerced him into their ranks. Within a short time, their intercepted haul surged from a few dozen items to several hundred.

...

Inside the modest cave mansion of Li Dehou on Mount Wanxian.

"If your actions are disclosed, you will be cast out from the clan!" Liu Xianglan stared at Li Dehou, her face etched with anxiety as he meticulously tallied the latest transport manifest and marked which items had been pocketed.

Though she appeared frail and on the brink of death, her condition was a fabrication; she had sustained no such injury, let alone one past the point of recovery.

Li Dehou ignored her, focusing entirely on his ledger. Once the tally was confirmed, he solemnly sealed the jade slip within a concealed cranny of his chamber.

"I understand. But some weights must be borne by a single person."

A faint smile touched Li Dehou’s lips. "Furthermore, the Clan Leader is not the type to discard his loyal subjects once they have served their purpose."

"Hmph! I have never seen you interact with him closely—what grants you such blind confidence?"

"Ease your heart. Even if the Clan Leader possessed such a cold heart, we still have Ancestor Rui and Yao Ancestor watching over the clan. Such a massive scandal would not escape the gaze of those two patriarchs."

Hearing this, Liu Xianglan finally exhaled. Indeed, with those two powerful figures as safety nets, they would never allow her Dao companion to face ruin in vain.

Perhaps he might even earn the notice of the two Ancestors through this clandestine work!

At that prospect, Liu Xianglan felt a flicker of anticipation.

...

Conversely, far away in the Ten Thousand Spirit Sea Area on Wanling Island.

After settling his primary arrangements, Li Debo took charge of the station. He held a secondary motive: waiting for the reckless Elders to expose their hands.

"Hmph! So, those greedy rats can truly no longer restrain their hunger?"

Inside half a month, Li Debo noticed that the latest shipment of spiritual items was slightly lighter than the previous count—only by a few hundred pieces.

Technically, the variance could be dismissed as natural losses; nothing seemed flagrantly amiss. But because he had arrived with deep-seated suspicion, his intuition immediately pointed the finger at the Elders.

Li Debo’s instincts were correct, yet he lacked the hard evidence to confirm his theories.

"I wonder if Dehou is handling his duties correctly—did he strictly track the inventory? If even he has succumbed to corruption, then..."

A chilling glint sharpened in his eyes.

Though he held some lingering faith in Li Dehou, the integrity of the entire clan was at stake, and he could not rely on faith alone.

Consequently, in addition to his overt supervision, Li Debo activated the Dark Department—a secret organization known only to successive Clan Leaders, Li Zhirui, and Li Mingyao—and ordered them to begin gathering irrefutable proof.

"The time is not yet ripe. Losing a few hundred spiritual objects is insufficient to warrant a punishment harsh enough to serve as a permanent lesson for the sect."

"Wait a little longer—just a bit longer..."

Li Debo whispered to himself, stifling his mounting rage. He set aside the jade slip, choosing to avoid dwell on the frustration for now.

He then retrieved another jade slip, detailing the progress of the clan’s ongoing conflict in the East Sea.

The war proceeded exactly as forecasted. The Sea Clan possessed few potent Water Devils on patrol, allowing their forces to advance smoothly without any significant resistance.