From Now On, the Ye Family's Providence Is Scattered

"Young Master Chu Chen's monthly allowance is..."

Under the crushing weight of everyone's stares, Steward Fu braced himself, preparing to speak the truth.

"Father!"

Right at that moment, Ye Xuan, who had remained silent all along, suddenly spoke up. Drawing everyone's attention, he shot a subtle, warning glare at Steward Fu.

Steward Fu froze. A flicker of struggle flashed through his eyes, but he ultimately lowered his head and stepped back two paces, obediently shutting his mouth.

Chu Chen had long been stripped of his Saint Son title, and it was highly likely he had already perished in the jaws of a Demon Beast. Meanwhile, Ye Xuan was the Ye family's new Saint Son, showered with endless favor and destined for limitless achievements.

Though his heart ached with injustice for Chu Chen, to offend the current Saint Son for the sake of a dead man...

This...

"Little Xuan, what are you..."

Ye Lingyue furrowed her brows, looking at Ye Xuan in confusion. She could not fathom why he would interrupt Steward Fu at such a time.

In her memory, Ye Xuan was one of the few people in the Ye family who had treated Chu Chen with any semblance of kindness.

Over the past three years, whenever Ye Qingqing, Ye Han, and Ye Ling'er bullied Chu Chen, Ye Xuan would always step in to mediate. He would speak up for Chu Chen while gently coaxing his sisters back to a good mood.

Although Ye Xuan was merely an adopted son, he always affectionately called him "Brother Chu Chen." He had never once mocked him for his crippled cultivation.

Even Ye Lingyue, the eldest sister, felt deeply ashamed of her own behavior in comparison.

Pure-hearted and innocent.

This was surely why Ye Xuan was so beloved by everyone in the Ye family.

Yet, why would he interrupt Steward Fu now? Could it be...

Ye Lingyue's willow brows knitted tighter. The other Ye family members also turned to Ye Xuan, their faces filled with doubt.

"Father, sisters!"

"I only thought... Brother Chu Chen fought to the death against the Demon Clan Empress Lin Shuwang for our Ye family. Not only did he elevate us to an Immortal Aristocratic Family, but he also prevented a catastrophic war between the righteous and demonic paths, sparing countless lives."

"With such monumental achievements, even if... even if Brother Chu Chen's monthly allowance were exorbitant, it would be entirely justified!"

Ye Xuan cupped his hands, bowing deeply to Ye Ding upon the Patriarch's throne and to his surrounding sisters. He continued, his voice trembling with righteous conviction:

"Moreover, our Ye family's control over the ninety-nine spiritual veins of the world is entirely thanks to Brother Chu Chen defeating Lin Shuwang. Compared to ninety-nine spiritual veins, whatever Spirit Stones and Pills Brother Chu Chen received each month... what does it even matter?"

"Father, it pains me to see us arguing over his allowance. I truly believe our most urgent priority should be finding Brother Chu Chen and bringing him home!"

Alive, he needed to see the man; dead, he needed to see the corpse. This white lotus, Ye Xuan, had absolutely no intention of letting the matter drop.

If Chu Chen was dead, whose Providence would he plunder? How would he dominate the Ye family? How would he sweep across the entire Desolate Ancient Continent?!

"Brother Chu Chen is blessed by the heavens. I firmly believe that even without the Protective Dao Seal, he will surely turn misfortune into blessing and escape with his life!"

Reaching the emotional climax of his speech, Ye Xuan's eyes reddened. Fat teardrops spilled over his lashes, trailing pitifully down his cheeks.

Silence!

The entire grand hall fell deathly silent!

Faced with Ye Xuan's impassioned, heartfelt plea, the Ye family members stood with their mouths agape, their stirred emotions unable to settle.

Even Ye Lingyue's gaze toward Ye Xuan softened dramatically.

Originally, the uncertainty of Chu Chen's fate had bred a sliver of resentment in her heart toward Ye Xuan for replacing him. But hearing these sincere, tearful words, all her dissatisfaction melted away, leaving only deep emotion.

Ye Ding even gave Ye Xuan an approving nod, praising him from the bottom of his heart:

"Xuan'er, you..."

"You are simply too kind!"

"If that little beast had even half your character-no! Even a tenth of it! Why would I have ever expelled him from the Ye family?!"

Seeing this, Ye Xuan breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Ye Han, Ye Qingqing, and Ye Ling'er exchanged subtle glances, the corners of their lips curling upward.

This matter...

Had finally been successfully glossed over.

"But when I encountered Chu Chen in Sky Demon Gorge, he was dressed in rags. He didn't even have a decent Dharma Robe."

Unexpectedly, Ye Lingyue seemed to recall something. She turned her sharp gaze back to the silent Steward Fu, demanding:

"Let alone Dharma Treasures to conceal his aura, or Spirit Pills for healing. Logically, even if Chu Chen had lost his cultivation, he was still the Saint Son of our Ye family. How could he have fallen into such a wretched state?"

"Steward Fu, answer me. Exactly how much was Chu Chen's monthly allowance?"

Steward Fu hesitated, his mouth opening and closing. Under Ye Lingyue's relentless questioning, he looked helplessly at Ye Xuan, then at Ye Ding.

Finally, he could only heave a heavy sigh and lower his head in silence.

"Hmph, who knows if that little beast gambled away his monthly allowance or squandered it on some other vice?"

Ye Ding stood up, waving his hand with domineering authority:

"Steward Fu, exactly how much was the monthly allowance given to that little beast over the past three years?"

"Speak truthfully! Lest I, as the Patriarch, be forced to take the blame for that wretch's own squalor!"

Ye Lingyue was the eldest daughter of the Ye family and a personal disciple of the Divine Calculator. Skilled in divination and the Eight Trigrams, her words carried immense weight within the family.

Ye Ding needed to clear his name. He had to prove that, as a father and Patriarch, he had kept a level playing field, showing impartial love to both Chu Chen and Ye Xuan!

"Y-Yes... reporting to the Patriarch, the Ye family rules stipulate..."

Under Ye Ding's commanding gaze, Steward Fu took a deep breath. Knowing he couldn't dodge the question today, he cupped his hands and braced himself to answer:

"The Ye family Saint Son's monthly allowance is: one hundred Top Grade Spirit Stones! One thousand High Grade Spirit Stones! Ten thousand Middle Grade Spirit Stones!"

"Two thousand various Spirit Pills, including Healing Pills, Spirit Recovery Pills, and Qi Gathering Pills!"

"Dharma Treasures, cultivation methods, secret skills, and various heavenly materials and earthly treasures can... can be claimed as needed, with no upper limit..."

A clan's Saint Son was the clan's future.

The Saint Son's cultivation resources were undoubtedly the most premium and abundant in the entire family, completely unmatched by anyone else.

This was exactly why the white lotus, Ye Xuan, had racked his brains and exhausted every scheme to kick Chu Chen off the Saint Son throne and claim it for himself.

"Lingyue, you heard him, right?"

Before Steward Fu could even finish, Ye Ding stroked his sparse beard and snorted coldly:

"Even after that little beast was crippled, I, as his father, never once mistreated him!"

"His monthly allowance even exceeded my own as the Patriarch. Heaven only knows how many Spirit Stones and Pills that little beast hoarded over these past three years! To play the victim and pretend to be miserable in front of you is utterly despicable! Utterly hypocritical!"

Ye Lingyue was momentarily speechless. Could it be that Chu Chen's ragged, pitiful appearance had truly just been an act put on for her benefit?

No!

There was another possibility!!

Staring at the hesitant Steward Fu, Ye Lingyue stepped forward and demanded:

"Steward Fu, I am asking you! Over these past three years, was Chu Chen's monthly allowance... actually distributed according to the Saint Son standard?"

At these words, panic instantly flashed across the faces of Ye Ling'er, the other sisters, and even Ye Xuan.

"R-Reporting to the Eldest Miss, what I recited earlier was indeed the Saint Son standard, but Young Master Chu Chen's actual monthly allowance was only..."

Steward Fu sighed inwardly. Turning his head away, he braced himself and cupped his hands:

"Only five Low Grade Spirit Stones. As for Spirit Pills, Dharma Treasures, and cultivation methods..."

"He never received a single one!!"

Whoosh-

Ye Lingyue's body violently trembled, while Ye Ding's face filled with utter disbelief.

Five Spirit Stones?

And Low Grade ones at that?

Forget the fact that Chu Chen was the Ye family's Saint Son; even the lowest, most despicable servants in the Ye family received more than that for their monthly allowance!

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

The moment Steward Fu finished speaking, Patriarch Ye Ding's face flushed crimson with rage. Under Ye Lingyue's questioning gaze, he waved his hand and roared furiously:

"Steward Fu, did you secretly embezzle that... that little beast's monthly allowance?!"

Thud!!

Steward Fu instantly dropped to his knees, his face the picture of absolute grievance:

"Patriarch, I am unjustly accused!"

"This old servant never embezzled a single stone of Young Master Chu Chen's allowance! It was... it was..."

As he spoke, Steward Fu glanced nervously at Ye Ding, then at Ye Xuan, Ye Ling'er, and the others standing nearby, stammering uncontrollably.

"It was what?! Speak!"

Ye Ding snorted coldly, highly dissatisfied with Steward Fu's evasiveness.

"It was you, Patriarch! You said that since Young Master Chu Chen's Meridians were destroyed and his cultivation crippled, giving him so many resources was a waste. You ordered his allowance to be halved from then on."

"..."

Ye Ding choked on his words. He wanted to furiously deny it, but upon careful reflection, he seemed to have... perhaps... possibly... actually said something like that.

It was just that such a trivial matter had left absolutely no impression on him.

"Even if I did say that, halving the allowance would still leave that little beast with fifty Top Grade Spirit Stones! Five hundred High Grade Spirit Stones! Five thousand Middle Grade Spirit Stones! A thousand Spirit Pills, and so on! How could it possibly drop to..."

Before Ye Ding could finish, Ye Ling'er, realizing the truth could no longer be hidden, flushed red and stepped forward to confess:

"I... I halved Chu Chen's allowance again. Anyway, that waste can't cultivate, so giving him so many Spirit Stones and Pills is completely useless."

Under Ye Lingyue's utterly incredulous gaze, Ye Ling'er let out a defensive huff, genuinely feeling wronged:

"Of course, I didn't use all those Spirit Stones and Pills myself. I gave quite a few to Xuan'er. Xuan'er is the future hope of our Ye family."

"Even after halving it twice, he... he still had nearly two or three thousand Spirit Stones each month."

"..."

Consumed by extreme fury, Ye Lingyue's Spiritual Qi instantly violently erupted. She pointed a trembling finger at the innocent-looking Ye Ling'er, right on the verge of exploding, when her peripheral vision caught sight of Ye Han and Ye Qingqing shivering to the side. A sickening premonition shot straight to her mind.

"Ye Han! Ye Qingqing! What about you?! What else are you hiding from me?!"

Boom!

Violent Spiritual Qi burst forth from her body. Ye Lingyue's robes billowed without wind, her black hair whipping wildly around her.

"Eldest Sister, I... I also deducted half of Chu Chen's allowance."

Ye Han shrank back and whispered in defense:

"But... even so, Chu Chen still had over a thousand Spirit Stones left. Anyway, he's a waste and can't use them. Giving him more is useless..."

Before Ye Han could finish, Ye Qingqing also stepped forward. Blushing deeply, she said softly:

"Eldest Sister, I... I also deducted... deducted half of his allowance."

"Eldest Sister, you know I usually study Formations and refine Pills, which all require Spirit Stones. I..."

...

The other sisters didn't speak, but their evasive eyes said more than a thousand words.

It didn't take a genius to realize that aside from the eldest sister, Ye Lingyue, every single one of the siblings had participated in embezzling Chu Chen's allowance.

Ye Xuan hadn't directly participated, making him appear the most innocent and impartial. But in truth, he was the one who had planted the idea to embezzle Chu Chen's allowance in the first place.

Moreover, after the seven sisters finished skimming Chu Chen's allowance, they would each give half of their cut to Ye Xuan. He was the true winner.

"You... all of you..."

Ye Lingyue felt a suffocating knot of stagnant Qi block her chest, nearly causing her to faint on the spot. She had never imagined that this was the kind of life Chu Chen had been living in the Ye family for the past three years.

"Alright, alright, it's just a trivial matter. What's there to argue about?"

Ye Ding coughed lightly and waved his hand dismissively, completely unwilling to waste time on a dead man.

"Father, what are you saying? Chu Chen is also a member of the Ye family! He is your son! Our younger brother!"

Their own flesh and blood had died, so why were these people completely indifferent?

They even felt perfectly entitled to plunder Chu Chen's allowance, showing absolutely no shame even when exposed.

In her memory, even if a mere pet spirit beast died, the supposedly kind-hearted Ye Ling'er and the others would cry for days.

Faced with her family's chilling apathy, Ye Lingyue's delicate body trembled. Her breathtakingly beautiful face was as pale as paper, completely devoid of color.

"I am telling you all right now, you are wrong!"

"Even if Chu Chen lost his cultivation and his divine body was shattered, he still carried immense Providence! He was the one keeping our Ye family prosperous and thriving!"

Ye Lingyue wiped the blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, tears streaming down her face. Unable to hold back any longer, she roared hoarsely:

"Now that you have driven him away, the Ye family's Providence is scattered, and endless calamities will arise!"

"From now on, our family has absolutely no hope of ever reaching the pinnacle of the Desolate Ancient Continent!!"

"..."