Chapter 217: Zhang Yu's Bountiful Harvest

Watching Zhang Yu's attitude of treating money like dirt, Zhou Chechen knew that this guy's appetite this time must be huge.

"Father and Uncle will definitely have to bleed quite a bit to satisfy that Sixth-Rank True God."

"But the ones directly involved here, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen... also need to be handled."

Although Zhou Chechen had already anticipated this, the thought of having to apologize and admit his fault to two people like Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, and also having to give them a pound of flesh, made him feel stifled with resentment in his heart.

He never imagined that a year ago, these two who were nothing more than ants in his eyes, people he could casually press their heads down and force to sign contracts, had grown to such a level in less than a year.

"So this is the power of having a Sixth-Rank True God backing you?"

Zhou Chechen suddenly recalled some secret anecdotes his father had mentioned—that those truly wealthy people above, their carefully refined bloodline descendants, owned shares and became company shareholders from the moment of birth, and could be believers of Faith Level 5 right from the start.

He sighed inwardly: "In this world, it all comes down to background in the end. The Zhou family is still too weak."

Zhou Chechen shook his head slightly, trying his best to cast aside the distracting thoughts and frustration, and continued speaking warmly to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen: "I know that no amount of money can fully make up for the trauma you two have suffered this time."

"I'm willing to give each of you 500,000—just a token of my sincerity..."

Zhang Yu waved his hand and said, "I told you, this isn't about money."

Bai Zhenzhen added coldly, "Do you think money can get you anything, even break the law?"

Zhou Chechen wanted to slam the table and shout, "Otherwise what?"

But thinking about the losses the company was incurring every second due to the lockdown from the blockade, his father's earnest instructions, and the family resources he had consumed since childhood... Zhou Chechen's proud neck finally bent.

He bowed again and said, "I'm sorry, both of you. I really didn't mean that you could be bought with money."

"This 500,000—no, I'll give each of you one million—is just to express my apology. I don't need any statement from you."

Having said that, Zhou Chechen, full of extreme frustration, suddenly kicked Yue Jincheng viciously in the chest and said coldly, "Take a good look at how much trouble your rampage has caused classmates Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen."

"Give me both your phones."

Hearing this, Yue Jincheng and Si Zhouyu's faces both twitched as they reluctantly handed over their phones.

Zhou Chechen took the two phones and said, "Today, I'm making the call—they'll each compensate you 500,000 as well, to express their apology."

On the side, Yue Jincheng and Si Zhouyu's expressions froze, feeling their hearts bleed.

Si Zhouyu's gaze toward Yue Jincheng was full of resentment, regretting more and more that he hadn't stopped him back then.

Zhang Yu's heart stirred. Zhou Chechen's one million plus these two's 500,000 each meant he and Bai Zhenzhen would both get 1.5 million, totaling three million.

Although he was already looking forward to how to use the cash once it came in, Zhang Yu still kept an impassive face, staring coldly at Zhou Chechen as if completely uninterested in that 1.5 million.

Zhou Chechen continued, "I know you've lost a lot of cultivation time. After I return to school, I'll find a way to make it up to you immediately..."

According to Zhou Chechen's proposal, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen would not need to follow the school's various rules and could arrange their own class schedules freely.

Not only could they skip general courses like math and Chinese as they pleased, but they could also skip martial arts, physical education, Dao arts, and mana classes. Zhang Yu's after-school Dao arts remedial classes would be canceled directly...

In addition, all kinds of school benefits would be prioritized for them.

For example, they would receive three doses of the potion distributed in physical education class each day, they could borrow the school's spirit root for 100 hours per month for free, they could request any martial arts teacher to be their free sparring partner for a certain amount of time, and besides that, there were the school's spirit realm training qualifications...

Although she knew Zhou Chechen was using school resources to give benefits, Bai Zhenzhen's heart still raced when she heard about one-on-one tutoring from martial arts teachers.

She thought to herself, "Before fighting against Yunjing, if I could spar every day with those martial arts teachers who are at the peak of Qi Refining, it would definitely help improve my combat ability."

As for Zhang Yu, upon hearing about borrowing the spirit root for free for 100 hours per month and the spirit realm training qualifications, he couldn't help raising an eyebrow.

The enhancement from various spirit roots was something he, who had no spirit root, could never have enough of.

Spirit realm training was exactly what he needed now, given his lagging Dao heart.

Especially now that these things were being offered for free, they were even more appealing to Zhang Yu, who was currently dead broke.

Zhang Yu said flatly, "Are you sure all of this is free? Until I graduate?"

Faced with Zhang Yu's doubt, Zhou Chechen naturally patted his chest and guaranteed it. These resources were expensive for outsiders, but for the school itself, it was just a matter of allocating existing resources.

And since Songyang High School was under the Wanxing Group, with the Zhou family's backing, Zhou Chechen could certainly interfere in the allocation of resources.

He thought to himself, "Anyway, the idle spirit roots are just sitting there. Might as well lend them both to them for free."

"As for the spirit realm, I'll have to reluctantly give up my and Lan Ling's spots."

"That part is simple for the teacher—just schedule more sessions where they guide Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen in class," Zhang Yu said. "Hearing you promise isn't enough. Sign a contract."

Zhou Chechen was taken aback; he never thought that the time he had tried to get Zhang Yu to sign a contract and failed would now be reversed, with Zhang Yu pushing him to sign one instead.

He forced a smile and said, "No problem."

Just then, Fuji reminded him, "Haven't you always wanted to learn more techniques? Make him hand over all the techniques that Songyang High School has teaching rights to."

Zhang Yu's eyes lit up at this, and he quickly put forward this request.

He knew that many of Songyang High School's expert-level techniques were only granted to outstanding students in the second semester of sophomore year and during senior year.

Not to mention that these expert-level techniques could themselves improve his strength—he remembered that when he was learning the basic techniques earlier, he had incidentally browsed the school's other copyrighted techniques, among which there were several that could light up chain-method diagrams and form set effects for him.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "I recall one of them can be used to form the Martial Saint Embryo, and another can be used to form the Dragon Bloodline."

Zhou Chechen nodded and said, "No problem. Whether it's freshman, sophomore, or senior year technique materials, you can learn whatever you want."

Fuji reminded again, "You need to specify exactly what Spiritual Root it is. It won't be long before both you and Bai Zhenzhen reach the peak of Qi Refining in terms of mana and physique. Many Spiritual Roots will be useless to you by then."

"Especially if he tries to fob you off with inferior Spiritual Roots—then they'd be completely useless to you."

Not a single mistake—every piece of content is right here for you to see!

Hearing Zhang Yu's latest request, Zhou Chechen helplessly listed all the school's Heaven-grade Spiritual Roots for Zhang Yu to choose from and then write into the contract.

Zhou Chechen introduced, "The most famous, most useful, and most valuable at Songyang High School is, of course, the Primordial Yang Spiritual Root."

"The Primordial Yang Spiritual Root can refine the primordial yang essence within a virgin's body into mana, and its effect on enhancing mana is quite formidable..."

Hearing the words "enhance mana," Zhang Yu lost interest, since his mana was already close to 100 points.

Especially when he recalled that this so-called Primordial Yang Spiritual Root had been passed down at Songyang High School for nearly twenty years, handled by generations of seniors, and had absorbed the primordial yang essence of thousands of students.

The remaining Heaven-grade Spiritual Roots also mainly focused on boosting mana and physical strength. Zhang Yu looked them over and found none of them satisfactory. "Just these?"

Zhou Chechen gritted his teeth and had to say, "There are some Heaven-grade Spiritual Roots in my family that are normally leased to clan members. See if any of those interest you."

"Of course, it's still 100 hours of free use per month."

Looking at another list Zhou Chechen had provided, Zhang Yu's eyes immediately lit up as he spotted some very rare Spiritual Roots.

Zhang Yu: "What does this Death Spiritual Root do?"

Zhou Chechen replied, "It can absorb the death qi from the deceased. It is specially used for cultivating my Zhou family's hereditary techniques. To make full use of the Death Spiritual Root, you'd better have a large stock of corpses—the older the corpse, the better."

Zhang Yu asked again, "And this Winter Spiritual Root?"

Zhou Chechen answered, "It can absorb cold energy and change the attribute of your own mana. It needs to be used in conjunction with a low-temperature freezing chamber."

Zhang Yu went through these Heaven-grade Spiritual Roots one by one, finally settling his sights on...

"This Resentment Spiritual Root is quite interesting."

Of course, Zhang Yu had a reason for choosing the Resentment Spiritual Root. He clearly remembered that among the techniques he had previously looked up for forming the 'Martial Saint Embryo,' there was a relatively cheap expert-level technique called the Resentment Fiend Technique, which cost only 500,000.

The reason it was cheaper than the other techniques in the Martial Saint Embryo was that this technique required refining resentment energy and tempering the body with it.

Because the cultivation threshold was high, fewer and fewer people practiced it, and the technique's price had been dropping all the way to the present.

Zhou Chechen said, "The Resentment Spiritual Root is a Spiritual Root that extracts the resentment of the dead. Ordinary cultivators have no use for it."

Fuji said, "Heh, this kid is feeling stingy. The Resentment Spiritual Root can extract more than just the resentment of the dead—he's lying to you."

Zhang Yu glanced at Zhou Chechen and said coolly, "How come I remember the Resentment Spiritual Root can also refine the resentment of the living?"

"Speaking of which, how can the resentment of the dead compare to that of the living in amount?"

"Especially high schools and companies—aren't these some of the places with the most resentment in the world?"

Zhou Chechen hadn't expected Zhang Yu to be knowledgeable about the Resentment Spiritual Root. He helplessly nodded and said, "I forgot if you hadn't mentioned it."

"But if you want to refine resentment energy in the school, there will be a fee."

"Huh?" Zhang Yu said in surprise, "You charge for this too?"

Zhou Chechen reminded him, "You may have forgotten, but in the contract every student signs before entering school, there is a clause stipulating that resources generated within the school—such as resentment, death qi, excrement, etc., produced during cultivation—the school theoretically has first disposal rights."

"Of course, I can have the school waive this fee for you as an apology to you both."