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Flender stood there looking quite awkward. It was a well known fact among his friends that he was simply not good at business. He had opened a small shop in the past to scam a little money from unsuspecting customers, but every single copper coin he earned went directly into supporting Shrek Academy. The academy was always short on funds, and Flender often found himself in tight spots because of his lack of financial sense.
Zhao Wuji noticed the tension and hurriedly shook his head to distance himself from the mess. "You have to ask Flender about this matter. He is the one who wanted to get something for nothing. Don't look at me; I didn't make the bet."
Tang San remained silent, but he quietly took a step back. He moved his body behind Ma Hongjun, seemingly trying to use the larger boy to hide the Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges belt at his waist. He looked genuinely worried that Su Yan might try to snatch the precious spirit tool away to settle the debt.
As for Dai Mubai and the other students, it didn't really matter what they thought. As students, they had already followed their teachers' lead and done enough. No one could justify asking them to put up their own personal belongings as collateral for a debt their dean had incurred. Besides, the most important point was that none of them actually had anything valuable enough to be used as collateral anyway!
Yu Xiaogang stepped forward, his face looking very gloomy and stern. He tried to maintain his dignity despite the embarrassing situation. "It is only a difference of eighty thousand gold coins. We will definitely find a way to make it up to you within ten days. You have my word on that."
"Damn it!" Su Yan couldn't help but curse out loud, his patience completely gone. "You are someone who struggles to even pull out five hundred gold coins from your pocket, so what the hell are you posturing for? You talk big, but your pockets are empty."
"You..." Yu Xiaogang gritted his teeth in pure anger. The insult hit him hard because it was true. It was a case of low physical damage but extremely high emotional insult.
Su Yan didn't stop there and continued his verbal assault, determined to tear down the man's pride. "Every single day you walk around acting all high and mighty as if you are a peerless expert. But look at you! You have no real strength, and you certainly have no money.
Tell me, Yu Xiaogang, what exactly do you have to posture about? If I were your age and had no strength, no family background, no career, and no money or power, I would be ashamed. If I could only act tough while being poor, I would have no face to continue living in this world."
Yu Xiaogang felt like he had been struck by a physical blow. He was pushed back a few steps by the weight of the retort. He clutched his chest with one hand, feeling a sharp pain there, and pointed a shaking finger at Su Yan with the other. "You, you, you..." he stammered, unable to find any words to defend himself. Finally, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fainted directly on the spot.
This time, the man known as the Grandmaster was truly broken. Su Yan's words had been like true damage combined with critical hits to his ego.
Flender panicked and hurriedly caught Yu Xiaogang before he hit the ground. He held the man tightly and shook him back and forth while shouting at the top of his lungs, "Xiaogang! Xiaogang, what's wrong with you? Wake up! Xiaogang, don't scare me like this!"
Yu Xiaogang was actually somewhat resigned in his mind. He had finally managed to faint from the sheer anger and shame, hoping to escape the situation. He wondered why Flender, this professional pit-maker, had to shake him back to consciousness so quickly.
Seeing Yu Xiaogang's eyes flutter open, Flender secretly breathed a sigh of relief. However, his relief quickly turned into protective rage. He looked up at Su Yan and shouted angrily, "Enough! Su Yan, do not go too far. Have you no respect for your elders?"
Su Yan couldn't help but burst out laughing at the absurdity of the statement. "I'm the one going too far? That's hilarious. You didn't have one hundred thousand gold coins on you, yet you chose to bet that exact amount with me anyway.
It was obvious from the start that you wanted to scam me and get away without paying. Now that you've lost and can't come up with the remaining eighty thousand gold coins, how do you have the nerve to say I'm the one being unreasonable? Does the debtor suddenly become the boss just because he's poor?"
Flender felt a wave of guilt wash over him upon hearing those words. He knew Su Yan was right, but he still had to protect his friend. He gritted his teeth and replied in a deep voice, "It was I, Flender, who made the bet and it is I who owes the money. This situation has nothing to do with Xiaogang. He was just standing by. Do not give him a hard time anymore; take it out on me if you must."
In the mysterious chat group, the comments began to fly.
I Am an Orphan: As expected of you, Flender! Always the loyal friend to a fault.Ā
Bo Saixi: I am truly impressed. You, little bastard Su Yan, really have a silver tongue. I didn't know you were even this good at arguing.Ā
Bibi Dong: Liu Erlong, I have a serious question for you. Does this Flender like you, or does he actually like Yu Xiaogang? Because the way he protects him is quite something.Ā
Liu Erlong: ???Ā
Hu Liena: It is a valid question! Does Flender like you more, or does he like Yu Xiaogang more?
Zhu Zhuyun: I'm going to die laughing at this mess.
Zhu Zhuqing: Although it's a bit strange... but... Flender seems to really care about Yu Xiaogang more than his own reputation.
Ah Yin: Do you all think Flender's brotherly bond with Yu Xiaogang is stronger, or is his long-time admiration for Erlong the winner?Ā
Group Member No. 9: This is simple to solve. One day, let Liu Erlong and Yu Xiaogang get into a fight, and we'll know the answer as soon as we see who Flender tries to help first.Ā
At this moment, Su Yan was left speechless by Flender's stubbornness. He thought to himself, "It really has to be you, Flender! You're loyal to the point of being a fool."
"Fine!" Su Yan said, waving his hand dismissively. "So now there is still a shortage of eighty thousand gold coins. What do you suggest we do to fix this?"
Flender straightened his back and said in a deep voice, "I can write you an IOU first. I guarantee that I will have the eighty thousand gold coins ready for you in ten days. I will give you every single penny I owe, even if I have to sell the academy bricks."
Zhao Wuji couldn't help but speak up to support his friend. "Su Yan, how about we leave it at this for now? Give us some time to scrape the money together. We aren't going to run away."
Yu Xiaogang didn't dare to speak at all now. He remained quiet, having been truly broken by Su Yan's earlier verbal attack. He felt like any word he said would just lead to more insults.
Seeing Yu Xiaogang putting on that "dead man walking" look, Su Yan decided he couldn't be bothered to continue entangling with Flender and the others. It was becoming a waste of his time.
"Dean Flender, since we have talked to this point and you've given your word, I will give you and Teacher Zhao Wuji some face," Su Yan said. "Write the IOU now. But mark my words: if the eighty thousand gold coins are not paid back in ten days, don't say that I, Su Yan, didn't value our old relationship when I come to collect!"
Hearing Su Yan's compromise, Flender and his group finally breathed a collective sigh of relief. They immediately scrambled to find paper and a pen to write a formal IOU for the eighty thousand gold coins.
Su Yan accepted the paper, tucked it away, and glanced one last time at the miserable Yu Xiaogang. He said to the group, "Then our exchange between the two academies ends here today. We will come visit again when we have more time. With a Spirit Grand Master like Yu Xiaogang as your teacher, you students are truly blessed for the future. It would be very hard for us not to win against you every time!"
"Pfft," Ning Rongrong and the others couldn't help but laugh at the blatant sarcasm.
Yu Xiaogang was so overwhelmed with shame that he fainted from anger once again. This worried Flender terribly, and he went back to shaking him. "Xiaogang, Xiaogang, don't scare me!"
Seeing Su Yan and the others turn to leave, Zhao Wuji looked at the frantic Flender with a speechless expression. "Alright, stop with the 'Xiaogang, Xiaogang' for a moment. Hurry up and get up so we can think about how we are going to scrape together the remaining eighty thousand gold coins! We have a deadline now."
"Hey, wait!" Dai Mubai suddenly called out, his voice filled with worry. "Su Yan, you... you all can't leave yet! Our Spirits and Spirit Abilities haven't recovered. Look at us, we are all functioning as Healing Spirit Masters right now! This isn't our role!"
Ma Hongjun and Oscar also realized the gravity of the situation. They looked at Su Yan and his group with bitter faces. If the transformation was permanent, their combat potential was ruined. What would they do if the group just left them like this?
Su Yan turned around and replied with a playful smile, "Do you actually think that you can possess those healing abilities forever? In your dreams! Don't worry, once the Nine Heart Begonia flowers on your Spirit completely disappear on their own, your original Spirits will recover."
After Su Yan finished speaking, he took his group and walked away, leaving the Shrek group behind.
The three of themāDai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscarāinstantly breathed a massive sigh of relief. It was good to know they would eventually recover their original powers!
"Huh?" Zhao Wuji's eyes suddenly lit up with a devious idea. He turned to Flender and said, "The healing ability that this Nine Heart Begonia grants them seems quite strong, doesn't it? Since we are so short of money now and have that huge debt, we can let Xiao Bai and the others go and work as Healing Spirit Masters for a few days! People pay a lot for good healing."
Hearing Zhao Wuji's suggestion, Flender's eyes also lit up with greed. "That actually seems possible. We can earn quite a lot of money at the Spirit Arena by renting out their services. It is too hard to scrape together eighty thousand gold coins in ten days by ourselves, but this might just work."
Dai Mubai and the others felt completely numb. They thought to themselves, "Are you serious? We are already miserable enough from the defeat, and you actually still want us to work as Healing Spirit Masters just to make money? Are you even human?"
At this moment, Su Yan and his group had just moved a short distance away from Shrek Academy.
Whoosh! A dark figure suddenly descended from the sky. It moved so fast that almost everyone in the group hadn't even reacted yet.
"Ah!" Xiao Wu cried out in surprise, but then she saw it was just the Little Monkey who had landed. She asked with a puzzled face, "Little Monkey, where did you go? Wait... why do you seem to have Da Ming's aura on you? Did you see him?"
The Little Monkey didn't answer with words. Instead, it kicked a creature toward Su Yan's feet. It was the Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger. The beast was smart and understood instantly that Su Yan was the true master of this group.
The Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger, which usually terrified other beasts, hurriedly lay down by Su Yan's leg. It rubbed its neck against his boot to show submission and started to curry favor by making "woof woof" barking sounds from its mouth, acting exactly like a pet dog.
The Little Monkey jumped back onto Su Yan's shoulder and began chattering non-stop, explaining its successful hunt in its own way.
"Wait!" Ling Yuan and Ah Yin were suddenly shocked. Although the Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger currently looked like a harmless big kitty, they were both powerful enough to sense the terrifying aura hidden within its body.
"Is this... a Spirit Beast over fifty thousand years old?" one of them whispered in awe.
"No way," the other replied. "This looks like a catāoh wait, it's definitely a tiger. But why is it making a dog's barking sound? This is so strange."
Inside the chat group, the activity spiked again.
Nine Treasures Little Princess: Sends an image of the Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger in its "Big Kitty" version.Ā
Nine Treasures Little Princess: Sisters, does anyone know what kind of Spirit Beast this is? Little Monkey just caught it and brought it back. It looks like a cat, but it should be a tiger, yet it's making a dog's barking sound. It's very confusing.Ā
Everyone: ???Ā