Seeing Zhang Yu’s apparent disregard for money, Zhou Chechen knew that this time, his demands would be substantial.

“My father and uncle will certainly have to pay a hefty price to appease that sixth-level True God.”

“However, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, as the direct parties, also need to be placated.”

Although Zhou Chechen had already anticipated this, the thought of not only apologizing and admitting his wrongdoing to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen but also having to make significant concessions to them left him feeling utterly choked.

He could never have imagined that these two penniless individuals, whom he considered mere ants a year ago and could easily force into signing any contract, would have grown to such a degree in less than a year.

“Is this the sheer power of having a sixth-level True God as a patron?”

Zhou Chechen suddenly remembered some confidential matters his father had once discussed. He had heard that among the truly wealthy, their meticulously refined bloodline descendants were born with company shares, becoming shareholders, and could even attain a faith level of 5 from birth.

He sighed to himself, “Ultimately, in this world, it’s all about one’s background. The Zhou family is still too weak.”

Zhou Chechen shook his head slightly, striving to dispel the conflicting thoughts and suppressed indignation, and continued to address Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen gently, “I understand that no amount of money can truly mend the emotional wounds you both have suffered.”

“I am willing to offer each of you 500,000 as a token of my sincerity…”

Zhang Yu waved his hand. “I’ve already told you, this isn’t about money,” he stated.

Bai Zhenzhen, standing nearby, added in a frigid tone, “Do you think having money allows you to do whatever you please and break the law?”

Zhou Chechen had been about to slam the table and yell, “What else do you expect?”

However, the thought of the company’s shutdown due to the blockade, the constant financial losses incurred every minute because of it, his father’s myriad warnings, and the family resources he had used since childhood… Zhou Chechen’s defiant posture finally crumbled.

He bowed again. “I apologize, both of you,” he said, “I truly did not mean to imply that money could simply buy your silence.”

“This 500,000—no, I’ll offer each of you 1,000,000. It’s solely to express my deepest apologies, and no particular response is required from either of you.”

As he spoke, Zhou Chechen, feeling utterly humiliated, suddenly delivered a harsh kick to Yue Jincheng’s chest. “Take a good look at how much trouble your insanity has caused Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen this time,” he said coldly.

“Now, hand over both your phones.”

Yue Jincheng and Si Zhouyu flinched upon hearing this, then struggled to hand over their phones.

Zhou Chechen took their phones and declared, “Today, I’m calling the shots. I’m making them pay each of you 500,000 as a further apology.”

Yue Jincheng and Si Zhouyu, standing nearby, stiffened and felt their hearts bleed at his words.

Si Zhouyu’s gaze at Yue Jincheng was filled with even deeper resentment, regretting all the more that he hadn’t managed to stop him earlier.

Zhang Yu’s mind stirred. With Zhou Chechen’s 1,000,000 and the additional 500,000 from each of the other two, he and Bai Zhenzhen would each receive 1,500,000, making a grand total of 3,000,000.

Although he was already contemplating how to utilize this influx of cash, Zhang Yu maintained an unperturbed demeanor, gazing coldly at Zhou Chechen, as if completely uninterested in the 1,500,000.

Zhou Chechen then added, “I understand that you both have lost a significant amount of cultivation time. Upon my return to school, I will immediately arrange for your compensation…”

According to Zhou Chechen, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen would no longer be bound by many of the school’s regulations and could freely customize their coursework.

Not only would they have unrestricted access to and from general education classes like mathematics and literature, but it wouldn’t even matter if they skipped martial arts, physical education, Daoist arts, or spiritual energy classes. Furthermore, Zhang Yu’s after-school Daoist arts tutoring would be immediately canceled.

In addition, all sorts of school benefits would be preferentially allocated to them.

For example, they would receive three daily portions of the elixirs distributed during physical education classes. They could freely borrow the school’s spiritual roots for 100 hours each month and could request any martial arts instructor to spar with them for a specified period, free of charge. Moreover, they would gain access to the school’s spiritual realm training qualifications.

Although she recognized that Zhou Chechen was essentially leveraging school resources for these benefits, Bai Zhenzhen’s heart still fluttered upon hearing about the one-on-one martial arts tutoring sessions.

She mused to herself, “Before my fight with Yun Jing, constant sparring with those martial arts instructors at the Qi cultivation peak would undoubtedly be immensely beneficial for enhancing my combat prowess.”

Zhang Yu, too, couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow upon hearing about the free 100 hours of spiritual root usage per month and the spiritual realm training qualification.

For Zhang Yu, who possessed no spiritual roots of his own, the benefits of various spiritual roots were always something he could never have enough of.

Moreover, spiritual realm training was precisely what Zhang Yu needed, especially given his current lagging Dao heart cultivation.

These offerings were particularly appealing to Zhang Yu, who was currently penniless, especially since they were now being provided free of charge.

“Are you certain all of this will be provided free of charge?” Zhang Yu asked calmly, “Until I graduate?”

Confronted with Zhang Yu’s skepticism, Zhou Chechen naturally thumped his chest and offered his solemn guarantee. While these resources were costly for outsiders, for the school itself, it was merely a matter of reallocating existing assets.

As Songyang High School operated under the Wanxing Group, and with the Zhou family’s current backing, Zhou Chechen was naturally in a position to influence its resource distribution.

He mused inwardly, “Unused spiritual roots are just lying idle anyway. I might as well let both of them use them for free.”

“Regarding the spiritual realm, I’ll just have to grit my teeth and concede my and Lan Ling’s spots.”

“As for the instructors, that’s simple enough. We’ll just schedule a few more guidance sessions specifically for Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.”

“Your word alone is not enough,” Zhang Yu stated. “Let’s draw up a contract.”

Zhou Chechen paused, slightly taken aback. He hadn’t succeeded in making Zhang Yu sign a contract before, but now, the tables had turned, and he was the one being pressed by Zhang Yu to sign one.

He managed a strained smile. “No problem at all,” he replied.

At that moment, Fu Ji interjected, “Haven’t you always wanted to learn more cultivation techniques? Make him hand over all the cultivation methods that Songyang High School is authorized to teach.”

Zhang Yu’s eyes lit up, and he promptly made this demand.

He knew that Songyang High School reserved many expert-level cultivation techniques for exceptional students, typically introduced only in the latter half of the second year or in the third year.

Not only would these expert-level cultivation techniques directly enhance his strength, but he also recalled that while studying basic techniques, he had incidentally reviewed other copyrighted methods available at the school. Several of these could be used to activate his Chain Skill Diagram, forming powerful set effects.

Zhang Yu mused, “I recall one of them can be used to form a ‘Martial Dao Holy Embryo,’ and another can be used to form a ‘Myriad Dragon Bloodline.'”

Zhou Chechen nodded. “No problem,” he said. “Whether it’s cultivation technique textbooks from the first, second, or third year, you can learn whatever you wish.”

Fu Ji interjected once more, “You need to specify exactly which spiritual roots. It won’t be long before both your spiritual energy and physical bodies reach the Qi cultivation peak, at which point many spiritual roots will become useless to you.”

“Particularly at that point, if he tries to fob you off with lower-grade spiritual roots, they will be utterly worthless to you.”

Hearing Zhang Yu’s latest demand, Zhou Chechen somewhat resignedly listed all of the school’s Heaven-grade spiritual roots for Zhang Yu to choose from, to be included in the contract.

Zhou Chechen began to explain, “The most renowned, most effective, and most valuable spiritual root at Songyang High School is, of course, the Prime Yang Spiritual Root.”

“The Prime Yang Spiritual Root can refine the Prime Yang essence within a male virgin’s body into spiritual energy, greatly enhancing its effects…”

Zhang Yu quickly lost interest upon hearing about enhancing spiritual energy, as his own spiritual energy was already approaching 100 points.

Moreover, he remembered that this ‘Prime Yang Spiritual Root’ had been passed around Songyang High School for nearly twenty years, handled by generations of predecessors, and was tainted with the Prime Yang essence of thousands of students.

The remaining Heaven-grade spiritual roots primarily focused on enhancing spiritual energy and physical strength. Zhang Yu scrutinized the list, unsatisfied. “Is that all?” he asked.

Zhou Chechen gritted his teeth and reluctantly admitted, “My family also possesses some Heaven-grade spiritual roots that are typically leased to clan members. You might find something of interest there.”

“Naturally, these also come with 100 hours of free use each month.”

As Zhou Chechen presented another list, Zhang Yu’s eyes immediately brightened, realizing these were all extremely rare spiritual roots.

“What is this Necrotic Spiritual Root used for?” Zhang Yu inquired.

“It can absorb death energy from deceased individuals,” Zhou Chechen replied. “It’s specifically used for cultivating our Zhou family’s inherited techniques. To fully utilize this Necrotic Spiritual Root, one ideally needs a substantial stock of cadavers, and the older the corpses, the better.”

“And this Winter Spiritual Root?” Zhang Yu pressed.

“It absorbs frost energy and can alter one’s spiritual energy attribute,” Zhou Chechen explained. “It requires the use of a low-temperature cryogenic chamber.”

Zhang Yu reviewed each of these Heaven-grade spiritual roots, ultimately settling on…

“This Resentment Spiritual Root is quite interesting.”

Zhang Yu’s choice of the Resentment Spiritual Root was deliberate. He clearly recalled that among the cultivation techniques required to form the ‘Martial Dao Sacred Embryo,’ there was a relatively inexpensive expert-level Resentful Fiend Technique, priced at just 500,000.

The reason this particular technique was cheaper than others for the Martial Dao Sacred Embryo was that it required refining and tempering the body with malevolent resentment.

Due to its exceptionally high cultivation threshold, fewer and fewer individuals practiced it, causing the price of the technique to steadily decline over time.

“This Resentment Spiritual Root primarily extracts malevolent thoughts from the deceased,” Zhou Chechen explained. “It’s generally useless for ordinary cultivators.”

Fu Ji chuckled. “Heh, this boy is getting stingy. The Resentment Spiritual Root isn’t limited to extracting malice from the deceased. He’s trying to mislead you.”

Zhang Yu cast a dismissive glance at Zhou Chechen. “As I recall,” he said calmly, “the Resentment Spiritual Root can also extract malice from the living.”

“And frankly, how could the resentment of the dead possibly compare to that of the living?”

“Especially high schools and corporations – aren’t those some of the places with the most accumulated resentment in the world?”

Zhou Chechen hadn’t expected Zhang Yu to be knowledgeable about the Resentment Spiritual Root. He nodded resignedly. “Now that you mention it,” he said, “I’d completely forgotten.”

“However, if you intend to refine resentment within the school premises, there will be a charge.”

“Huh?” Zhang Yu exclaimed, surprised. “Even that comes with a fee?”

“You might have forgotten,” Zhou Chechen reminded him, “but a specific clause in the contract every student signs before enrollment states that the school theoretically holds primary disposal rights over resources generated within its premises through cultivation, such as resentment, death energy, and even waste products.”

“Naturally, I can arrange for the school to waive this fee for you, as part of our apology to both of you.”