Zhang Yu didn’t wait for Le Mulan’s reply before sending similar messages to Xiong Wenwu and Yu Xinghan.

The messages were roughly the same, asking them to contact influential people at their respective schools to secure payment for his and Bai Zhenzhen’s withdrawal from upcoming competitions.

Meanwhile, at Ziyun High School…

Le Jingchen looked at the message from his sister and smiled, saying, “They’ve come to negotiate prices themselves, have they?”

“It seems Zhou Chechen can’t control him anymore.”

After a moment’s thought, Le Jingchen didn’t contact Zhang Yu immediately but instead asked Le Mulan, “What do you think of Zhang Yu?”

Le Mulan was slightly taken aback by her brother’s message and replied, “In what aspect?”

Le Jingchen: “How has his strength improved since the sports competition?”

Le Jingchen: “If he participates in the upcoming Dao Heart Competition, can he win a place?”

Le Jingchen: “I know you’ve been asking him to be your sparring partner lately; you should have a good sense of his condition, right?”

Looking at Le Jingchen’s messages, Le Mulan recalled her training sessions with Zhang Yu.

The robust physique, the powerful muscles, the refined techniques… she always felt like her money was well spent.

But she knew her brother wasn’t asking about that.

After all, the next competition was the Dao Heart Competition.

“Dao Heart…”

Le Mulan immediately remembered Zhang Yu squatting on the ground, looking at the discarded potion bottles after each training session.

She thought to herself, “If it were any other high school student, they would have drunk their fill long ago, wouldn’t they?”

So, Le Mulan replied: “Zhang Yu is someone who can resist even the most tempting offers.”

Le Jingchen asked: “Do you have any specific examples?”

Le Mulan: “He can resist licking my sweat that drips on the ground…”

After hearing about the training from Le Mulan, Le Jingchen replied: “How could you do such a thing!”

Le Jingchen: “You’ve taken quite a few experimental drugs from the lab. What if Zhang Yu collected your sweat and sold it to a pharmaceutical company for drug analysis?”

Le Mulan: “It was my oversight. Next time, I’ll make him clean up all the sweat on the ground in front of me.”

Le Jingchen: “That’s more like it.”

Le Mulan: “In short, what I’m saying is that Zhang Yu’s willpower is indeed very strong, and Bai Zhenzhen isn’t far behind him even if she’s a little weaker.”

Le Mulan: “If they participate in the Dao Heart Competition, they could probably win a good place. If we can spend some money to keep them from participating, it’s a worthwhile investment.”

Le Mulan put away her phone, suddenly recalling the time during the martial arts competition when she offered Zhang Yu 400,000 to withdraw, but he refused.

Le Mulan thought to herself, “In the end, were you changed after all?”

Inside the protected zone of Hongta…

A massive beast lay sprawled on the ground, its head seemingly pierced by some colossal creature.

A rugged, shirtless man was kneeling on the ground, tearing at the beast’s flesh with his teeth.

He opened his blood-soaked mouth and looked at Xiong Wenwu beside him, saying, “What do you need me for?”

Xiong Wenwu explained Zhang Yu’s proposal.

The man devouring the beast asked, “This Zhang Yu… I remember him. You competed with him, right? What do you think? Can he win a place in the upcoming Dao Heart Competition?”

Xiong Wenwu recalled Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s situation, and the first thing that came to mind was their recent rental transactions at his incubation chamber, and Bai Zhenzhen buying beast meat from An’an for nourishment, with An’an using the money to supplement his income.

Before coming, Xiong Wenwu had already considered the matter.

“Selling competition slots… these two are indeed short on funds, aren’t they?”

“But given their status, rather than competing… it’s certainly more direct to just take the money.”

Xiong Wenwu also wondered if Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s lack of funds was because they were spending so much money with him.

Especially since he heard from An’an that these two had been spending increasingly longer hours training at the incubation chamber recently.

“If they had more money, they would probably patronize my business more often, wouldn’t they?”

Many thoughts flashed through his mind, but in reality, it only took a moment. Xiong Wenwu respectfully replied, “Although I haven’t had much contact with these two, I could sense in the arena that their wills are as strong as iron, their Dao Hearts as firm as steel.”

“After all, those who manage to rise from poverty are unlikely to have weak wills.”

“Judging from the control they demonstrated in the martial arts and sports competitions, their Dao Hearts can’t be weak.”

“If they were to participate in the Dao Heart Competition, they could indeed win a place.”

“If we can spend seven or eight hundred thousand to keep them from participating, I think it’s a very worthwhile investment.”

At Bailong High School…

Yu Xinghan knocked on the door, saying, “Senior, why haven’t you replied to my message?”

A voice came from within: “Leave me alone!”

“I’m so sick of this student council!”

“The most important task for us high school students is studying, grades, and competitions!”

“Damn it… bothering me with all sorts of trivial and petty matters all day long, how am I supposed to study properly!”

Yu Xinghan said, “But aren’t these the things you’re supposed to manage?”

The other person angrily said, “That’s because the previous president pushed all sorts of messy things onto me.”

“But the previous batch has all left, and I’m the biggest deal in the school now!”

“I don’t want to stay in this student council for even a day longer.”

“From now until the university interview period, I will wholeheartedly focus on my own cultivation.”

“If you have anything, go find Song Hailong from the Song family.”

“He has already taken over as the vice president of the student council.”

So, Yu Xinghan then called Song Hailong to his side and explained the situation to him.

Yu Xinghan: “Little Song, that’s how it is.”

After hearing this, Song Hailong said indifferently, “It’s not just the upcoming Dao Heart Competition, is it? Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen will probably do this for all future competitions.”

“After all, they’re different from us. Since they have no chance of getting into the top ten universities, what good is it to win more competition placements or have a more impressive resume? It’s better to exchange it for money.”

As the Song family’s star son, Song Hailong had heard some wealthy people complain about Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen taking up competition slots.

Song Hailong said indifferently, “I’m just feeling sorry that I will not have the chance to win them over on the competition.”

Yu Xinghan: “Stop rambling. Just tell me how much money you plan to approve for them.”

“You know these two guys’ current strength. If they participate in the Dao Heart Competition, they will definitely win a place.”

“I think spending one million to keep them from participating is a very worthwhile price.”

Song Hailong looked at Yu Xinghan strangely, feeling that the other person was a little too enthusiastic about this matter.

Yu Xinghan coughed and said, “I’m also doing this for Bailong High School to achieve good results. We, the three high schools, are the strongest. If Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen withdraw from the competition, our people have a high probability of snatching the placements.”

Song Hailong frowned. He had just become the vice president of the student council and was handling this kind of matter for the first time. “Isn’t one million too much?”

Yu Xinghan quickly said, “Too much? How can it be too much? They’ll leave, and your competition placement will rise by at least one or two places, right? Spending one million to rise that much, do you think it’s too much?”

“Besides, it’s not our money, it’s all the school committee’s money.”

Yu Xinghan pressed on Song Hailong’s shoulders and said, with a hint of pressure, “We’ve been fighting with Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen for so long. Who in the school knows them better than us?”

“This is my opinion as the top student in the first year. I hope you consider it carefully.”

Seeing Yu Xinghan’s appearance, Song Hailong thought to himself, “After Zhang Yu doesn’t participate, Yu Xinghan will probably be able to steadily win first place. He really cares about this competition placement.”

But after a moment’s thought, since this thing is related to the university interview, it is normal for Yu Xinghan to be so attentive.

Seeing Song Hailong nod, Yu Xinghan smiled slightly and left leisurely.

Turning around the corner, Yu Xinghan took out his phone and sent a message to Zhang Yu: “One million is the deal.”

Zhang Yu: “[Thumbs up] Don’t worry, I will never treat you unfairly.”

At Songyang High School…

Fu Ji looked at Yu Xinghan’s reply and laughed, “I told you this kid would definitely take a kickback, right? With my experience roaming Kunxu for so many years, can I be wrong about people?”

Zhang Yu looked at the replies from other people: “Ziyun agreed to pay 600,000 after tax, Hongta agreed to pay 700,000 after tax, and Bailong agreed to pay 1 million after tax. As expected of the three major high schools, they are indeed generous and directly helped me pay the tax in advance.”

“Adding up to 2.3 million, subtracting the 100,000 kickback to Yu Xinghan, that’s 2.2 million.”

“If Ah Zhen and I split it equally, that’s 1.1 million after tax for each of us.”

Thinking of this number, Zhang Yu breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Originally, he had been spending money like water in the path of immortality during this period, and the bank balance was getting smaller and smaller, leaving only more than 300,000 in the blink of an eye.

Now with the supplement of this 1.1 million, it should be enough to spend for a while.

“At least until the first round of Foundation Establishment exams next month, there should be no problems.”

Then Zhang Yu sighed with some regret: “Unfortunately, we definitely can’t sell our spots in the upcoming Dao Arts Competition.”

“The new competitions won’t be until next year.”

Although Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen also wanted to sell all the high school competitions in one go, the three high schools were unwilling to accept.

On the one hand, the amount was too large, and the process was too long. On the other hand, many people did not think that Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen would still be as competitive as they are now next year and the year after.

Then Zhang Yu opened a contact in his phone.

Bai Zhenzhen said from the side: “Yu Zi, are you going to use the talisman left by your adoptive mother?”

Zhang Yu nodded and said: “Zhou Chechen and Lan Ling, these two guys, ate shit this time, so they will definitely not give up.”

Bai Zhenzhen nodded: “If we talk about real strength, we are indeed a little weaker than them.”

“Even if they come to us every day for actual combat, it will be troublesome, and it will harass us so that we can’t study with peace of mind.”

Zhang Yu said: “So, I’m thinking maybe we can scare them again.”

Recalling what Zhou Chechen said today, Zhang Yu continued: “This person seems to suspect that we have other people covering us, and is very careful.”

“If we scare him, maybe we can buy ourselves some more time.”

The next moment, Zhang Yu had already pulled out a screenshot of the Freeze Talisman on his phone.

Freeze Talisman, one of the talismans that Zhang Pianpian left for Zhang Yu, can freeze other people’s bank accounts. The higher the other party’s faith level, the shorter the freeze time.