Zhang Yu didn’t wait for Le Mulan’s reply. He sent similar messages to Xiong Wenwu and Yu Xinghan. The content of these messages was similar: he wanted them to contact influential people at their respective schools to discuss payment for him and Bai Zhenzhen to withdraw from the upcoming competition.

Meanwhile, at Ziyun High School, Le Jingchen smiled as he read the message from his sister. “So he’s come to negotiate the price himself? It seems Zhou Chechen can no longer control him.” After a moment of thought, Le Jingchen didn’t immediately contact Zhang Yu. Instead, he asked Le Mulan, “What do you think of Zhang Yu?”

Le Mulan was slightly surprised by her brother’s message and replied, “In what regard are you asking?”

Le Jingchen: How has his strength improved since the sports competition ended? If he participates in the upcoming Dao Heart competition, can he achieve a good ranking? I know you’ve been hiring him as a sparring partner recently. You should have a good sense of his condition, right?

Reading Le Jingchen’s messages, Le Mulan recalled her training sessions with Zhang Yu. His strong physique, powerful muscles, and skillful techniques… always made Le Mulan feel that her money was well spent. But she knew her brother wasn’t asking about that. After all, the next one was the Dao Heart competition.

“As for his Dao Heart…” Le Mulan immediately thought of Zhang Yu crouching on the ground after every training session, looking at the spilled potions. She thought to herself, “If it were any other high school student, they probably would have drunk their fill of those potions by now, wouldn’t they?” So Le Mulan replied: “Zhang Yu is someone who can resist expensive temptations.”

Le Jingchen asked: Do you have a specific example?

Le Mulan: He can resist licking my sweat that drips onto the ground…

After hearing Le Mulan describe what happened during training, Le Jingchen replied: “How could you do something like that?! You’ve taken quite a few drugs from the lab. What if Zhang Yu collected your sweat and sold it to another pharmaceutical company for drug analysis?”

Le Mulan: It was my oversight. Next time, I’ll make sure he cleans up all the sweat on the ground in front of me.

Le Jingchen: That’s more like it.

Le Mulan: In short, what I want to say is that Zhang Yu’s willpower is indeed very strong, and even if Bai Zhenzhen is slightly weaker than him, there isn’t much difference. If they participate in the Dao Heart competition, they’ll likely achieve a good ranking. If we can pay them to not participate, it would be a worthwhile deal.

Le Mulan put away her phone and suddenly recalled how, during the martial arts competition, she had offered Zhang Yu 400,000 to withdraw, but he refused. Le Mulan thought to herself, “So in the end, you were changed after all?”

Inside the Red Tower’s protected area, a massive demon beast lay sprawled on the ground, its head appearing to have been pierced by some giant creature. A rugged-looking man, shirtless, was prostrate on the ground, tearing at the demon beast’s flesh with large bites. He opened his blood-stained mouth and looked at Xiong Wenwu beside him, saying, “What do you need me for?”

Xiong Wenwu explained Zhang Yu’s proposal. The man, who was still gnawing on the demon beast, asked, “I remember this Zhang Yu… You competed against him, didn’t you? What do you think of him? Can he still achieve a good ranking in the upcoming Dao Heart competition?”

Xiong Wenwu recalled Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s circumstances. What first came to mind was naturally their recent rental agreement for his incubation room, Bai Zhenzhen buying demon beast meat from An An for dietary supplements, and An An then subsidizing him with the money. Before coming, Xiong Wenwu had already thought about this matter.

“Selling their competition slots? These two really must be short on cash, huh? However, given their background, it’s true that taking the money directly now is better than participating in the competition…”

Xiong Wenwu also considered another point… whether Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s financial difficulties were due to spending a lot of money on his services. Especially since he heard An An say that these two have been spending increasingly more time practicing in the incubation room lately. “If they had more money, they’d probably patronize my business more, wouldn’t they?”

Many thoughts ran through his mind, but in reality, it was only a moment. Xiong Wenwu respectfully replied, “Although I haven’t had much contact with these two, I could tell from the arena that their willpower is like iron and their Dao Heart like steel. After all, those who can rise from poverty can’t have weak wills. Judging by the control they displayed in the martial arts and sports competitions, their Dao Hearts cannot be weak. If they were to participate in the Dao Heart competition, they would indeed have a high chance of ranking well. If we can spend 700,000 to 800,000 to keep them from participating, I think it’s a very worthwhile deal.”

At Bailong High School, Yu Xinghan knocked on a door and said, “Senior, why aren’t you replying to my messages?”

A voice from within replied, “Stop bothering me! I’m sick of this damn student council! The most important tasks for us high school students are studying, grades, and competitions! Damn it… all day long, trivial, petty matters keep bothering me. How am I supposed to study properly?!”

Yu Xinghan said, “But aren’t you supposed to handle these kinds of things?”

The other person angrily retorted, “That’s because the previous president dumped all sorts of messy affairs on me. But the last batch has all left, and I’m the highest-ranking in the school now! I don’t want to stay in this student council for another day. From now until university interviews, I will focus entirely on my own cultivation. If you have anything, go find Song Hailong from the Song family. He has already taken over as the student council vice president.”

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

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

After hearing it, Song Hailong said calmly, “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 are different from us. Since they have no chance of getting into the Top Ten universities, what’s the use of winning more competition rankings or having an impressive resume? Better to exchange them for some money.” As the Song family’s star son, Song Hailong had certainly heard complaints from some wealthy individuals about Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen taking up competition slots. Song Hailong merely said calmly, “I just feel it’s a pity that I’ll no longer have the chance to surpass them in competitions in the future.”

Yu Xinghan: “Stop rambling. Just tell me how much money you plan to approve for them? You know their current strength. If they participate in the Dao Heart competition, they’re sure to get a ranking. I think paying 1 million to keep them from participating is a very cost-effective price.”

Song Hailong looked at Yu Xinghan strangely, feeling that he was a bit too eager about the matter. Yu Xinghan cleared his throat and said, “I’m also doing this for Bailong High School’s performance. Among the three major high schools, we are the strongest. If Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen withdraw from the competition, our students are highly likely to secure the rankings.”

Song Hailong frowned. He had just become the student council vice president and this was his first time handling such a matter. “Wouldn’t 1 million be too much?”

Yu Xinghan quickly said, “Too much for what? After they leave, your competition ranking will go up by at least one or two places, right? Do you think 1 million is too much to climb that high in ranking? Besides, it’s not our money being spent; it’s the school board’s funds.” Yu Xinghan pressed on Song Hailong’s shoulder and said, with a hint of pressure, “We’ve competed against Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen for so long. Who in the school understands them better than us? This is my opinion as the first-ranked student of the first year. I hope you’ll consider it carefully.”

Seeing Yu Xinghan’s demeanor, Song Hailong thought to himself, “After Zhang Yu doesn’t participate, Yu Xinghan will probably secure first place, won’t he? He truly values this competition ranking a lot.” But on second thought, since this matter concerned university interviews, it was normal for Yu Xinghan to be so invested. After seeing Song Hailong nod, Yu Xinghan smiled faintly and departed gracefully.

Turning the corner, Yu Xinghan took out his phone and replied to Zhang Yu: “1 million, it’s a deal.”

Zhang Yu: [Thumbs up emoji] Don’t worry, I won’t let you down.

At Songyang High School, Fu Ji looked at Yu Xinghan’s reply and laughed heartily, “Didn’t I tell you this kid would take a kickback? With my years of experience roaming Kunxu, can I be wrong about people?” Zhang Yu then looked at the other replies: “Ziyun agreed to 600,000 after tax, Red Tower 700,000 after tax, and Bailong 1,000,000 after tax. As expected of the three major high schools, truly generous, they even paid the taxes for me in advance. That totals 2.3 million. After deducting the 100,000 kickback for Yu Xinghan, that’s 2.2 million. If I split it evenly with Ah Zhen, that’s 1.1 million for each of us after tax.”

After thinking about this figure, Zhang Yu subtly let out a sigh of relief. He had been spending money freely on the path of cultivation lately, and his bank balance was dwindling, quickly dropping to just over 300,000. Now with this additional 1.1 million, he would have enough to spend for a while longer. “At least until the first round of Foundation Establishment exams next month, there should be no problem.”

Then Zhang Yu sighed with a touch of regret, “It’s a pity, but we definitely won’t be able to sell our spots in the upcoming Dao Arts competition for money. And new competitions after that won’t be until next year.” Although Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen also wanted to sell off their slots in all of the high school competitions at once, the three major high schools were unwilling to buy them. On one hand, the amount was too large and the process too long. On the other hand, many people naturally didn’t believe that Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen would be as competitive in the next year or two as they were now.

Next, Zhang Yu pulled up a contact on his phone. Bai Zhenzhen, standing by, asked, “Yu-zi, are you going to use the talisman left by godmother?”

Zhang Yu nodded and said, “Zhou Chechen and Lan Ling, those two, have suffered a setback this time and definitely won’t let it go.”

Bai Zhenzhen nodded, “Those two, in terms of actual strength, we are indeed still a bit behind them. Even if they come to us every day for sparring, it would be very troublesome and disrupt our studies.”

Zhang Yu said, “So I was thinking maybe we could bluff them again.” Recalling what Zhou Chechen had said earlier, Zhang Yu continued, “This person seems to suspect that we have someone else backing us, and he’s very cautious. If we scare him a bit, it might buy us more time.”

The next moment, Zhang Yu pulled up a screenshot of the ‘Freezing Talisman’ on his phone. The Freezing Talisman, one of the talismans Zhang Pianpian had left for Zhang Yu, could freeze another person’s bank account. The higher the target’s faith level, the shorter the freezing period.