Debt Collection at the Door, Five Days Given

Just then, a knock sounded at the door once more. "Chen, if you don't open this door, I'm going to tear your pathetic door off its hinges."

Hearing this, Chen Ze scrambled up from his bed and hurried to the door to pull it open.

The moment the door swung wide, Chen Ze saw a large hand nearly slap him across the face.

Fortunately, Chen Ze reacted in time and stepped back, narrowly avoiding the blow.

The man who had struck the door missed his mark and stumbled forward, but as he was also a cultivator, he quickly regained his balance and steadied himself.

Chen Ze looked at the burly man with confusion, sensing the fluctuations of Spiritual Energy. He was undoubtedly a cultivator, but Chen Ze couldn't discern his cultivation level, meaning he was likely at least three stages higher than himself.

Yet, Chen Ze had no impression of this man; he couldn't find a single shred of information about him in his memories.

Chen Ze asked weakly, "Who are you?"

The burly man glanced at Chen Ze, ignored him, and stepped aside to clear the doorway, retreating behind a middle-aged man dressed in fine robes.

Only then did Chen Ze realize that the burly man wasn't alone; there were two others, both of whom were also cultivators whose strength he couldn't gauge.

Chen Ze sized them up, concluding that the middle-aged man in fine robes must be the one in charge, while the two behind him were his subordinates.

Chen Ze felt a vague sense of familiarity with the middle-aged man, though he couldn't quite place where he had seen him before.

He blamed the original owner for this, who had spent his days so drunk and muddled that he couldn't remember a thing.

Chen Ze knew these three wouldn't have come knocking for no reason. They were all cultivators with higher cultivation than his own; there was no need for them to trouble a poor wretch like him.

It seemed the debt they mentioned was a reality.

He just didn't know how much the original owner owed. If it was a high-interest loan he couldn't pay back, he would have to start planning his escape.

He certainly couldn't win a fight, so for now, he decided it was better not to suffer immediate losses and to get the facts straight first.

Chen Ze felt distressed; why should he have to pay for the debts of the original owner?

Chen Ze asked tentatively, "I'm sorry, I just sobered up and can't recall many things. May I ask, how much do I owe you?"

The middle-aged man cast a sidelong glance at Chen Ze. "Playing dumb? Trying to welch on your debt?"

Seeing the two burly men behind the middle-aged man step forward to teach him a lesson and show him the consequences of not paying, Chen Ze quickly offered a fawning smile. "No, absolutely not! I just woke up and my head is a bit foggy. I can't remember things clearly for a moment, but I have no intention of welching on the debt."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man looked at Chen Ze again, feeling that something about him seemed different.

Seeing the sincerity on Chen Ze's face, which didn't look like a lie, the middle-aged man waved his hand to stop the two men.

This kid, the middle-aged man wondered, he seems a bit different.

The middle-aged man spoke up, "When will you pay back the tab you ran up at our Tongfu Restaurant?"

Hearing it was just a bar tab, Chen Ze felt slightly relieved. At least it wasn't a high-interest loan; how much could a few drinks cost?

Chen Ze asked, "How much is it? Give me a number."

The middle-aged man smiled. "Not much, just ten Spirit Stones."

"What? Ten Spirit Stones? Was I drinking immortal nectar?" Chen Ze was shocked.

He glanced at the middle-aged man and his subordinates, deciding not to speak recklessly now, lest he get beaten.

"Ten Spirit Stones is a bit much. Could you give me a few days' grace? As you can see, I have nothing of value in this house; I can't come up with that much all at once."

After saying this, Chen Ze stepped aside to let the man see the state of the room.

The middle-aged man peered inside. "Heh, you didn't say that when you were demanding more wine."

He then feigned kindness. "As it happens, I know of a mine that needs workers. You get ten Spirit Stones just for signing on, plus three Spirit Stones in wages every month."

"Mining?"

Chen Ze understood immediately. The middle-aged man must have known he couldn't pay and was just waiting to send him off to the mines.

In his memories, Chen Ze knew that ordinary mortals couldn't work those mines; only cultivators with Spiritual Energy like him could manage the labor.

However, cultivators who chose to mine only did so when they were at the end of their rope.

Once you entered the mine, you truly lost all control over your own fate.

Every day was spent in endless labor, with no time left for cultivation.

Once inside, you were stuck for life, exploited until you drew your final breath.

The mines were outside the city, far less safe than the interior, which was protected by the City Lord's Mansion and offered at least some security.

"Shopkeeper, could you please give me a few more days? I will definitely scrape the Spirit Stones together to pay you back. If I can't, I'll go to the mines to settle the debt," Chen Ze pleaded.

Mining was out of the question—not in this life, not ever.

The middle-aged man pondered for a moment, then smiled. "Fine, I'll give you five more days. If you still can't pay by then, don't blame us for what happens."

He could afford to wait five days. He didn't want to cause a scene in Wannan City; if he alerted the Patrol Team, the trouble wouldn't be worth the gain.

That mine was actually an illegal operation he ran with others, and if it were exposed, he would inevitably be extorted by the City Lord's Mansion.

Furthermore, if more people discovered the mine, he would be the one to suffer the greatest loss.

He had targeted Chen Ze precisely because he knew someone like him—lacking strength and backing—was the easiest to manipulate once sent to the mines.

Five days?

Chen Ze gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, five days it is."

Chen Ze had already made his plans; if he couldn't pay the money, he would run.

"Don't think about running away; I'll have people watching you." The middle-aged man seemed to see right through Chen Ze, leaving him with that parting remark before turning and walking away with his two burly companions.

It was as if he were certain Chen Ze could never escape his grasp; he didn't take Chen Ze seriously at all.

After the middle-aged man left, Chen Ze quickly shut the door and pondered how to escape.

Ten Spirit Stones—there was no way he could come up with that in five days; he didn't even have a single hair to his name right now.

While he pondered, Chen Ze didn't forget to keep practicing the Ignition Art; even if he had to run, he needed to be strong himself to make it work.

After thinking it over and over, Chen Ze still couldn't come up with a perfect way to break the deadlock.

Although Wannan City was just a small town near the Qingyun Sect, it was filled with cultivation families and also housed the City Lord's Mansion.

The strength of the Wannan City Lord was the greatest among all these families; it was said he was already a powerhouse in the Foundation Establishment Realm, and breaking through to the Golden Core Realm was only a matter of time.

Furthermore, anyone who could thrive in Wannan City surely had intricate ties to both the City Lord's Mansion and the cultivation families.

Since that middle-aged man was connected to a mine, Chen Ze didn't believe he had no ties to those big shots.

For him to want to flee Wannan City, it would be difficult beyond measure.

After thinking for a long time, Chen Ze used the Ignition Art another 20 times and prepared to sit cross-legged to recover his Spiritual Energy, when he suddenly felt that there was still Spiritual Energy left in his Dantian.

"It seems that leveling up the proficiency didn't just increase the power of the Ignition Art; it also reduced the consumption of spiritual power."

Chen Ze continued to use the Ignition Art until his physical strength and spiritual power were completely exhausted.

"If raising my proficiency to Mastery allows me to use the Ignition Art five more times, then if I train it to the very end, wouldn't I be able to cast it hundreds of times in a row?"

Thinking of that scene, Chen Ze felt a sense of longing; hundreds of fireballs flying out—that would be an absolutely spectacular sight.