Xiao Wu Owed a Mountain of Debt

Several days had already passed since their trip to the Soul Hunting Forest.

During that time, Sword Douluo and Ning Rongrong had followed Ye Zhiqiu to Nuoding City for a few days of fun. Ye Zhiqiu had dutifully served as their guide, taking them through every street and alley in Nuoding City to sample the local food. Emmm, all on credit, waiting for Xiao Chenyu to pay. You might ask, hadn't Ye Zhiqiu collected so much protection money? He was quite wealthy, so why was Xiao Chenyu the one paying the bill?

Ahem. In Ye Zhiqiu's words, any problem that could be solved with money was a problem he couldn't solve.

His second martial soul: a born miser.

Half a basket of Gold Soul Coins was hidden beneath Ye Zhiqiu's bed. Aside from Xiao Wu occasionally sneaking out six or seven coins to have some fun, none of the other underlings dared touch them.

Ning Rongrong had spent three days touring Nuoding City with Ye Zhiqiu. Before returning, she shamelessly begged Ye Zhiqiu for one of the Shadow Clones from his second soul ring. In her words, it was her new toy. (Author's note: Don't ask. The word "new" isn't a typo.) Sword Douluo didn't say anything this time. After all, Ye Zhiqiu's second soul ring could produce ten clones. One more or one less made no difference to him, and it wouldn't affect Ye Zhiqiu much.

Naturally, Ye Zhiqiu was more than happy to grant Ning Rongrong's request. He merely gave the clone the instruction to obey Ning Rongrong after arriving at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and to incidentally farm some Negative Emotion Value from higher-ranked soul masters. After that, he stopped paying attention to it. As far as that clone was concerned, Ye Zhiqiu was completely hands-off.

With everything settled, Ye Zhiqiu naturally returned to Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy. After applying for graduation at the end of the year at the academic affairs office, Ye Zhiqiu found Xiao Chenyu and calculated all the debts from their trips through the streets and alleys. It wasn't much—just several dozen Gold Soul Coins.

Afterward, Ye Zhiqiu returned to Dormitory Seven, leaving behind only a tearless Xiao Chenyu. It seemed his wallet was about to shrink again.

Pushing open the long-unseen door to Dormitory Seven, Ye Zhiqiu slowly walked in. Not a single student from Dormitory Seven was missing, and they were pleasantly surprised to see him enter.

"Brother Qiu."

"Brother Qiu~"

"Huh? Ah Qiu, you're back?" Tang San asked in surprise.

Xiao Wu, meanwhile, guiltily turned her head slightly and let her gaze dart around, hoping her theft of Brother Qiu's money hadn't been exposed. After smiling and nodding at them, Ye Zhiqiu replied, "When I came in, why did all of you look so downcast? What happened?"

Wang Sheng exchanged glances with the other students, then gave a bitter smile. "Brother Qiu, it'll be the end of the year soon. You've probably already obtained your first soul ring, right? In that case, four people from Dormitory Seven will graduate this year. The brothers are a little reluctant to part ways."

"Ah, I thought it was something serious. Nuoding Intermediate Soul Master Academy is right on the east side of Nuoding City. If you want to meet, there'll naturally be opportunities. As for those of you who aren't graduating, cultivate properly. Don't spend every day just fooling around. Look at Little San—how diligent he is in cultivation. If you were even half as hardworking as him, your levels wouldn't still be so low." Ye Zhiqiu put on the air of a big brother, pointing and lecturing the students who wouldn't be graduating.

They all lowered their heads in shame. Ever since Ye Zhiqiu had arrived, the lives of the Work-Study Students had improved by who knew how much. Over the past year, they really had neglected their cultivation.

Tang San looked helpless. Ah Qiu had used him as an example again. His diligence in cultivation was a habit accumulated from his previous life. Cultivation had become something like an instinct to him. Perhaps if he went a day without cultivating, Tang San would feel uncomfortable all over.

Watching Ye Zhiqiu lecture everyone, Xiao Wu burst out laughing. She found the scene amusing. Ye Zhiqiu was clearly a child himself, yet he was solemnly pretending to be mature as he lectured children older than him. The scene felt somewhat out of place.

Upon hearing Xiao Wu's crisp laughter, Ye Zhiqiu shot her a sidelong glance and casually said, "Xiao Wu, while I was gone these past few days, you probably secretly took quite a few of my Gold Soul Coins again, didn't you?"

"No, absolutely not." Xiao Wu immediately denied it with her neck stiffened.

"Is that so? Looks like you've improved quite a bit." Ye Zhiqiu calmly nodded and turned slightly, as though letting the matter pass.

Seeing that the matter seemed to be over, Xiao Wu let out a small sigh of relief, and a smug smile appeared on her lips. Hehe, as long as I refuse to admit it, there's nothing you can do to me. There are so many Gold Soul Coins under your bed that even you don't know exactly how many there are, right?

"Wang Sheng secretly told me just now that during the five days I was gone, you took some every day, and each time you took over ten coins." Ye Zhiqiu's voice suddenly drifted over.

Still caught up in her smugness, Xiao Wu's little brain hadn't caught up yet. Hearing Ye Zhiqiu's words, she immediately retorted without thinking, "Nonsense! I only took them four times, and each time I only took six of your Gold Soul Coins."

Smack. Tang San covered his face. Smack. Wang Sheng covered his face. Realizing what she had done, Xiao Wu hurriedly covered her mouth, but the words had already left her mouth. It was clearly too late. Ye Zhiqiu was looking at her with an amused smile. "Very good. Six coins a day, for four days—that makes twenty-four coins. Adding in what you took before, that's a total of three hundred and eighty-one coins. Calculate the interest, round it up a little, and that makes one thousand Gold Soul Coins. How do you plan to repay me?"

Xiao Wu: ???

Five days later, Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy officially began its holiday.

Many students happily headed home together, and Nuoding Academy's main road was filled with people returning home.

Most of the students in Dormitory Seven had already left. Only Ye Zhiqiu, Tang San, and Xiao Wu remained.

It wasn't that they were slow to pack. Ye Zhiqiu had simply slept until now, and Tang San and Xiao Wu had been waiting for him to pack his things.

Since Xiao Wu had no home to return to, after discussing it the previous night, she decided to follow Ye Zhiqiu and Tang San to Holy Spirit Village for a visit. Then, when Nuoding Intermediate Academy began classes, she would enroll alongside the two of them.

Naturally, neither Ye Zhiqiu nor Tang San objected to this, which led to the current scene.

Watching Ye Zhiqiu count Gold Soul Coins one by one into the Black Jade Bracelet, Tang San's mouth twitched. You really don't know until you look, and once you do, it's shocking. Just how much money had he extorted from the children at the academy this past year? And where had he gotten that Storage Soul Tool? Don't tell me he had scammed it out of some fool's hands too? Xiao Wu's eyes sparkled as she stared at the Gold Soul Coins. How wonderful would it be if all that money were mine? "Ah, there are still 1,136 coins left. I really am a little money-making genius." Ye Zhiqiu stood up, stretched, and indulged in a moment of self-admiration.

"Let's go. We'll head to Nuoding City to buy some things to bring back. My treat." Ye Zhiqiu waved his little hand grandly at Tang San and Xiao Wu.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony. I can bring some wine back for Father," Tang San said with a smile.

Xiao Wu excitedly raised her hand. "Me, me, me! I want a carrot feast!"

"Hm? You still want to eat? Pay back the money you owe me first."

"Nooo, Brother Qiu, treat me! Treat me!" Xiao Wu began pulling on Ye Zhiqiu's arm and whining coquettishly with a miserable expression.

Ye Zhiqiu rubbed his head, saying with a headache, "I really can't do anything about you. You only call me that when you need me to spend money, don't you?"

"I promise I'll call you that from now on, as long as you treat me to a carrot feast."

Recommendations! Recommendations! Recommendations!