A Gift Worth Eight Million!?

"Kong Qiu!" The moment Su Tu heard that name, his pupils contracted imperceptibly.

He had never expected Wang Sheng to be Kong Qiu—the person Tang Yangwu had said lost the final student slot to him, and the mastermind who had had his younger brother manipulate Tang Long into coming after him.

He had not expected the other man to appear before him so easily. He had thought there would be some clichéd chain of beating up one lackey after another, but it seemed life really was not a novel.

Kong Qiu still wore that smiling expression. His narrowed eyes were impossible to read, yet he now gave off an unfathomable air entirely at odds with the friendly, enthusiastic chubby boy he had seemed to be before.

"There shouldn't be any misunderstanding between us, right?" Su Tu spoke blandly, his puzzled expression making him look as though he truly had no idea what the other man meant.

Seeing his expression, Kong Qiu's smile paused slightly. "You don't need to play dumb with me. You should have met Tang Long and Tang Yangwu during the day."

"They probably told you that because you became Old Zhou's final student, I resented you and had my younger brother use Tang Long's feelings for Wang Nuannuan to cause you trouble."

"Am I right?"

Kong Qiu's voice was calm and measured, as though he had personally witnessed everything that had happened during the day.

But Su Tu felt no emotion because of his words. These families qualified to practice Martial Dao all possessed unimaginable foundations, and naturally had countless methods and channels for gathering information.

It was hardly surprising that the other party knew about their conversation.

He raised his eyes slightly, signaling for Kong Qiu to continue.

"But have you considered why I would do such a thing?"

"Just out of jealousy? Over a single slot?"

"I was born into the Kong Family. Our main branch is rooted on New Star, and our family's Martial Dao heritage spans a thousand years. I sought to study under Old Zhou only because his Mind Cultivation and Dao Gathering was highly compatible with me. Naturally, it would be best if I could learn it, but if I could not, I would still have masters from whom I could learn. Why would I provoke you over one slot, especially through such childish means?"

Kong Qiu spoke eloquently, his tone sincere.

"So you mean the Tang brothers staged this whole act themselves?" Su Tu asked, amusement in his eyes. They were all smart people; there was no need to spell everything out.

Following Kong Qiu's logic, if he did not care about the slot, then he naturally would not target Su Tu. That meant the only people behind this incident could be Tang Yangwu and his brother—they had staged it all themselves.

"Smart. That's exactly what I mean."

"I'm just an ordinary person." Su Tu raised his eyes.

"No, no. If you were merely an ordinary person, I would not have come here to explain things in person, nor would the Tang brothers have put on this performance."

"For them to make such a move, they must want something. Either you, Brother Su, belong to some reclusive family hidden on the Ancestral Star, one so powerful that even my Kong Family cannot trace its origins, or you possess exceptional Martial Dao talent and may one day grow into a grandmaster.

"Either possibility is reason enough for me not to become your enemy. That is why I came."

Hearing Kong Qiu's words, Su Tu could only feel that the man's thoughts ran remarkably deep. His ability to make connections was no less impressive than Fat Zhuge's.

Kong Qiu clapped his hands. A Youth then emerged from the alleyway, carrying a case in his hand.

"This is my younger brother, Kong Lun. Tell Brother Su what happened that day."

Kong Lun was fair and clean-cut, looking like an exemplary student. Yet the version he told was entirely different.

That day, Tang Long had called him first and asked to meet up. When they met, Tang Long looked miserable and burdened with worries.

Everyone in their circle knew that Tang Long had a crush on Wang Nuannuan, so Kong Lun casually brought it up. Tang Long immediately seized on the subject, constantly complaining that Wang Nuannuan had taken a liking to some ordinary student. Kong Lun had grown tired of listening to him, so he said they could beat that student up to vent some frustration. Then Kong Lun had left.

As Su Tu listened to Kong Lun's account, he put on a look of sudden realization, but inwardly, he remained entirely unmoved.

Tang Long deliberately led this fool into saying those things.

"I only hope to clear up this misunderstanding with Brother Su." Kong Qiu spoke sincerely. He gave Kong Lun a look, and the latter immediately handed over the silver case.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Su Tu glanced at the case and found it identical to the one Tang Yangwu had given him.

"Compound potions. Whatever Tang Yangwu can give you, the Kong Family can give you too—and we can give you even better. Tang Yangwu wants to be your friend, while I want to be your brother. You and I really hit it off outside Old Zhou's door!"

Kong Qiu's tone now carried the same enthusiasm it had when they first met.

"Then I'll gladly accept." Su Tu did not stand on ceremony with him at all and directly took the case.

"I just finished practicing my Base Skill. My body's depleted, so I need to hurry home and eat." Su Tu made an eating gesture, and Kong Qiu smiled in understanding.

Su Tu then left with the case.

"Brother, was all this really necessary?" Kong Lun did not understand why his brother had gone to such lengths. He was only an ordinary person. At most, he had been lucky enough to learn about Martial Dao. Was there any need to take him so seriously?

The smile on Kong Qiu's face faded slightly. Staring in the direction Su Tu had left, he said softly, "It was absolutely necessary. Little brother, you must remember that a thousand-mile dike can collapse because of an ant's nest. Among great families, there is no move without purpose.

"There must be secrets about Su Tu that neither you nor I know, which is why the Tang Family treats him this way. If we can befriend him, then we should. A great tide is about to rise. Who is to say that one unknown today will not become a blazing sun tomorrow?

"It is only a case of potions. The Tang Family can afford it, and so can I. If he fades into the masses, then so be it. But if he rises on the wind, then today we will have erased a needless future threat."

Kong Lun looked at his brother with a face full of admiration. Among the great families of the North Sea, who possessed insight and vision like his brother's?

"But will he believe us?" Kong Lun asked.

"Whether he believes us is unimportant. As long as he accepted the gift, that is enough."

Kong Qiu chuckled meaningfully. As for whether the Tang Family had staged the entire affair or whether it had been a foolish move born from Kong Qiu's jealousy, who cared?

When Su Tu returned home and stopped moving, an overwhelming hunger immediately surged through him. He quickly opened the case.

Inside were rows of test-tube potions.

But he did not rush to drink one. Instead, he followed the testing methods taught on the Forum and checked the potion first.

Only after confirming that it was safe did he pour a bottle into his mouth.

The potion entered his stomach, and in the next instant, streams of warmth continuously spread from his abdomen throughout every part of his body. His hunger vanished instantly, replaced by waves of comfort, as though invisible little hands were massaging every part of his tendons and veins.

"Apple-flavored. Not bad."

Su Tu looked at the potion bottle. The depletion within his body had already been replenished. Yesterday, he had eaten himself nearly sick just to barely make up half of it, yet this tiny bottle had restored him completely within seconds. It felt rather novel.

As for Kong Qiu and Tang Yangwu's explanations, Su Tu believed neither of them, nor did he need to believe anyone.

Tang Yangwu had sent potions to befriend him, while Kong Qiu's potions were meant to keep him neutral. That was all.

Su Tu had no interest in the conflicts and schemes of these great families, so he did not want to think too deeply about them.

He counted the potions. There were thirty bottles in the Tang Family's case and fifty in the Kong Family's.

"These potions are so miraculous. If they were sent to famine zones, wouldn't there be no more hunger in the world?" Thinking this, Su Tu curiously opened the Forum and searched the trade page for the price of this type of potion.

But when he looked it up, Su Tu stared blankly at the number on the screen.

"Is this how you great families make friends?"

Displayed on the screen was a bottle of compound potion, with a detailed introduction to its effects. Not only could it quickly replenish bodily depletion, it could also soothe the tendons and veins, allowing the body to recover to peak condition as quickly as possible.

One bottle cost 100,000 Federal Currency!!

What did 100,000 Federal Currency even mean?

Taking Su Tu's family as an example, their total yearly income was only 700,000 Federal Currency—enough to buy just seven bottles of potion.

Including the bottle Su Tu had just drunk, the Kong and Tang Families had given him a total of eighty bottles, worth 8,000,000 Federal Currency!

Su Tu now had a concrete understanding of the saying: poor scholars, rich martial artists.

Ordinary people simply could not afford to practice Martial Dao. One bottle a day cost 100,000, and to make up for their bodily depletion, those children of great families had no idea how many potions they would need to drink. It was an unimaginably astronomical sum.

Not to mention the other items on the trade page: one million for a single lesson, three million for half an hour of instruction from a famous teacher, and eye techniques with a starting bid of ten million.

"This isn't learning martial arts. This is just burning money."

Looking at the prices of those goods, Su Tu actually felt the urge to sell all these compound potions.

If I sell all this, that's 7.9 million straight into my account. It's not financial freedom, but it's at least a little freedom. Why the hell would I keep studying?!