"What?! They blew up the Great Spirit Arena?"
Shen He looked at Director Ao, the ill-tempered head of the Great Soul Arena, who had followed Tang San and Great Master Yu back. From Director Ao's explanation, he learned what those two had done at the Great Soul Arena.
"Coming back alive was quite a feat!"
Shen He sighed that the explosion had somehow failed to kill the two idiots, then turned to look at Director Ao, the arena's representative who had come back with them.
"So you're here to demand compensation?"
His subordinates had caused trouble, and he had brought someone over with him. No matter how he looked at it, this was clearly about demanding compensation.
"The explosion happened in the arena. However you look at it, that means the construction quality of your arena was substandard. How can you demand compensation from the soul masters who fought there?"
"If other soul masters learned that they had to pay for damage to the arena caused during a fight, that wouldn't be good for your side either, would it?"
Hearing Shen He's argument, Director Ao understood that the Great Soul Arena's actions this time were indeed somewhat dishonorable. However, the losses this time were simply too great. They couldn't just let the matter go.
"Of course, there's no need for compensation. That isn't why I came."
"Oh? Then what did you come for, Director Ao?"
After hearing Director Ao's denial, Shen He immediately became interested. He was eager to find out what earth-shattering thing Tang San and Great Master Yu had done this time.
"I came to demand mental anguish and medical expenses for the injuries these two caused to the spectators during their fight, as well as the casualties caused by the explosion and the costs of treating these two."
As he spoke, Director Ao silently added the arena repair costs and other losses to the treatment expenses.
"The total is one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. As their headmaster, how do you intend to pay?"
"I was wondering why these two came back without a scratch. It turns out your side treated them in advance."
When Shen He admitted that they had been treated, Director Ao's anxious heart gradually settled. After all, if Shen He had said that these two weren't students of Shrek Academy and that Shrek Academy wouldn't cover the costs of their personal actions, he would have been helpless.
Expecting those two impoverished Soul Elders, Great Master Yu and Tang San, to pay compensation would be hopeless. Even if they sold everything they had, it probably wouldn't be enough!
"One hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins is indeed just a number to me. You two, remember this: you'll have to pay it back! And I'm only fronting the money this time because Tang San is a student of Shrek Academy! As for the interest, we'll calculate it as nine out of ten now and thirteen out of ten upon repayment. To make things simple, just pay me back one hundred and fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins."
Great Master Yu and Tang San both let out a sigh of relief when they heard that Shen He was willing to front the money. However, they were still filled with resentment when they heard the exorbitant interest. To avoid humiliating themselves further, they could only grit their teeth and accept it. After all, they couldn't find anyone else to help them repay the debt.
Only after Shen He handed Director Ao a storage card containing one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins was the matter finally settled. The compensation for the trouble Great Master Yu and Tang San had caused was ultimately fronted by Shen He, leaving the two of them deeply in debt to him. They had practically returned to square one overnight.
The two, now penniless, not only had to repay Shen He but also had to cover their own food expenses. The two hundred Gold Soul Coins distributed each month by Spirit Hall were completely insufficient.
Even if they neither ate nor drank, repaying the debt with that money would take 750 months—more than seventy years. They might not even finish repaying it before they died. More importantly, Spirit Hall's subsidy was only provided up to the rank of Soul Elder. Once they broke through to Soul Ancestor and obtained a soul ring, they wouldn't receive a single coin. After all, the purpose of Spirit Hall's subsidy was to encourage low-level soul masters and increase their motivation to cultivate.
Who could have known that there would be a useless person like Great Master Yu, who still hadn't broken through to Soul Ancestor after decades? And now these two idiots were actually counting on that subsidy to help them make their monthly payments.
When they returned to the pigsty, Tang San looked at the place where he and Great Master Yu lived. His dissatisfaction with Shen He reached an even more extreme level.
One of them was a supremely talented genius soul master, while the other was the foremost theoretical master in the soul master world. Both were renowned figures throughout the Douluo Continent.
Yet now, they actually had to sleep in a pigsty?
Was there any justice? Any law?
"This can't go on, Master."
In Tang San's heart, this opportunistic Shen He had unquestionably earned a death sentence. However, considering that he couldn't defeat Shen He right now, and also taking his image into account, he could only postpone his revenge for the time being and begin thinking about repaying the debt. After all, Shen He had lent them money when they couldn't find anyone else to help.
"Xiao San, we've completely run out of food money for this month. I'm afraid we can really only eat pig excrement!"
Great Master Yu looked sorrowfully at the pigs in the pigsty, who ate and slept alongside them, then spoke to Tang San.
As a useless man, all he could do now was hope that his disciple had a solution.
After hearing Great Master Yu's words, Tang San immediately made his decision.
"Master, why don't we make some Hidden Weapons and sell them?"
I've been waiting for you to say that!
Hearing Tang San's words, Great Master Yu's eyes lit up. Although Tang San had never said where the methods for forging his Hidden Weapons came from, Great Master Yu had some understanding of their power.
The Godly Zhuge Crossbow Tang San forged was more than enough to deal with opponents below the rank of Soul Ancestor, and could instantly kill Soul Elders. The Hidden Arrow could inflict certain death on soul masters below level thirty. Even soul masters above level thirty who lacked resistance to poison could easily fall victim to it. Moreover, these Hidden Weapons were not expensive to make. If they sold them, they could get at least eight hundred or a thousand Gold Soul Coins each. If they sold several hundred, repaying the debt would be easy, and they would even have enough left for food.
"That wouldn't be very good, would it? Wasn't that your own invention, Xiao San? Wouldn't selling it be a huge loss?"
Although he desperately wanted to agree, Great Master Yu still pretended to hesitate in order to maintain the dignity of an elder.
"It's fine, Master. We're only selling the Hidden Weapons I make. As long as we add a self-destruct mechanism, no one will be able to copy them!"
Although Tang Sect's Hidden Weapons weren't his original creations, he didn't believe that anyone on the Douluo Continent could decipher the wisdom accumulated by the Tang Sect over several thousand years.
Great Master Yu naturally supported Tang San's idea. Since Tang San had brought it up himself, and Great Master Yu didn't really understand these things, the only help he could provide was negotiating the prices. Wasn't this simply riding on his disciple's coattails to repay the debt?
Could exploiting one's own disciple really be called taking advantage of one's seniority? It was merely a disciple voluntarily sharing his teacher's burdens!
Great Master Yu felt immensely fortunate that he had been decisive and shameless enough to trick Tang San into becoming his disciple back then.
Perhaps he had imagined the joy of spending large amounts of Gold Soul Coins in the future, because Great Master Yu immediately made the final decision.
"Let's go! We'll make Hidden Weapons and sell them to repay the debt!"
Thus, the two immediately left the pigsty and headed to the blacksmith's shop to buy—or rather, to use Great Master Yu's superb rhetoric to trick—no, to buy on credit—the raw materials needed to make Hidden Weapons.
Before you continue