Half-Sold, Half-Given

Zhang Tao did not intend to offer much of an explanation, and Li Zhen did not say anything either. After all, it was too shocking; who could have imagined that the small cat on Zhang Tao's shoulder was actually a high-rank Monster Beast? Such a tiny cat—even the Rank 9 Grandmaster Qin Shigang, who had been present just moments ago, hadn't thought much of it. Furthermore, even if he had been suspicious, he wouldn't have been able to see through the Grey Cat. After all, the Grey Cat was of Emperor Rank, and its mental energy was as high as two hundred thousand Hz.

Poor Li Zhen had no idea what kind of existence the Grey Cat truly was.

However, the matter of the Grey Cat following Zhang Tao into Hope City was not so simple. High above the Forbidden Sea, an old man gazed toward this direction. Seeing that the Grey Cat had truly followed Zhang Tao, his brows furrowed.

One had to know that the Grey Cat usually sought out the Child of the Era to invest in. Yet, this era was supposed to be the final one, and the backup plan left by his good brother Zhan did not seem to have been activated yet. Why would this cat choose someone now?

"Could someone be plotting something?" the old man muttered to himself. One had to remember, in the previous era, hadn't someone replaced Gong Juanzi?

"Let's wait and see for now!" The old man sighed and vanished.

On Wangwu Mountain, the Heaven Suppressing King also raised his brows. Seeing that the Grey Cat had truly followed Zhang Tao, the Heaven Suppressing King sighed. As for his own foolish descendant, it was better not to mention him; he had paved the way for him, yet he couldn't even beat a small-time thug. He was simply speechless.

However, the Heaven Suppressing King now understood that Zhang Tao was likely the protagonist of this era. Was this great age to be ended by Zhang Tao?

At this moment, Zhang Tao had no idea that two old hidden masters had already taken an interest in him.

Inside Hope City, the Grey Cat felt much more at ease. It was true that while it hadn't detected the prying eyes of the Earth Emperor and the Heaven Suppressing King while outside, it had sensed someone watching it. This was the reason it had agreed to follow Zhang Tao so early on. At this moment, the Grey Cat looked curiously at everything inside Hope City, standing on Zhang Tao's shoulder and constantly looking left and right. Zhang Tao followed Qin Shigang to his residence. At this moment, Qin Shigang's eyes were very eager as he said, "Zhang Tao, this Rank 9 Fish Demon is a good thing! Are you selling it?"

Zhang Tao looked at Qin Shigang in surprise. This senior actually wanted to buy it? Was he that wealthy?

However, a Rank 9 Divine Weapon was of no real use to Zhang Tao right now. He was only Rank 6, and a Rank 7 Divine Weapon was sufficient for him. Moreover, his own divine weapon was currently being forged, and it should be ready by the time he returned to the Capital City.

Thus, he said, "Since you want it, Senior, name your price!"

It was true that Zhang Tao intended to sell it. The amount didn't matter; the main point was that Qin Shigang was a powerful senior from the Sect World. Zhang Tao wanted to curry favor with him, as he would inevitably need the support of these seniors if he wanted to rise to power in the future.

Qin Shigang was stunned for a moment. He truly hadn't expected Zhang Tao to agree. Of course, he had never harbored any thoughts of forcing a sale; whether it was Li Zhen, the second-generation martial artist from Zhenxing City, or Zhang Tao himself, neither was someone to be trifled with.

After thinking for a moment, Qin Shigang's face flushed slightly. Damn it, he seemed a bit unable to afford it.

A Rank 9 Divine Weapon was something sought after but rarely found. Among the twenty-eight Rank 9 Grandmasters in Huaguo, only eight possessed Rank 9 Divine Weapons; the others truly did not.

"Well, our sects once joined forces to invest in the Pill Company, and we exchanged formulas for quite a few shares. I have ten percent of the original shares of the Pill Company here. I will use this to exchange for the Heart Core and Brain Core of your big fish. What do you think?" Qin Shigang said after pondering for a moment.

Zhang Tao agreed immediately. Ten percent of the original shares were, honestly, of very high value. After all, according to current market prices, a Rank 9 Divine Weapon could only be sold for a little over one hundred billion, while ten percent of the original shares were worth tens of billions, and the subsequent income would also be quite substantial. With ten percent of the shares, he could also offer suggestions to the Pill Company.

All in all, he hadn't lost much; it was just a matter of different values.

"That is truly great! I will have someone prepare it right away!" Qin Shigang was overjoyed. Don't look at him as being over a hundred years old; he had never used a Rank 9 Divine Weapon in his hundred years. Furthermore, Old Ancestor Jiang was still stationed at the Magic City Catacombs, causing trouble every few days, and they were forced to participate in the fighting. Although Rank 9s didn't fight often, sometimes when things got heated, he had to join in.

If he had a Rank 9 Divine Weapon, his safety would undoubtedly be greatly enhanced.

During this interval, Qin Shigang chatted and laughed with Zhang Tao, and his impression of Zhang Tao was excellent. He was truly a human prodigy; if it weren't for the fact that Zhang Tao was already registered with the Education Ministry, he would have wanted to recruit Zhang Tao into the sects.

Soon, the documents were brought over. After Qin Shigang signed them, he gave them to Zhang Tao and said, "Little Zhang, if you have any trouble in the future, just come find me. I will definitely help you!"

Zhang Tao took the documents with a smile and said, "Then I will have to trouble Elder Qin in the future!"

Qin Shigang waved his hand, indicating that it was a small matter. Afterward, he extracted the Heart Core and Brain Core of the Rank 9 Fish Demon, and Zhang Tao left with the big fish.

Outside, Li Zhen and Nan Yunyue were chatting. Nan Yunyue was asking about what had happened this time. Li Zhen didn't go into detail, only saying that it was traded for cat food, which left Nan Yunyue stunned. Two bags of cat food could trade for a Rank 9 Monster Beast? That was a massive profit, wasn't it?

"What are you two talking about? We should go. Once I get out, I have to find a way to transport this thing back to the Capital City. Having Rank 9 Monster Beast meat should be very important for our Education Ministry, right?" Zhang Tao said.

Li Zhen didn't care about that. Seeing that the Heart Core and Brain Core were missing, Li Zhen knew what had happened. He felt that compared to this, the matter of the cat was more important and needed to be treated with caution.

Regarding Li Zhen's subtle reminder, Zhang Tao chuckled and rolled his eyes. He didn't want to deal with him, only perfunctorily saying that he knew the gravity of the situation and would report it to his superiors.

Li Zhen snorted at this and didn't say anything more.

Nan Yunyue was on the side, wanting to speak but hesitating. She looked at the cat on Zhang Tao's shoulder but ultimately didn't say anything. After Zhang Tao deposited the fish demon there, he headed straight out of the Magic City Catacombs. Now that he had the cat, he didn't need Li Zhen to follow him.

However, Li Zhen clearly didn't have that realization and followed closely behind Zhang Tao. Seeing that Li Zhen was still following, Zhang Tao waved his hand and said, "Don't you have other things to do? Go attend to your business; you don't need to follow me!"

Li Zhen was stunned, then cursed inwardly. This guy—who was it earlier that begged and clung to him, not letting him leave? Now that he had the cat, he was actually chasing him away? Hmph.

However, he really did have a lot of things to do, and following Zhang Tao had already delayed him, so he snorted and turned to leave.

Zhang Tao found a phone booth and made a call, which was answered quickly.

"Hello, Chief Overseer? It's me, Zhang Tao. I've deposited a Rank 9 Fish Demon at the Magic City Catacombs. Could you please send someone to transport it?" Zhang Tao said as soon as the call connected.