A Bet? Duke White Tiger!

"Elder Xuan?"

"Why have you come?"

Qian Duoduo, still immersed in the joy of having struck gold, stopped in his tracks upon seeing Xuan Zi arrive.

He immediately abandoned the thought of echoing Xian Lin'er's sentiments and asked, full of vigilance.

"Dean Qian, why are you so nervous?"

"Heh heh—"

Seeing Qian Duoduo's hostile attitude, Xuan Zi couldn't help but chuckle, then took a fierce gulp of wine and a bite of a chicken leg.

It was as if he hadn't noticed Qian Duoduo's hostility at all.

He treated it as nothing more than a casual inquiry.

"Xuan Zi, if you have something to say, just say it directly. Don't beat around the bush."

Xian Lin'er asked bluntly.

Her attitude was clearly much worse than Qian Duoduo's.

However.

This was only natural.

Back during the Sea God Pavilion meeting, Xuan Zi had openly suppressed their Soul Tool Department.

Now, Jiang Yang's talent in both soul tools and martial souls was known to everyone at the level of the elders.

Xuan Zi was not the type to visit the Soul Tool Department without a reason.

Now that he had appeared here, it was hard not to suspect he was here to "poach" someone.

"Heh heh—"

"This time, it really has nothing to do with me. It was Elder Mu who specifically requested his presence."

Seeing that both of them were so serious, Xuan Zi put away his playful demeanor and said quite solemnly.

"Elder Mu?!"

"..."

Xian Lin'er, Qian Duoduo, and Fan Yu were all stunned into silence.

Although everyone knew that Jiang Yang's talent was heaven-defying, they also knew that ever since that incident, Elder Mu had almost completely stopped interfering in the academy's affairs.

But why, then, was he paying such extraordinary attention to Jiang Yang time and time again?

He had even specifically requested him...

Even if he were eager to nurture talent, he could have left it to the current Dean of Shrek Academy, Yan Shaozhe, to handle.

"Don't look at me."

"Come to think of it, it's all because of the trouble this kid Jiang Yang caused."

"With just one sentence, he cost the White Tiger Duke Mansion over twenty million Gold Soul Coins. Tsk tsk... he really has the style of this old man back in the day, hahahahaha..."

As Xuan Zi said this, he immediately burst into loud laughter.

The next moment.

A look of disdain instantly appeared in the eyes of Xian Lin'er and Qian Duoduo.

It was truly amazing how he could relate everything back to himself... Xuan Zi really had the nerve to brag like that.

However.

That was just what the two of them thought.

They didn't express it outwardly.

They still had to give Xuan Zi some face, after all.

"Hasn't the White Tiger Duke already sent all the compensation to the academy, and haven't we already distributed it? How could there still be an issue?"

"Could it be that the White Tiger Duke wants to go back on his word, or even bite back at Jiang Yang?"

Fan Yu asked subconsciously.

In truth, he didn't even know why he had asked this question; he even felt a faint, hidden hope that something might happen to Jiang Yang.

Yet, at the same time, he didn't want Jiang Yang to run into trouble.

This feeling was incredibly conflicted.

"The White Tiger Duke wouldn't stoop to such things."

"However, he does indeed need an explanation."

"After donating this batch of cultivation resources to the academy in the name of sponsorship, the White Tiger Duke proposed a new request."

"What request?!"

Xuan Zi had barely finished speaking.

Fan Yu could not help but ask quickly.

This inevitably caused Xuan Zi's brows to furrow slightly, and the look he cast toward Fan Yu became somewhat displeased.

"I apologize, Elder Xuan. I was a bit impatient."

Fan Yu apologized immediately.

"Heh—"

"It's fine, it's fine. You are all Jiang Yang's mentors; it is only natural to be concerned for him."

Seeing that Fan Yu had the good sense to apologize, the expression on Xuan Zi's face finally softened.

"Duke White Tiger just finished discussing matters with Elder Mu not long ago, stating that he will dispatch a three-man squad to serve as the final team for our Freshman Assessment."

"He demands that Jiang Yang spend the next month and a half coaching a three-man squad to fight their way into the finals, face Duke White Tiger's team, and win the championship."

"Beyond that, regarding Jiang Yang himself, he also requires that before this semester ends, Jiang Yang's soul power must reach level 40 or higher, and his fourth soul ring must be over 30,000 years old."

"If these conditions are met, the over 20 million in cultivation resources he provided will not be reclaimed, and he will also grant Jiang Yang a Ranking Engraving Knife... one ranked within the top fifty. Otherwise..."

"What?!"

"Ah?!"

"A Ranking Engraving Knife?!"

Before Xuan Zi could finish his sentence, the mere mention of "Ranking Engraving Knife" drew exclamations from Xian Lin'er, Fan Yu, and Qian Duoduo.

When the words "ranked within the top fifty" left his lips, it made the scalps of all three tingle.

One must know that even with the might of Shrek Academy, the entire institution possessed only two Ranking Engraving Knives.

Even Qian Duoduo, as Vice Dean, did not own a Ranking Engraving Knife of his own.

This clearly demonstrated the rarity of such an item.

"So that rumor was true after all."

After calming his emotions slightly, Qian Duoduo spoke up immediately.

"What rumor?"

Fan Yu pressed.

"About two and a half years ago, I heard that Duke White Tiger had obtained a Ranking Engraving Knife from somewhere, but despite my best efforts to investigate, I never received any concrete information."

"Later, I paid him a visit, hoping to trade some resources for it, but he insisted he had no such knife, and the matter was dropped."

"Who would have thought, this Dai Hao! He hid it deep indeed!"

As Qian Duoduo said this, he gritted his teeth.

He was a man who never liked to lose out on a deal and loved to take advantage of situations; he had not expected to be played by Duke White Tiger.

How could he not feel indignant?

"Elder Xuan, Dai Hao is not a man to be trifled with. Tell us his conditions."

Compared to Qian Duoduo, whose eyes were always fixed on profit, Xian Lin'er appeared much more composed.

As the Duke White Tiger of the Star Luo Empire and commander of the Western Army Group, Dai Hao was no naive fool.

The conditions required to make him throw a Ranking Engraving Knife onto the table as a bargaining chip were certainly not low.

"If Jiang Yang fails to do it—"

"Not only will these resources be reclaimed, but our Shrek Inspectorate must also complete for them within one year—"

"100 high-risk inspection missions."

As soon as Xuan Zi finished speaking.

The three of them widened their eyes once more.

However, this time, no one cried out.

"He really dares to ask!"

"Even if we did two a month, that's only twenty-four in a year! One hundred?!!"

"Why doesn't he just go rob someone?!"

Qian Duoduo could not help but curse aloud.

Having said that, he added, "Forget one hundred, even if it were just one, Shrek Academy would never agree to such a favor!"

"He calls it 'helping,' but isn't he just trying to use our Shrek Inspectorate as cheap labor?!"

"I firmly disagree!"

"Elder Mu has already agreed."