The Sky-High Bill

His hand trembled slightly, making the sheets of paper rustle in his grasp.

Ya Li's expenses over the past thirty years were already comparable to Shrek Academy's total expenditures for two hundred years.

One had to know that even Shrek Academy itself relied on the Federation's fixed annual funding and resource support to keep operating.

After all, Shrek had always been proud.

It had never deigned to engage in trade or commerce.

As a result, the academy's sources of income were extremely limited.

The hundreds of sheets were densely filled with records of various heavenly treasures and earthly rarities--

Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu, Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus...

Every single item was priceless.

And what truly alarmed Yun Ming...

Was the annual publicity allocation of several billion Federation Coins, specifically used to promote Ya Li's deeds throughout the Federation and gather the power of faith for her.

Year after year, that sum had accumulated into an astronomical figure.

Yun Ming instinctively felt a little jealous of Ya Li.

With that much poured into him, he could have become a Peak Quasi-God a full fifteen years earlier!

Yet Ya Li had consumed so many resources and had only barely reached the realm of a Limit Douluo.

Still, that was normal.

After all, Ya Li was a healing-type Soul Master, and her cultivation had always been slow. Moreover, her Prayer Angel martial soul required the power of faith, which made her cultivation even slower.

A moment later, Yun Ming's expression returned to normal.

He placed the papers in his hand back onto the stack, straightened up, and revealed a disdainful expression as he said coldly.

"Is this all Chen Yu knows how to do?"

"Ya Li used a little of his resources, and he is already so impatient to get them back."

"Does someone like him deserve to like Ya Li?"

His voice was full of contempt, as though the hundreds of pages recorded nothing more than an insignificant number.

Pan Wen's expression did not change. He still wore that calm look as he replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Since Pavilion Master Yun considers it only a little in resources, then please repay it on Her Holiness Holy Spirit's behalf."

Yun Ming instinctively took half a step back.

But he quickly realized his loss of composure, gritted his teeth, stepped forward half a pace, puffed out his chest, and said.

"Go back and tell Chen Yu."

"He occupied the position of Ya Li's fiancé for thirty years. These resources are his compensation."

"Do not make Ya Li regret ever having been his fiancée."

At those words, a strange expression appeared on Pan Wen's face.

He looked at Yun Ming as if he were looking at an idiot, the corner of his mouth lifting into a faint, ambiguous smile.

"Pavilion Master Yun Ming, the Chairman said that his things were meant to be spent on his future wife."

"But since Her Holiness Holy Spirit has now chosen you, and you are together with Her Holiness Holy Spirit, then this..."

Pan Wen did not finish his sentence, but the meaning could not have been clearer.

Yun Ming's expression shifted unpredictably, yet he still did not dare nod.

If he nodded...

Shrek would be eating wild vegetables for the next two hundred years.

What genius would still be willing to come to Shrek then?

To eat wild vegetables together?

Anyone could tell that was impossible.

As the Pavilion Master of the Sea God Pavilion, he carried Shrek Academy's entire future on his shoulders. He understood this bill better than anyone.

But at that moment, Ya Li raised her tearful face and looked at Yun Ming, her eyes filled with dependence and trust, as she softly said.

"Brother Ming..."

Her voice was soft, incredibly soft, yet it pierced Yun Ming's heart like a needle.

In an instant, a surge of hot blood rushed to Yun Ming's head.

He looked at Ya Li's rain-streaked face, at the weakness and helplessness in her eyes, and the last trace of hesitation in his heart vanished in an instant.

He abruptly waved his hand, his voice loud and resolute.

"Fine!"

"Isn't it just a little money?"

"I'll pay it!"

Pan Wen smiled as well. He took a palm-sized silver metal box from his robes. It was a military-grade soul guidance storage device, with an enormous internal capacity.

He shook the box in his hand and said.

"Why wait for another day when today will do?"

"I happened to bring a military-grade soul guidance storage device."

"It is more than enough to hold it."

The color instantly drained from Yun Ming's face.

He thought of Shrek Academy's reserves.

Those rare heavenly treasures and earthly rarities, the foundation the academy had accumulated over centuries... even if they took them all out, they probably would not amount to half of this.

His throat bobbed as he hurriedly shook his head and forced himself to remain calm.

"Wait for a while."

"I need to take inventory first."

Seeing this, Pan Wen did not press the matter.

He put away the stack of papers and the silver box together, gave a slight bow, and kept that polite smile on his face.

"Then we shall do as Pavilion Master Yun wishes."

"But the Chairman said one week."

"After that, the offer expires."

With that, Pan Wen turned around and unhurriedly walked toward the luxurious soul guidance car. He opened the door and got inside.

The car started and drove away from Shrek's gates, quickly disappearing at the end of the long tree-lined road.

Only Yun Ming, on the verge of tears, and Ya Li, wearing an expression of worship, remained where they stood.

Chen Yu stood before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window in his office.

Night had already fallen over Ming Capital, and the lights of countless homes spread out beneath his feet, glittering like a river of stars.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze passing through the glass toward the distant skyline, his expression indifferent and unfathomable.

Behind him, Pan Wen had already finished reporting the situation, recounting in full the destination of those hundreds of lists and Yun Ming's reaction.

Chen Yu nodded slightly, his tone calm.

"Good. Thank you for your hard work, Secretary Pan."

"Go attend to your duties."

Pan Wen nodded respectfully. "Yes."

Then Pan Wen turned and quietly left the office, closing the door behind him.

Only Chen Yu remained in the office.

He still stood before the window, his gaze deep, as though it could pierce the night and see somewhere far beyond.

All these years, he had immersed himself in cultivation.

From an orphan in the slums to the Federation Council Chairman, from an overlooked nobody to one of the only three Peak Quasi-Gods on the Douluo Continent, he had walked this road for far, far too long.

But no one knew that his cultivation had long since entered the Divine Realm.

He simply disliked drawing attention to himself, so the world still believed he was merely a Peak Quasi-God.

As for Ya Li, it was not as if he loved her that deeply.

It was just that...

After all, she was one of his own. He helped her out.

Only the two of them had walked out of that ruined slum together. If he did not help her, who would?

He cultivated desperately, clawed his way upward, gave her the best resources, and shouldered every responsibility for her, all because she was his person.

But he had not expected...

Ya Li had lived too comfortably for too long.

Now she could no longer tell right from wrong.

That was something he had not expected.

Chen Yu narrowed his eyes slightly, a cold smile curling across his lips.

Shrek might have borne the title of the continent's number one academy for twenty thousand years, but an academy was still just an academy.

The resources of a mere academy...

How could they compare with the entire Federation?

Even in the original story...

Once the Federation truly made up its mind.

Two Level 12 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells would fall.

They would still send the entirety of Shrek Academy into the sky.