Xiao Chengkun stared at his son with a strange look, as if he were trying to confirm whether the boy standing before him was really his own flesh and blood.
"Yu'er, say that again. What do you want me to buy?"
"Notting Junior Spirit Master Academy."
Xiao Chenyu answered without batting an eye.
He even pulled over a chair and sat down, crossing one leg over the other with the air of someone who had it all figured out.
"The one here in our city. You definitely know it."
He began counting on his fingers.
"Look, Dad. Your Martial Soul has mutated, and your Soul Power has shot up to level fifty-nine."
"Once you've stabilized and broken through to Soul Emperor, you'll be the biggest shot in all of Nuoding City."
"Notting Academy's doing pretty average, actually. I hear they're short on funds every year, and the dean's almost gone bald."
"If the City Lord Mansion steps in to buy it, we can consolidate the academy's resources and help them out of their financial crisis. It's a win-win."
"Hold on, hold on!"
Xiao Chengkun rubbed his forehead, wondering if that God Blood Bead he'd just eaten had some strange side effect.
Why couldn't his brain keep up with his son's?
"Let your dad catch his breath."
"You mean you want me to pay to buy the whole academy?"
"Right."
"But the academy has plenty of students and teachers..."
"One hundred and twenty-three students, five teachers, and one dean who's nearly bald."
Xiao Chenyu rattled off the numbers without a single stumble.
"I looked into it ahead of time. The academy's books don't look too good."
"The funding Fasinuo Province gives them each year is limited and doesn't even cover the operating costs. The dean's been looking for an investor."
"If you make your move now, Dad, you'll be saving them in their hour of need, and you can negotiate the price down to the bare minimum."
"You might even get the dean to pay you to take it off his hands. Getting it below market value is practically guaranteed."
Xiao Chengkun watched his son talk on and on, his expression as colorful as if he were watching a Soft Bone Rabbit dance Gokuraku Jodo.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
In the end, all he managed was, "When did you investigate all this?"
"Just now."
Xiao Chenyu answered with righteous confidence, his expression unchanged.
Ahem. In reality, he'd gotten the information out of Douluo Planet.
With encyclopedia-level intel support, it even knew how many hairs the dean had left.
Naturally, that kind of professional research wasn't something a ten-year-old like him could've done on his own.
But he couldn't explain that to his dad. He couldn't exactly say, "Dad, I have a Chat Group, and the Will of Douluo Planet is in it. She knows everything," could he?
Xiao Chengkun drew a deep breath. One hand went to his forehead, the other braced against the corner of the table... well, he'd shattered the table earlier, so now he had to lean against the wall instead.
He suddenly realized that ever since his son's Martial Soul mutation, the boy's train of thought had gotten more and more absurd.
First, he'd gone to Soul Hunting Forest to hunt a Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear.
Then he'd run off alone for several days, and who knew what he'd been doing.
Now he'd come home with a pile of miraculous things and asked his dad to buy an academy.
It was as if this boy's plan had been taking shape for a long time.
Every step landed somewhere no one could have expected, yet somehow left them unable to argue.
"Yu'er."
Xiao Chengkun lowered his hand and looked at his son seriously.
"What exactly do you want with the academy?"
"Don't try to fob your dad off with what you just said. I know you must have something else in mind."
"To cultivate my own people," Xiao Chenyu replied without hesitation, his eyes open and honest, as if he were hiding nothing at all.
"Dad, your son is going to be a big shot someday—Titled Douluo material, as you said yourself."
"But what kind of big shot has no one around him? I can't even have a team of my own?"
"Notting Academy is small, but it has a clean slate. The students are all kids from villages around Nuoding City, without all those messy connections to outside powers."
"If we pick out a few promising students and focus on raising them, they'll become the City Lord Mansion's direct forces in the future."
There was some truth in what he said, and some falsehood.
It was true that he needed to cultivate his own people and establish the beginnings of a force that belonged entirely to him.
But his main goal certainly wasn't to find people to train at Notting Academy.
He had only one reason for buying Notting Academy: to turn Tang San's starter village into his home turf!
The moment Tang San stepped into Notting Academy, he'd find that the gatekeeper worked for him, the classrooms belonged to his family, and even the lunch lady in the cafeteria had the surname Xiao.
Just when Tang San thought this was the beginning of his story—
Sorry, this place already belongs to me.
"..."
Xiao Chengkun stared into his son's eyes for a long time.
The study fell so quiet that all they could hear was the candle crackling and the night wind rustling through the osmanthus tree outside the window.
Then he suddenly laughed.
"You brat, you'd already thought this through, hadn't you?"
"You gave me a blood bead and cultivation techniques, and now you're springing this whole chain of tricks on your dad."
Xiao Chengkun shook his head. There wasn't a trace of displeasure in his voice; instead, there was a hint of inexplicable pride.
"All right. I'll go talk to the dean tomorrow."
"The City Lord Mansion's storerooms have built up a bit of money over the years. It'll only gather mold sitting there, so I might as well use it to buy you the beginnings of a force to play with."
"However..."
Xiao Chengkun's tone shifted, and his expression grew more serious.
He held up one thick finger.
"You have to promise your dad one thing. Just one."
"Go ahead."
"Don't do anything dangerous. No matter what plans you have or who you're going up against, you and your mother and I know that you're the most important thing."
"What Titled Douluo? What Notting Academy? None of it matters compared with you. Do you understand?"
"..."
Xiao Chenyu felt warmth well up in his heart.
It spread from his chest through every limb, warmer even than the life force he'd felt when fusing with the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone.
He nodded solemnly. "Don't worry, Dad. I know my limits."
"Your son isn't stupid. If I can't beat them, I'll run. If I can't outrun them, I'll fly. And if I can't fly—"
He instinctively patted his right leg and chuckled. "Well, I won't die anyway."
Xiao Chengkun had no idea what his son meant by that last part.
But seeing the confident smile on his face, he didn't ask any further.
"As long as you know your limits."
His rough palm ruffled Xiao Chenyu's hair, then he turned and walked toward the door.
At the doorway, he suddenly stopped, resting a hand on the frame. Without turning around, he said, "By the way, you don't have to tell me where that blood bead came from if you don't want to."
"I'm not stupid. I know ordinary people couldn't get their hands on something like that."
"But I want you to know this: no matter what you do in the future or how capable you become, you'll always be my son."
"If you run into trouble, remember to come home and tell us. Don't carry it all alone."
With that, he went out and shut the door behind him.
His humming drifted down the hallway, still wildly off-key.
Xiao Chenyu stood there, watching his father's broad back disappear into the night. He couldn't suppress the curve of his lips.
He was quiet for a moment, then opened the Chat Group and tapped rapidly on the screen.
[Xiao Chenyu]: My dad agreed. He'll negotiate to buy Notting Academy tomorrow.
[Will of the Douluo Star]: That fast?! Avenger, your dad is so awesome! ٩(๑＞◡＜๑)۶
[Will of the Douluo Star]: I thought you'd have to haggle for at least three or five days. Your dad's efficiency is top-notch.
[Xiao Chenyu]: By the way, I gave him a Titan God Blood Bead, and his wolf Martial Soul mutated into a Titan Giant Wolf.
[Titan Giant Ape]: ??? Your dad awakened Titan bloodline?
[Titan Giant Ape]: My God Blood Bead can combine with a wolf Martial Soul too? What's the principle behind that? And what kind of species is a Titan Giant Wolf?
[God of Destruction]: The compatibility of ancient Titan bloodlines has always been extremely high. The bloodline contained in your Titan God Blood Bead isn't that of a Titan Giant Ape, but Titan bloodline in general. Titan Giant Apes are merely one Soul Beast species that possess Titan bloodline.
[God of Destruction]: Xiao Chengkun's wolf Martial Soul already contained a trace of ancient bloodline. The God Blood Bead merely activated and amplified it. It's nothing unusual.
[Goddess of Life]: Chenyu, your dad treats you well, and you treat him well too.
[Goddess of Life]: Seeing the two of you like this makes me happy.
[Goddess of Life]: I've seen plenty of stories about fathers and sons turning against each other. It's nice to finally see a normal, loving family.
True. Not having to escape from your family was pretty great.
Some protagonists had a gambling-addict dad, a paralyzed mom, an injured older sister, and a broken self!
Compared with them, Xiao Chenyu was ridiculously lucky.
[Human-Faced Demon Spider]: Father and son! Good! Tang San's dad! Scum! Tang Hao! Bad!
[Xiao Chenyu]: All right, enough chatting.
[Xiao Chenyu]: Time to start putting my plans into motion.
Buying the academy was only the first step.
There was plenty to do over the next year.
Adjusting the staff, changing the rules, setting up an intelligence network—and he couldn't neglect his own cultivation either.
Time was short, and the task was heavy.
[Xiao Chenyu]: @Will of the Douluo Star, I'm leaving the intel and information side of things to you. Let me know right away if anything happens.
[Will of the Douluo Star]: Leave it to me. I'll monitor everything around the clock, with no blind spots. Not a whisper will get past me! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
Xiao Chenyu turned off the Chat Screen.
He left the study and stood in the courtyard, gazing up at the star-filled sky.
The night breeze in Nuoding City was cool against his skin. It carried the faint fragrance of osmanthus from the backyard and set the Blue Silver Grass in the courtyard swaying gently.
Ah Yin's drooping leaves had completely unfurled, glowing faintly blue in the moonlight.
She looked countless times more lively than she had in the cave.
Through the Heart of Blue Silver, he felt Ah Yin's lazy contentment.
"Tang San, Tang San. Your mother's growing quite nicely in my backyard."
Xiao Chenyu crouched and gently fiddled with the Blue Silver Grass's leaves.
He muttered to himself, "In another year, your academy will be mine, and your Xiao Wu will be mine. The advantage is mine."
He stood up, stretched, and headed for his room.
He had a lot to do tomorrow.
It was time to start practicing the Tang Sect Secret Arts:
Purple Demon Eye, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, Mysterious Jade Hand, Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon. These were all skills Tang San would rely on to survive in the future.
If he didn't hurry up and learn them, what could he use to face Tang San head-on a year from now?
Having powerful backers and a good plan wasn't enough. His own strength was still far from sufficient.