Compensation: Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone

But Cai Yue'er widened her eyes and pointed at Zang Xin with a shrill voice.

"I'm not in a hurry!"

"I want to watch him pay the price!"

Her hysterical appearance, paired with the bright red handprint on her face, made her look especially pathetic and ridiculous.

Yun Ming instantly covered his face in despair.

He was tired.

So be it.

Let it all be destroyed.

He let out a silent sigh in his heart.

Zang Xin looked at Yun Ming with amusement, the faintly smiling curve at the corner of his lips deepening further.

"Pavilion Master Yun."

"Your Shrek Elder is certainly arrogant."

"Should this Sect Master kneel and kowtow to her?"

His tone was light, carrying unmistakable mockery and teasing.

Yun Ming was dumbfounded.

He would have to be crazy to do that.

Was he tired of living too comfortably?

Making Zang Xin kowtow would be less painful than having him jump straight into Sea God Lake.

So, he hurriedly spoke.

"That won't be necessary!"

"It really won't be necessary!"

There was a rare urgency in his voice as he repeatedly waved his hands.

As he spoke, he looked at Cai Yue'er. His tone turned cold, and the gentleness and helplessness from before vanished completely, leaving only the majesty and severity of the Sea God Pavilion Master.

"From today onward, you are confined for ten years."

"I will have other Elders handle the Outer Court's affairs."

Cai Yue'er was dumbfounded as well.

Her mouth fell wide open, and the anger on her face turned into disbelief. Her aggrieved expression of "I'm the victim" froze instantly.

No, why was she the one being confined?!

She was clearly the one who had been slapped!

"Pavilion Master..."

She still wanted to argue.

"I do not wish to repeat myself."

Yun Ming's voice turned completely cold.

Cai Yue'er gritted her teeth, her aged face twisting with fury and humiliation.

Yet faced with Yun Ming's irrefutable attitude, she ultimately did not dare say anything more and could only turn away indignantly.

Then, Yun Ming looked at Zang Xin with a bitter smile.

He raised a hand and rubbed his brow before speaking carefully.

"I know that ten years of confinement is too light a punishment."

"But Yue'er is only a Titled Douluo. With her lifespan, she only has thirty or forty years left."

"If the confinement lasts too long, it would amount to imprisoning her until death. The other Elders would not agree."

He had no intention of making excuses for Cai Yue'er. He was merely stating a practical factor that stood before them.

Shrek Academy was not his academy alone.

The Elders each had their own positions and interests. If he directly imprisoned an Elder of Cai Yue'er's standing until her death, the turmoil within the academy would be far greater than that caused by offending a Tang Sect Vice Sect Master.

Zang Xin said nothing, his gaze as calm as water.

Seeing this, Yun Ming sighed softly.

"The Golden Ancient Tree possesses endless wonders."

"I can offer the Tang Sect three slots."

He paused, his gaze falling on Cao Xin before he continued.

"Although Little Xin inherited your and the captain's Martial Souls and possesses extraordinary talent, a cleansing by the Golden Ancient Tree would further increase his cultivation speed."

The Golden Ancient Tree was a supreme treasure passed down by Shrek Academy for ten thousand years. It contained immense, pure life energy and could improve a Soul Master's physique and cultivation aptitude at their very roots.

Three slots carried exceptionally serious sincerity at any time.

And since it involved Cao Xin...

Zang Xin's expression softened considerably.

However, he still shook his head slightly.

"Not enough."

Yun Ming hesitated for a moment, the bitter smile on his face deepening.

After pondering for several breaths, he spoke again.

"In my private treasury, I have a Fifty-Thousand-Year Right Arm Soul Bone. What do you think?"

As he said this, a trace of heartache flashed through his eyes.

A Soul Bone at the fifty-thousand-year level was already an extremely precious collectible on the present-day continent.

Even in the private treasury of the Sea God Pavilion Master, there could not be many such items.

Zang Xin said indifferently, "Too low."

Yun Ming was instantly dumbfounded.

Fifty thousand years was still too low?!

One had to know that high-year Soul Bones were countless times more precious now than in the past.

After all, those capable of fusing high-year Soul Bones...

Each one held a more distinguished status than the last.

They were either core figures of top powers or supreme experts standing at the peak of the continent.

Even if such people fell, how many would dare dismember their bodies and extract their Soul Bones?

What was more...

If you dared to do it once, others would dare to do the same to you.

If you dismantled another faction's remains to obtain Soul Bones today, your own ancestors' corpses would face the same fate tomorrow.

Thus, over the long years, more and more factions chose to bury Soul Bones together with their owners.

And without proper preservation, Soul Bones would gradually lose their vitality over countless years.

In the end, they would become ordinary bones and lose all value.

This was why, despite the Soul Beast clan having nearly been wiped out, almost no one in this era possessed Soul Bones.

Of course, the Spirit Pagoda had quite a few Soul Bones.

But that was due to special circumstances.

That was why their Soul Bone reserves were fairly abundant.

Of course, abundant as they were...

They were only low-year Soul Bones.

High-year Soul Bones remained scarce. No matter which faction possessed them, they were treasures kept at the very bottom of the chest.

At last, Yun Ming let out a bitter laugh, and his smile already carried a hint of resignation.

He looked at Zang Xin's utterly unyielding expression and sighed.

"I recall that the Spirit Pagoda seems to be researching technology to raise the age of Soul Bones. Although it is still in the experimental stage, it has produced some results."

"How about this? I can only provide that fifty-thousand-year Soul Bone. However, I can represent the academy in covering the resources required to increase its age."

At this moment, Yun Ming's heart was bleeding.

The technology for raising Soul Spirit ages had long since matured. The Spirit Pagoda's research in that area had already been converted into mature commercial applications, so the cost was extremely low. That was why so many Ascension Platforms existed.

But the technology for increasing Soul Bone ages was still in the experimental stage.

And since it was experimental...

The price was naturally sky-high.

Once those resources were spent, even Shrek Academy's coffers would be drained for quite some time.

Zang Xin nodded as well.

Naturally, he knew it was unrealistic to expect Yun Ming to directly produce a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.

After all, Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones were rare...

And the rarer something was, the more precious it naturally became.

Therefore, every Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone was enough to be worshipped by the major factions as a treasure that safeguarded their foundations.

Thus, his expression finally softened completely.

"Since Your Excellency Skyreach has said so..."

"Then I will give you this face."

He addressed Yun Ming as Your Excellency Skyreach, using Yun Ming's title. It also meant that this matter had officially been put behind them.

Yun Ming still wore a bitter smile.

"Thank you."

"When the time comes, I will have someone deliver the Soul Bone."

He clasped his hands toward Zang Xin, then let his gaze fall on Cao Xin again and gave a slight nod.

Zang Xin returned the nod, then did not linger any longer, leaving with Cao Xin and Ye Xinglan.