Heartless Merchant, You Really Belong Hanging from a Lamppost

"Right, it's settled then. Just press your handprint here."

As the words fell, a golden contract appeared in front of Yao Lao.

Yao Lao used his Soul Force to inspect it thoroughly, and seeing that he truly could not discern anything amiss, he pressed his handprint upon it.

"Thump, thump, thump--"

A hurried knocking at the door suddenly sounded, attracting the attention of everyone in the courtyard.

Lu Chuan casually put away the golden contract and turned his head toward the courtyard gate.

"Xiao Yan, go open the door."

"You got it."

Xiao Yan strode forward, pulled the courtyard gate wide open, and saw Xiao Zhan standing outside with a grave expression.

With a face full of astonishment, he asked, "Father? Why did you suddenly come over?"

Seeing that the person opening the door was Xiao Yan, Xiao Zhan's tense expression eased slightly.

He tilted his head toward the courtyard and asked in a deep voice:

"Yan'er, why are you here? What was the cause of that massive commotion in the yard just now? Could it be that some expert has come to our Xiao Family?"

Xiao Yan hurriedly waved his hands and placated him, "Father, rest assured, the commotion just now was simply the phenomenon triggered by Xun'er awakening her Martial Soul."

"Martial Soul?"

Hearing this, Xiao Zhan knitted his brows tightly, his face full of perplexity. Having lived for so many years, he had never heard of any Martial Soul.

Seeing this, Xiao Yan immediately stepped aside and patiently explained the whole sequence of events to Xiao Zhan.

Xiao Zhan's face was a mix of shock and suspicion. An otherworldly merchant? Douluo Continent? Martial Soul?

These completely unheard-of things made his heart leap frantically.

Could it be that Yan'er's cultivation had suffered a deviation and driven him mad? Or had his mind been deceived and bewitched by some evil person?!

He darkened his expression and solemnly asked, "Yan'er, are you certain you aren't joking with your father?"

Seeing his father's utter disbelief, Xiao Yan wore a helpless expression as well, knowing that wasting more breath on explanations would be useless.

With a thought in his mind, he raised his hand and waved it, and the Emberfire Martial Soul instantly manifested in his palm, the scorching heat wave instantly rushing toward their faces.

"Father, please look. This is the Martial Soul I awakened, named Emberfire, and moreover, I can cultivate again!"

Looking at the Emberfire dancing in Xiao Yan's palm, Xiao Zhan froze entirely in place.

He stared fixedly at that cluster of flames, his pupils contracting abruptly. All doubt on his face vanished, replaced by extreme shock and wild joy.

A full three years!

He had watched his son's cultivation regress day after day, falling from a genius to the laughingstock of the entire city, gloomy day in and day out. As a father, his heart suffered and felt more stifled than anyone else's, yet he had not a single solution.

Yet at this moment, his own son could cultivate once more!

Xiao Zhan could not help but reach out, cautiously drawing close to that ball of flames. Feeling the continuous circulation of Dou Qi and the scalding temperature, it was too real to permit even a shred of falsehood.

The dignified, iron-fisted patriarch of Wutan City currently had red-rimmed eyes, his face filled with hard-to-believe excitement, and his hands trembling slightly:

"The heavens have eyes... The heavens have eyes! The genius of my Xiao Family has returned!"

"Father, rest assured, I will definitely become an expert! I'll make those who look down upon me all look up to me!"

Xiao Yan raised his hand and extinguished the Emberfire in his palm, his gaze incomparably resolute.

In his heart, he clearly remembered every bit of humiliation from these past three years. The mockery of the entire city, the disdain of his peers, and the gossip behind his back—he had endured all of it.

What he kept even closer to his heart was everything his father had silently shouldered.

Clearly, the clan elders had applied pressure repeatedly, yet Xiao Zhan had always gritted his teeth to reserve sufficient cultivation resources for him, withstanding the pressure of the entire clan to protect him without a single word of complaint.

Today, not only had he regained his cultivation ability, but he had also obtained the method of the Martial Soul cultivation system.

All the forbearance and all the grievances had been worth it!

Looking at the unprecedented confidence and edge in his son's eyes, Xiao Zhan's chest heaved violently, and his eyes grew completely red.

He heavily patted Xiao Yan's shoulder, his hand still shaking, and his voice was hoarse yet emotional: "Good! Good! As expected of the son of my Xiao Family!"

With that, Xiao Zhan took a deep breath, suppressed the churning excitement in his heart, and strode into the courtyard.

With an incomparably solemn expression, he bowed deeply toward Lu Chuan and paid his respects with a most respectful salute.

"Many thanks to Your Excellency for stepping in to help and saving my son from the bitter sea, allowing him to regain the path of cultivation! From this day forth, everyone in my Xiao Family is willing to serve Your Excellency as dogs and horses."

Lu Chuan nodded slightly. With Yao Lao's assistance, the Xiao Family could be considered the number one family in all of Wutan City.

With the Xiao Family rooted locally, it would be countless times more convenient for him to gather resources and travel about in the future.

Not to mention that the Xiao Family also held quite a few native Dou Techniques. Placed on the Dou Qi Continent, they could only be called rock-bottom, but their advantage lay in their complete variety.

If sold to the Douluo Continent, they would all be existence-level family heirlooms; taking them was better than not taking them.

At this thought, Lu Chuan looked at the bowing Xiao Zhan before him and spoke in a flat tone:

"Patriarch Xiao, I'll make a deal with you. I can take action and help everyone in the Xiao Family awaken Martial Souls.

As for you, hand over all the Dou Techniques in your clan to me. One Yellow Tier Dou Technique helps one person awaken, and one Black Tier Dou Technique helps five people awaken."

Hearing this, Xiao Zhan shuddered all over, his eyes widening instantly, filled with sheer disbelief.

He had originally thought that it was that girl Xun'er who had expended a huge price to help Yan'er awaken his Martial Soul.

Never had he expected that just by paying some Dou Techniques, other people in the Xiao Family could awaken as well!

Earlier, Yan'er had also mentioned that the benefits of a Martial Soul were solid and real; the further one went, the greater the assistance obtained.

As long as the younger generation of the Xiao Family all awakened Martial Souls, in just a few years, who in the entire Wutan City, or even the entire Jia Ma Empire, could suppress the Xiao Family?

Suppressing the surging wild joy in the depths of his heart and not daring to show the slightest negligence, he hurriedly cupped his fists and bowed:

"Many thanks to Your Excellency for the help! I will bring out every single Dou Technique in the Dou Technique Pavilion and offer them all up, only asking Your Excellency to put in extra effort and awaken Martial Souls for our Xiao Family descendants!"

"Hmph, sign the contract, and you can bring people over."

Without hesitation, Xiao Zhan directly pressed his rough palm onto the contract.

"Your Excellency, I shall return first to make preparations and will bring all the Yellow Tier Dou Techniques from the Dou Technique Pavilion over shortly.

Yan'er, you must properly host Your Excellency and not be negligent!"

After speaking, he respectfully bowed, turned around, and strode away.

Lu Chuan was in a great mood right now and sat down at a stone stool, preparing to drink some tea.

Yet Xiao Yan stepped forward ahead of him to pick up the teapot and pour tea for Lu Chuan. That ingratiating appearance caused Yao Lao, who had just drifted out of the Naji, to shake his head incessantly.

Nearby, upon hearing Lu Chuan's conditions for awakening Martial Souls for the Xiao Family, Xun'er felt somewhat stifled and could not help asking:

"Senior, why did Cousin Xiao Yan only need some Second-Rank Pills and Second-Rank Pill Recipes to awaken, and even other people in the Xiao Family only need a single Yellow Tier Dou Technique to awaken?

Yet when it comes to Xun'er here, it has to be a Heaven Rank Cultivation Method or an Earth Tier Cultivation Method? Could it be that Xun'er has offended Senior somewhere?"

Lu Chuan wagged his index finger with a matter-of-course expression.

"No, no, no. Simply because you are a rich woman, and you can actually give me those cultivation methods I mentioned.

If it were the Xiao Family, you could sell them all out and they still couldn't piece together a single Low Earth Rank cultivation method.

As for Xiao Yan, that's because I happened to need the Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid."

Xun'er opened her mouth, for a moment unable to find words to refute. Stunned in place, she could only purse her lips in a sulk.

Senior Lu Chuan truly was a heartless merchant, not even bothering to mask his attitude of treating people differently based on their wealth.

Besides, Xun'er having money wasn't Xun'er's fault...