Cloudsky Pet Beast Battle Resort.
He had to admit, compared with his own property, his neighbor had done a splendid job developing this place.
There were even purpose-built roads, with shuttle buses coming and going along them.
The service really did cover every detail.
No wonder they had kept trying to buy his land.
The construction costs must have been considerable, too.
Clearly, though, Su Ping was in no mood to admire the scenery outside the window.
He yawned.
Sitting across the coffee table, Manager Guan glanced at him with a smile.
"Didn't sleep well last night, Xiao Ping?"
Manager Guan hardly needed to ask. The faintly dark circles beneath Su Ping's eyes already told the story.
It wasn't the news that Li Shu and his other classmates were coming that had kept him up.
After all, he had truly completed a beast's training and earned so much money for the first time. Not wanting to waste the effects of the Spirit-Nurturing Ancient Tea, he had spent half the night meditating.
Then he had stayed busy until the first light of dawn, selecting poison-type resources for Xiao Qing and purchasing ingredients for the Woodheart Potion.
The end result was that his cultivation had improved slightly without advancing to the next rank, while the more than four million he had earned had dwindled to a few tens of thousands.
Still, thinking of the resources that would soon be delivered to his door perked Su Ping up.
Besides enough ingredients for a full twenty batches of Woodheart Potion,
he had also purchased four poison-type resources:
Heart-piercing fruit, wolfbane aconite, red-coated oleander, and devil willow leaves.
All four were plant-based poison-type resources, and the devil willow leaves were even Elite Tier poison-type resources.
He had already confirmed that Xiao Qing's Poison Woodheart could grow by consuming poison-type resources.
Naturally, Su Ping wouldn't be stingy with his own Soul Contract pet beast.
Manager Guan could clearly see that Su Ping wasn't in the best shape right now. He dispensed with the small talk and handed him the contract.
"Xiao Ping, take a look. We at Yuntian really are sincere! For your ordinary-rank Forest Wolves, we guarantee five hundred per wolf per day, and the same amount for each battle! For the Elite Tier ones, it's twelve hundred, with the same rate for battles.
"We also offer free access to professional recuperation and treatment facilities, plus accident insurance. Everything's covered, so you can rest easy!"
Su Ping nodded and read through every detail from beginning to end before nodding again.
"No problem. But Uncle Guan, I have just one condition: I can suspend the rental whenever I need to. Sometimes things get busy..."
"That's fine, that's fine!"
Manager Guan waved a hand, smiling. Renting the pet beasts was merely a pretext. His real goal was to get Su Ping to visit Yuntian more often so they could build a closer relationship.
Then Manager Guan cleared his throat and said,
"Xiao Ping, you can see that your Uncle Guan is genuinely sincere. Look, I know a little about the situation at Woodheart these days.
"Forest Wolves are a basic pet beast here in Linzhou City, and there are plenty of breeding bases for them. Your father never paid attention to that side of things. I know how business is going at Woodheart now.
"As the young proprietor of such a large breeding base, you probably aren't having an easy time, are you? We at Yuntian are genuinely interested in this land! How does this figure sound?"
Before Su Ping could answer, Manager Guan handed him a slip of paper.
There was a long string of zeros on it. He had to admit, the offer really was generous.
But Su Ping still answered helplessly,
"Uncle Guan, my grandfather left us this land. You know what my dad's like. He may be unreliable, but he takes this sort of thing very seriously. If I dared do something like this behind his back, he'd break my legs. Besides, I really don't lack money right now."
"Don't worry. When your dad comes back, I'll talk to him. Wouldn't that settle it?"
"Uncle Guan, please don't put me on the spot... How about this? I'll take you to see my Forest Wolves. I'm renting out sixteen in total—ten ordinary-rank ones and six Elite Tier ones..."
Without giving him a chance to argue, Su Ping hurriedly got up and led Manager Guan out the door.
On the open ground in front of the courtyard, a figure stood gripping a leash with a thunderous expression, surrounded by a full seventeen Forest Wolves.
Qin Xiaoxue finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Su Ping arrive at long last.
Who had ever made her do something like this in her entire life?
Only this little brat would order Miss Qin around like a maid.
Especially with so many people casting astonished looks her way.
It was mortifying!
Still, although being surrounded by wolves and stared at by customers coming and going was rather embarrassing, Qin Xiaoxue was thoroughly convinced of his abilities.
The reason was simple. Among these seventeen Forest Wolves, besides the sixteen Su Ping intended to rent out, there was also her Wooden Head.
Only one night had passed, and although Wooden Head's Self-Healing level hadn't increased, the feedback through their soul connection still told her clearly that Wooden Head had made tremendous progress!
This little brat really did have a few tricks up his sleeve!
But Qin Xiaoxue's gaze shifted slightly as she looked at Su Ping.
She might be blunt and hot-tempered, but she wasn't actually stupid.
If the Skycloud Group was backing the Yuntian Resort, that would be a terrifying prospect.
With the Skycloud Group behind them, and even its chairman personally coming here, could their dealings with Su Ping really be limited to renting a dozen or so Forest Wolves?
What a load of nonsense.
That was clearly impossible.
Recalling their conversation that day, Qin Xiaoxue felt she would need to warn Su Ping when she had the chance, lest he end up counting the money for the very people who sold him.
Sure enough, what happened next confirmed her suspicions. Manager Guan merely gave the wolves a cursory glance and nodded before saying readily,
"Take these little fellows over to the training facilities first and see whether any Beast Tamers choose them. I'll transfer the money to you personally tonight. But give that matter some serious thought. Even if nothing else matters, think about your own future."
Manager Guan turned and left. Su Ping waved a hand and headed toward the training facilities farther back, bringing along the dark-faced Qin Xiaoxue and all seventeen Forest Wolves, Wooden Head included.
Seeing that the fellow in front of her had no intention of lending a hand, Qin Xiaoxue grew even angrier. Was this little brat really treating her like a maid?
But before she could speak, a voice rang out nearby.
"Well, if it isn't Su Ping! I was just thinking of visiting Young Master Su later. Who knew we'd run into each other like this? What a coincidence!"
Su Ping frowned. A group was approaching quickly, having just stepped off a bus nearby.
The speaker was none other than Zhou Shuchen, the class monitor of Class Two at Sixth Middle School, whom he hadn't seen in over a month.
Su Ping had never liked the fellow much, but he had never found him this irritating before.
Still, Su Ping couldn't be bothered with him. He quickly spotted Li Shu waving in the crowd.
He had heard yesterday that the guy was coming today, but hadn't expected him to arrive so early.
Just then, however, Zhou Shuchen's next words made Su Ping freeze mid-motion.
"I heard everything just now. When did Young Master Su fall on such hard times? Having to rent out these trash Forest Wolves just to earn a little pocket change?"
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