"Chen An! What are you saying?"
"I... I was your teacher! I taught you for six whole years!"
Yu Xiaogang roared at Chen An.
Those shouts were so real that they finally woke Chen An.
He immediately realized this wasn't a dream. Gangzi himself was standing right there.
"Hey, Grandmaster, it's a misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding!" Chen An tried to salvage the situation.
"Enough, say no more! From now on, you are no longer my student. Xiao San is my only student!"
With that, Yu Xiaogang slammed the door and left.
With a complicated look in his eyes, Tang San glanced at Chen An and followed him out.
"Fuck!"
"What the hell has gotten into Gangzi now?"
Chen An got out of bed, stretched, and leisurely washed up.
By the time he had finished getting ready, it was practically noon.
He had just walked into the dining hall.
He saw Dai Mubai, Tang San, and the others sitting at the dining table with gloomy faces.
"Hmm?"
Curious, Chen An sat down beside them.
Dean Flender addressed a short, plump middle-aged man wearing a white hat and a chef's uniform. "Shao Xin, are you serious? Didn't I give you money for food a month ago?"
Shao Xin spread his hands. "Boss Fu, so you do know that was a month ago. That money ran out long ago. How about we just make do?"
Smack!
Hearing that, Ning Rongrong could no longer sit still.
She stood up and pointed at Shao Xin and Flender, saying angrily, "Make do? Look at this! Is this fit for people to eat? Bug-chewed spicy cabbage, and these moldy potatoes-even pigs probably wouldn't eat them!"
"Sigh!"
"Children, Shrek is short on funds right now. We really can't spare any more money."
Flender adjusted his glasses and sighed helplessly.
"Heh."
"Isn't that because a certain big idiot gleefully handed money over to someone? If we don't have the means, let's not put on airs, all right?"
Ning Rongrong glanced at Tang San and spoke with barbed sarcasm.
"You!!!"
Tang San wanted to shout back, but ultimately said nothing.
"All right, let's go into the city for a meal today. I'll find a way to handle the money problem." Dai Mubai finally stepped forward.
Chen An looked as motionless as a block of wood.
Inside, however, he was already over the moon.
If that slave to money, Flender, knew his money had ended up in Chen An's pocket, he would probably cough up blood in anger.
"Xiao Wu, are you coming to eat?"
Chen An slowly edged over to Xiao Wu and asked quietly.
Xiao Wu shook her head.
Her lips were pale, and sweat kept pouring from her forehead. "Go ahead. I'm exhausted right now and don't want to eat!"
Seeing how listless Xiao Wu looked, Chen An felt very puzzled.
But he didn't want to ask, either, because everyone had their own secrets.
"What a coincidence, Sister Rongrong!"
Chen An went into the city and bought a flatbread, only to run into Ning Rongrong.
"What are you doing here?" Seeing that it was Chen An, Ning Rongrong's expression instantly soured.
"Getting something to eat."
Although Ning Rongrong treated Chen An very poorly, he still greeted her with a smile.
"Do... do you have any money?"
Chen An froze for a moment.
Surely the sect's young miss hasn't run out of money for food?
"Y-yes. How much do you need? Is one Gold Soul Coin enough?"
Looking at the single Gold Soul Coin Chen An held out, Ning Rongrong was a little amused. "One? Are you fobbing off a beggar? I want five thousand Gold Soul Coins!"
"Five thousand?!"
Chen An's eyes widened in utter shock.
What kind of meal costs five thousand? Is she eating Thousand-Year Soul Beast meat?
"Just tell me, are you giving it to me or not?" Seeing Chen An dawdle, Ning Rongrong visibly grew impatient.
"Come on, Sister Rongrong, I'm just an ordinary commoner. Where am I supposed to find five thousand Gold Soul Coins for you?"
Ning Rongrong sighed and compromised. "Then two thousand Gold Soul Coins!"
"Don't have it!"
"One thousand Gold Soul Coins?"
"Don't have that either!"
"Get lost, get lost! What use are you?!" Ning Rongrong planted both hands on her hips, looking furious.
"But as long as you tell me what you need so many Gold Soul Coins for, I'll find someone to borrow them from right away!" Seeing Ning Rongrong's disappointed expression, Chen An immediately grew interested.
"Ah, this young lady found loads of treasures on this street!"
Chen An's eyes lit up.
He suddenly remembered that Ning Rongrong's Martial Soul was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, which seemed very sensitive to treasures.
"Sister Rongrong, how about this? I'll put up the money, and we'll split the treasures evenly in the end!" Chen An laid out his terms.
Ning Rongrong nodded.
"Fine, but I'll decide how to divide them!" she said.
The two browsed for nearly an hour.
They arrived at a hotel and booked a room by the hour, preparing to divide the treasures.
Looking at the dozen or so things piled on the bed that he couldn't even name, Chen An's head throbbed.
They had cost a full eight thousand Gold Soul Coins.
What did that amount mean?
It was equivalent to several lifetimes' worth of an ordinary person's assets.
Especially that little pitch-black thing.
It had actually cost three thousand Gold Soul Coins?
Why didn't that damn fatty in black just rob people?
He had even dressed it up with some fancy claim about it being a deep-sea treasure.
"Sister Rongrong, how are we dividing these?"
Ning Rongrong looked them over. Most were ores and medicinal herbs. The only valuable things were the black object and a large bone.
"You get this bone!"
After some thought, Ning Rongrong still kept the little black object for herself, because her intuition told her it was no ordinary thing.
"No, no!"
Chen An was very dissatisfied when he heard that. He felt that since this thing had cost a fortune, it ought to belong to him.
Ning Rongrong sighed. "Then let's each take half."
Chen An coughed. "Sister Rongrong, are you sure these things are worth that much money?"
Feeling that her specialty had been challenged,
Ning Rongrong instantly grew interested. "Chen An, you can question my shitty temper, but you absolutely cannot doubt my eyes!"
As she spoke,
Ning Rongrong began demonstrating how to use the little black thing.
First, she sniffed it.
She felt it with her hands and discovered it was somewhat springy. After trying to inject Soul Power into it, she found a faint glimmer flowing inside.
After weighing it up, Ning Rongrong ate it outright.
"Wait!"
"Sister Rongrong, is that thing edible? Don't go giving yourself diarrhea!"
Looking somewhat worried, Chen An offered a well-meaning warning.
Ning Rongrong shook her head. "Chen An! We got a bargain! Eating this thing actually strengthens your meridians and bones!"
"Is it really that incredible?" Looking at Ning Rongrong's astonished expression, Chen An also tried injecting his Martial Soul into it, then ate it once it softened.
The moment it reached his stomach,
He clearly felt his entire body stirring restlessly.
First, a warm current soaked through his meridians. Then his sinews and bones swelled uncomfortably, his whole body feeling as though it were being tempered in blazing fire.
"It's true!"
"Sister Rongrong, it really does strengthen your meridians and bones!"
"Sister Rongrong, what's wrong?"
Chen An instinctively took a step back.
He noticed that Ning Rongrong's cheeks and the roots of her ears had all turned red.
"Chen An, I... I'm hot!"
Hearing Ning Rongrong's voice turn tinglingly soft, Chen An's heart lurched.
"Fuck!"
"D-don't do this to me!"
"If Ning Fengzhi finds out, won't I get chopped into mince?"