"Jing Hongchen? He certainly is strong enough to rival that legendary sect master of the Body Sect and Shrek's strongest expert, Xuan Zi, but he isn't one of our clansmen. We can't order him around."
"Besides, our clan still owes the Illustrious Virtue Hall quite a lot of money. Ahem, young clan leader, even if we were going to default on our debts, now wouldn't be the time. Making enemies on all sides wouldn't do our clan any good."
Su Yun shook his head. "I wasn't thinking of defaulting, but what's this about debts? The Su Clan still owes the Illustrious Virtue Hall money? Is the clan still-still short of money?"
"Young clan leader, you know that something like the Pulse-Protecting Pill is something our clan absolutely cannot sell. Even something like the Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill isn't easy to sell."
"The reason the imperial clan is the imperial clan isn't just their own strength. It's also because they hold a monopoly on the very best pills for increasing one's strength."
"If our clan also controlled pills that increased strength, the Imperial Family wouldn't simply stand by and watch. With a Titled Douluo's cultivation, our clan can engage in ninety-nine percent of all businesses. Even if some of those businesses aren't quite permitted, everyone will turn a blind eye. But when it truly touches their core interests, it still won't do."
"That's why all our clan can sell are some high-quality healing medicines and some beauty-enhancing pills. Those are certainly immensely profitable too, but ultimately, they still fall a little short."
"If the clan were growing at a normal rate, that would be enough. The problem is that the clan is growing too quickly. On top of that, no one in our clan knows how to make high-level Soul Tools. Whether it's having them made or repairing high-level Soul Tools, it all costs money."
"Every additional Soul Douluo needs at least one Level 9 Soul Tool. Gaining so many Soul Douluos in two years also means paying for more than a dozen additional Level 9 Soul Tools."
"I understand." Su Yun pressed a hand to his forehead. No wonder the clan was short of money. With something like this, it would be a wonder if they had any.
They simply didn't dare sell certain exceptionally good pills on the Douluo Continent, and after Su Yun sent those pills to the Dou Qi Continent, he couldn't readily sell them there either.
He needed the Snake-People Empire and the Misty Cloud Sect to supply him with medicinal ingredients and purchase Magic Cores.
Both required money. Naturally, Su Yun couldn't keep making them pay. No one was foolish enough to subsist on empty promises, so the pills Su Yun sent to the Dou Qi Continent had never earned him any money. All he received in exchange were fresh medicinal ingredients and Magic Cores.
On the Douluo Continent, expenses exceeded income. On the Dou Qi Continent, there was simply no money coming in, leaving him unable to exchange gold coins for Gold Soul Coins. It would be a wonder if the Su Clan had any money.
"If I remember correctly, you can bet on which team wins the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament, right? What are the odds for the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy?"
After discovering that there was simply no way to obtain enough money through normal means, Su Yun had no choice but to take an unconventional gamble.
The grand elder thought back over previous Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournaments. "Based on the past odds, when betting on the champion, Shrek pays one for every hundred wagered, while the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy pays a hundred for every one wagered."
Hearing those astonishing odds, Su Yun was somewhat surprised. "That big a difference? The Sun Moon Empire comes second!"
"They do come second, but the problem is that the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy has never come first. Shrek Academy's position at the top has been universally acknowledged for ten thousand years. In fact, none of the countries want to take bets on Shrek."
"All right. Borrow every bit of money the clan can borrow. Leave this entirely to me. I'll place a bet when the time comes."
"Understood. But young clan leader, since we're gambling all the clan's money, let's send Su Ning along too."
"Su Ning? Who's he? Why bring him?"
"He's from a collateral branch of the clan. Originally, he only reached rank forty at seventeen, so he wasn't really worth investing much in. However, by the time he broke through to rank forty, the clan already had enough Pulse-Protecting Pills to supply the collateral branches."
"With the help of a Pulse-Protecting Pill, he absorbed a Soul Ring over eighty-eight hundred years old as his fourth Soul Ring. Moreover, that Soul Beast also dropped a Soul Bone."
"The clan elders had no interest in a Soul Bone less than ten thousand years old. Besides, absorbing both the Soul Ring and Soul Bone of the same Soul Beast greatly benefits a person, so we let him absorb that Soul Bone too."
"With both the Soul Bone and Soul Ring in him, his fourth Soul Skill and that Soul Bone both attained power comparable to the ordinary ten-thousand-year level. Not long ago, he broke through to rank fifty and absorbed a twenty-three-thousand-year-old fifth Soul Ring. He's now reached rank fifty-two."
"As for why we should bring him, young clan leader, you don't know the situation at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. Although Su Ning is only rank fifty-two, he's strong enough to rank among the top three on this year's Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy team. And that's the top three with the young lady included."
The corner of Su Yun's mouth twitched. He knew the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy didn't have much in the way of geniuses, but he hadn't expected that he had still overestimated it.
Rank-fifty-two strength put him in the top three. First was Su Qingxue, the team captain, and second was the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's only Soul Emperor this year. In other words, Su Ning was stronger than all the Five-Ring Soul Kings at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
"All right. Call him over. He'll come with me to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy."
"Yes, young clan leader."
"Your Highness, Su Qingxue's younger brother, Su Yun, has come out."
Inside the crown prince's residence, one of Xu Tianran's subordinates knelt on one knee, reporting on Su Yun's situation.
At those words, a trace of darkness flashed through Crown Prince Xu Tianran's eyes, but he immediately concealed it.
The past two years had brought truly enormous changes for Xu Tianran.
Over two years ago, his father had seized the throne from his eldest uncle and named him crown prince. Back then, he had been brimming with confidence, believing that everything under heaven would one day belong to him.
Even now, he still believed that everything under heaven would one day be his. It was just that some unexpected changes had occurred over these two years. Not long after his father became emperor, his younger brother had shown him what brotherly affection and respect really meant.
After an attack, he had managed to keep his life. Afterward, before he even had time to lament the permanent crippling of his legs, he learned that he could no longer perform as a man.
He no longer lamented the loss of his legs. Compared with being unable to father children, crippled legs were hardly worth mentioning for someone like him, who would inherit the throne.
With useless legs, at worst he could have people push him around or carry him. But once his ability to father children was gone, it was truly gone.
Now, no matter how beautiful a woman stood before him, all he could do was think about it or touch her. As for going any further, he no longer had that ability.
Now, hearing about the order he had given two years ago and recalling what he had intended to do back then, an inexplicable fire rose in Xu Tianran's heart.
If Su Qingxue had accepted his gifts early on and sided with him, then with her talent and status, his position as heir to the throne would have been secure.
Even if it hadn't been secure, if the fighting strength of Su Qingxue's clan had been present during that attack, then leaving aside his legs, there would at least have been a chance of preserving his ability to father children.
At the very worst, if Su Qingxue had become his crown princess, then with her looks, he should already have had a child. Unlike now, when even if he possessed a realm stretching ten thousand li and became an emperor unparalleled through the ages, he could only pass the throne to someone else's child in the end.
At that thought, Xu Tianran could no longer suppress the fury in his heart.
Su Qingxue, is it? You rejected me, did you?
And that Su Yun. Staying at home all this time without coming out has been very comfortable, hasn't it?
Since that's the case, pay the price you deserve!
Xu Tianran raised his hand and pointed at an agility-attack Soul Saint beside him whose cultivation was as high as rank seventy-eight.
"You! Go kill Su Yun!"
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Also, a question: if I create a group, would anyone join?