CHAPTER 212: ZHANG YU'S HEFTY GAINS

Seeing Zhang Yu act as if money meant nothing to him, Zhou Chechen knew immediately—this guy was going to ask for a fortune.

“Father and Uncle are definitely going to bleed heavily to appease that Grade-Six Righteous God,” he thought.

“But Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were directly involved... so they’ll have to be handled too.”

Zhou Chechen had expected this, but the thought of not only having to apologize to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, two nobodies he once saw as ants, but also handing them a chunk of flesh—figuratively—left him choking on resentment.

A year ago, these two broke nobodies were just insects to him. He could have crushed their heads into contracts without a second thought.

“And now, look at them. Is this the power of having a Grade-Six Righteous God backing you?”

Zhou Chechen suddenly recalled a secret his father once let slip: some of the truly rich up top carefully refined their bloodlines, and their descendants were born as shareholders—Level-5 Faith believers from the moment they took their first breath.

He sighed inwardly. “In the end, it's all about connections. The Zhou family is still too weak.”

He gave his head a little shake, trying to cast off his frustration and focus as he spoke gently to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.

“I know that no amount of money can make up for the emotional trauma you’ve suffered,” he said. “But I’d like to offer each of you 500,000. Just a token of sincerity…”

Zhang Yu waved his hand dismissively. “I told you, this isn’t about the money.”

Bai Zhenzhen chimed in coldly from the side. “You think money lets you do whatever you want? Break the law and just walk away?”

Zhou Chechen almost slammed the table and shouted, “And what if it does?”

But then he remembered the halted operations due to the lockdown, the mounting losses by the second, his father’s stern warnings, and the massive resources their family had poured into him since childhood. His stiff neck finally sagged.

He bowed again and said, “I’m sorry. I truly don’t mean to buy you off.”

“This 500,000—no, make it 1 million each—is just an apology. No strings attached.”

Then, as his rage simmered, Zhou Chechen turned and drove a vicious kick into Yue Jincheng’s chest.

“Take a good look at the mess your little rampage has made for Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.”

“Both of you—hand over your phones.”

Yue Jincheng and Si Zhouyu flinched. With trembling hands, they passed over their phones.

Zhou Chechen took them and declared, “I’m calling the shots today. Each of you will also pay 500,000 in compensation to express your apologies.”

Both Yue Jincheng and Si Zhouyu froze, their hearts bleeding.

Si Zhouyu shot Yue Jincheng a glare full of regret. He wished more than ever he had stopped him earlier.

Zhang Yu’s eyes flickered. Between Zhou Chechen’s million and the two half-millions, both he and Bai Zhenzhen would be pocketing 1.5 million each—3 million in total.

Even as the wheels started turning in his head about how to spend it, Zhang Yu kept a poker face, his expression cold and disinterested, as though the money meant nothing to him.

Zhou Chechen continued, “I know the two of you lost a lot of valuable cultivation time. Once I return to school, I’ll make sure to compensate you.”

According to him, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen would be exempt from all school regulations. They could choose their own classes and schedules. They could skip general courses like Math and Language at will—even Martial Arts, PE, Dao Techniques, and Mana classes. Zhang Yu’s after-school Dao Technique tutoring would also be canceled. ꭆᴀƝȫ𝐛ÈⱾ

On top of that, they’d get priority access to all school benefits.

For instance, they'd receive three doses of the PE course elixirs each day. They’d be allowed 100 free hours of Spirit Root usage per month. They could request any Martial Arts teacher for personal sparring sessions, and they’d gain access to the school’s Spiritual Realm training program.

Though she knew Zhou Chechen was leveraging school resources to sweeten the deal, Bai Zhenzhen couldn't help feeling tempted at the mention of personalized training from peak Qi Refinement martial instructors.

“If I can train daily with those instructors before my fight with Yun Jing,” she thought, “it’ll definitely boost my combat strength.”

Zhang Yu’s eyebrows arched when he heard about the 100 hours of free Spirit Root time and the Spiritual Realm program.

More Spirit Root support was always welcome—especially for someone like him who lacked a Spirit Root of his own.

And as someone lagging in Dao Heart, Spiritual Realm training was precisely what he needed.

Especially since it was all free, and Zhang Yu was currently flat broke.

He asked mildly, “All of this will be free until graduation?”

Zhou Chechen clapped his chest in assurance. These resources were expensive externally, but for the school, it was just a matter of internal allocation.

Songyang High School was backed by the Wanxing Education Group, and with the Zhou family’s influence, Zhou Chechen had the authority to tweak the distribution.

He thought, “Unused Spirit Roots are just sitting there anyway. Might as well let these two use them.”

“As for the Spiritual Realm slots… I’ll just give up mine and Lan Ling’s.”

“And the teachers? Easy—just assign them more sessions to coach Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.”

Zhang Yu said, “Your word isn’t enough. Let’s sign a contract.”

Zhou Chechen paused. The irony wasn't lost on him—he’d once tried to force Zhang Yu into a contract, and now the tables had turned.

Forcing a smile, he replied, “No problem.”

At that moment, Fu Ji spoke up. “Didn’t you want to learn more techniques? Tell him to hand over every technique the school has rights to teach.”

Zhang Yu’s eyes lit up and he quickly made the demand.

He knew that Songyang High had many expert-grade Techniques reserved for second-semester sophomores and seniors.

Not only would those techniques boost his strength, but some of them could help complete Chain Diagram sets he’d seen in the school’s catalog when browsing the licensed Techniques.

“I remember one could help form the Martial Saint Embryo, and another could build toward the Dragonblood Descendant set,” he thought.

Zhou Chechen nodded. “Sure. Whether it’s from first, second, or third year—if you want to learn it, it’s yours.”

Fu Ji added, “Be specific about the Spirit Roots. You and Bai Zhenzhen will hit the peak of Qi Refinement soon. Many Spirit Roots won’t help you anymore.”

“Especially if he tries to fob you off with inferior ones—they’ll be useless.”

When Zhang Yu brought this up, Zhou Chechen sighed and listed all the school’s Heavenly Spirit Roots, letting Zhang Yu choose and include them in the contract.

“Our most famous one is the Primordial Yang Spirit Root,” Zhou Chechen explained.

“It converts virgin essence into mana. Pretty powerful for increasing mana…”

The moment “increases mana” came up, Zhang Yu lost interest. His mana was already nearing 100 points.

Worse, he remembered that this particular root had been passed around Songyang High for nearly twenty years, absorbing the virgin essence of thousands of students.

The other Heavenly Spirit Roots mostly focused on boosting mana or physical strength—none impressed him.

“These are it?” he asked, unimpressed.

Zhou Chechen gritted his teeth. “My family also owns some rare Spirit Roots we usually rent out to clan members. Take a look and see if any interest you.”

“Of course, still 100 free hours a month.”

As Zhang Yu scanned the new list, his eyes lit up. These were rare, obscure Spirit Roots.

“What’s this Death Root for?” he asked.

“It absorbs death aura from corpses,” Zhou Chechen replied. “It’s used for cultivating our clan’s secret Techniques. Ideally, you'd need a stockpile of old corpses to make use of it.”

“How about the Winter Root?”

“It absorbs cold energy and alters your mana attributes. You’ll need a cryo-freezing pod to use it.”

Zhang Yu went down the list carefully and eventually made his choice.

“This Resentment Root looks interesting.”

He had a good reason for picking it—he remembered a relatively cheap expert-grade grudge Technique that cost only 500,000. It was part of the Martial Saint Embryo set.

Its low cost was due to its niche requirement: refining resentment into physical strength, which made it tough to cultivate and led to dwindling interest over the years.

“That Resentment Root extracts resentment from the dead. Most cultivators have no use for it,” Zhou Chechen said.

Fu Ji scoffed. “He’s trying to cheap out on you. That root doesn’t just work on the dead—it can draw resentment from the living too.”

Zhang Yu shot Zhou Chechen a look. “Funny, I remember it can refine resentment from the living as well.”

“Honestly, aren’t schools and companies the best sources of resentment in the world?”

Caught off guard, Zhou Chechen nodded reluctantly. “Right, I forgot.”

“But if you’re extracting resentment on campus, you’ll have to pay a fee.”

“Huh?” Zhang Yu was surprised. “That costs money?”

Zhou Chechen explained, “You might’ve forgotten, but the contract every student signs includes a clause: all resources generated on school grounds—including resentment, death aura, and even excretions used for cultivation—belong to the school by default.”

“Still, I’ll waive that fee for you. Call it part of the apology.”