Sly and Cunning Flender
"That guy, what level is he?" Ning Rongrong asked curiously.
"Just level 37," Ao Tian replied calmly.
"Thirty-seventh level... and 'just'? Ao Tian, are you out of your mind? You're only level 31," Ning Rongrong exclaimed, half-worried, half-wanting to touch Ao Tian's forehead to see if he was sick.
Xiao Wu, indifferent, chimed in, "Rongrong, don't worry. Even if he's thirty-seventh level, it's not enough to compete with him, even if a Titled Douluo were to come."
Ning Rongrong rolled her eyes upwards. "Enough with that. Yesterday during Teacher Zhao's assessment, you said the same thing, but you four were all taken down by Teacher Zhao in an instant. I haven't even asked if you deliberately chickened out at the last moment."
"I didn't say anything wrong. We did pass in the end, didn't we?" Xiao Wu said.
"That's all thanks to Tang San." Ning Rongrong retorted.
"Anyway, Ao Tian will definitely win. Just watch," Xiao Wu, rendered speechless by Ning Rongrong, stubbornly insisted.
Zhu Zhuqing, who had spoken earlier but didn't say anything else, continued, "We're all Spirit Masters. We should all understand the difference in soul power levels and how large the gap in strength can be. Moreover, Dai Mubai's martial soul is the White Tiger, with extremely formidable attack power. Among beast martial souls, there are few that can rival it. Even the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, hailed as the number one beast martial soul, would undoubtedly lose to the White Tiger martial soul in a situation where the soul power difference is less than six ranks."
As she spoke, Zhu Zhuqing's tone grew serious. Clearly, she held a high opinion of the White Tiger martial soul and believed that Ao Tian would lose in a battle against Dai Mubai with weaker soul power.
Zhu Zhuqing's cold gaze remained fixed on Ao Tian, hoping that he would utter the words of surrender.
In her view, surrendering wasn't shameful. Only those who are brave but lack wisdom would earn contempt. She didn't want Ao Tian to be that kind of person, because Ao Tian was her senior sister Xiao Wu's man, or to put it differently, her brother-in-law.
With the conversation reaching this point, Ning Rongrong also watched Ao Tian curiously, wanting to see what this guy, who was quite mysterious in her eyes, would choose.
"You'll see," Ao Tian said.
"Ao Tian will win," Gu Yuena also spoke up.
"Ao Tian will definitely win," Xiao Wu proudly lifted her small chin, as if Ao Tian had already secured victory.
"You two are too blindly confident in your boyfriend, aren't you?" Ning Rongrong said.
She and Zhu Zhuqing were completely speechless. They didn't want to advise any further and their opinion of Ao Tian dropped quite a bit.
Originally, due to Gu Yuena and Xiao Wu's relationship, their impression of Ao Tian was still okay. But now, they could only consider it average.
Even if he was handsome and talented, if his brain didn't work well, it would be hard to appreciate him.
After lunch, the four girls returned to their rooms, while Ao Tian went to find Flender.
He needed to arrange a place for Dragon Horse to stay. It was difficult to cultivate in his world, so he rarely kept Dragon Horse inside for extended periods.
When he arrived at Flender's office, he happened to run into Tang San coming out.
"What are you doing here?" Tang San asked.
"Nothing, just asking the Dean for a house," Ao Tian said, pushing open the door and walking in.
Tang San was puzzled about why Ao Tian needed a house, so he stayed outside, prepared to listen to what Ao Tian and the Dean were going to discuss.
Because of Ma Hongjun causing the death of a village's fishes, Flender faces a hefty compensation to be paid, which had him stressed out. When he heard Ao Tian's request, he instantly felt relieved.
"I can give you a wooden house, but it's not a gift. You'll be renting it," Flender, cunning and shrewd, immediately thought of a source of income.
That carriage had been parked at the village entrance the whole time. Seeing such a luxurious carriage, Ao Tian must have quite a bit of money.
"How much is the rent?" Ao Tian asked.
Flender extended ten fingers and said, "Ten gold soul coins a year."
"Deal." Ao Tian's response was very straightforward. He directly took out ten gold soul coins and placed them on Flender's desk.
Flender was stunned. Renting an idle wooden house for ten gold soul coins a year was already quite unreasonable. In his mind, the price should have been around three gold soul coins. However, he never expected that Ao Tian didn't even bother to negotiate, and directly accepted the deal.
This fat sheep was too easy to fleece.
It's worth noting that the annual tuition fee for Shrek Academy students was only ten gold soul coins. This had already been paid during the enrollment yesterday.
Now, just one horse could fetch ten gold soul coins. Flender really couldn't fathom whether Ao Tian was incredibly wealthy or just not very bright.
But if he didn't take the money, then he would be the one with the problem. Fearful that Ao Tian might change his mind, Flender swiftly swept the ten gold soul coins off the desk. They disappeared in an instant.
"The nearest wooden house to the village entrance is yours for your horse. But we won't help you feed it, and you'll have to clean up the horse dung and urine yourself. If you make the inside too dirty, I'll have to charge extra."
"No problem." Ao Tian turned and left the room.
Flender shook his head with a smile. "This kid really has character."
He patted the ten gold soul coins in his pocket, his smile growing even broader. Now, he had the compensation for the fish pond, and he might even make a few extra coins.
As soon as Ao Tian stepped out, he saw Tang San still waiting outside.
"Ao Tian, are you crazy? Our tuition fee is only ten gold soul coins. You actually spent ten gold soul coins on a horse. Do you realize how many horses you could buy with ten gold soul coins?" Tang San thought Ao Tian was being foolish.
Ao Tian glanced at Tang San, then left without a word, his voice drifting back, "Money might be important to you, but to me, it's just a bunch of numbers."
Displaying his wealth so blatantly, Tang San stood dumbfounded in place. Once again, he was intensely curious about Ao Tian's background. After all these years, he had tried many times, but still hadn't managed to find out where Ao Tian came from.
Tang San turned and went to the cafeteria, coincidentally running into Dai Mubai who had also come to eat.
After the debate with Dai Mubai last night, Tang San was already somewhat displeased with Dai Mubai's character. He didn't even greet him, and sat alone in a corner eating.
Dai Mubai, who was in the middle of eating, brought his food to sit across from Tang San and said directly, "I've challenged Ao Tian. After finishing our meal, we'll have a showdown."
"For what?" Tang San asked expressionlessly.
"For Gu Yuena," Dai Mubai said, his expression suddenly filled with anger. He continued, "My initial thought was that if I won and there was still hope, I would continue pursuing her. If there was no hope, then so be it. But do you know what I discovered this morning?"
"What did you find?"
"This morning, I inadvertently discovered that Gu Yuena has already given herself to someone. Ao Tian definitely did it on purpose. I only issued the challenge to him last night, and overnight Gu Yuena is no longer a virgin. He's definitely feeling guilty and lacks confidence in defeating me, so he resorted to such despicable means." Dai Mubai grew more and more furious as he spoke, feeling extremely resentful.
Originally, both parties had already made an agreement, but Ao Tian turned around and went to Gu Yuena. Was this okay? This was not okay.
So Dai Mubai was very upset.
Tang San felt a bit uncomfortable in his heart. The goddess he secretly admired now completely belonged to someone else, and he hadn't even had a chance to confess...
"So, the battle later has nothing to do with Gu Yuena anymore. It's purely because I want to teach him a lesson."
"Ao Tian is very strong. You might not necessarily win," Tang San finally spoke.