“What?” Wei Tianzhi was stunned by Tang Jie’s words.

Tang Jie walked up to him and slowly said, “First Young Master, I don’t blame you for wanting to drive me out, and I can understand that you’re doing it for the sake of the Wei Clan, but it won’t go as you hope. Let me tell you what will happen in the Wei Clan once your letter arrives.”

Tang Jie raised a finger. “Firstly, the master will be furious over your letter and decide to expel me from the clan, but the lady will stop him. She will tell the master that I am currently the first student of our class to enter Spirit Lake, and the only one in one thousand years to create a new record at the Celestial Defense Hall. Expelling me from the clan would be giving up on the hope of the Wei Clan’s prosperity, and also rendering all their earlier investment for naught.”

Wei Tianzhi took in a deep breath.

Tang Jie raised a second finger. “Secondly, the academy won’t let me go, and even if the Wei Clan uses every method at its disposal and succeeds in expelling me, according to the school’s rules, my cultivation will not be crippled. Once I leave the academy, I can still cultivate on my own, but it would be difficult for me to avoid some resentment toward the Wei Clan. The Wei Clan went to so much effort to send a servant into school, but rather than obtaining an ally, it raised a hidden enemy. A wise person would not do this!”

Wei Tianzhi trembled.

Tang Jie raised a third finger. “Thirdly, the third young master has experienced amazing progress as of late, and once he enters Spirit Lake, he will begin to participate in missions. Missions are dangerous, and he will be down a servant student—one that is decently strong and is rather loyal to the young master. First Young Master understands what that means, yes?”

Wei Tianzhi was finally silenced.

Tang Jie drew back his three fingers. “Thus, while this matter will cause some turmoil in the Wei Clan, in the end, the master will take back his order. He will write a letter to you praising you for your actions, but in the end, he will sincerely tell you that the matter with Tang Jie is settled and that all you need to do is keep a close eye on him and make sure that he doesn’t cause any more trouble. The lady will also write a letter to you, but this letter will contain a torrent of abuse, rebuking you for not paying more attention to your own business and properly cultivating. Of course, this is more for me to see. I will also receive a letter written personally by the lady. The letter will attempt to soothe me, saying that the Wei Clan believes in me, and I will even be given money to support my continued cultivation. With that, this matter will finally be settled.”

Wei Tianzhi was trembling all over, and he shook his head in denial. “No! That’s impossible!”

Tang Jie patted him on the shoulder. “You don’t need to believe, but you’ll find out eventually. An earnest personality doesn’t mean that you have a good view of the big picture… Try and do better.”

Wei Tianzhi was utterly gobsmacked as Tang Jie turned to leave.

Wei Tianchong hastily came up and said, “Tang Jie, don’t blame my big brother. That’s just how he is…”

“I know,” Tang Jie smiled. “From his standpoint, he did everything correctly.”

“As long as you understand,” Wei Tianchong sighed in relief. “But those words of yours were marvelous. You scared my brother silly.”

“‘Scare’? You think I was trying to frighten him?” Tang Jie chuckled.

Wei Tianchong was taken aback. “You’re saying that was the truth?”

“You… you really don’t understand your mother!” Tang Jie laughed. He put an arm over Wei Tianchong and said, “Let’s go.”

“To where?”

“You need to ask? The Divine Battleground! I’ve been gone for more than a month, so I have to see if you were slacking.”

“Not going! You’re at Spirit Lake now. You think I can do anything to you?”

“You can issue a challenge to me.”

“Pah! Screw that.”

“It’s not like I’m going to do anything bad to you. We’re just sparring. And besides, this means you’ll have experienced fighting a student above your tier, which has to have some bragging rights.”

“Oh, that seems rather reasonable, but you have to promise to go easy on me.”

“What are you saying? You’re my young master… Relax. I promise that I won’t hit your face.”

He fought a match with Wei Tianchong and confirmed that he hadn’t been slacking. After giving him a few pointers, Tang Jie left the battleground and headed to Spirit Wonder Market.

Madam Shui was present, and she smiled when she saw Tang Jie. “And here I thought you wouldn’t have the guts to see me.”

Tang Jie returned a smile. “Madam, how could you say that? Do I look like someone who runs away from my debts?”

He took out an item from his bag: Gu Changqing’s Soul-Seizing Claw. He placed it in front of Madam Shui and said, “Madam, please look at this. How much is it worth?”

This was the sole treasure that he had not stashed away.

Although he had feared Basking Moon Academy confiscating everything he had, he hadn’t come back completely empty-handed. So long as he didn’t bring back too much, Basking Moon Academy wouldn’t quibble with him over such things. Thus, it was known that Tang Jie had this Soul-Seizing Claw and the Mustard Seed Bag.

Madam Shui didn’t even look at the Soul-Seizing Claw on the counter. She casually asked, “You killed Gu Changqing, and this is all you got?”

Tang Jie replied, “The Hawk Hall members used numerous art relics in their escape, so when I killed him, this was all he had left. If he had more treasures, I would have never been able to beat him with my level of strength.”

Madam Shui shot him a look. “Kid, you’re trying to be clever with me? Do you really think Basking Moon Academy wants to take your spoils?”

Tang Jie dropped his head and replied, “This student would not dare to think of such a thing.”

Madam Shui replied, “What you think is your business, and I have no desire to argue with you. This Soul-Seizing Claw was one of Gu Changqing’s famous art relics, and it’s worth about fifteen thousand coins. I can take it for ten thousand. Do you have any objections?”

“This student would not dare. Ten thousand it is. I will pay back three months of interest first.”

“Alright, then.” Madam Shui was very easy to work with, not even asking what Tang Jie planned to do. She took the Soul-Seizing Claw and gave Tang Jie 5500 coins.

With this money, rather than going to buy medicine, Tang Jie went to the Forging Platform.

Dan Xin was still managing the Forging Platform, but when he saw Tang Jie, he was no longer as polite. After coldly glancing at him, he snorted and turned away.

Tang Jie was already used to this treatment and didn’t complain.

Dan Xin still had some grace, but the lower students certainly did not.

They looked at Tang Jie with scorn and began to mouth off.

“He still has the face to come.”

“That’s right! If not for the consideration from the academy, how could he have entered the Forging Platform without even taking the test?”

“Now that his identity is exposed, he should have just left.”

“Exactly! Right, did all of you hear? Tang Jie is a rare good-for-nothing in the Dao of Tools. He destroyed nearly a hundred broken tools, but he didn’t manage to extract even the smallest bit of material!”

“Is that true?”

“Those two trashes Zhou Jiahui and Liu Zihan talked about it, so it should be true.”

“Someone even more trash than those two? Haha, that’s funny.”

“True. If not for all his swindling, how could he have ever gotten this far?”

“Now we see his real form.”

All of them brazenly talked, not caring about whether Tang Jie heard. Some of them even raised their voices higher.

Tang Jie didn’t complain. He just felt a faint helplessness, surprised that there would be a day when even he would be called trash.

But that was life. Buying the rises and selling the dips was a normal fact of life, and people became particularly unhappy and resentful of others who relied on “special methods” to obtain resources and advantages.

He could understand this emotion, and so all he could do was smile and ignore them.

Alas, even if he ignored them, there were always some people who tried to cause him trouble.

As he was heading to the extraction region, a student stopped him, sneering, “Tang Jie, where are you going?”

Tang Jie coldly looked back. “I don’t recognize you.”

“Yang Yuhao,” the student said, pointing his thumb at himself. “A third-year student, Spirit Lake Tier.”

“And what about it?”

Yang Yuhao laughed. “‘What about it’? Tang Jie, you’re the disgrace of my Basking Moon Academy. Letting you stay will only tarnish the academy’s reputation. I recommend that you tactfully withdraw from school!”

Tang Jie looked around and saw that all the other students were sneering at him.

Fighting wasn’t allowed in the academy, and those who broke the rule would lose points. These people would never choose to attack him, but they could use their words to mock him.

In a war of words, even an Immortal Platform Titan might be heavily outnumbered.

Yang Yuhao made cutting remark after cutting remark, speaking in a malicious tone and insulting Tang Jie as much as he pleased.

Tang Jie sighed. “One hundred coins.”

“What?” Yang Yuhao froze.

Tang Jie repeated, “One hundred coins. In return, you won’t bother me anymore.”

“Are you joking?” Yang Yuhao snorted.

“Two hundred.” Tang Jie raised the price.

“Bastard, I’m reprimanding you because I’m a righteous student. Trying to bribe me…”

“Five hundred,” Tang Jie continued.

Five hundred coins?

Yang Yuhao hesitated, but then he shook his head. However, his tone was no longer as harsh, and he somewhat weakly said, “Don’t think about using money to…”

“One thousand!” Tang Jie took a spirit jade from his Mustard Seed Bag.

The spirit jade shone in Yang Yuhao’s eyes, and the sight of it made his heart tremble.

This was a spirit jade!

It was the same as a bottle of spirit medicine, able to save him several dozen days of cultivation.

Yang Yuhao swallowed.

Staring at the spirit jade, he finally nodded. “Deal!”

He reached out to grab the spirit jade.

To his surprise, Tang Jie drew back his hand and put the spirit jade away.

Yang Yuhao snatched at air and furiously said, “Tang Jie, what’s the meaning behind this?”

Tang Jie coldly stared. “Do you really think you’re worth one thousand spirit coins? You were putting on a righteous air, saying I was the disgrace of the academy, but it turns out that one spirit jade was enough to buy you off. You’re pretty cheap.”

“You… you tricked me!” Yang Yuhao trembled in rage.

“So what?” Tang Jie’s eyes focused as he whispered into Yang Yuhao’s ears, “I even dared to trick Basking Moon Academy, so why not you? Trying to provoke me? You really have no idea. I could play around with you and crush you like an ant if I wanted! A third-year? Ptoo! I even killed Gu Changqing! Who are you, to dare act cocky in front of me?”

“You!” Yang Yuhao could almost vomit blood from the anger he was feeling. Unable to suppress his rage, he punched Tang Jie.

Tang Jie didn’t move, allowing the fist to strike him.