Chapter 108 - 107: [You Probably Won’t Believe This]

Chapter 108: Chapter 107: [You Probably Won’t Believe This]

You call this a small portion?

How can a two-digit number compare to a four-digit one!

The money for the Protective Talismans might be settled, but what about the divine statues?

’If your hammers didn’t look so damn vicious, I would’ve grabbed my Peach Wood Sword and run you through long ago!!’

"Here, here, Daoist Master, write me a receipt."

He Xiaotian, feeling no shame, instead pushed his luck and handed over the pen and paper.

"I... This old Daoist..."

’Aaaah, oh, heavens above.’

’It’s true that I, Shouyangzi, acted like a swindling merchant, secretly jacking up the price to rip off the young man across from me.’

’But why did the honest-looking guy suddenly turn into the big bad wolf?’

’Just come down and take this shameless, despicable bastard away!!’

But in the end, no help came from the heavens for the resigned Shouyangzi.

Intimidated by a certain someone’s menacing iron hammers, he could only yield and write out the receipt.

Beaming, He Xiaotian took the receipt back from Shouyangzi’s trembling hands.

"Daoist Master, could you please bring out the Protective Talismans and the divine statues? My family is waiting to use them!"

PFFT!

The words "divine statues" struck Shouyangzi like a hard blow, making him spit up a mouthful of old blood internally.

’He didn’t need to think to know who would have to cover this loss—him.’

’While the actual cost wasn’t that high, it was still coming out of his own pocket.’

’After some calculation, he realized he’d have to spit back out some of the Spiritual Energy Crystals he’d swindled recently.’

’What sins did I commit in my past life to run into this hammer-wielding man?’

"D-Disciple... Your master... Your master isn’t feeling well... Y-You... you go lead the patron to get the divine statues."

As he finished speaking, he nearly burst into tears.

His heart ached, ached for the two hundred-odd Spiritual Energy Crystals he was about to send to headquarters.

"Hahaha, thank you very much, Daoist Master! And Daoist Master, believe it or not, I will definitely pay you back for the Spiritual Energy Crystals. I, X, call it as I see it. I don’t lie.

Also, these daggers, I got them from taking out a mid-to-high-level member of some organization. I don’t know their exact value, but just take them. Consider it a show of my sincerity."

He Xiaotian stored his two hammers in his storage space, and with a flash of his hands, a pair of daggers engraved with intricate patterns was thrust into the old Daoist’s hands. Then, he reached out and, with one hand, lifted the young Daoist named Daoxuan and walked out of the side hall.

Shouyangzi stared intently at the IOU in his hand. ’In the end, you still made one mistake,’ he thought.

’Your fingerprints must be all over this. When the time comes, I’ll report it to the police, and they’ll track you down. Then you’ll have to spit back everything you took, with interest!’

At this thought, Shouyangzi’s bursting heart finally calmed down a bit.

After a good while, Daoxuan returned.

"How much did he take?"

"???"

The young Daoist looked utterly confused, not understanding what his master meant.

’Given the temperament He Xiaotian showed, did you really think he’d leave anything behind for you?’

"He took everything."

"Everything?!"

Shouyangzi’s voice suddenly shot up.

At the same time, his blood pressure also began to skyrocket uncontrollably.

"Over seventy divine statues... how did he take them away?"

"Master, have you forgotten? The hammers from before also appeared out of thin air."

Daoxuan was exasperated. He had stood right there, watching He Xiaotian make all the statues vanish one by one, as if by magic.

"Call Lei Yang. Tell him we’ve been robbed," Shouyangzi said to his disciple, clutching his heart.

"Hello! Is this Captain Lei? You might not believe this, but we’ve been robbed. What? You’re in a hospital bed right now, and the other Cleaners are tied up? Okay, okay, I’ll let my master know."

Daoxuan hung up and said to Shouyangzi, "Master, Captain Lei said he was seriously injured on a mission and won’t be out of bed for the next few days. He’ll inform Department 037 and have them handle it for now. Once the person is found, a Cleaner will be sent to arrest him."

"That’s good."

An hour later, Shouyangzi finally saw the arrival of two police officers from Department 037.

After submitting all the information, the master and disciple pair breathed a sigh of relief.

If nothing else, Hua Country was known for cracking down hard on crimes committed by those with extraordinary abilities.

RING RING RING...

His phone rang, and Shouyangzi answered.

"Captain Lei, aren’t you supposed to be in a hospital bed?"

"Shouyangzi, the guy who wrote you an IOU... is his name X? Tall, very muscular, and carries a pair of vicious-looking iron hammers?"

"How did you know?!"

On the other end of the line, Lei Yang glanced at Captain Su, who was struggling to hold back a laugh, and continued, "Just let this one go. Worst case, we Cleaners can pay you back for him..."

"Bullshit! Over two thousand Spiritual Energy Crystals, and you want me to just let it go? Let it go, my ass!!"

"I’m saying this for your own good. Wait a minute... Over two thousand...?"

Lei Yang wasn’t able to finish before the agitated Shouyangzi cut him off.

"Arrest him! If it’s for my own good, then go arrest him!"

Shouyangzi was furious. Anyone who’d been cornered at their own door first thing in the morning, forced to the ground to accept an IOU, and made to write a receipt would be full of resentment.

"Hold on a second. What did he buy from you that cost over two thousand Spiritual Energy Crystals?"

"..."

There was a moment of silence on the line. Shouyangzi had clearly realized he’d accidentally let it slip.

"You didn’t jack up the prices, did you? According to your Daoist Alliance’s price list, even if he bought out everything in your Divine Void Temple, it would at most come to around three hundred Spiritual Energy Crystals, right?

Explain everything to me clearly. Otherwise, don’t blame me for reporting this directly to the Daoist Alliance headquarters. You’ll be in for it then."

Resigned, Shouyangzi had no choice but to tell the whole truth, explaining the cause and effect of the entire incident.

Lei Yang sucked in a sharp breath. ’What a crook! A total crook!’

’Never mind multiplying the price of the Protective Talismans several times over, you actually added a zero to the price of the divine statues.’

’Holy shit!’

’Even a skinflint like Zhou Bapi wasn’t as ruthless as you.’

’No wonder the guy had to write an IOU. If our Director came into your Divine Void Temple, he’d probably walk out stark naked!’

’You deserve it! Why don’t you just explode, you unscrupulous swindler?’

"Ahem, Shouyangzi. You might not believe this, but I advise you to hurry up and explain things to him. Otherwise, I might be collecting your corpse in a couple of days."

"So what? Just because he’s strong, he can do whatever he wants? I, Shouyangzi, have bones of steel! I will never yield to that X!!"

"X was on a mission with us two days ago. I personally saw him kill countless evil spirits and several extraordinaries no weaker than me with a single shout. Remember, *one* shout.

That same night, he also took down a major figure from the Netherworld, destroying its avatar’s descent. You know that giant crocodile at the bottom of the Pu River? He’s the one who smashed its head in with one hammer blow. So I’m advising you not to be rash. You don’t have enough meat on your bones to even get stuck in his teeth."

"Is it too late for me to withdraw the case?!"

Shouyang-Bones-of-Steel-zi ultimately withdrew his police report.

According to Lei Yang, it would be useless even if he clung to the issue and refused to let go.

Besides, you were the one who acted unscrupulously first. Not only did you take fourteen Spiritual Energy Crystals, but you also received a pair of daggers that are obviously extraordinary items.

If you really get down to it, you’re the one who came out ahead.

If this were a legitimate business transaction, X would naturally be disciplined for acting like this.

But as it stands, what happened between you two is, at best, a case of dog eat dog.

No, wait. At least X wrote you an IOU, made a small down payment in Spiritual Energy Crystals, and left a pair of extraordinary items as collateral that could probably buy all your divine statues.

Strictly speaking, you’re the one who should be severely punished!

Besides, if you hadn’t been planning to rip him off...

...X would have already paid in full. The transaction would be complete!

But now, the other party has given you enough value to cover the real price of the items and even wrote you an IOU for free.

The one who lost out... seems to be him, right?

So what are you so unhappy about!

Meanwhile, He Xiaotian was already on the bus heading back.

He had no idea that the old Daoist had tried to fleece him and that the extraordinary items were valuable enough to pay for the divine statues. At this moment, he was actually feeling that what he’d done was a bit out of line.

Besides, he truly had no intention of skipping out on the debt. If he had, would he have bothered writing an IOU for Shouyangzi?

’Sigh, I’ve got to work hard to earn money and pay off this debt.’

As for why he was bringing over seventy divine statues back to a three-bedroom apartment...

...wasn’t it all in preparation for moving the imperial garden?

This was the only way to protect his family’s safety 24/7, with no blind spots.

Then, in the future, he could go out and raise hell whenever he wanted, hammering evil spirits without any worries about what was happening back home.

Looking at the bus, which was packed like a can of sardines, He Xiaotian mulled over how he could get his hands on a special-issue SUV from the Cleaners.

’What a headache.’

’Even if I really did manage to get a special vehicle from Lei Yang, I probably couldn’t let my parents drive it around openly.’

’Because doing that would be like openly telling the Cleaners, "I’m X’s relative, come and recruit me!"’

Lost in thought all the way, time flew by quickly.

By the time he snapped out of it, he had arrived at his stop.

He got off the bus and went home.

Entering the apartment across the hall from his own small place, he found that his parents weren’t there. It seemed they had gone out shopping.

He took out the Sixty Jiazi from his storage space and placed them one by one in the living room.

Then, he took out the Four Great Marshals and placed them in the bedrooms.

The remaining one, he planned to have his parents keep in the car when they went out.

CLICK!

Just as he finished arranging all the divine statues, the security door made a crisp sound.

Four people, carrying shopping bags and chatting and laughing, entered in a single file.

"Xiaotian? What is all...?"

Looking at the divine statues that nearly filled the living room, everyone was completely bewildered, wondering what on earth their son was up to.

’Why has he suddenly started worshipping gods?’