“How much debt do we have exactly?”

“Eleven hundred spirit stones,” Zhao Yang said straightforwardly.

“What?! How much was the fee?”

“It was just twenty spirit stones! Do you see what I mean? I didn’t want to tell you before, but that’s just how it is, it’s an inescapable debt for any commoner or even many cultivators!”

Zhao Fan gritted his teeth, he thought of the Academy as a beacon of hope for the poor which gave everyone a chance to rise, but now this view was flipped upside down.

“If it’s so expensive, why don’t kids just go hunt or learn on their own?”

“The Academy competition is the biggest reason. Kids have to enroll in the Academy to participate, otherwise, no matter how successful they are without it, they won’t have a chance to shine and be recruited by a sect. Forget about being a lone cultivator, I can’t tell you much about them, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that it rarely turns out well. Alright don’t worry about this anymore, if you can’t get into a sect, I have a plan so it’s not a big deal.” Zhao Yang reassured him.

“I will come back in a couple of days” Zhao Fan got up and headed out with a blank expression on his face.

“Kid, did I let you leave? Come back at once!” A yell was heard across the house. Zhao Fan opened the door and left without turning around.

“F*ck!” Zhao Yang exclaimed angrily and rubbed his temples. He lowered his hand and lowered the shirt on his left hand, exposing a tattoo with the word “ZHAO '' in bold characters.

“Lan’er, did I do the right thing? Our boy is just like you, stubborn and restless, I can’t tell the heavens he will reach in his lifetime. I can only pray he doesn’t ever reach any hells, lest he meets you…” A stream of tears ran down his thin and pale face as he rocked back and forth, rubbing the tattoo.

Meanwhile, Zhao Fan arrived at the warehouse where a crew of workers was already busily working.

“6 should be enough” Zhao Fan grabbed a couple of perfect pills from a pile and headed to meet with the rest of the group at the gate.

It didn’t take long for him to find a group of well-equipped teenagers standing on the side of the road at the entrance of the city.

“A reward of ten mid-rank stones for a crystal crab, not bad. Did everyone bring decent equipment?” Huo Long eyed up Zhao Fan who was bare-handed and wearing a light leather tunic.

“Don’t worry about me, my body is as durable as steel and my fists are as strong as hammers. I also brought some pills this time. Here, everyone can take one.” Zhao Fan took out the perfect Qi Gathering pills and handed them out.

“These are perfect quality!!” Jia Shuren yelled out loud when she inspected the perfectly round pill in her hands. Her hands trembled slightly as if holding a treasure and her eyes widened.

“Mine too! It can’t be that you bought six perfect quality pills just for this hunt? Wouldn’t that cost close to the amount that the reward is worth? Brother Zhao, we can’t accept this!”

“I didn’t buy these pills, don't worry!” Zhao Fan faintly smiled.

“Phew, but even if you found them or they are gifts, you should sell them instead of giving them to us!” Jia Shuren quickly handed the pill back. As a fellow poor person, she understood the value of these pills to him better than anyone.

“I didn’t find them or get gifted these pills since I made them! From this day onward, this hunting group will be sponsored by the Zhao Long Industrial Corporation, and from this day onward, all expenses will be paid by it!” He suddenly laughed out loud.

“What are you doing? This will interfere with our plan!” An angry tone came from within the soul dimension.

“I don’t care, let me live my life a little. I have invested so much of the money I earned into this company, why can’t I spend some of our earnings on this? Also, didn’t you want to make a sect? We can sponsor this group, then other groups, and eventually have a huge following of people.” Zhao Fan retaliated.

“Hmm, although it’s a bit too early, as long as it’s one group it shouldn’t matter too much. Ahh, fine I guess you can flex your wealth and go be a teenager” Hei Long backed off which made Zhao Fan smile smugly.

“Zhao Long Industrial Corporation? How did you manage to get them to sponsor our group?” Huo Long slightly squinted.

“Oh it’s because I created it, can’t you tell from the name?” Zhao Fan laughed.

“Yeah definitely, what does the corporation get from giving us resources to hunt?” Huo Long also smirked.

“Well, it doesn’t cost that much so don’t worry about it, if we can rapidly increase our strength then the profits we make will exponentially increase and everyone benefits” Zhao Fan waved his hand.

“Okay fine go on and be mysterious, don’t blame us when we bankrupt your ‘organization’. Everyone, let's head out now!” Huo Long called.

“Liu Zhong, there was a map attached to the quest, you lead the way.” Zhao Fan suggested.

“Alright, let’s be quick and not fight any weaker beasts to conserve our strength”

Liu Zhong opened the folded paper and walked out through the gate, the rest of the group following him. It wasn’t long before the city gates were far behind them and the group entered the forest.

Liu Zhong suddenly motioned for Zhao Fan who was behind him to come closer.

“It’s worse than I thought, the ones ambushing us later will not be simple for sure, they might even be more formidable than that group from earlier”

“I’d like to see the ones targeting us, you aren’t scared right?”

“What? No of course not, the ambushers can’t be at the Foundation Establishment realm because that would be declaring war, we should be fine”

“Did you tell the others?”

“... no, they wouldn’t go along if I did”

“WHAT? That’s going too far! We are strong so it’s fine but what if something happens to the others?”

“I promise you, nothing bad will happen. The ambushers have restrictions on what they can do, they will at most injure us a bit and steal some of our stuff”

Zhao Fan stayed silent, but he didn’t approve of Liu Zhong’s actions. He could only hope nothing serious would happen on the trip.

Meanwhile, in the city, a gray-clothed youth quickly hurried through the crowded streets. He came to a stop before a discreet building in a desolate part of the city. He hesitated for a moment before opening the door and stepping inside the dark house.

“Liu Zhong’s squad left.”

“Did you recognize anyone else in his group”

“Yes, Huo Long, Gong Yu, and Zhou Da are all mid-tier talents in the city, there are two more, I didn’t recognize them but one of them had such a low cultivation even I could sense it, it was at the fourth Qi Gathering realm.”

“Huo Long, Gong Yu, and Zhou Da? Perfect! Here’s your reward” A whistling object flew through the air. Before the youth could react, a knife went through his head, pinning his body to the wall.

“Send out the Black Dragon squad we agreed with earlier and send Sun Qing just in case they mess up. I want the whole party exterminated”

“Sun Qing? He won’t be happy coming out of seclusion to handle some Qi Gathering juniors”

“Did I ask for your opinion? One more word and you will turn out like that kid”

“Understood sir”