Chapter 200: Chapter 199: A Basketful of Praise

“Seventh Elder, we’ll pay the rent right now! At the highest market rate!” The young man from the Spirit Cat Clan hurried back inside and brought out all the chests filled with Crystal Stones.

The young man from the Porcupine Clan did the same. “Seventh Elder, we were ignorant and foolish before. It’s mainly because if we didn’t listen to the Gray Parrot Clan, they’d send people to cause trouble in our shops.

We just wanted to do business peacefully, so we had no choice but to bite the bullet and go along with them.”

“Bah! A likely story! You sure put in a lot of effort when you were causing trouble. Weren’t you just trying to hide behind our Gray Parrot Clan to get a piece of the action without taking any of the blame?

Now that there’s trouble, you’re piling all the blame on us?” The young man from the Gray Parrot Clan bristled with fury.

The Seventh Elder just watched them bicker, finally feeling a sense of vindication after so many years!

“See that?” he muttered cheerfully to Wei Ce. “The gods are always watching. Retribution may be slow, but it is inevitable. We should always act with a clear conscience. We Iron-eating Beast Clan Members never make enemies, but we aren’t pushovers to be bullied either. People like them, who you give an inch and they take a mile, are bound to trip and fall sooner or later… You’ve found a good little female. Ask her if these three shops are enough.

If not, I can rent my shops to you as well, at the lowest market price…”

His voice wasn’t quiet, and Si Shuo heard him. She turned her head and said with a smile, “Well, thank you in advance, Seventh Elder. We don’t have many items to sell at the moment, but we’ll definitely have more in the future. We might just need your shops then.”

The Seventh Elder nodded repeatedly. “Then I won’t collect their rent annually. I’ll have them pay month by month, so we can terminate the lease at any time.”

The young shop assistants argued for a while. Seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, Ma Zuo, who was inside the shop, decided to slip out the back and circle around to the front, pretending to have just arrived late. He planned to plead his case again, but the moment he stepped out, a tall, sturdy Iron-eating Beastman grabbed him by the belt and swung him into the crowd in front!

Ma Zuo was so scared he instantly reverted to his beast form. He managed to flap his wings just before hitting the ground, narrowly avoiding a hard fall, but he still tumbled in the dirt. His already dusty gray appearance became an even sorrier sight.

“Hehe, Brother Ji Liang, you were right! This Shopkeeper is a sneaky one. He was hiding in the shop and refused to show his face. He tried to slip out the back, but I caught him!

How does the Gray Parrot Clan, so full of lies and always taking advantage of others, have the gall to demand we not raise the rent and ask us to be trustworthy?” The Beastman trotted out, bluntly exposing the Gray Parrot Clan’s dirty laundry.

Ma Zuo’s feathers bristled with rage. After shifting back into human form, covered in dirt, he didn’t forget to argue, “Seventh Elder, you can’t act so tyrannically…”

Ji Liang raised an eyebrow. “Shopkeeper Ma Zuo, who’s the tyrannical one here? You’re three months behind on rent, yet you accuse the landlord of being tyrannical? You may be gray by nature, but you’re quite skilled at calling black white.”

Si Shuo also straightened her back, tilting her chin up slightly. “Exactly!”

For a rare change, Wei Ce also unleashed his Level 14 pressure and nodded. “That’s right. Now *this* is what you call throwing your weight around. If I don’t teach you a lesson, you’ll think you can get away with anything.

On the Beastman Continent, hasn’t it always been that strength reigns supreme? If you’re not convinced, call any member of your clan to challenge me. If they can beat me, forget the rent—I’ll even hand over these three shops!”

Ma Zuo’s legs went soft, and his mouth wouldn’t obey him. ’He… He’s only a Level 10 Beastman, how could he possibly withstand such pressure?’

Forget the members of their Gray Parrot Clan; even Ni Chang, a Level 15 from the Golden Python Ni Family, might not be able to defeat a Level 14 Wei Ce.

To make matters worse, the onlooking Beastmen started to jeer. “That’s right! Isn’t the Gray Parrot Clan just bullying the Iron-eating Beast Clan Members because they’re simple, honest, and don’t like to argue? They need the shops now, so why should they let you keep messing around? They’re good-tempered, not stupid…”

“Hurry up and scram! Don’t embarrass yourselves here…”

The Seventh Elder sneered. “If you move out now, we can still discuss this civilly. But when we have to forcibly evict you, not only will you gain nothing, you’ll also suffer heavy losses. We’ll let everyone see just how ’smart’ the Gray Parrot Clan is, treating others like fools. Three days. In three days, we’ll send people over to throw all your things back to your clan’s territory!”

After speaking, he looked apologetically at Si Shuo. “Female Saint Si Shuo, my apologies for this embarrassing display.”

Si Shuo smiled and waved her hand dismissively. She asked Xiao Cheng for a few golden cages, placed the handful of Rootless Flower Wood Spirits into them, and tossed them into the crowd. “Our shop will open in three days! We’ll have two thousand various Wood Spirits for sale then. After that, we will still have a daily limit of five hundred Wood Spirits. We hope to see you all there!”

She had accumulated quite a few Wood Spirits over the past few days after her body had recovered.

The crowd roared their approval, the sound so loud it made the ground tremble. It also let the Gray Parrot Clan know that the tide had turned against them for good.

In three days, even if the Iron-eating Beastmen didn’t come to throw their things out, the Beastmen desperate to buy Wood Spirits would take advantage of the chaos to loot their shops bare.

On the way home, Wei Ce mentioned to the Seventh Elder his idea of converting the walls surrounding the clan’s territory into an academy and a Martial Arts Hall.

Si Shuo glanced at Xiao Cheng, who smiled and stepped forward, taking out paper, a brush pen, and an inkstone. “Seventh Elder, take a look. These three items were made in our small workshop. They make writing and preservation much more convenient.

With these three things, it will be very convenient for us to teach the cubs how to learn and write Beast Text.”

He then pulled a notebook bound with cotton thread from his beast-skin belt. On it was a version of the Three-Character Classic that Si Shuo had adapted for the Beast World Continent to help Beastmen learn to read.

The paper was slightly yellowed and dense. The characters on it were beautiful and neat, the ink dark, smooth, and clear. The Seventh Elder took it and examined it over and over, muttering how good it was.

Gong You also added with a light smile, “Seventh Elder, I have five years of rich experience defending arenas in the Southern Continent. Although my Combat Level isn’t high, my fighting techniques and practical experience are more than enough to teach the cubs.”

Si Shuo added, “Seventh Elder, my Gong You is amazing! Don’t be fooled by his Eleventh Level; he doesn’t even flinch when facing a Level 13 Beastman!”

Ji Liang couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. Si Shuo pursed her lips and smiled. “My Ji Liang is amazing too. He’s especially good at earning Crystal Stones. With him around, the Gray Parrot Clan is nothing but gray dust…”

Xiao Cheng grinned and sidled up. “What about me, Sis?”

Si Shuo said, amused, “Our Xiao Cheng is also very amazing.” ’Of course he’s amazing. He looks like a pretty boy who only knows how to act cute and praise his ’sis’ and ’brothers,’ and he’s always thinking about his clansmen—so kind and wonderful. But it was this pure, innocent, and harmless person who managed to swindle more than ten powerful Beastmen from the Winged Dragon Clan, driving the entire clan mad!’ “He’s hardworking and diligent, leading the males of the clan to prosperity, and his heart is full of righteousness!”

Wei Ce grew a little anxious. “Shuo, what about me?”

’Great,’ she thought. ’I shouldn’t have started. Once I praise one, I have to praise them all!’

“Our Wei Ce is amazing too! The moment he unleashed his aura earlier, the entire chattering Gray Parrot Clan shut up. So manly…” She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep