603: Chapter 603 Joint Development? You think you're worthy?

After listening to Zhang He's report, Li Heng just leaned back in his chair and lightly tapped his fingers on the desk.

"Joint development?"

He glanced out the window; the direction of Mount Tai was shrouded in mist.

"Have them send someone who can actually make decisions. I'll be waiting in my office," Li Heng said in a flat tone.

Zhang He nodded quickly and left to carry out the order.

Li Heng's gaze fell back onto the seed on his desk that was disguised as a stone.

This thing seemed much more interesting than those neighbors who came looking for trouble.

...

Half an hour later.

An old man with graying hair, wearing a cyan Daoist robe, followed closely behind Zhang He.

He was the messenger sent from Mount Tai, Xuan Zhenzi.

Xuan Zhenzi felt as if his legs no longer belonged to him.

He felt like he wasn't walking on a mountain path fluttering with Immortal Qi, but rather on a mountain of blades and a sea of fire; every step had to be taken with extreme caution.

The surrounding Kunlun Academy students looked at him as if they were looking at some rare animal.

"Is this someone from the Mount Tai Heavenly Court? Doesn't look like much."

"I heard they actually tried to challenge our Dean just now. They've got some nerve."

"Look at how pathetic he looks. He's probably terrified after being slapped by the Dean."

These whispers weren't loud, but they were just enough to reach Xuan Zhenzi's ears.

His old face flushed red and white, yet he didn't dare to utter a single word in rebuttal.

Just as he was about to reach the entrance of the office building, his footsteps suddenly halted.

His eyes widened as he stared intently at a window on the third floor of the teaching building.

The window was polished to a shine, reflecting the sunlight.

A massive dark shadow covered in tentacles was busy behind the window.

Those terrifying tentacles, which should have been whipping up monstrous waves in the deep sea, were now clutching rags and wiping the glass stroke by stroke.

One of the tentacles even held a small spray bottle, occasionally spritzing some cleaner onto the glass.

The movements were so practiced it was heart-wrenching.

Xuan Zhenzi rubbed his eyes vigorously, thinking he had seen wrong.

"That... that's... the Abyss King Kraken?"

His voice was trembling.

This was a terrifying existence from the Primeval Era that could trade blows with a True Immortal. With such a fearsome reputation, how could he be here wiping windows?

He even saw one of Kraken's tentacles being scolded by a student in a Kunlun uniform for not cleaning the corners properly.

Kraken merely nodded submissively and then worked even harder with the rag.

At this moment, Xuan Zhenzi's worldview shattered into a million pieces.

"Daoist Xuan Zhenzi, what are you dazing off for?" Zhang He turned back to urge him.

"The Dean is still waiting."

Xuan Zhenzi jolted, quickly withdrew his gaze, and followed with his head bowed.

He felt that this Kunlun Academy was ten thousand times more bizarre than he had imagined.

Entering the office, Xuan Zhenzi didn't even dare to lift his head. He bowed deeply toward the young figure sitting in the chair.

"The sinner Xuan Zhenzi greets the Kunlun Master."

Li Heng didn't even lift an eyelid, merely pointing to the chair opposite him.

"Sit."

How could Xuan Zhenzi dare to sit? He remained hunched over and tremblingly pulled a gold-leafed proposal from his robes.

"Great Master, this is a small token of our Heavenly Court's sincerity."

He held it with both hands and offered it forward.

"We are willing to jointly develop the South Heaven Gate scenic area with Kunlun Academy. All profits will be split seventy-thirty—seventy for you, and thirty for us."

This was already the greatest sincerity they could offer.

However, Li Heng didn't even look at the proposal.

He simply looked up and gazed calmly at Xuan Zhenzi.

"That thing sealed deep within Mount Tai... you can't keep it suppressed much longer, can you?"

A single sentence.

Xuan Zhenzi felt as if he had been stripped naked and thrown into a world of ice and snow.

He was chilled to the bone, inside and out.

"You want to borrow Kunlun's Luck to suppress a mess you can't handle yourselves?" The corner of Li Heng's mouth curled into an arc—it was hard to tell if it was mockery or something else.

He reached out and took the proposal.

A flicker of hope had just risen in Xuan Zhenzi's heart.

The next second, he saw Li Heng casually crumple the proposal—which they had stayed up several nights to write—into a ball of paper.

*Thud.*

The paper ball was accurately tossed into the trash can in the corner.

Xuan Zhenzi's heart sank along with it.

"It's not impossible to get my help," Li Heng said slowly, shifting his posture.

"However, when I do business, I have quite a few rules."

Xuan Zhenzi nodded frantically, like a chicken pecking at grain.

"Please speak, please speak. We will listen to whatever you say."

Li Heng held up one finger.

"First, fifty percent of all future profits from Mount Tai's Earth Veins will belong to my Kunlun Academy."

Xuan Zhenzi's heart was bleeding, but he still gritted his teeth and nodded.

"Agreed."

Li Heng held up a second finger.

"Second, all registered personnel of the South Heaven Gate will be considered Kunlun's dispatched labor from today onwards. Kunlun will pay their wages, but you must find the work yourselves."

Xuan Zhenzi's face twitched.

Wasn't this just working for Kunlun for nothing?

But he didn't dare to object and could only continue to nod.

"No... no problem."

"Third, and most importantly." Li Heng paused here.

Xuan Zhenzi's heart leaped into his throat.

"That plaque of yours at the South Heaven Gate... you have to change it."

Xuan Zhenzi was stunned. Change the plaque?

"Under the three characters for 'South Heaven Gate,' add a line of small text." Li Heng's voice brooked no argument.

"Affiliated Unit of Kunlun Academy."

Hearing this, Xuan Zhenzi nearly choked and passed out.

If word of this got out, what would happen to the Heavenly Court's reputation?

This was literally grinding their faces into the dirt.

"What, do you have an objection?" Li Heng's finger tapped rhythmically on the desk.

"No, none at all!" Xuan Zhenzi shook his head hurriedly.

"I'll go back and handle it right away! Immediately!"

Li Heng waved his hand as if shooing away a fly.

"Get out."

Just as Xuan Zhenzi scrambled out of the office, Li Heng casually flicked the finger he had been tapping on the table.

A nearly invisible golden finger-wind flew out.

But this finger-wind didn't strike Xuan Zhenzi; instead, it curved in mid-air and landed on the stone-disguised seed on the desk.

The seed showed no reaction at all.

But only Li Heng knew that the seed had consumed that finger-wind.

It had eaten it completely.

In the next moment, a sudden change occurred.

From that dusty seed, the transparent leaf grew once again.

This time, the leaf was no longer transparent.

It turned a dark gold color, carrying an indescribable ancient aura.

The Spiritual Qi in the office, which was originally so dense it was about to turn into liquid, was now being frantically devoured by an invisible black hole.

In the blink of an eye, the Spiritual Qi in the entire office was sucked dry.

Even the air became thin.

*Thump...*

*Thump... Thump...*

A dull heartbeat, like that of an infant, emanated from the seed.

The sound wasn't loud, yet it seemed to carry a peculiar rhythm.

The Earth Veins of the entire Kunlun Immortal Mountain began to resonate gently with this heartbeat.

In the back mountain.

The Burning Heaven Demon Lord, who was directing the boiling of water, saw the flames in his hand extinguish with a "poof."

In the teaching building, Kraken's hundreds of window-wiping tentacles all froze in mid-air.

Tu Tan, King of Sand, who was moving scrap metal, dropped the golden fragments in his hand with a "clatter."

The King of Eternal Night, the King of Deceit...

The nine Primordial King security guards who had just started their jobs all stopped what they were doing at this instant.

Unprecedented terror appeared on their faces.

That fear was etched into their Bloodlines and branded into their Divine Souls; it was irresistible.

A natural enemy!

In unison, they all knelt down neatly in the direction of the main peak's office building.

Prostrating themselves on the ground, they trembled with fear.