I started by submitting to the Douluo Continent, and the nation helped me become a god.

At noon the next day,

Li Fulan was still the same as always, moving a small stool to sit under the old locust tree at the entrance of the canteen, with the same small wooden table from yesterday in front of her, the white cloth spread out neatly, and twelve freshly made Spirit Gathering Pills on it.

The small porcelain bottles gleamed warmly in the sunlight, and the faint aroma of medicine wafting from them was even stronger than yesterday, causing passing students to stop in their tracks, their noses twitching like dogs.

After yesterday's "debut," his "Li Family Special Spirit Gathering Pill" has become a household name in the academy.

Especially Zhang Wei, the rich young master who bought the first pill. After he went back, he was like a man possessed, bragging to everyone he met.

What do you mean by "taking one pill will loosen your bottleneck"?

What do you mean by "his cultivation speed increased by at least 20%"?

He boasted, "If this medicine were taken to the auction house in Tiandou City, it would be worth at least three hundred gold soul coins..." He raved about it so much that his spittle flew everywhere.

This kid is practically Li Fulan's free live boyfriend, and the kind who's willing to give him away for free.

So today, before Li Fulan could even set up her stall, a large crowd had already gathered around her, three or four deep.

"Brother Li! Save one for me! I prepared the money yesterday! I stayed up all night saving it up!"

"Me too! Me too! Stop pushing! You're stepping on my foot!"

"Get out of my way, all of you! I'm buying all twelve of them today... Ouch, who the hell stepped on my foot? Looking for trouble?"

"Screw you! Brother Li said yesterday that each person is limited to one! You think you can hoard them all? Keep dreaming!"

The scene was quite chaotic, like a scramble for discounted cabbage at a farmers' market.

Li Fulan sat on a small stool, waving her tattered palm-leaf fan, leisurely watching the group of clamoring "customers" in front of her, feeling incredibly pleased with herself.

"Don't rush, line up, one at a time."

He cleared his throat and raised his voice.

"Same rules as always, one pill per person, ten gold soul coins, no credit. Anyone cutting in line or causing trouble will be blacklisted and won't be able to buy a single pill from me again."

Upon hearing this, the previously chaotic crowd immediately quieted down and formed a queue on their own.

Li Fulan nodded in satisfaction and began collecting money and distributing medicine one by one.

To be honest, his alchemy skills are becoming increasingly proficient. Last night in the laboratory of the Seventh Base, he produced these twelve pills in less than three hours, and their quality was even better than the first batch. After testing them, Elder Yuan was so excited that his beard was shaking, saying that they were showing signs of approaching top-grade quality.

At this rate, it won't be long before he's able to consistently produce high-grade pills.

At that time, the price will have to rise further.

Li Fulan was secretly pleased with herself, but she didn't neglect her work at all. Her movements as she collected the money were smooth and effortless.

Just then, a series of noisy footsteps came from afar.

"Get out of my way, all of you!"

The crowd was forcibly pushed aside, as if it had been split in two by something.

Tang San, along with Wang Sheng and a large group of work-study students, marched over in a dark and menacing manner.

Li Fulan squinted, sizing up the group of uninvited guests.

Good heavens, there were at least twenty or thirty people here, all from the work-study program. They all looked fierce and glared at each other, like they were here to seek revenge.

Tang San walked at the front, his face even worse than yesterday, his eyes bloodshot and his eye sockets dark, clearly indicating that he hadn't slept well all night.

That's understandable. Yu Xiaogang is still lying in bed and hasn't woken up yet; it's no wonder his apprentice can't sleep. Plus, he was publicly "humiliated" by Li Fulan yesterday, and the anger in his heart has been building up all night. He just couldn't suppress it, so today he brought people to settle the score.

"Li Fulan!"

Tang San walked up to the stall, and without saying a word, slammed his hand on the small wooden table, causing the porcelain bottle on it to shake violently and almost roll off.

The students queuing to buy medicine were startled and quickly stepped back to make room for the group.

"Hey, Tang San."

Li Fulan wasn't annoyed. She slowly fanned herself with a palm leaf fan and looked up at him.

"Why bring so many people shopping instead of eating lunch at midday?"

"Don't try to fool me!"

Tang San pointed at Li Fulan's nose, his voice trembling with anger.

"Why did you give Zhou Tiezhu an installment plan yesterday? And with zero interest? What makes him deserving of such treatment?"

Li Fulan blinked, looking completely innocent.

"Zhou Tiezhu? Oh, that skinny little boy. What happened to him?"

"Don't play dumb!"

Wang Sheng started shouting from the side.

"You clearly gave him a zero-interest installment plan yesterday, so why can't we have the same? We're all part-time students, why are we being treated differently?"

"Exactly! Why should I?!"

The group of work-study students behind them also joined in the commotion.

"We want to pay in installments too!"

"We don't have any money either!"

"Li Fulan, do you look down on us work-study students?"

The chattering noise was so loud it gave me a headache.

Li Fulan put the palm-leaf fan on the table, stood up, and glanced at the group of people before finally landing on Tang San's face.

"Tang San, I have a question for you."

His voice wasn't loud, but the surroundings instantly fell silent.

"Zhou Tiezhu gets up at four every morning to chop wood and boil water, and practices his martial arts by moonlight even after lights out. He washes dishes in the canteen, his hands cracked from the cold, but he never complains. That one silver soul coin deposit was all the savings he had accumulated over half a year."

Li Fulan paused, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"And you? Tang San, what have you contributed?"

"I……"

Tang San was speechless for a moment, but quickly regained his confidence.

"I'm a work-study student too! I also work at the college! Why can't I enjoy the same treatment as Zhou Tiezhu?"

Are you a work-study student?

Li Fulan laughed, a laugh tinged with sarcasm.

"Okay, even if you're a work-study student. Let me ask you again, are you as poor as Zhou Tiezhu? Have you ever suffered the hardships he did? Are you like him, unable to even afford a single gold soul coin?"

Tang San's face turned bright red.

He was certainly not poor. Although he was nominally a work-study student, he possessed twin martial souls, innate full soul power, and had received Yu Xiaogang's complete instruction. Even if he were poor, he wouldn't be so poor that he couldn't even come up with ten gold soul coins.

But he just couldn't swallow his anger.

"That's just sophistry!"

Tang San slammed his hand on the table again.

"You give Zhou Tiezhu special treatment, why can't you give us special treatment too? We work-study students should unite and help each other, how can you be so biased? We're talking about your pills! Why do you only give Zhou Tiezhu installments and not us?"

"On what grounds?"

Li Fulan's smile vanished, and her gaze sharpened.

"Just because I refined these pills. I can sell them to whomever I want, however I want. I'll sell them to whoever I like, and to whoever I don't..."

He paused, then spoke slowly and deliberately.

Even if he brought me a mountain of gold, I wouldn't sell!

These words, spoken with such domineering confidence, immediately drew cheers from those around them.

The noble students who were queuing up to buy medicine were enjoying the spectacle and clapped and cheered, wishing they could applaud Li Fulan.

Well said!

"Exactly! It belongs to someone else; they can sell it to whomever they want!"

"A bunch of poor bastards trying to get something for nothing? Dream on!"

These words reached Tang San's ears, making his expression even more unpleasant.

"you……"

He was about to retort when he was interrupted by a lazy voice.

"Hey, what brings you here again, you poor wretch, causing trouble?"

The crowd automatically parted to make way.

Zhang Wei swaggered in, brandishing his ivory folding fan and accompanied by two burly bodyguards.

He was dressed even more ostentatiously today, in a long brocade robe with a jade pendant hanging from his waist, walking with a swagger. It was obvious he had dressed up deliberately, as if afraid others wouldn't know he was rich.

Zhang Wei walked up to the stall, first smiling obsequiously at Li Fulan, bowing and scraping as if he were seeing his own father.

"Good morning, Teacher Li."

Then he turned around, his expression changed, and he looked at Tang San with disdain.

"Couldn't buy medicine yesterday, so you bring people to cause trouble today? Is this the quality of you work-study students? Tsk tsk tsk, what a poor, uncultured bunch."

Who are you calling a poor wretch?

Wang Sheng couldn't hold back any longer and rolled up his sleeves, ready to rush forward.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about!"

Zhang Wei wasn't intimidated at all. He shrank back behind his bodyguard, but his words became even more arrogant.

"What? You're not convinced? If you're not convinced, go make some money! If you can't afford it, just say so. Don't pretend to be high and mighty. Teacher Li painstakingly refined these pills, they're so sought after, selling them for ten gold soul coins is already charity!"

He closed his folding fan, pointed at Tang San and the others, and launched into a merciless taunt.

"Not only are you ungrateful, but you also want to get something for free? And even want interest-free loans? I think you're not just poor, you're poor and wicked! You have no manners!"

"What did you say?!"

Tang San suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

The words "ill-mannered" were like a sharp knife, piercing the deepest part of his heart.

He has never met his mother since he was a child.

I don't even know what she looks like.

His father, Tang Hao, never mentioned this matter. He asked once, but all he got in return was silence and a whole day of drunkenness. Back in Holy Soul Village, the children often called him a "motherless bastard." He hit them, made a scene, and cried, but those words were like thorns, stuck in his heart, impossible to pull out.

This was his Achilles' heel for life.

Did I say something wrong?

Zhang Wei was completely unaware of the danger and was still smugly showing off.

"Look at the state of you all! You're all staring at other people's things like hungry wolves, wishing you could just snatch them away. What is this if not a lack of upbringing?"

He waved his folding fan, a contemptuous smile playing on his lips.

"Didn't anyone teach you from a young age that you can't just take things that don't belong to you? Did your mother die young and not have time to teach you how to be a decent human being?"

"Shut up!!!"

Tang San finally couldn't hold back any longer.

He roared, his soul power surging, and his Blue Silver Grass martial soul was instantly released. Several vines burst from the ground, coiling towards Zhang Wei like venomous snakes, accompanied by a sharp whooshing sound.

"Oh my god!"

Zhang Wei was so frightened that he fell to the ground with a thud and scrambled to hide behind the bodyguard.

"He's going to kill someone! Stop him!"

The two bodyguards rushed forward, but they were only level 20 Soul Masters, and were no match for a genius like Tang San.

Just then, the few strands of blue silver grass were about to wrap around Zhang Wei's neck.

"stop."

A calm voice rang out.

It wasn't large, but it exuded an undeniable sense of authority.

Tang San paused slightly.

In that split second, Li Fulan had somehow appeared in front of Zhang Wei. He didn't release his martial spirit, nor did he even assume a fighting stance; he simply looked at Tang San with a calm and profound gaze.

The few strands of blue silver grass hovered in mid-air, less than a foot away from Li Fulan's face.

"Tang San, this is the academy, not a place for you to run wild."

Li Fulan's voice remained calm, as if she were saying that the weather was nice today.

"You want to fight? Fine, go to the arena, I'm ready. But to start a fight in front of my stall is disrespecting me."

He paused, a cold smile curving his lips.

"Anyone who doesn't give me face can forget about buying a single pill from me again, no matter how much money they offer."

Tang San stared intently at Li Fulan, his chest heaving violently, like a wild beast that had been provoked but had to restrain itself.

Reason told him that taking action now would definitely not yield any good results.

Putting aside Zhang Wei's bodyguard, Li Fulan alone gave him a feeling of unfathomable depth. It was like facing a lurking beast; the surface was calm, but it could deliver a fatal blow at any moment.

Moreover, if a fight breaks out openly here, it will definitely attract the attention of the college's teachers. At that time, not only will he be punished, but the situation of the work-study students will also become more difficult.

"Good...very good."

Tang San gritted his teeth and spat out a few words before slowly withdrawing his martial spirit.

The few strands of blue silver grass seemed to have lost their support, drooping softly and then shrinking back to the ground.

"Li Fulan, Zhang Wei... I will remember this humiliation."

He gave the two of them a deep look, the hatred in his eyes almost tangible.

Then he turned around and waved to Wang Sheng and the others.

"Walk!"

A group of work-study students slunk away after him, each one dejected, like defeated roosters.

Watching Tang San and the others leave in a disheveled state, Zhang Wei got up from the ground, dusted off his backside, and snorted.

"Tch, what is this crap?"

What kind of soul power can you cultivate if you don't have money?!