Say it again.

If there was something that Wu Zhangkong liked above all else, it would be hard workers who didn't delude themselves. His lover Long Bing, his four students, and even his former classmates were all people who embodied that ideal.

In comparison, he had an extremely negative view of the Spirit Pagoda. If one branch was able to commit such atrocities without a care then what was to say the others weren't as well? It wasn't fair to people such as the worker before him that had nothing to do with it but Wu Zhangkong didn't care. The Cold God was cold and callous, unfeeling, and held a deep grudge.

"Say it again. Tell me I can't do something again." Wu Zhangkong demanded, frost slowly covering the surrounding areas. It wasn't his martial soul, it was his understanding of the law of ice and anger resonating to create such a result without his control.

"S-Sir!" The worker sputtered out, his body and mind corroding quickly by the intense chill emanating from the famous Cold God. His soul itself felt the chill of the ice encasing the room. The ice almost seemed to form his own tomb in the worker's eyes.

"Teacher, that's enough don't you think?" Gu Yuena intervened, taking the prime opportunity that had shown itself. It wasn't scripted, their teacher's anger was quite real, but that didn't change how perfect it was.

Even if it was only him for now, the rumor that she, a mere spirit grandmaster, bravely stood before a spirit sage to protect the common worker would be extremely helpful. Even if she was a little annoyed at her fun ending prematurely, the chance was too good to pass up.

"I suppose you're right." Wu Zhangkong agreed after a few moments of silence, his golden eyes closed as he calmed himself. There was nothing to be gained by attacking this worker and much to lose, it was clear that stopping here was paramount.

He had let his rage consume him and almost made a foolish mistake. He enlisted the help of the Tang Sect to protect his students yet he himself almost brought them into danger, with the Spirit Pagoda no less.

"But this isn't over." Wu Zhangkong declared coldly, his wrath replaced by a frigid cold once more. "The Spirit Pagoda had gone back on its words and unjustifiably removed four students from the Spirit Ascension Platform. Unless we receive payment for your mistakes we aren't leaving." 

"O-Of course!" The worker spoke confidently despite his stutter. His confidence wasn't born from good intentions however. Even at 1/10th of the energy being taken, the thousand or so spirit beasts they defeated would surely elevate at least one ring. When that happened, they'd have no choice but to leave.

What he didn't understand however was that three of the four students didn't experience the same symptoms when elevating a ring as they didn't have rings in the truest sense. Wulin, Gu Yuena, and Xie Xie all received rings from their martial soul and bloodlines.

The energy they gained went directly toward empowering their blood essence and physical body by extension. Rather than exhaust them as it would normally when enhancing a ring's age, the energy would actually rejuvenate them.

Mu Xi would still struggle with the effects of the energy unfortunately, it was unavoidable. The energy was directly sourced to her three rings, enhancing each ring by at least a thousand years. Naturally, such a thing would exhaust her quite a bit.

However, something as simple as exhaustion and physical sickness was easy enough for the holy element to fix and Gu Yuena had no trouble utilizing such an element. It took nothing more than some clever usage of light to remove them from view and a few moments before it was done. And really, the light was optional.

Gu Yuena just didn't want to have to deal with the annoyance of the Spirit Pagoda thinking that she was against them in this case. It was fairly easy to make excuses for but she'd rather not risk tarnishing her reputation over it.

"Why are you standing still?" Wu Zhangkong asked coldly, his golden eyes glaring at the worker in pure disdain. If it weren't for the terror he was feeling or the ice that was slowly disappearing the worker may have been angered by the tone of the 'mere teacher'.

Without so much a word the worker scurried off to get his superior to deal with the issue he caused. He was sure to be punished and most likely he'd be fired but there was nothing to be done. Being laid off was better than being frozen to death.

"Tch. Pathetic." Wu Zhangkong muttered in annoyance as the worker retreated. He wasn't a fan of the Spirit Pagoda but the pathetic sight before him was pathetic even when ignoring that. The worker ran away with his tail behind his back while throwing his superior under the bus. There was nothing respectable at throwing another to the wolves for your mistake.

"Is it just me or is the Spirit Pagoda worse than I thought?" Xie Xie asked Mu Xi quietly once Gu Yuena's spiritual barrier once more stopped any sound. The way the worker pulled them out because of profit, the way he happily sacrificed his boss, and so much more was, as their teacher put it, pathetic.

"No, it's not just you." Mu Xi agreed, her face tainted by disgust. The blacksmiths were a close knit group even if they were solitary individuals. To her, it was impossible to accept them let alone sympathize with them. 

It was unfair to judge the entire organization based on one worker but they had all heard bits and pieces of why the Spirit Pagoda was destroyed recently. FUG, a group widely considered to be full of madmen, had destroyed a branch of the Spirit Pagoda.

Was it a declaration of war? An act of madness? It took very little time for bits and pieces of the truth to be leaked out. The Spirit Pagoda branch was engaging in human trafficking. The Spirit Pagoda didn't even bother denying it, rather they condemned that branch.

Like a lizard cutting off its tail. That was how people referred to the Spirit Pagoda's actions. They didn't accept their sins, they only claimed they weren't aware while throwing around some money to 'fix' the issue.

But money couldn't fix the families they had broken. Money could fix the reputation they had broken. And money certainly couldn't deal with the anger of the entire world. All they could do was slowly take steps to fix what they had broken.

But it wasn't enough. It would never be enough.

****

Hey there, hope you liked the chapter.

I appreciate that the original author was willing to make the Spirit Pagoda evil since they make for great villains. Unlike Shrek which is a school or the Tang Sect which is a hero in the shadows type, the Spirit Pagoda seems pretty realistic. A good natured group corrupted by money.

If you want more chapters, head to patre*on.com/TrapOverlord for up to 25 extra chapters. It isn't required but it'd be much appreciated.