Broken Sword Chance, Great River Sword Intent

"What?!"

"We have to pay a handling fee?! Why didn't you say that before?!"

"Wang Chaoge, you did this on purpose, didn't you? You deliberately waited until we finished the work before mentioning the handling fee. If I had known there was a handling fee, I would never have accepted your task!"

"Exactly! I wouldn't have accepted it either!"

Upon hearing that they had to pay a handling fee, the Servant Disciples present immediately erupted.

Their compensation was already extremely low; after a full day of hard work, each person only received two Origin Stones.

And now they had to pay some kind of handling fee?

Their already meager compensation was going to be further exploited by Wang Chaoge!

Although everyone already knew Wang Chaoge wasn't a good person, no one expected him to be so rotten.

Everyone was furious.

If it weren't for their fear of Wang Chaoge's strength at the eighth level of the Sky Realm, they would have swarmed him and beaten him into a pig's head.

Wang Chaoge, however, was fearless.

He seemed to have anticipated that no one would dare to touch him, so he arrogantly declared, "It's perfectly reasonable for me to collect a handling fee from you!"

"Don't forget, I was the one who took on the task of harvesting spirit herbs. Do you know how much I paid to get this task?"

"Without me, you wouldn't get a single Origin Stone!"

At this point, Wang Chaoge changed his tone and added, "Of course, since we are all fellow disciples, I can reduce my handling fee a bit."

"The total compensation for you nine people is eighteen Origin Stones. How about this: I'll take five, and you can split the remaining thirteen among yourselves."

With that, Wang Chaoge took out thirteen Origin Stones and casually tossed them onto the ground.

The full name of Origin Stone is Primordial Qi Stone, a very special mineral material. Because it contains pure Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, it can be directly used for cultivation.

However, the Origin Stone's more common use is as currency.

Origin Stones are also divided into grades: supreme-grade, high-grade, middle-grade, and low-grade, with an exchange ratio of one to one hundred between each adjacent grade.

For example, one high-grade Origin Stone can be exchanged for one hundred middle-grade ones.

And one middle-grade one can be exchanged for one hundred low-grade Origin Stones.

The compensation Wang Chaoge offered was all the most common low-grade Origin Stones.

Looking at the thirteen low-grade Origin Stones on the ground, the Servant Disciples exchanged glances, and no one spoke.

A moment later, one person couldn't help but ask, "What do you all think? Should we accept Wang Chaoge's handling fee?"

"Actually, the handling fee isn't much, only five low-grade Origin Stones; we still get thirteen," a Servant Disciple said weakly.

"To be honest, I'm not satisfied! Why should we pay a handling fee for no reason?" another Servant Disciple said with a displeased but helpless expression.

"But, since things have come to this, we've already cut the spirit herbs; we can't plant them back in the ground. *Sigh*, let's just accept it!"

"Yes, we'll still have to rely on Wang Chaoge to bring us tasks in the future, after all, he's the only one so familiar with the registered disciples."

"Let's just do this; we live and learn. Next time we encounter something like this, we'll just make sure to clarify the handling fee beforehand."

The others also chimed in, agreeing.

Everyone tacitly accepted the handling fee.

Next was how to divide the compensation.

There were nine Servant Disciples working, including Xiao Ming, but only thirteen Primordial Qi Stones.

It was difficult to divide.

"I want two, because I collected the most spirit herbs, and their quality was the best!" a Servant Disciple suddenly said.

The others immediately became displeased.

"I want two as well! Wang Chaoge already told me that today's compensation would be two low-grade Origin Stones!"

"Nonsense! None of you are as good as me, why should you get two?"

"Who are you cursing? Say that again, I dare you!"

"Try me, try me! Do you dare to touch me?!"

The scene immediately became chaotic.

Everyone wanted more, but no one was willing to back down, leading to increasingly fierce arguments, even showing signs of a fight.

Xiao Ming turned to look at Wang Chaoge, only to see him hiding far away, smiling as he watched everything unfold.

Xiao Ming cursed Wang Chaoge inwardly for being inhumane.

However, he also had to admit that the guy's methods were quite clever.

Because Wang Chaoge successfully shifted the conflict between himself and the Servant Disciples to a conflict within the Servant Disciples themselves.

To break this stalemate, someone had to back down.

No one was willing to back down, because no one wanted to suffer a loss; that's human nature.

But Xiao Ming didn't care.

He immediately stepped forward and declared loudly, "Everyone, stop arguing! I, Xiao Ming, only want one Origin Stone. You eight can split the remaining twelve, which is exactly one and a half each!"

After a pause, Xiao Ming said sternly, "I have already made a concession. None of you have the right to demand more! We are all fellow disciples, let's not let this matter harm our harmony!"

As his words fell, everyone was immediately overjoyed.

"Senior Brother Xiao Ming is too righteous! He sacrificed himself for everyone!"

"Senior Brother Xiao Ming is a good person!"

"Everyone, stop arguing, just listen to Senior Brother Xiao Ming!"

The matter of dividing the Origin Stones was completely resolved.

Wang Chaoge looked at Xiao Ming in surprise; he hadn't expected Xiao Ming to choose to suffer a loss himself and benefit everyone else.

This was a typical act of self-sacrifice for others.

"I would never do something so foolish," Wang Chaoge pouted.

Xiao Ming sneered inwardly.

He wasn't sacrificing himself for others; he simply didn't care for one or two Origin Stones. Compared to the Origin Stones, Xiao Ming was more interested in Wang Chaoge's fortuitous encounter!

After the compensation was settled, everyone left Spirit Medicine Valley and returned to Spirit Sword Sect.

After parting ways in the square, Wang Chaoge, carrying over nine hundred catties of spirit herbs alone, excitedly found the registered disciple who had posted the task.

This disciple, Senior Brother Yuan, often posted tasks and was quite familiar with Wang Chaoge.

"Senior Brother Yuan! I've completed your task!" Wang Chaoge placed the spirit herbs on the ground and deliberately complained, "You wouldn't believe it, I found nine Servant Disciples, and under my personal leadership, it took a whole day to collect this much."

"We collected over nine hundred catties of spirit herbs!"

"Over nine hundred catties? I only needed five hundred catties of spirit herbs; you over-completed it?" Senior Brother Yuan was surprised, then said with satisfaction, "You did well. I'll give you the compensation now."

With that, Senior Brother Yuan took out a large bag of Origin Stones and tossed them to Wang Chaoge.

"There are 150 low-grade Origin Stones here. 100 are your compensation, and the remaining 50 are a reward for over-completion," Senior Brother Yuan said with a smile.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Yuan! If you have tasks like this in the future, remember to find me again."

Wang Chaoge happily put away the Origin Stones. He had only paid out 13 Origin Stones but received a total of 150, a net profit of 137 Origin Stones!

This was the benefit of monopolizing the task channel and exploiting others.

"Oh, right," Wang Chaoge suddenly thought of something and leaned closer to Senior Brother Yuan, speaking mysteriously, "Senior Brother Yuan, I recently started dating a girlfriend. She's average-looking, but her figure is quite good, the 'big-chested, no-brain' type. Are you interested, Senior Brother Yuan?"

"The usual rules, you know," Senior Brother Yuan said indifferently.

"Alright! Senior Brother Yuan, wait for my message tonight!"

...Meanwhile.

By the time Xiao Ming returned to his woodshed dwelling, it was already dusk.

After all, he had worked a full day in Spirit Medicine Valley.

However, dusk and night were precisely when the Qingfeng City market at the foot of the mountain was most lively.

Xiao Ming quickly tidied up, then, taking all his savings, headed straight for Qingfeng City.

His goal: Wang Chaoge's fortuitous encounter, that broken sword containing the Great River Sword Intent!