Under the sunlight, the wide entrance of Woodheart stood in eerie silence.
Only the occasional chirping of cicadas broke the stillness.
In the end, Su Ping was the one who spoke first.
"Please, come in and have a seat."
Only then did the slight flush on the young woman's face fade somewhat as she followed him into the reception room.
Su Ping took the fastest shower of his life before returning.
This time, the young woman's eyes lit up.
To be fair, although her first impression of him had been terrible, the Su Ping who walked back in now was completely different from what she had imagined.
Handsome and clean-cut, yet carrying a calm, steady air that didn't match his age.
Compared to those unbearably smug so-called "school heartthrobs" and "young elites" at the Magic Capital Beast Taming Academy, he was pleasing to the eye by an entire order of magnitude.
The kind of man she would glance at several more times if she saw him on the street.
Unfortunately, she wasn't here to admire his looks.
Although the handsome young man did calm her irritation from waiting so long, her expression still cooled as she said:
"Alright. You people claim you can cultivate the Woodheart skill for Forest Wolves, right? Call out your breeder. I'll talk to him directly."
Su Ping calmly sat down.
"Allow me to introduce myself. Su Ping—owner of the Woodheart Beast Breeding Base, and a beast tamer."
The young woman froze for a moment. Then she frowned slightly, her expression turning cold, even tinged with mockery.
"That includes errand boy and poop shoveler too, right?"
Without waiting for Su Ping to reply, she stood up.
"Forget it. Goodbye."
Although he had expected this outcome, Su Ping still felt the unfairness of a world that judged by appearances.
Such a cruel world, he thought. To a genius breeder and future top-tier beast tamer like me.
But reality was reality.
A single coin could stump a hero.
This was his first customer—one who was, frankly, a little questionable upstairs—and he absolutely couldn't let her leave.
"Don't you trust me?"
If not for the fact that this little handsome guy was genuinely easy on the eyes, she wouldn't have even turned around. Hearing that, she did turn back.
"Judging by your age, you just graduated, right? Do you even know what Woodheart is?"
Before Su Ping could answer, she continued:
"Woodheart. A passive enhancement skill. A lower-tier version of the super-grade skill Elemental Heart. Only wood-element elemental beasts even have a chance to comprehend it naturally.
"As for other wood-element beasts—forget Forest Wolves—even species like the Life Ancient Tree, with monarch-level racial potential, rarely possess it.
"Linzhou may be the birthplace of Forest Wolf breeding, but honestly, I didn't have much hope of cultivating Woodheart to begin with. Sorry for the disturbance."
She shook her head, half amused at herself.
Yet Su Ping looked at her, his expression unchanged—still calm, still confident.
"Why not give it a try?"
She froze, scrutinizing this obviously fresh graduate of a beast tamer.
Meeting her gaze, Su Ping smiled faintly.
"If you're willing to try, then if Woodheart isn't successfully cultivated, you won't have to pay a single cent—not for materials, not for preliminary costs."
Those words genuinely stunned her.
Generally speaking, beast breeding—especially skill cultivation—had two absolute prerequisites.
First, and most important, the safety of the beast's life.
That was usually guaranteed. If a beast was in danger, its master would sense it immediately and could halt the process. Contracts also clearly stipulated that if a beast died during cultivation, the breeding base would shut down, and the breeder might even face prison time.
That was why breeders weren't something just anyone could become. Without a Breeder Association certificate, it was perfectly normal not to trust Su Ping.
Second, regardless of success or failure, the beast tamer always bore part of the cost.
After all, even the rarest grandmasters couldn't guarantee success every time.
Breeding bases weren't charities.
Yet here was this young man, daring to make such an offer.
Was he treating her beast like a lab rat?
And yet…
She hesitated.
There was something inexplicably steady about him—something that inspired trust.
Moreover, she had her own pressing reasons for needing her beast to awaken Woodheart.
And besides…
Maybe her way of thinking really was different from most people's.
She also didn't believe someone running such a large breeding base would casually make promises without understanding the consequences.
Her interest was piqued.
"Qin Xiaoxue."
She extended a pale hand.
Su Ping paused briefly before lightly shaking it.
Qin Xiaoxue, however, was all business.
"Since you're the one who brought this up, don't say I took advantage of you. If you fail—if Mu Tou doesn't learn Woodheart by the end of cultivation—you get nothing.
"If you succeed, then besides the agreed price, I'll grant you any one request you want. How about that bet?"
Su Ping's response was just as direct.
He printed out the contract.
Despite her impulsive demeanor, Qin Xiaoxue read contracts meticulously. She pointed at one clause.
"I said I'd grant you a condition too. Why does this only list a cultivation fee of 3.5 million?"
Su Ping smiled.
"You're the first person who believed in me. Aside from free materials if I fail, I don't need anything else from you."
Having lived two lives, Su Ping could tell Qin Xiaoxue wasn't an ordinary person.
Anyone who didn't even blink at that price certainly wasn't.
But right now, he needed money—nothing complicated.
At this price, his conscience already hurt.
Twenty thousand yuan in cost.
Nearly twenty times the profit.
For those who could afford it, it was absolutely worth every cent.
But for Su Ping, doing this kind of business for the first time still felt… strange.
Becoming a qualified black-hearted capitalist, he thought wryly, also requires talent.
Qin Xiaoxue looked at Su Ping with a complicated expression.
Her promise—forget 3.5 million, even 35 million was insignificant.
Yet this young beast tamer left her with an unexpectedly deep impression.
Somehow, an unrealistic thought formed in her mind.
Could it be…
That he really can do it?
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