Chapter 6579 No Good Bird
“Long Chen, you bastard! You tried to kill Old Sixth!”
An angry howl split the air as the green light dove toward Long Chen. The green parrot was back. However, Long Chen almost burst into laughter when he saw its appearance.
The green parrot’s once lustrous, emerald feathers now looked patchy and dull. And its butt... was a desolate wasteland.
“Green Old Sixth, what happened to you?” Long Chen gasped, barely restraining his laughter.
“What happened?! It was all your fault—you and that damn cauldron! I curse you to get food poisoning forever! To lose money every time you walk out the door! To swallow fish bones every meal you eat!” The parrot jabbed a half-bare wing at Long Chen and cursed furiously.
“Hey, hey, let’s talk nicely. Where are my friends?” asked Long Chen.
“I send them to the dragon race—no, that’s not right. I tossed them into a dung pit! If you want them back, buy their lives with money! Now, give me my money!” the green parrot shrieked.
“Come on, Brother Sixth. Calm down. Just tell me what happened.”
Hearing the parrot say it had managed to send the others to the dragon race, Long Chen finally relaxed. But judging from its bedraggled state, protecting them had cost it dearly. Now, Long Chen owed it a huge favor.
After cursing for some time, the bird finally exhausted its wrath.
“That damn pure Yin land. So many monsters! I actually flew straight into their nest! I’m cursed with misfortune! If it was just me, they wouldn’t be able to touch even a single feather. But because I had to protect your weakass friends, I had to use my core energy! Not only did I burn through everything you gave me, I even lost everything I’d saved over the years! Fuck, I really am going to kill you!”
The green parrot got angry again just by talking about it and pecked Long Chen.
Long Chen recalled the two-headed wolf. Evilmoon had mentioned the white-robed Long Chen encountering a monster in a spatial crack. Clearly, the parrot had barged straight into the wolf’s den and suffered miserably while protecting everyone. This was another debt Long Chen would have to repay.
“Calm down, calm down! You helped me out this time, so I owe you a debt. I will definitely repay you,” Long Chen said as he dodged its mad attacks.
The green parrot cocked its head at him and demanded, “Speak, how are you going to repay me!? When?! And are we talking about the interest you owe me?”
Hearing that it wanted interest, Long Chen instantly became vigilant. This Green Old Sixth was going to demand a wild price.
He solemnly said, “Now that’s where you’re mistaken. We’ve already run into each other multiple times—it’s destiny. Talking about interest is too hurtful.”
The green parrot sneered, “Hmph, don’t think that you can trick me so easily! The first time we met, you and that broken cauldron conned me out of my puppets and even my curse art! You dare to speak of destiny to me?!”
“Cough, I, Long Chen, never con anyone! But I just so happened to con you. See? Isn’t that even more evidence of destiny?” Long Chen said with a straight face.
“Hmph, nonsense! Hurry up and repay me, or I won’t stop till you're dead!” the green parrot shouted, looking like a loan shark demanding payment.
“Yes, I’ll definitely repay you. But as you can see, my senior, the Earth Cauldron, was already consumed by the Heaven Cauldron. My senior had looked after all my savings. Once I save senior, I guarantee to give you everything in senior’s hands!” promised Long Chen.
Long Chen couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. After all, the Earth Cauldron didn’t have anything, but he still thickened his face and lied.
“Tch, do you take me for a fool? You just want me to help you save that old cauldron. Your intentions are louder than thunder! Did you think I wouldn’t be able to tell?” the parrot sneered.
Being exposed made Long Chen’s eye twitch.
He said, “Hey, Green Old Sixth, aren’t you being a bit shameless? Tell me—during my nirvanic rebirth, did I invite you? Did senior ask you to show up?”
The green parrot glared at him silently.
“It was you who came because you wanted to profit off me,” Long Chen continued. “I admit I benefitted too, so at best it was a mutually profitable exchange. Every business has risks. After all, who can profit forever with no losses? Not even the Huayun Trading Company can do that! Since it was a business collaboration, losses are normal. For you to blame me is too much. You accepted the risks when you made your move. For you to demand compensation now, isn’t that a bit too shameless?”
Long Chen’s argument froze the green parrot. Although it did feel like something was wrong with his logic, it couldn’t tell what it was.
“Since it was just business,” Long Chen said, “our deal is over. We have nothing more to do with each other. Of course, if we were friends and your actions were for our friendship, that would be a different story. I, Long Chen, always repay my friends ten times over. But since all you care about is interest, business, and squeezing money out of me, there’s nothing left to talk about. Take care. I won’t see you off!”
Long Chen swung his sleeve and turned to leave.
“Wait! No! The old cauldron said you’d repay me if I helped you! It said I’d get exactly what I want from you!” the parrot cried.
As expected, the Earth Cauldron had intentionally pushed this parrot to follow Long Chen. However, Long Chen’s expression did not change as he glanced at the parrot.
“Says who?”
“The old cauldron!”
“In that case, find it for repayment. What do its promises have to do with me?”
“Hey—hey!” The parrot panicked and flapped into Long Chen’s path. “Isn’t it too heartless to leave without paying me back after everything I did?! Look at me now! I’m falling apart! And it’s all because I protected your friends! You’re really just going to walk away?!”
“Don’t talk to me about money. It hurts my feelings,” Long Chen said coldly.
“Then let’s talk friendship!”
“Don’t talk to me about friendship. It hurts my wallet.”
“What the fuck?!”
Seeing the parrot truly growing frantic, Long Chen finally said, “I’m about to do something big. If you stop causing trouble, it won’t be long before I can let you eat your fill. But until then, you have to listen to me.”
“Really?” the parrot asked suspiciously.
“If you don’t believe me, then scram.”
“I’m not leaving! You have to repay me everything you owe! No—tenfold! That’s what you said!” The parrot flapped up and landed on Long Chen’s head.
“Who do you think you are?!” Long Chen asked, angrily grabbing it.
“Long Chen, you bastard, I helped you so much! Are you treating me like this because you think you can bully me?!” raged the green parrot.
“Hmph, do you think you’re king? If you sit on my head again, I’ll turn you into stew!”
Only then did the parrot obediently land on Long Chen’s shoulder. As Long Chen walked into the academy, the soft sound of sweeping echoed through the corridor.
At this moment, the parrot froze.
“Why does that old man look so familiar?” it whispered.
“Sweeping elder, I’m planning on leaving. I’m going to the Dragon Domain,” said Long Chen.
The sweeping elder nodded. Long Chen bowed and left. He had only walked a few steps when he heard the elder mutter under his breath:
“That’s no good bird...”
The green parrot’s feathers puffed up in outrage.