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The Vermillion Bird was dumbstruck at the prospect of handing over a twelfth of her essence blood.

Biologically speaking, the Vermillion Bird was more than ten thousand years old, but her mind had only been reborn today, so she was psychologically an infant. While her ancient bloodline had brought this to the level of a young girl, she was still no match for Tang Jie in a battle of wits.

In this exchange of words, she had been utterly routed.

Even though she had lost, she still didn\'t give in. Stomping her feet, she shouted, "No, no, absolutely not!"

Deep down, the Vermillion Bird knew that this was too important a decision to make lightly.

Tang Jie was in no rush. He sweetly smiled and said, "I know that taking a twelfth of your essence blood all at once will have too much of an effect on you."

"So long as you realize that." The Vermillion Bird was on the verge of tears.

"Since that\'s the case, we can change the method. What do you think about installment payments?"

"\'Installment payments\'?" She had never heard this term before.

Tang Jie gave her a general explanation of installment payments and then said, "Look—you can pay out that twelfth of essence blood over five hundred years. In this way, you only have to give an extremely small amount of essence blood every year… about… Yes, Sacred Beasts normally have around ten thousand drops of essence blood, right?"

"That\'s way too much. Even a Sacred Beast at its prime has only around three thousand. As for me, since I\'m restricted from entering Void Returning, I have only 999 drops of essence blood, and not a single drop more," the Vermillion Bird responded, innocently revealing her bottom line.

Tang Jie did some calculations. "Then let\'s just use one thousand drops. One twelfth is 83.3, and if it\'s returned over five hundred years, it would be about one drop of essence blood every six years. In this way, you won\'t have to worry about your cultivation level falling."

"Yeah, we can do that!" The Vermillion Bird happily nodded her head.

One drop of essence blood every six years was nothing at all. Putting aside the lack of cultivation decrease, it was also easy to recover from.

The more essence blood one lost, the slower it recovered. Losing more than a hundred drops at once would mean that it would take several hundred years to recover them, but losing one drop would only take a little more than a month—many times faster.

This was like how donating blood every month would have little effect, whereas suffering from traumatic blood loss would have huge ramifications.

Thus, the Vermillion Bird was very happy with the plan, not even realizing that she had essentially accepted Tang Jie\'s valuation.

Looking at the Vermillion Bird, Tang Jie continued, "If that\'s the case, then we also need to calculate the interest."

"\'The interest\'?" The Vermillion Bird\'s eyes bulged.

"Yes, if you pay a loan by installments, you have to pay interest. You don\'t know?" Tang Jie then explained the concept of interest to the Vermillion Bird.

The Vermillion Bird was dumbfounded. "How much is the interest?"

Tang Jie patted her on her shoulder. "Let me calculate it for you. Don\'t worry; since we\'re old friends, I\'ll give you an extremely low rate. If we use an annual rate of 1%, with the principal being 83.3 drops of essence blood, a payment period of 500 years, using the equal principal payment method, paying once a year…"

Tang Jie talked as he calculated, and with the Dao of Wisdom, he was able to swiftly reach a result. "0.83 drops a year, so let\'s just make it one drop a year."

"What? \'One drop a year\'?" the Vermillion Bird cried out. "Doesn\'t that mean I have to give you 500 drops!? That\'s half of my essence blood! The interest is that scary? You must be trying to trick me!"

Tang Jie looked at her with disdain. "I\'m giving you the lowest interest rate."

"That\'s impossible!" the Vermillion Bird shouted.

"You can ask anyone, but you won\'t find a lower price."

There were also money lenders in this era, and charging interest wasn\'t anything strange.

An annual interest rate of 1% was unprecedentedly low, almost charity. And this was mostly because Tang Jie had yielded a lot for fear that he would infuriate the Vermillion Bird.

But the Vermillion Bird didn\'t believe this for a second.

Her ancestor existed in the era of High Antiquity, where civilization hadn\'t been that developed. The land was wild and untamed, and commerce was undeveloped. Money lenders were unheard of, and there was no concept of interest.

And for the Vermillion Bird, five hundred years was just a night\'s sleep.

This was why she could never imagine how a simple night\'s sleep could cause 83 drops of essence blood to rise to 500.

For this reason, the Vermillion Bird shouted, "You\'re deceiving me…"

"If I\'m deceiving you, you can take my life. If I\'m not deceiving you, then you have to pay out the essence blood according to the agreement."

The Vermillion Bird shivered.

Hearing this, the Vermillion Bird finally realized that she might have been mistaken.

Although one drop of blood per year wasn\'t impossible for her to pay, having someone extract her blood for five hundred years in a row wasn\'t something she could easily accept.

She timidly said, "It\'s not like I can leave right now…"

"While you can\'t leave, you can attach a sliver of your Divine Will to me, right? And if that won\'t do, I will do my best to pass the trials and let you free, but until you pay off your debt, you will have to follow me."

Attach a sliver of her Divine Will to Tang Jie to see the outside world?

The Vermillion Bird\'s eyes lit up.

Although she couldn\'t leave this place and enter the world, even just being able to see the world would be wonderful.

Moreover, with that sliver of Divine Will attached to Tang Jie, the Vermillion Bird wouldn\'t feel so lonely.

She was no longer the same as before. With her mind opened, she was anxious to communicate. Even if all she could do was talk, it was still worth it to attach her Divine Will to Tang Jie.

"Is it really okay?" she asked.

"Of course; why wouldn\'t it be?" Tang Jie grinned.

While he had lost the Godhead Will, the Vermillion Bird\'s Will was also nice.

Of course, he couldn\'t consume it and make it his own.

"Fine." The Vermillion Bird nodded. "If everything is as you say, then I agree."

"How can I be sure that you won\'t go back on your word?" Tang Jie asked, a sharp gleam in his eyes.

The Vermillion Bird replied, "I pledge an oath on the Heavenly Dao. If I break this pledge, may the Heavenly Tribulation punish me!"

A Heavenly Dao oath!

Only an existence like the Vermillion Bird could pledge an oath on the Heavenly Dao, which could be considered the most reliable of oaths.

Tang Jie was delighted. "Good; that\'s what we\'ll do."

With this Heavenly Dao oath, Tang Jie no longer had to be afraid of the Vermillion Bird escaping his palm.

The 500 drops of essence blood was only a part of what he sought. More important was that the Vermillion Bird couldn\'t leave him until it had paid off all the essence blood.

While she hadn\'t signed a contract to sell herself as a servant, if she was at his side, would she not be serving him? Even if she nominally wasn\'t a servant, Tang Jie had many ways of manipulating her.

Of course, the Vermillion Bird hadn\'t regained her freedom, so he couldn\'t make much use of this powerful ally for now.

But Tang Jie was sure that he would get through the nine trials of this hidden realm eventually.

As for the question of time, Tang Jie wasn\'t worried. If he couldn\'t pass the trial in 500 years, couldn\'t he just slow down the repayments? The Vermillion Bird wouldn\'t be such a fool that she would be rushing to repay him, right?

So long as the debt existed, the Vermillion Bird wouldn\'t be able to escape. It would probably be a very long time until she understood this.

After settling the Heavenly Dao oath, Tang Jie stood up and said, "Alright; with this matter settled, let\'s move on to the next one."

"What is it?" The Vermillion Bird was confused.

"The next fight, of course," Tang Jie said, cracking his knuckles.

"According to the agreement, I need to endure three of your attacks in order to take the Immortal herbs, right? In addition… it\'s about time I moved on to the next trial."

――――――――――――

In the center of the valley was a platform made of white jade.

There were no spirit herbs or Immortal plants on the platform, only a giant metal ring.

This was the entrance to the next trial.

A long time ago, Tang Jie had believed that the fifth and sixth formations of the Nine Executions Immortal Formation could be passed by someone at Mortal Shedding, but when he arrived, he realized that he was wrong.

Starting from the fifth formation, which was when one was brought into this hidden realm, the difficulty of the trials began to soar.

The white jade platform was in the valley, which was being watched by the Vermillion Bird, so getting to the white jade platform and the next trial meant enduring three of her flame attacks.

Three attacks was the standard for picking herbs, and it was also the standard for passing the trial. It was just that Tang Jie hadn\'t realized this at first and had chosen to pick herbs.

Such a high standard naturally couldn\'t be reached at Mortal Shedding. Only someone with a Diamond Body had any hope.

Perhaps this was why the hidden realm had these imposing mountains and a thick concentration of spiritual energy. The Martial Lord had arranged it so that the fifth formation was when one truly entered the formation, and only by cultivating in this layer did one have the right to enter the next trial.

As for the Duplication spell, that was for stealing plants from the valley. Cultivation with the Parting Classic was too slow if one relied only on the surrounding spiritual energy. Using the duplicates to steal plants, using the stolen plants to strengthen oneself, and then finally resisting three attacks from the Vermillion Bird, allowing one to enter the valley and access the entrance to the next trial—this was probably how the Martial Lord had arranged things.

But even the best plans couldn\'t be followed perfectly by those who followed.

The Martial Lord hadn\'t imagined that Tang Jie would bring in He Chong\'s group with him.

It was precisely because He Chong was around that even after Tang Jie had realized what was going on, he still didn\'t unlock the entrance. After all, He Chong had been more powerful than him at the time, so if the restriction on the valley were undone, He Chong could have used his strength to take it over, at which point Tang Jie would be in tears.

Thus, Tang Jie had held back, always choosing to pick herbs as he passed the trial of the firebird again and again.

Until today!

Boom!

Flames lit up the valley, and as Tang Jie strode out of the fire, his carbonized skin began to recover. After ten steps, he had completely recovered, that cloak of blood draping his body once more.

Three attacks had passed, and Tang Jie stood before the white jade platform.

He walked up and grabbed the metal ring, and what greeted him was a familiar sensation—the metal ring was made of Mother Cloud Essence Metal.

Tang Jie pulled the metal ring upward, but he couldn\'t shift it.

He chuckled. "So it really is a test of strength?"

A moment later, his body grew larger, power surging out from it, an invisible tornado wrapping around him and throwing the clouds into turmoil. Tang Jie grabbed the ring and pulled upward.

This time, the ring finally moved.

As a metal chain was pulled out from the platform, a rumbling came from within.

Four bronze pillars began to rise up around the platform.

These pillars had strange carvings on them, and as Tang Jie glanced at them, he instantly heard a great din at his ears, as if he was in the middle of a battlefield. The clashing of weapons rang out in his ears and a crimson killing intent rocketed into the sky. He blurted out in shock, "Dao Runes!"

It was clearly Dao Runes carved into the four pillars, the Runes of the Illusion Dao.

Tang Jie had long ago realized that the Martial Lord was an expert in illusion spells.

The Duplication spell was a sign of illusion mastery, imbued with the Illusion Dao. If he was right, it was probably like the Weapon Mantra, called a spell art but actually the transmission of a Dao through a spell art, which was one of the most incredible things about the Martial Lord.

Illusion Dao Runes had clearly been carved into the four pillars.

Was this the reward for passing the fifth trial?

But he knew that this was wrong right after thinking it.

A moment later, the four pillars started to glow, and Tang Jie found his surroundings changing.

He appeared to be in the infinite void, surrounded by countless stars.

He saw a giant standing in the sea of stars.

It was the Martial Lord!

He was majestic and imposing, appearing even greater than Godhead Guangfa.

Standing in the void, the Martial Lord began to slowly move.

Upon closer inspection, it was clear that he was making a punch.

Even though it seemed simple, Tang Jie could sense that every movement was infused with universal principles.

When he focused on the Martial Lord\'s movements, he could even sense how power shifted around his body.

He watched and followed the Martial Lord\'s movements. Initially, he had only the form and not the meaning, but as he repeated those movements again and again, the energy began to rush through his body, and he gradually began to catch up with the Martial Lord\'s tempo. Tang Jie felt more and more excited, and the more he repeated the movements, the more exuberant the energy within his body became, filling him with power.

It was a power that came from the depths of his body, vast and majestic, as if his body was its own world. His blood was like a river, ceaselessly flowing as it delivered oceans of energy to every part of his body.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

On the jade platform, Tang Jie\'s fists and feet were swinging around with great force. He wasn\'t striking quickly, only making each move slowly like he was performing Tai chi, but the energy circling around his body grew more and more intense. By the end, as his movements became slower and slower, those energy currents gradually turned into a fierce vortex, drawing all the air toward him and forming a tornado.

The tornado howled on the platform.

The entire platform was engulfed, and all one could see was an enormous figure punching and kicking, that posture and demeanor a little like the majesty of the giant in the sea of stars.

Finally, after Tang Jie finished his twelfth cycle of the star giant\'s fist art, his right fist suddenly stopped in the air.

An enormous fist of energy appeared in the sky, striking at the air, tearing through the clouds and colliding against the energy barrier.

Boom!

The sky exploded with a rainbow of colors.

The power of this attack had been absurd.

On the platform, Tang Jie laughed. "The Devil Crushing Fist! It\'s the Devil Crushing Fist!"

The punch he had used just now was the Devil Crushing Fist, yet it was no longer an explosive attack that drained his power, but a proper combat technique made specifically for body cultivators. And Tang Jie\'s punch just now had been rather similar to the one made by the Gigantes King.

This was the real technique of the Martial Lord, the kind of battle technique a body cultivator deserved.

Only today did Tang Jie finally become a complete body cultivator.

Before now, the spell arts he had learned were all for law cultivators, and while he was at the cultivation level where he could still use spell arts like the Chaoswind Step, his ability to use them was far inferior to that of the avatar.

Only the Devil Crushing Fist was a real body cultivator skill.

He hadn\'t expected it to only appear after he finished the fifth trial.

But after realizing that this punch had almost emptied him of strength, Tang Jie realized why this was the case. The Devil Crushing Fist was far more powerful than he had imagined, even surpassing average Divine Connections, so if one lacked the cultivation and tried to forcibly use it, one could even exhaust themselves to death.

The Devil Crushing Fist that Tang Jie had developed before would permanently lower his strength as the price for doing it. In this aspect, he hadn\'t done anything wrong, for even the Martial Lord wasn\'t able to use the Devil Crushing Fist at a low cultivation level. Tang Jie had managed to resolve this problem in his own way, though the price had been rather heavy.

As Tang Jie comprehended the Devil Crushing Fist, the illusions created by the four pillars disappeared, leaving him on the platform. Meanwhile, a black hole had appeared in the center of the platform.

Tang Jie went up to the hole and looked down, but he couldn\'t make out anything in the inky darkness.

Was this the sixth formation?

As the hidden realm was outside the domain, Tang Jie thought that the next trial would be the unlocking of a seal like with the third and fourth formations rather than a change of scenery. So he was surprised to see this underground world opening up before him.

This hidden realm was much bigger than he had expected.

There was a stone staircase that led downward, and after traveling around one hundred meters down the stairs, Tang Jie finally reached the bottom.

He extended a hand, and a fire appeared in it, lighting up his surroundings. Tang Jie saw that he was in a large cavern.

Stalactites extended from the ceiling, some of them shining with a crystalline luster. Tang Jie closely inspected them and found that these were Jadespring Bamboo.

Jadespring Bamboo was an extremely rare spiritual resource.

There was little value in the bamboo itself, but when they grew to a certain length, they would gain the special ability to condense energy into liquid.

In other words, they condensed spiritual energy into spiritual liquid to produce Spirit Springs like the one in the Water Moon Paradise.

This was where the name of Jadespring Bamboo came from.

There were natural Spirit Springs and artificial ones, and Jadespring Bamboo was the best tool for making Spirit Springs.

The distribution of the Jadespring Bamboo seemed chaotic, but there was actually a certain special order to them that exposed this arrangement as being planned. Spiritual liquid dripped down from the tips of the bamboo, which was why they had that crystalline shine.

He had no idea how long it would take for a single stalk of bamboo to condense a drop of spiritual liquid.

There were numerous grooves carved into the stone beneath the bamboo, and the spiritual liquid would drop into the grooves and slowly merge together into a little stream.

Tang Jie followed the stream out of the cave, and a lake appeared before him.

It was a lake made from spiritual liquid, one of even greater purity and size than the one in the Water Moon Paradise!

Tang Jie couldn\'t help but shiver.

He had never imagined that there would be a Spirit Lake under the hidden realm.

There was even a small island in the center of the lake, and he could vaguely make out a hut on top of it.

Tang Jie instantly shot over to the island. He found that various plants had been planted on the island, but all of them were surprisingly ordinary plants, not spiritual herbs. He followed the little path in the garden and found that in its depths really was a thatched hut.

He went over and found that the hut was empty. Besides some kitchen utensils and a bed, there was nothing else. There was also a Timedust Pearl on the roof, and the light shining from it kept the hut clean and even thwarted the decay of time.

In terms of treasure, this Timedust Pearl was probably the only treasure on the island.

Behind the hut was another garden, which had spirit grains planted in it. They had stopped growing long ago, but they also had not rotted away.

The Timedust Pearl\'s influence meant that nothing on the island grew or rotted, as if it had been fixed in time.

Tang Jie made a circuit of the island. Finding nothing, he turned and left.

Just as he was about to leave, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye, and his mind trembled in shock.

It was an ordinary-looking little black cauldron made of wood.

Translator Notes

Is this a little retirement home the Martial Lord made for himself? Or something else?