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When the fiends weren\'t attacking, Dongjin Pass was rather peaceful.

Other than researching formations and tempering himself in the Astral Winds, Tang Jie also interacted with other cultivators.

Today, Tang Jie was studying a Minor Celestial Jade Combat Formation diagram. This formation wasn\'t too complicated, and Tang Jie could easily lay out seven or eight of them in different styles, but this one was linked to and combined with other formations rather exquisitely. It was combined with four other formations, and the ingenuity shown was well worth studying.

If he could completely understand it, he would be able to greatly improve his ability to overlay formations.

Tang Jie had always been an expert in the natural way of using formations, combining formations with nature. But his ability to overlap formations atop each other and increase their power was comparatively unimpressive.

Now that he had a reference to study, he threw himself into learning. He inspected the formation lines before him, pondering the significance of how everything was organized, his fingers tracing across the ground and slicing through the stones as if they were tofu.

The ghost guard and Yiyi stood at his side.

As he was studying, someone outside shouted, "Is Big Brother Tang there? It\'s us!"

Tang Jie had gotten to know everyone rather well, so he could immediately tell that this was Shentu Yuan.

He clapped his hands, and the doors opened.

Four people came in: none other than Ximen Changfeng, Shentu Yuan, Ice Phoenix, and Ye Xiao. Surprisingly, the four of them had come together to visit him.

They saluted Tang Jie, and then Shentu Yuan glanced at the formation lines carved into the ground and smiled. "I\'ve heard that Big Brother Tang is a formation expert alongside being both bold and courageous, and it seems that this was no lie. I also happen to understand a little about formations, so if you have the time, we should exchange pointers."

Now that they had gotten to know each other, everyone stopped referring to each other as True Persons, instead referring to each other as brothers. Tang Jie\'s strength meant that the others called him Big Brother Tang, even though he was younger than them.

"Deal!" Tang Jie agreed.

The Shentu Clan was famous for its puppets, so they were naturally experts in formations as well.

Ye Xiao glanced at the ghost guard and stopped cold. Pointing at it, he stammered, "This… this is… the Ghost Dao!"

This was Ye Xiao\'s first time seeing the ghost guard, and it was like he had seen a peerless beauty, his feet fixed to the ground.

Circling around the ghost guard, he praised, "Wondrous! Truly wondrous! I\'ve never heard of such methods!"

He failed to notice the ghost guard\'s eyes following him.

Tang Jie smiled. "I occasionally dabble in some of the Ghost Dao\'s techniques, but I\'m far from reaching Big Brother Ye Xiao\'s mastery."

Ye Xiao shook his head vigorously. "In terms of technique, the creation method is rather amateur, not the work of any master, but the core secret arts are exquisite, and it could only be the secret art passed down by a great Ghost Dao sect. It\'s just a pity that Big Brother Tang was not able to research it more deeply and only made this single ghost guard. If you had developed it more, you could have been a Ghost Dao genius, much better than some brute."

He had become so engrossed in the topic that he even looked down on Tang Jie\'s status as a body cultivator.

Ice Phoenix gave him a nudge, reminding Ye Xiao that this was a Soul Transformation–level "brute" he was talking to, who could kill a scrawny "Ghost Dao genius" with a single slap.

Fortunately, Tang Jie knew how impassioned cultivators became and that this wasn\'t an intentional insult, so he didn\'t take it to heart.

After ending Ye Xiao\'s digression into the Ghost Dao, everyone turned to the main topic.

After exchanging pleasantries, Ice Phoenix said, "We\'ve come to visit because there are two matters that we would like Big Brother Tang\'s help with!"

"I can hear you out," Tang Jie replied.

"First, we would like to ask if Big Brother Tang still has the mammoth tusks and poison sac from the fiend kings killed that day. We would like to buy them from Brother Tang."

As fiend kings were fiends who had reached later-phase Transformation, all of their body could be considered a treasure, but the exact value of each part depended on the fiend. For example, the most valuable part of the Colossus King was its tusks, which could be used to refine offensive art relics to improve their quality and power. As for the poison sac of the Moonswallower Golden Toad, it was a rare component for making medicines. When Tang Jie had taken down the two fiend kings, countless people had been eying his spoils, but they were too afraid of his strength to try anything.

Ice Phoenix and the others hadn\'t been familiar with Tang Jie at the time, and as they had no idea of his personality, they didn\'t dare to suggest buying them. After all, there were plenty of cultivators with strange personalities. If they ran into a troublesome one, mentioning the possibility of purchasing those things might only end up offending him.

But once they found that Tang Jie wasn\'t hard to get along with and developed some friendship, they finally brought the matter up, confident that Tang Jie wouldn\'t just hoard everything for himself.

Hearing that they wanted it, Tang Jie nodded and said, "I have them. If you want them, you can make an offer."

By no means did he offer to give them away. It wasn\'t that he cared about this little bit of money, but social relations weren\'t just about treating people well. On the contrary, excessive friendliness could cause one to be looked down upon.

The four were happy to hear Tang Jie agree, and they gave their offers. The prices were quite sensible, making clear that the four understood that they couldn\'t rely on their status as friends to get some discount. Thus, Tang Jie agreed.

After handing over the tusks and poison sac, Tang Jie asked about the second matter.

Shentu Yuan said, "I have heard that Tang Jie has constantly been searching for some things, like Dragonbone Spirit Sesame, and is even willing to pay a high price for them?"

Tang Jie was stunned. "You have news on Dragonbone Spirit Sesame?"

"No," Shentu Yuan replied. "But I do have some information on Withering Yin Grass."

Withering Yin Grass was another rare material that Tang Jie was looking for. This substance existed between reality and illusion, and it was said to be found only within the Nether River. But this river was located in the Nether Domain and nowhere else, so the grass was also extremely hard to find.

Tang Jie was shaken at the prospect. "Where?"

Shentu Yuan replied, "To be more precise, it\'s not information on Withering Yin Grass, but on the Blackwater River."

"\'The Blackwater River\'?" Tang Jie muttered.

Ye Xiao added, "The Blackwater River is an underground river that flows out from the Nether River."

Some of the domains of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm were rather special. Rather than existing in the infinite void, they existed in a parallel dimension and were connected to all other domains.

The Nether Domain and Shadow Domain were examples of this kind of domain, and the largest of them all was the Primordial Fog Domain. These domains were the negative domains, the dark side of the universe.

This connection meant that even if the Nether River was only found in the Nether Domain, there was a possibility it could appear in other domains, which was why there was also hope that he could find the Withering Yin Grass elsewhere.

According to Ye Xiao, the Nether River had appeared in the Verdant Cloud Domain once, and the distributary formed from it was the Blackwater River. As the Blackwater River originated from the Nether River, there was a high chance of finding the grass there.

"Where is the Blackwater River?" Tang Jie asked.

Shentu Yuan and the others smiled in victory, after which they began to explain.

It turned out that there was a chasm some fifty kilometers from Dongjin Pass called the Inkcloud Abyss. At the very bottom of the Inkcloud Abyss was the entrance to the Nether River. Every one hundred years, the passage would open, and the Blackwater River would flow out. But at the same time, a certain kind of fiend called the Blackwater Snake would appear in the river.

"\'The Blackwater Snake\'?" Tang Jie said in surprise.

He had heard of this thing before. It was an extremely savage fiend that lived in aquatic regions thick with Yin energy, and when it attacked, it didn\'t stop until it or its target was dead. But most important of all was that this creature was symbiotic with a plant known as the Umbra Cactus. Wherever this cactus could be found, one was bound to find Blackwater Snakes. Umbra Cacti were a strange plant that bloomed once every one hundred years, and only for two hours.

If someone plucked the flower at this time, they would find it to be a miraculous medicine.

Tang Jie immediately knew what the four of them wanted. "So you guys want the flower of the Umbra Cactus?"

Ice Phoenix covered her mouth and smiled. "In the end, we couldn\'t hide it from you, Big Brother Tang. The Umbra Cactus was planted by a Titan of the human race long ago. The hundred-year opening of the Inkcloud Abyss and the hundred-year blooming of the Umbra Cactus are linked together thanks to the efforts of that Titan. Thus, every one hundred years, we humans would go and pick the flower of the Umbra Cactus. In the past, it was the government itself that went to get the flower, and minor characters like us had no chance at it. But ever since the fiends began to flourish and humanity was pushed back, the Inkcloud Abyss came under control of the fiends, which means that people can go and get the flower now without having to worry about the government."

"Do the fiends know of this?" Tang Jie immediately saw the problem.

Shentu Yuan replied, "Fiends have invaded many times over the years, and countless humans have been captured. Thus, it\'s impossible to say that they don\'t know, but there\'s no telling what the exact situation is."

"In other words, if we go, we might have to deal with both Blackwater Snakes and the fiends?" Tang Jie asked.

"And other humans," Ximen Changfeng said. "The Umbra Cactus is extremely valuable. While everyone is united against the fiends, the temptation might be enough to make us fight among ourselves."

Ye Xiao added, "That\'s why we don\'t want Big Brother Tang to take the flower of the Umbra Cactus for it, only to travel together with us. While there is only one flower, there are five petals. One petal for each of us is enough."

Tang Jie considered their proposal and nodded. "Fine. I agree."

The four of them were delighted. A powerful ally like Tang Jie gave them a much greater chance at getting the flower.

Tang Jie added, "But if I do this, I have some things I will need your help with."

"Please speak, Big Brother Tang. We will do anything in our power."

Tang Jie indifferently said, "It\'s nothing much. I just want Brother Shentu\'s help in making me a puppet."

They had thought that Tang Jie would ask something difficult of them, so they sighed in relief.

Shentu Yuan laughed. "That\'s no problem at all. A puppet is a trivial matter."

"\'Trivial\'?" Tang Jie chuckled. "Is it still trivial if it\'s made from this?"

He threw out a piece of metal the size of a countertop at Shentu Yuan\'s feet: Mother Cloud Essence Metal.

After making his axe and armor, Tang Jie still had a lot of Mother Cloud Essence Metal accumulated from dismantling the fragment of the Myriad Court, and he had kept it precisely because he wanted to make a puppet from it. Alas, he had been so busy that he had never had a chance to hand it over to Wei Tianchong. Most importantly, Wei Tianchong still wasn\'t strong enough to process Mother Cloud Essence Metal. Mother Cloud Essence Metal couldn\'t maintain its spirituality for very long, and its spirituality had dissipated to the point where Tang Jie could no longer mold it with his mind, only adjust it with external force. This was why Tang Jie had been unable to reform the armor after the Astral Winds had twisted it up.

In the end, it was still a kind of metal. Only the Sovereign Blade was alive.

"This is… Mother Cloud Essence Metal?" Shentu Yuan rubbed his eyes and looked in disbelief at the sparkling metal at his feet.

Once he confirmed that it was Mother Cloud Essence Metal, he fell into a dumbfounded silence.

Translator Notes

Tang Jie about to get an upgraded combat puppet! A shame that Wei Tianchong isn\'t here to see it...