Tang Jie got up early in the morning and first went to Spirit Platform Pavilion to find Madam Shui and pay off that loan of one hundred thousand spirit coins plus interest.
Of course, he didn’t completely pay it off, leaving behind a balance of ten thousand spirit coins.
When you didn’t have the money to repay a debt, the lender might even want to take up residence in your home.
But once you had the money to repay the debt, the lender would want you to keep borrowing.
Money would never end up in the hands of the people who really needed it.
For Tang Jie, maintaining the appropriate amount of debt would benefit his future actions. Gu Changqing and Wei Tianzhi were the most obvious examples. Tang Jie had gradually begun to realize that he was naturally a very restless person. That being the case, he might as well use this debt to buy himself some insurance.
With this insurance, he could more boldly strike out and generate a greater profit.
At this moment, what he was borrowing wasn’t money, but power and privilege!
Even so, Madam Shui was still shocked to see that he was paying off ninety thousand coins of the principal in one go.
“It seems like that one-hundred-thousand-spirit-coin puppet of yours has helped you make quite a lot of money,” Madam Shui chuckled.
She used that puppet that had never once existed to tease Tang Jie, and Tang Jie blushed in embarrassment and dropped his head. “Without Madam’s firm support, Tang Jie would not have been able to get this far.”
Madam Shui chuckled, looking at Tang Jie as if he was her own nephew. “In the end, it was through your own efforts that you got this far. But it was still very risky, and this was simply a time where the risk happened to luckily pay off. Walking too long on the edge of the cliff will inevitably mean that you slip one day. In the future, it would be better if you solidly walked the proper path.”
Tang Jie blushed. He knew that Madam Shui was reminding him and warning him that he shouldn’t think that the Basking Moon Sect was really unaware, that it would only let so many things pass.
He immediately replied, “Madam, thank you for your pointers. This lowly one understands.”
“Mm.” Madam Shui pointed at Tang Jie’s Mustard Seed Bag. “How much money do you still have left in there?”
After some thought, Tang Jie decided to be honest. “Twelve thousand coins.”
Madam Shui chortled. “So clever when it comes to such small things… but that’s fine. If anything comes up in the future, I’ll at least have an explanation and won’t have to be accused of being biased. Right, is there anything in your bag that you weren’t able to take care of? Let me take a look. Since you’re selling it all the same, if you give it to me to handle, we can save ourselves the trouble of letting someone else profit.”
After some thought, Tang Jie replied, “There is something that I was not able to dispose of. I don’t know what it is or its value. Madam, please offer me your guidance.”
He presented the pearl that he had obtained after killing Gu Changqing.
Tang Jie had examined it in his free time, but he had yet to find out anything.
Was it a treasure? But no matter how much spiritual energy he sent inside, there was no reaction.
Was it not a treasure? But how could something that Gu Changqing had so solemnly hidden in his Mustard Seed Bag be an ordinary item?
When selling the other treasures, he had asked the merchants, but none of those renowned merchants recognized it, and some had even said that it was worthless.
At this point, Tang Jie didn’t want to keep it a secret from Madam Shui, so he just handed it over.
Sure enough, when Madam Shui saw the pearl, she gasped in surprise. “There’s something fishy about this thing.”
She took the pearl and carefully examined it, furrowing her brow.
“Madam, do you see anything?”
Madam Shui silently frowned. After some time, she said, “This item is very strange. I’ve never seen this material, and there’s no reaction when I send in spiritual energy. I can’t tell what it is. It will probably take at least a True Lord to appraise it.”
She looked at Tang Jie and asked, “You got this from Gu Changqing?”
Tang Jie nodded.
After some thought, Madam Shui said, “If you trust me, then leave this pearl with me. I will go and find someone to identify what this pearl is.”
Tang Jie nodded. “Since I have already given it to Madam, I naturally trust you.”
Madam Shui smiled in satisfaction. “No matter what this pearl is, it’s no ordinary item. That you can trust me so much means that I wasn’t wrong to treat you so well. Let’s treat those ten thousand coins as a security deposit, and I won’t ask for any interest. You can go and focus on cultivating.”
Tang Jie was delighted, and he deeply bowed to Madam Shui. “Madam, thank you for your generosity.”
Madam Shui waved her hand and sent him away.
After leaving Spirit Platform Pavilion, Tang Jie went to the Meditation Garden.
Wei Tianchong was practicing hard in his courtyard. The completion of the Lin Lang mission had made him see hope, and he had redoubled his cultivation efforts and was training hard every day. This had resulted in excellent progress.
Seeing Tang Jie come over, Wei Tianchong excitedly shouted, “Tang Jie, take this!”
The Bonecrush Axe swung, unleashing a howling wind at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie took a step forward to grab Wei Tianchong’s wrist, but to his surprise, Wei Tianchong turned his hand around and unleashed a fireball at him.
“Eh?” Tang Jie hadn’t expected this development. He hurriedly withdrew his hand, and the fireball exploded in front of him. Wei Tianchong drew back his axe and smiled. “What do you think?”
“You’ve made progress with your Fireball spell?”
“Mm. I was practicing it while we were on the road,” Wei Tianchong excitedly replied.
He had started cultivating Fireball some time ago, but he had never been very proficient in it, so he couldn’t use it in battle. Meanwhile, because of his puppet, he had been constantly using the Ghost Axe spell, so he was much more proficient in it than Fireball.
In the battle at the Xu Estate, Wei Tianchong had realized this problem and had begun to make up for this. Slowly and steadily, he had grown more proficient with Fireball.
“Didn’t we say that you shouldn’t be in a rush to improve your spell arts and instead focus on increasing your cultivation realm?” Tang Jie asked.
Wei Tianchong scratched his head. “I know, but I can’t get to the next tier of cultivation in just one day, and there’s no telling when the second mission will come. I’m thinking about improving myself a little earlier so that I can take more load off your shoulders.”
Was that so? Tang Jie chuckled. “Young Master, you are much more thoughtful than before.”
Wei Tianchong felt embarrassed by this comment.
“But while you have good ideas, you’re not approaching them in the correct manner. Ultimately, Fireball is a little weak, so practicing it more will do little good.”
Wei Tianchong chuckled. “I know, but isn’t this wind assisting fire…”
This was an incoherent sentence, and Tang Jie didn’t understand what wind assisting fire had to do with Fireball, nor did he care. He lightly said, “Whatever you want. But Fireball will have a limited effect on your strength. You’ll need to find another way if you want to experience a breakthrough in a short amount of time.”
“Oh? You have an idea?” Wei Tianchong was delighted to hear this.
“Did you forget that you have another treasure in your possession that you have yet to fully utilize?” Tang Jie’s gaze rested on the nearby little fox.
Wei Tianchong realized what he was talking about, but he soon huffed, “It’s pointless. I don’t know what’s wrong with this stupid fox, but it doesn’t listen to me. I ran into so many dangers on the road, but it never did anything. I don’t even know what it can do. It seems to me that it’s good for nothing and can probably only serve as a pet.”
“Good for nothing?” Tang Jie coldly laughed. “If it’s good for nothing, there are probably no good beasts in this world.”
“Hm?” Wei Tianchong was startled. “Tang Jie, are you saying…”
“What sort of person was Divine God Luo? Anything at his side, even if it was trash, could be turned into gold by him. I initially scoffed when you called it a lucky encounter, but now that I look at it, I find that this little fox really does have some unusual properties. It doesn’t listen to you not because it lacks abilities, but because it’s too capable… It’s looking down on you!”
As Tang Jie spoke, that sleeping little fox suddenly raised its head and looked at Tang Jie, its eyes flashing with human intelligence and the spark of life.
Even Wei Tianchong could understand what was going on here, blurting out, “Tang… Tang Jie… It can understand you!”
Wei Tianchong’s voice hit a new octave as he shrieked.
A fiend beast that hadn’t reached Mind Opening wouldn’t be humanized and so wouldn’t be able to understand humans.
The fiend tiger of Tiger Roar Peak could understand humans because of its bloodline legacy. For this little fox to be humanized was truly very rare.
“What’s so strange about it? If it wasn’t sapient, how could it have lured you into a trap?” Tang Jie sneered.
Wei Tianchong’s face turned red. “We said we wouldn’t talk about that already.”
Tang Jie frowned. “Young Master, when you look at an incident, you can’t just look at the surface. You have to understand the meaning behind it.”
“Hm?” Wei Tianchong didn’t understand.
Tang Jie explained, “I just said that this little fox has great abilities. So why is it that it still used a trap to catch you despite its great abilities? Have you not thought about that question?”
Wei Tianchong was dumbfounded, but while he was honest and straightforward, he wasn’t a fool. Now that Tang Jie had pointed it out, he blurted out, “Could it be that this little fox’s abilities aren’t meant for battle?”
“It also might be the exact opposite…” Tang Jie profoundly said.
The fox suddenly bristled, standing up and backing away while warily staring at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie chuckled. “What? Now you know to be afraid? Then show me your true ability, or else don’t blame me for dissecting you and making you into a stew.”
He reached out to grab the little fox.
The fox hissed and jumped up, its paws running across the air as if it was flat ground.
Seeing this mid-air sprint, Wei Tianchong’s eyes flew open. “The Highsurge Step talent!”
He was still a Basking Moon student, and even if he had cheated his way through the exam, he still understood a little. The fiend fox had clearly used that rare natural fiend beast spell art, the Highsurge Step, which allowed one to innately fly, striding through the air as if it was flat ground.
Poor Wei Tianchong had gone back and forth across half of Sageheart, completely unaware that this little fellow could fly. Moreover, fiend beasts had powerful bodies, and even one that didn’t specialize in strength could still carry Wei Tianchong without a problem.
It was no wonder it had been so unwilling to reveal its ability. This was a natural flying mount!
“That’s not all!” Tang Jie laughed as he stomped on the ground and made a leap at the fiend fox.
The fiend fox remained nimble in the air, rapidly turning its body to avoid Tang Jie’s grasp.
Though he had come up empty, Tang Jie simply laughed and took out the Heartbreak Saber.
Wei Tianchong frantically shouted, “Don’t kill it!”
This was a fiend beast that could fly, which made it extremely valuable. It had to be understood that while students could learn flying spells, their limited spiritual energy meant that a Spirit Sea Tier student would normally only be able to fly for one hour before running empty.
This was precisely why, despite having flying spells, students still needed to ride horses. As for why Tang Jie and students like him had yet to even learn flying spells, this was because the spells they could learn at this stage were rather slow and not suited for battle. They were more meant for showing off.
This fiend fox’s natural talent to fly in the air far exceeded the average spell in both speed and duration. It was truly a rare treasure.
Tang Jie laughed. “If it doesn’t listen, what does it matter how valuable it is? It either dies or submits!”
He savagely swung the Heartbreak Saber, kicking up a merciless wind.
As the fiend fox saw the Heartbreak Saber coming, its eyes flashed, and then its body blinked away like a ghost, just barely dodging the saber. It rapidly moved higher into the air, coldly looking down at Tang Jie from above. There was a bloody light in its green eyes now. It had clearly been angered.
It opened its mouth and let out a noiseless screech in Tang Jie’s direction.
A crescent moon appeared in its mouth, shining with a silver luster as it shot at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie seemed to be terrified of this attack. Rather than taking it on his body, he rapidly dropped and executed a roll.
The crescent moon arc flew over Tang Jie’s head and struck a fake mountain behind him.
It smoothly swept past. The fake mountain seemed unharmed at first, but a moment later, the upper half of the mountain slid off, leaving behind a mirror-like surface.