The students were all shaken when they saw the Thunderbird plumes.
A single Thunderbird plume wasn’t too expensive, but Thunderbird Cliff was one of the danger zones of the Valley of No Return, so getting them was extremely difficult.
Since Tang Jie had plumes, didn’t that mean that he had killed Thunderbirds?
Everyone looked at Tang Jie in a somewhat new light, beginning to think that his reputation as the fierce tiger wasn’t false. He had even succeeded in killing Thunderbirds.
Tang Jie said, “I’m sure I don’t need to explain to all of you the uses of these Thunderbird plumes. Since all of you are hunting out on the periphery, I’m sure you’ve gotten some nice things. I happen to have extra plumes but lack spirit plants…”
He didn’t finish, but it was clear that he wanted to trade plumes for spirit plants.
This was exactly why he had come.
Exterminating the Thunderbird flock had given Tang Jie three benefits: the thunderspirit grass baths, the plumes, and the fiend pellets.
Unfortunately, the little tiger had eaten most of the fiend pellets, and while the thunderspirit grass had increased his resistance to lightning, it had had a limited effect on his other attributes. He urgently needed to get stronger so that he could fight for the Iceflame Red Lotus. After all, this wasn’t the Student Forest. Once a fight started, there would be no mercy. It would be impossible to reenact that one-versus-one-hundred battle as in the Student Forest.
This was precisely why he had decided to trade the plumes for spirit plants.
At most, he would take a small loss, but at least by using up all his harvest here to make himself stronger, not needing to pay the thirty percent would essentially make all of that money back.
The students exchanged looks. As expected, they were tempted to take the deal.
One student took out the various spirit plants he had and asked which ones Tang Jie wanted.
Tang Jie immediately replied that he needed plants that would nourish his blood energy or could resist the cold. Everything would be calculated according to market prices, and if there was still some small remainder, he would just take the loss to make the trade.
When everyone saw how straightforward he was being, they dropped their guard and began trading with him. Tang Jie produced plume after plume, as if he had an endless supply.
Li Huanian was dumbfounded, asking, “How do you have so many? Did you manage to kill all the Thunderbirds of Thunderbird Cliff?”
He was only idly asking. After all, Tang Jie was only a Spirit Lake student, and even a Mortal Shedding Realm student wouldn’t be able to deal with all the Thunderbirds. Those several hundred lightning bolts coming down were no joke, and no person could possibly endure such a barrage.
But to his surprise, Tang Jie nodded. “That I did.”
He wanted to trade the plumes for strength, so there was no hiding this matter, so he decided to just confess.
This simple reply left all of the students flabbergasted.
He had really killed all of the Thunderbirds?
“This… How? How did you manage to do it?” Li Huanian asked in shock.
“Fiend beasts are fiend beasts, all strength and no brains. If you target their weak points, there’s always a way.” As he spoke, he took out a chick.
“A baby Thunderbird?” Li Huanian froze.
A thought flashed through the minds of the students: Tang Jie had shamelessly kidnapped the chicks, using them to threaten, bait, and kill the Thunderbird flock.
All of the mentally cursed in unison, Shameless!
The cultivation world had its own rules of conduct, and threatening someone’s progeny was the least accepted method.
Tang Jie didn’t care what they were thinking. He just needed an excuse so he could finish trading for spirit plants. Tang Jie added, “I still have a few chicks. If any of you want one, you can trade for one. If you take good care of it, it will be a powerful ally in the future.”
Everyone once more mentally cursed Tang Jie’s shamelessness. After killing the adults, he wasn’t even sparing the young.
But chicks were difficult to get, and if they raised one properly, it really would be a good ally, so all of them were tempted.
In the end, it was Li Huanian who spoke. “I have a fiend pellet. If you want it, I can trade it to you.”
But Tang Jie shook his head. “I don’t want a fiend pellet. Only spirit plants.”
Li Huanian frowned. “I’ve already traded you all my spirit plants. How could I have any more?”
After some thought, Tang Jie said, “I’ll also take spiritual materials.”
The spiritual materials he was talking about were things like Violet Gold Sand and Starfell Stone, materials that could be used to set up formations.
Tang Jie had spent all his money before entering the valley, which was why he could only use the lowest level of illusion formation against the Thunderbirds. Moreover, the Valley of No Return wasn’t rich in spiritual materials. Thus, he was willing to trade for them if people had any.
Sure enough, Li Huanian sighed in relief. “A few days ago, I managed to gather some Thornwood Roots.”
Thornwood Root was a type of sturdy wood. It counted as a spirit plant, but as it had the Metal attribute, it could be used as a substitute for some spiritual materials. It was considered one of the more broadly useful materials.
The Valley of No Return primarily produced fiend beasts and spirit plants, and the spiritual materials that were ideal for formations were few and far between. Thus, materials from this area would primarily be things like Thornwood Root.
But for Tang Jie, trading Thornwood Root for a chick wasn’t a fair trade at all. Frowning, he said, “Do you have nothing else?”
Li Huanian hastily said, “I really don’t. But if you’re willing, I could also add a bottle of spirit recovery pills.”
Spirit recovery pills were a necessary recovery item for students in battle. Tang Jie had used a lot in his battle with the Thunderbirds and basically didn’t have any left. Upon hearing this offer from Li Huanian, he finally nodded. “Alright, then.”
Once he was done trading, Tang Jie got back on the tiger and left.
Looking at the herbs in his Mustard Seed Bag, he felt that he wouldn’t get much from taking a bath with them. Thus, he decided to give up on going to the Ice Cave for now and continue wandering around the perimeter to find students to trade with.
He truly did manage to find a lot of students with items he wanted. Since he had plenty of Thunderbird plumes, he freely traded them away.
Once he had traded for enough herbs, he found a place to boil a basin of water and take his bath.
But Tang Jie felt that it was truly easy to burn money when cultivating the Parting Classic. When other people got so many herbs, they would have enough to keep them for an entire month, but as for him, no matter how much he spent, he would use it all in a single bath. It was an extravagant expense, akin to the revenue of ten thousand households being thrown away for a single bath.
Of course, with each bath, Tang Jie’s body grew stronger and stronger.
While he was still at the second phase, the Jewel Body, his skin was glossy and smooth, his breathing long and deep, and his body brimming with strength. His pulse was calm, steady, forceful, and vigorous, like a piledriver.
He tested his strength and found that he could easily crush a boulder as tall as a man without the use of any spell arts.
Unfortunately, he lacked an ideal target to test his strength. But Tang Jie felt that if he really needed to measure his strength, he could easily lift something weighing five thousand kilograms.
Lifting five thousand kilograms after using spell arts was rather normal, but it was extremely rare through purely physical means. Even a Mortal Shedding Realm Nine Revolutions cultivator wouldn’t be able to do it. There was no telling what terrifying level he could reach with the power of spell arts.
At this stage, Tang Jie was really a beast in human form, though he didn’t look like it. On the contrary, he had a refined and elegant aura.
This was a clear sign of the Jewel Body, which improved one from the outside to the inside. Tang Jie even found it easier to absorb energy now, and a Circuit Heaven now circulated much faster than before.
Tang Jie was pleasantly surprised. He hadn’t expected that the Jewel Body’s ability to work from the outside to the inside would both strengthen his body and boost his cultivation speed. After more than a year of training and constant adventuring, he was finally able to reap the fruits of his harvest. Tang Jie felt like he could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
To test his strength, Tang Jie mounted the little tiger and went to find an upper-grade fiend beast.
After a bitter battle, with his powerful fists, he managed to beat that fiend beast into a pulp. Although he had been forced to use the Formless Golden Body, he hadn’t needed to use the golden thread.
Ten days ago, he had needed to work with Cai Junyang to kill the Quadeye Mantipede. His progress was truly frighteningly fast.
“So now, as long as I don’t run into a Mind Opening fiend beast, I should be able to run rampant in the Valley of No Return.” Clenching his fists, Tang Jie muttered, “I still have a few days, so I can make some preparations for the big battle… Frost Fairy, haha!”
Brimming with a desire to fight, Tang Jie mounted the tiger and cried out, “Bao’er, let’s go. Let’s fight together, fighting to keep on fighting, using the flesh and blood of our targets to strengthen ourselves!”
Raaa! The fiend tiger roared as he soared into the sky with Tang Jie.
On this day, Tang Jie officially began his rampage through the valley.
On the 22nd day in the valley, Tang Jie encountered a Gigantoscythe and defeated it, obtaining some cloudscape grass.
On the 23rd day, Tang Jie ran into a Toxiblossom Moth and won after a bitter battle.
On the 24th day, Tang Jie encountered a Mind Opening fiend beast and ran for his life.
On the 25th day, he ran into two upper-grade Horned Electropythons. With his resistance to electricity, he was able to beat them both and skin their hides.
On the same day, he traded with a student for icegrass, which he used to take a bath.
The 26th day.
In a clearing in a forest, Tang Jie faced off against a giant ape.
The giant ape was four meters tall and had arms as thick as tree trunks. White steam came from its nostrils as it stared at Tang Jie.
Apes were probably the most difficult to deal with of all fiend beasts.
They weren’t just strong and nimble. What was most difficult to deal with was their natural intelligence and their combat techniques. Intelligence was its natural ability and had nothing to do with Mind Opening. Thus, students usually weren’t willing to fight them unless it was absolutely necessary.
But Tang Jie was fearless. He faced down this savage upper-grade beast. Curling his finger, he said, “Come on!”
Raaa! The giant ape roared at Tang Jie, thumping its chest with its arms before leaping into the air and lunging at Tang Jie.
This one jump covered several dozen meters and stirred up a howling gale. An enormous fist hurtled through the air.
This fist grew larger and larger in Tang Jie’s eyes, but those eyes burned with fighting intent as he threw his own punch in response.
Boom!
The fists of human and ape clashed, sending out a powerful shockwave.
Man and ape parted, both sides having been pushed back. Tang Jie’s feet dug two deep furrows through the earth while the giant ape was sent hurtling through the air in the direction it had come.
In this exchange, the two of them had drawn even.
The giant ape landed, roared, and charged again. Tang Jie didn’t back down. Pushing down his left foot to stop his backward momentum, he charged back into the fray.
The ape was large, but Tang Jie was more nimble, and the two had soon exchanged several blows.
Bang! Bang! The man and ape separated again. Tang Jie raised his head, blood coming out of his nose. The giant ape staggered back a few steps, a trickle of blood coming from the corner of its mouth.
The two of them panted for breath as they glared at each other.
For Tang Jie, this was perhaps the most enjoyable battle in his life. This ape was the classic example of a brute-type beast, and he himself relied on his formidable constitution in battle. Neither side used a spell or a scheme, just battled it out to the death. The sensation of fist striking against fist was truly enjoyable.
Unfortunately, while he enjoyed this sensation, the ape didn’t seem to like it so much. The giant ape looked at Tang Jie, bared its teeth, and then suddenly punched at a tree next to it.
With a creak, the tree collapsed, and the giant ape grabbed it and began to wave it around like a truncheon.
As it waved it around, the leaves it cast off were like countless sharp needles.
Seeing this, Tang Jie grumbled, “Hey, hey, this is shameless! We said that we wouldn’t use spell arts!”
Oraaa! The giant ape furiously roared in response.
The giant tree became a metal truncheon, creating a howling gale as it savagely swung at Tang Jie’s head.