The clam woman replied to Tang Jie, “Young Master is correct. In the future, I will be watchful and no longer act so recklessly.”
But Tang Jie shook his head. “You’re still too naive. You really think there will be a future? I scared away the Seven Absolutions Sect today, but what about in the future? The matter of the lake offering has already gotten out, and just because those three failed to slay the fiend doesn’t mean others won’t try in the future, and they might not be the same as those guys. It might even be someone more formidable. Moreover, for you to take on semi-human form, you probably have some special treasure, which is even more likely to draw powerful foes. ‘Watchful’? And just how are you going to be watchful?”
These words scared the clam woman. She had only recently gained intelligence and was still rather simple-minded, acting according to her nature. She grew frantic and said, “I do not dare to hide anything from the honored Immortal. This lowly fiend has never had any special treasure. I simply happened to come across a drop of Jade Pearl Marrow…”
It turned out that this clam woman had been an ordinary fiend in Horserest Lake and had only been cultivating for ten-some years, making her about the same age as Tang Jie’s group. But one day, while cultivating, she inadvertently obtained a drop of spirit liquid that made her advance by leaps and bounds, and in just two years, she had entered Mind Opening and was able to take on semi-human form. Later on, the clam woman learned that she had obtained a cultivation treasure, Jade Pearl Marrow.
The name “Jade Pearl” shook Tang Jie and Wei Tianchong.
This was a true treasure of the cultivation world. It was said that in Remote Antiquity, it was a treasure produced from the Returned Remnants of great monsters, the so-called “monster marrow”.
“Monster” was the term for lifeless objects that gained intelligence, like sand monsters, rock monsters, metal monsters, and so on.
In Remote Antiquity, there was a stone known as Jade Pearl, and when it gained intelligence and became a monster, it was known as the Jade Pearl Monster. After death, its essence would congeal into marrow that had the color of green jade. This was a peerless treasure that could instantly make one an Immortal upon consumption.
Of course, “instantly becoming an Immortal” was an exaggeration, but it was an indication of how valuable the treasure was.
The Rosecloud Domain was home to fiends, sprites, ghosts, and monsters. Fiends were born from birds and beasts, sprites from plants, ghosts from deceased souls, and monsters from metal and stone. Of these, birds and beasts had the highest intelligence, and so they had the greatest tendency to gain spirituality. Metal and stone were devoid of life and were incapable of cultivating on their own, and thus, it was difficult for them to gain intelligence. As a result, monsters were the rarest of the four.
Tang Jie and the others had cultivated for four years, and Wei Tianchong had been honing himself in missions for two years, but none of them had seen a monster. Let alone them, even Celestial Heart cultivators like Xie Fengtang, people who had spent their entire lives traveling the world, had rarely seen a monster, let alone a legendary monster like a Jade Pearl Monster.
It was quite surprising that this clam woman had been fortunate enough to get a drop of a Jade Pearl Monster’s marrow. It was no wonder she was semi-human. If she had gotten the entirety of the marrow, while reaching the level of a shapeshifting great fiend might have still been out of the question, peak Mind Opening wouldn’t have been a problem. Even so, if this fiend didn’t die, she was bound to have a great future, free of obstructions all the way to the Transformation level.
In truth, Tang Jie had been trying to hoodwink the fiend with his words and see if he could get anything good from her. He wasn’t someone who would kill and steal from others, but he didn’t mind tricking a treasure from a fiend.
After all, he had saved her, so some reward was normal—or so Tang Jie consoled himself.
He hadn’t expected to come upon such astonishing news.
He couldn’t help but ask, “Where did you get it? Is there any left?”
The clam woman shook her head. It was clear that there had been only one drop.
Horserest Lake’s bottom was actually the Returned Remnants of a Jade Pearl. As all of the spiritual essence had retracted into the monster marrow, none of the spiritual energy had leaked out to enrich the area, which was why it had gone undiscovered for hundreds of years. Even so, the Jade Pearl Marrow had gradually dissipated over the eons, and by the time the little fiend had discovered it, there was only a drop left.
Wei Tianchong and the others couldn’t help but sigh at this news.
As the only drop of Jade Pearl Marrow had been consumed by the fiend, the only way to extract any benefits would be to kill the fiend and refine her to squeeze out a little of the medicinal power.
But neither Tang Jie nor Wei Tianchong planned to do this.
Tang Jie even warned, “The matter of Jade Pearl Marrow is no minor one. You’ve only recently entered Mind Opening, and so you lack strength while still having some medicinal power within you. Someone with greedy intentions might choose to kill you and refine you. Thus, in the future, never tell of this matter to anyone, or else you will find it hard to escape your death.”
The little fiend was profuse with gratitude. “Young Master, thank you for your instructions. This lowly fiend will mark these lessons on her heart and not carelessly appear in the future.”
“Good.” Tang Jie nodded. “Right, do you know where the body of that Jade Pearl Monster is? There might be some things we can use there.”
Wei Tianchong said in surprise, “Why are you asking about the body? In the Returned Remnants of a monster, only the marrow has any value.”
Tang Jie rolled his eyes. “Through refinement, you can turn Jade Pearl Stone into Softscent Jade, a material even more valuable than violet gold and the ideal material for your puppet.”
Wei Tianchong finally understood.
Jade Pearl Stone was in itself a rare spiritual material, and its processed product, Softscent Jade, was even more valuable. When used in a puppet, it could grant stone-type puppets the ability to self-recover. So long as it was not completely crushed, it would be able to absorb stone and recover from the majority of injuries, and so its value was obvious. As it had a soft texture and had a faint aroma, it was called Softscent Jade.
They had been so focused on the Jade Pearl Marrow that they had forgotten about Jade Pearl Stone’s intrinsic value until Tang Jie had pointed it out. Sure enough, one didn’t fear the lack of treasure, but the lack of the eyes to recognize them.
The little fiend hid nothing, quickly saying, “It’s in the depths of the center of the lake, three kilometers away. It will be the green stone!”
She took out a pearl and gave it to Tang Jie. “This is a clam pearl that this lowly fiend produced after many years of cultivation and can repel fire and water. Young Master, please accept this humble gift as thanks to this young master and your noble servants from this lowly fiend for saving my life.”
As a pearl that could repel fire, it was a treasure of sorts, and in the cultivation world, such pearls were called “combipearls”. Not only could they repel water and fire, but also spell arts of those attributes. This little fiend wished to repay the favor and had nothing else, so she had gifted the pearl, and Tang Jie took it.
Seeing Tang Jie take the pearl, the clam woman left, disappearing into the water.
Tang Jie watched her leave before smiling and saying, “Come on—let’s go and look for treasure.”
Wei Tianchong was just about to agree when he realized something and shouted, “Wait! Shi Meng, did you hear what she said? ‘Noble servants’? When did I become a servant student?”
Shi Meng spread apart his arms. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
Tang Jie ignored them and went ahead. Behind him, Wei Tianchong stomped his feet and shouted, “I’m not a servant student… I’m the young master! I’m the young master…”
Borrowing the faint light of the combipearl, Tang Jie’s group advanced through the muddy lake bottom. Shi Meng had applied an isolation spell to all of them, allowing them to walk while not getting filthy and traverse the mud like it was solid ground.
It wasn’t long before they saw a green stone in the distance. The clam woman had said that this was the Jade Pearl Stone.
Tang Jie wanted to go over to take a look, but the moss covering the stone suddenly shot a green wave at Tang Jie. Tang Jie hadn’t noticed it and was pushed back a step.
Wei Tianchong was startled, thinking there was a trap. He was about to cast a spell when Tang Jie stopped him. “It’s fine. It’s just that the moss on this stone has gained intelligence and is fighting back.”
Jade Pearl Stone was actually white, but it had spent so long submerged in water that moss had grown over it, turning it green. And as this moss was established on the Jade Pearl Stone, it was no ordinary moss and had gained some small intelligence.
Tang Jie carefully walked over, took out a knife, and began to scrape off the moss. He suddenly had a thought and said, “This moss has spirituality, so it can be used in medicine. I’ll just take it.”
He stuffed the moss in his Mustard Seed Bag.
Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng didn’t mind. They were more focused on the Jade Pearl Stone beneath the moss. It had a slight glow and was covered in grooves that vaguely took the form of a human face. There was no doubt that this was the remnants of a Jade Pearl Monster, and their hearts leaped in excitement.
But Tang Jie was even more pleasantly surprised.
It was only when he scraped off the moss that he discovered that it was one complete piece that had congealed together into a stone canvas that flashed with spiritual light.
Ordinary moss was one thing, and moss that had congealed into a stone canvas was another.
This had many wondrous effects and uses, and its greatest use was none other than blocking Divine Will.
If made into a cape, it would be an ideal treasure for concealment, as it could obstruct the observation of Divine Will. Even Titans would find it hard to detect him. But while it could obstruct Divine Will, it couldn’t block Spirit Will. Thus, it would not protect against low-level detection spells.
Even so, it was truly an excellent treasure.
On this trip to the Celestial Mountains, Tang Jie planned to enter the formation, so he would need to hide from the eyes of Godhead Palace. Thus, he had been looking for a treasure that would conceal his presence. This was precisely why he was traveling the world to gather resources. But he hadn’t expected the solution to deliver itself to his doorstep in Horserest Lake. However, he chose to keep this matter to himself.
Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng were very seriously studying the remains of the Jade Pearl Monster.
Perhaps because too much time had passed, the Jade Pearl Monster’s body had broken up into countless pieces of stone that were scattered along the lake bottom. The piece that Tang Jie had gotten the stone canvas from was the largest, around forty feet in circumference, and it had probably been the monster’s torso. Smaller Jade Pearl Stone pieces were scattered about, but no stone canvas had formed on them. If all of this stone were gathered, it would probably make a giant around eighty feet tall.
Standing in front of a skull-shaped stone, Tang Jie’s group saw a little hole in the break-off point, created through the erosion of time, and faintly saw a glimmer of green jade.
This was probably where the jade marrow had flowed out and the clam fiend had gotten that one drop.
Jade Pearl Essence normally wasn’t very soluble, but the passing eons had ultimately caused it to dissipate, leaving only an empty shell.
Even so, they were quite content with the lakebed covered in Jade Pearl Stone.
“We’re rich,” Shi Meng sighed. “With all this Jade Pearl Stone, we should be at least able to get ten-some blocks of Softscent Jade.”
In the Rosecloud Domain, materials like metal and jade were measured in blocks, each block being about the size of an ordinary brick.
Softscent Jade was a valuable material in the Rosecloud Domain, with numerous uses. Importantly, it was rare, so one block was worth five thousand spirit coins, and ten-some blocks would be nearly one hundred thousand coins.
But Tang Jie shook his head. “That’s if it were intact. Unfortunately, this monster fell apart after death, and the spirituality has dissipated. It would be amazing if we got three to five blocks out of this.”