At daybreak, Tang Jie said goodbye to Luo Yin.
After leaving the Transverse Range, he headed west toward the Celestial Mountains.
Of course, on the road, he didn’t forget to dispose of some of his loot.
Putting aside some items that he left for himself, the spell weapon, art relics, and fiend materials that he had no use for sold for 105,000 coins.
Tang Jie spent fifty thousand of this to buy materials for refining baths. Not only did he restore his constitution to what it was before, he even improved it somewhat. He left the rest of the money to be spent when he needed it.
With the Illusion Fox dead, Tang Jie had accomplished one of his major goals and felt much more relaxed. In no rush to arrive, he decided to see the sights, stopping and going as he pleased.
49 days quickly went by, and the Soul Refining Pearl finished refining all the hundred-some fiend souls within it.
Three quarters of the fiend souls had been converted into Soul Dew, a rare material that could be used in medicine to strengthen one’s Spirit Will or Divine Will. The rest had become Mindseizers.
Tang Jie let one out, and under his command, the Mindseizer immediately attempted possession on a fiend wolf. This possession was extremely unreasonable. No matter who the target was, even if it was an Immortal Platform Titan, the Mindseizer would attempt possession. Of course, success was another matter entirely. The true benefit was that once a possession began, the victim would enter a dazed state, giving the opponent a chance to strike.
As for this attempt, Tang Jie had chosen a weak target primarily to experiment. Thus, he did not take this moment to kill the target, instead watching so that he could understand how long this dazed state would last.
To his surprise, after a few moments in a daze, the fiend wolf let out a mournful howl and began to transform, its body groaning as it grew larger.
Shit!
The possession had actually succeeded.
Perhaps because this fiend wolf had been too weak and its will too fragile, the Mindseizer, despite its low chances of success, had succeeded on its first try, creating a devil.
Tang Jie tested its power and discovered that this devil was about as strong as an upper-grade Spirit Sensing fiend, though he didn’t know if this level of strength depended on the host or not. Although this was pretty decent, Tang Jie ultimately decided to kill it.
Just like the Ghost Guard, this thing could not be shown to outsiders.
After a few more experiments, Tang Jie slowly began to understand.
The dazed state was really because the battle for possession caused a momentary loss of control over the body, so the length of the daze was closely connected to the possession battle.
The closer the strength of the two sides, the longer the battle and the longer the daze. Great disparities meant obvious outcomes, leading to short battles and short dazes.
The Mindseizer’s power depended on the strength of the fiend soul in life. The stronger the fiend soul, the stronger the Mindseizer.
With this, Tang Jie had some measure of the Soul Refining Pearl’s soul refining function.
Tang Jie began to research soul congealing.
After numerous experiments, Tang Jie finally confirmed that, by absorbing enough materials, soul congealing really could produce something similar to weapon souls.
But this wasn’t a real weapon soul, only a fake pseudo-weapon-soul.
“Pseudo-weapon-soul” referred to the compatibility with the weapon. When weapon souls attached to weapons, the greater the compatibility, the greater the effect and the greater the potential would be.
In normal cases, a soul would need at least 50% compatibility with a weapon to be called a weapon soul. Those that couldn’t reach this standard were not called weapon souls, but attached souls, or pseudo-weapon-souls.
Pseudo-weapon-souls on a weapon were like oil on water. They seemed to mix, but they were still independent existences.
The result of this was that while pseudo-weapon-souls could increase the power of the weapon, the boost was limited, and it came at the price of consuming itself. After some period of use, they would naturally dissipate.
To take the lynx soul as an example, while it had greatly boosted the power of the puppet, it would gradually be used up as the days went on until it was nothing.
As for the Heartbreak Saber, its weapon soul had exceeded 50% compatibility and could be considered a true weapon soul. But that was completely accidental. If Tang Jie had to try again, he probably wouldn’t be able to do it.
Moreover, this method of producing weapon souls produced energy clashes that were liable to damage the Soul Refining Pearl. Tang Jie did not dare to try a second time.
But even pseudo-weapon-souls were worth celebrating.
This alone allowed Tang Jie to create a batch of spell weapons and art relics to be sold.
He didn’t have to lie about it. Even if a customer were told that these were pseudo-weapon-souls with compatibilities below 50%, the price would still double. After all, the boost in power was very obvious.
In other words, Tang Jie had inadvertently come across a way to make money.
But both weapon souls and Soul Dew were extremely rare, so selling them on a large scale was certain to draw attention. Thus, whenever Tang Jie arrived at a new place, he would disguise himself, sell a little, and then run. His cautious conduct meant that he encountered little trouble.
Making money, seeing the sights, beating up monsters, and picking up a few small things, he had a carefree and relaxed journey.
As the date of the conference approached, Tang Jie finally arrived at Red Plum Ridge in the Celestial Mountains.
Because of the Immortal Fortune Conference, Red Plum Ridge had gone from a deserted area to a bustling cultivator market.
Cultivators had always had very well-developed information networks. The fact that the Wandering Palace was picking a side and choosing a groom for its little palace lord through a tournament between the six major sects had caused the Immortal Fortune Conference to become the event of the year.
Cultivators from all around had gathered. This was the best time to do business, and many cultivators had come here solely to make business deals.
As the host, the Wandering Palace had decided to place its Immortal palace on Red Plum Ridge. It then used an Immortal art to turn this place into a bustling city, after which it began to collect fees. Everyone doing business here had to pay it a fee, even the six major sects.
At a time like this, the six major sects wouldn’t quibble about such a small thing.
While this was an impromptu market, the Immortal art had turned all of Red Plum Ridge into a resplendent palace of dazzling pavilions, comparable to the grand metropolises of the mortal realm. 80% of the people going in and out were cultivators, with the remainder being mortals that the Wandering Palace had hired as servants.
When Tang Jie arrived, he saw a large cluster of buildings on the ridge in the distance.
At the highest point of Red Plum Ridge was a towering Immortal Palace, its majestic silhouette faintly visible among the clouds.
This was the Wandering Palace.
Above the Wandering Palace, Tang Jie saw a few flashing points of light.
These points of light were distributed around the area and were very difficult to detect. But when a bird flew past, taking with it a smear of radiance, it would reveal the dense net of spiritual lines crisscrossing the sky.
That was a large formation that covered all of Red Plum Ridge.
This formation prevented all cultivators below Violet Palace from flying into Red Plum Ridge. They would have to take the path of jade to enter.
Tang Jie was going along this path, and as he was midway up the mountain, he saw a decorated archway on the path. Beneath it were two disciples with swords on their backs, and next to the archway was a desk with a secretary seated behind it.
Behind the two disciples were two black-armored guards holding long-handled war hammers.
Tang Jie walked up to the archway, and one of the disciples came forward and said, “Please register your name and background here.”
“Basking Moon Student Tang Jie, here to participate in the Immortal Fortune Conference.”
The secretary took out a booklet and read through it. After a while, he said, “One of the students officially registered by the Basking Moon Sect. Spirit Sea Tier, fifth-year student, twenty-one years of age, of handsome appearance, not arrived yet.”
He looked at Tang Jie and decided that the description matched, so he nodded and said, “Everything is correct.”
The other disciple took a placard and handed it to Tang Jie. “This placard lets you enter and exit Red Plum Ridge. The Basking Moon Sect is set up on the southern side of the ridge, where the red walls are. Don’t go to the wrong place.”
Tang Jie noticed that the placard had the Basking Moon Sect’s insignia on it, suggesting that it had been prepared for the sect. It appeared that the Wandering Palace had considerately split up the sects into different areas.
The disciple took out two more placards, which he gave to Yiyi and the little tiger. Even pets had them!
“Thank you,” Tang Jie said, taking the placard.
After some thought, he intentionally put the placard in his Mustard Seed Bag and went through the archway. One of the disciples said, “Senior Brother, hurry and take out the placard. Without this item, the protective formation will attack you. Even when you’re inside, you have to carry the placard at all times.”
It was no wonder they had handed over the placard after getting his name and not worried about whether he was a fake. This placard needed to be worn out in the open at all times. If he wasn’t a member of the Basking Moon Sect, then he would be found out once he was inside.
“I see now,” Tang Jie said, casually taking out the placard and tying it at his waist. “Isn’t the Immortal Fortune Conference open to the public? Why is the security so tight?”
The disciple knew that he was an official participant and no sightseer, so he did not dare to be impolite. “There is concern of villains making trouble.”
“Villains making trouble?” Tang Jie raised an eyebrow. “This Immortal Fortune Conference is hosted by the Wandering Palace, and the six major secs are participating in a tournament for a beauty. Who would be so bold as to cause trouble?”
The older of the disciples chuckled. “We also don’t expect anyone with this much guts, but these are orders from above, and we disciples can only obey. If there is any inconvenience, please accept our apologies. That said, even if no one dares to make trouble, there are many cultivators gathered here. If one of them loses their temper and starts a quarrel, there will also be trouble. With this formation, we can restrain them and stop them from messing around.”
“That’s true.” Tang Jie nodded and made his way up the mountain.
He only made it a few steps before he stopped next to the black-armored guards. Carefully looking them over, he said, “So it was a puppet! I thought that these were noble scions wearing black armor to add some majesty to the occasion. Wow, it looks like a Grade 3 puppet, too.”
He once more looked up the mountain. His vision was excellent, and he could see that there were many black-armored guards like this on Red Plum Ridge, guarding various checkpoints. If there were trouble, these black-armored guards would be enough to settle matters.
The older disciple smiled. “This grand event is unprecedented, and many cultivators are coming. The disciples of the Wandering Palace alone are not enough to maintain order, so these puppets were dispatched to assist us.”
“I didn’t expect the Wandering Palace to have such a high mastery of the Dao of Puppetry. It must have cost a lot to make so many Grade 3 combat puppets,” Tang Jie chuckled. “Moreover, this black armor is also excellent. My young master also has a Grade 3 puppet, but it’s naked, without any sort of weapon or armor. And even this still cost two years of my young master’s savings. Two years of saving, and it’s not even enough to get a door guard from the Wandering Palace.”
Tang Jie sighed.
The senior disciple soothed, “One person’s power can’t compare to a sect’s. In truth, not even my Wandering Palace could have this money. Fortunately, we had someone’s help.”
“Oh? Who would be so kindhearted and so able as to help the Wandering Palace?” Tang Jie nonchalantly asked.
“This…” The senior disciple awkwardly laughed. “This is a matter for my superiors. How would I know?”
“That’s true. I was being presumptuous.” Tang Jie ended the talk and made his way up the steps. As he did, he muttered, “You think that I wouldn’t recognize you if you changed out your armor? Really… gold looked better.”