Chapter 98

A figure flashed, and a person appeared at the entrance of Tiger Roar Valley. It was Tang Jie, carrying a large cloth bundle on his back.

Beside him, a burst of mocking laughter came from a few students outside the valley, clearly mistaking his current disheveled state for being chased out by a beast.

To be honest, his current appearance was indeed quite disheveled—his clothes were burned in the fight with the tree spirit, and his body was pockmarked from the stones flung by the tiger demon. Even with his strong physical condition, he couldn't recover in a short time, leaving him covered in injuries, looking extremely terrifying.

Tang Jie had no interest in dealing with them and instead leaned against a tree, closing his eyes to rest for a moment.

When the bundle suddenly felt lighter, he knew the little thing had woken up. Sensing the unfamiliar environment, it turned back into a flower. He then opened the bundle, revealing a bright green calyx lying on a pile of herbs, looking fresh and vibrant.

Tang Jie smiled, put the green calyx away, and then dragged his heavy steps to the villagers, throwing the bundle at them: "How much for these things?"

A villager checked the goods and said, "Including the wolf skin on your back, it's 121 coins in total."

"Give me a piece of cloth."

The villager laughed and took out a coarse cloth, throwing it to Tang Jie: "This new one, I'll give it to you."

"Thank you." Tang Jie found a place where no one was around to change his clothes. The villagers had already counted the spirit coins and handed them to Tang Jie, patting him and saying, "For your first trip, being able to get this much is already good."

"Unfortunately, it's still a loss," Tang Jie said lightly.

"Common occurrence. It's good to be able to keep your life. This Tiger Roar Valley is meant to let you experience the dangers of the outside world. Some lessons are priceless," the villager, who seemed to have some insight, said casually.

Tang Jie smiled, "I'd rather exchange lessons for a thousand gold pieces."

The villager was taken aback, then burst into laughter, but just waved his hand and didn't argue with him.

Tang Jie, holding over a hundred spirit coins, returned to Tao Ran Residence, still feeling quite frustrated.

This trip to Tiger Roar Valley, although he had made some profit, the profit was all on Yi Yi, and the cash return was minimal.

He still owed Wei Tianchong 200 spirit coins, and he only had 3 spirit coins left, meaning he was still short 76 spirit coins, which he couldn't make up for in the short term.

This was quite a headache.

After much thought, he could only use the pills he used for cultivation to make up for it.

Initially, Xie Fengtang had given him ten bottles of spirit medicine, and he had taken back a bottle of Yuan Cultivation Pills from Wu Xing, and some pills from Zhuang Shen. After saving and using them frugally, he still had quite a few left. If all else failed, he could use some to make up for it, which would be enough.

His current allocation for cultivation was simple: all resources were used for cultivating the Li Jing, and all time was used for cultivating the heart method. Since he had reached the fifth level of the Jade Gate, even without taking medicine, he could enter the Transcendent stage within ten years, so he wasn't in a hurry to improve his realm.

When he arrived at Tao Ran Residence, Yi Yi jumped out of Tang Jie's arms, shouting, "Brother, look, I've grown!"

Tang Jie squatted down to look at Yi Yi and smiled, "You've grown, but you're still a little one."

"Annoying, I'll grow slowly, you know!" Yi Yi put her hands on her hips and shouted at him.

Tang Jie held the little one in his arms, "Yes, yes, Yi Yi will grow up eventually. But just growing taller isn't enough; you need to grow stronger too. Tell me, have you grown stronger?"

"Of course!" Yi Yi pointed at a wildflower in the yard, "Brother, look!"

The wildflower had turned into a green calyx.

Tang Jie's forehead broke out in a sweat, "You've been able to do this for a long time, right?"

"Yes, but I couldn't change it at will. Now I can change many at once, without drinking your blood, just by resting for a while. Didn't you want to use it to sell for silver? Now you can!" Yi Yi answered, waving her hands excitedly.

"The problem is, I don't need silver now!" Tang Jie was almost in tears.

Although silver could be exchanged for spirit coins, selling ten pots of flowers for two or three spirit coins was not worth the effort compared to working at the academy.

"Skills need to keep up with the times..." Tang Jie said earnestly.

"Uh..." Yi Yi drew out her words, half understanding.

After some thought, she said, "What about this?"

She pointed at the green calyx, and it began to grow rapidly, quickly reaching the height of a person, with a large flower head.

"This is interesting, it can promote plant growth... only green calyxes?" Tang Jie looked at Yi Yi.

Yi Yi nodded seriously.

Tang Jie sighed.

"Anything else?" he asked.

Yi Yi answered reluctantly, "That's all."

She pointed at the green calyx again, and it suddenly came to life, the large flower head opening like a sharp mouth, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth, and biting at Tang Jie, but it couldn't bite through.

Tang Jie was intrigued, "Hmm, this is good, but the strength seems a bit lacking..."

Before he could finish, there was a "puff" sound, and a large clump of green liquid spurted out from the flower head, splashing on Tang Jie's skin, making him feel dizzy.

"Poisonous? Nice!" Tang Jie was excited.

This green calyx could attack and spray poison, which was really good.

Yi Yi, however, was very dissatisfied and turned her head away, "Ugly."

Her standard for judging the quality of abilities was simple: whether they looked good or not.

The green calyx, cultivated through her talent, had lost its original elegant appearance and looked more like a fierce carnivorous plant, with the green sticky liquid being extremely disgusting. No wonder she didn't like it.

Tang Jie asked, "How many can you make at once?"

Yi Yi answered, "Only one at a time, then I need to rest for a while, but it can stay."

Clearly, her power was still insufficient.

Although she had eaten the essence core of a tree spirit, it didn't mean she could instantly have the tree spirit's strength. Currently, Yi Yi could be considered a low-grade spirit, the lowest level of low-grade spirits. However, her strength would naturally grow over time, unlike humans who had very high requirements for cultivation.

Of course, the downside of natural growth was that unless there was a rare encounter like this, the cultivation speed of spirits was hard to improve.

"By the way, does this flower listen to your commands?" Tang Jie asked.

"Of course." Yi Yi answered proudly, pointing at the green calyx, "This is my brother, don't bite!"

Sure enough, the flower head shrank back, shaking its head.

"I can also make it bigger or smaller." Yi Yi pointed again, "Shrink!"

The green calyx shrank back into the ground.

"Good, good." Tang Jie nodded.

The single green calyx Yi Yi cultivated had limited damage.

But the advantage of this plant was that it could exist for a long time, allowing repeated cultivation. If given enough preparation time, cultivating a large area of toxic calyxes, using quantity to win, could play a significant role, and was much cheaper than array techniques.

Exchanging a spirit core, a Blood Demon Pill, and a few days of weakness for Yi Yi's ability was well worth it.

Unlike cultivators, spirit creatures' abilities were extremely difficult to acquire through later learning, mostly generated through consuming flesh and combining with their own characteristics.

Although the green calyx's ability to spit toxic saliva didn't seem to match Yi Yi's characteristics.

Regardless, it was a great thing for the little one to gain this ability, and Tang Jie was excited, unable to contain his joy, and hugged Yi Yi, giving her a fierce kiss.

"Ah! Annoying, annoying, I'm a girl, no kissing!" Yi Yi angrily turned her head, wiping her face and spitting on the ground.

Well, she was quite similar, Tang Jie thought helplessly.

——

The next morning, Tang Jie went to see Wei Tianchong, returning the puppet and the money.

Wei Tianchong carefully checked the puppet, confirming it was undamaged, and then asked about Tang Jie's trip to Tiger Roar Valley.

Tang Jie briefly recounted his experience in Tiger Roar Valley, naturally omitting the part about dealing with the tree spirit, and only mentioned that he escaped and wandered around the valley for a while before returning when the time was up.

After summarizing his experience, Tang Jie concluded, "Tiger Roar Valley is full of fierce beasts, and it's not easy to gain something there. With my current strength, it's still very difficult to make a profit. This time, I managed to break even thanks to the young master's puppet."

"Break even?" Wei Tianchong pointed at the medicine in his hand, "You've already used medicine to pay off the debt!"

Tang Jie smiled, "Some gains were used on the spot, and I didn't have enough cash. However, young master, this is my first trip, and I'm not familiar with many things, so there were some oversights. Next time, I'm confident I can gain more."

"You want to go again?"

"Of course. Young master, Tiger Roar Valley is a place for future profit. Even if I make 50 spirit coins per trip, ten trips will yield 500 coins."

"But it takes too much time." Wei Tianchong shook his head, "A trip to Tiger Roar Valley takes a whole day, and while it might earn you dozens of spirit coins, it also delays a whole day of cultivation. It might not be worth it. And if you have bad luck and get chased by a beast, you might lose 200 coins, which could set you back several days."

"Of course." Tang Jie said lightly, "But just like how I gather information and analyze opponents for you, many things are about probability. Once you reach a certain level, the chances of winning are greater than losing. Although the trip to Tiger Roar Valley has a gambling nature, it is ultimately based on strength. I am confident that with my current strength, I can win more than I lose."

"Why not wait until you are stronger and have a better grasp?"

"I'm impatient."

Wei Tianchong's expression became like a husky, "I didn't see that coming!"

"..."

Tang Jie, helpless, said, "Then I'll give you another reason. The puppet is complete, and according to the plan, you need to rent it out. Given its value, I think 30 coins a day is reasonable, but other students might not think so. So, why not let me rent it? It would be good for both of us."

"What about the training ground?"

"Before you are sure to make the list, having a puppet or not isn't important. Focus on improving yourself first."

Wei Tianchong thought about it and nodded.

Tang Jie smiled, extended his hand, and said, "Then I'll ask the young master to lend me 200 coins again."

"..." Wei Tianchong reluctantly took out the money and, after some thought, suddenly said, "Wait, I feel something is off, Tang Jie."

"What's wrong, young master?"

"Look," Wei Tianchong counted on his fingers, "The money for entering the valley is borrowed from me, the techniques you learned are bought by me, and the puppet you used is made by me. I haven't spent this much on my own cultivation. Why is all our family's money being spent on you? Am I your bank? No, even a bank charges interest..."

Tang Jie laughed, hugged Wei Tianchong, "Young master, I'm renting, I'm renting!"

"But that's not right either. The puppet is rented, but the rent is 30 coins, which I didn't even set a price for!"

"Then 40 coins." Tang Jie said seriously, "Young master, you can't rent a puppet for this price outside!"

"Their puppets don't seem as good as mine. I think 50 coins is reasonable!"

Tang Jie laughed, "Young master is kind and generous to us, and 10 spirit coins is nothing to you."

"The problem is, it's 10 spirit coins per day..." Wei Tianchong stroked his chin.

"Talking about money hurts feelings, young master!" Tang Jie said earnestly.

Wei Tianchong sighed, "Talking about feelings hurts money, classmate!"

Although he hadn't seen internet slang before, he understood it instinctively.

In the end, they agreed on 45 spirit coins per trip, with a 10% discount for a monthly rental.

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