“‘A chance at a gift from the heavens’?” Tang Jie was surprised by Madam Shui’s words. “What chance?”

Madam Shui simply chuckled. “You don’t need to ask so many questions. Finish off this True Inheritor business first.”

Tang Jie saw that there was no point in asking, so he took out eight thousand spirit coins and said, “If that’s so, then I would like Madam’s help.”

She looked at the money and nodded. “As expected, you did have some money. If you want something, say it plainly, and I’ll try my best to give you a discount.”

“I want spell weapons or art relics that can instantly boost my strength,” Tang Jie replied.

He had used all his money from before on the Parting Classic and the Weapon Mantra, and his body’s toughness had reached a level where continuing to advance would not have a very obvious effect. As for the Weapon Mantra’s golden essence, it was now the size of a pigeon egg, and getting any larger wouldn’t increase its lethality much.

Rather than continuing to throw money into these, it was better to turn to other aspects, where the effects would be more visible. And equipment was faster than any spirit medicine when it came to a boost in power.

He had gifted the Silver Cloud Needles to Shi Meng, leaving him with the Heartbreak Saber as his only spell weapon. He direly needed something to make up for the shortcoming.

As for the remaining two thousand, one thousand was to repay Qi Shaoming while the other one thousand was kept just in case.

Madam Shui nodded. “Please wait a moment. I will have someone attend to you.”

“I don’t need armor, and offensive kinds would be best… Support kinds are also fine. As for offensive kinds, it’s best if they can attack from a distance and attack large groups, and the stronger, the better. I don’t need any close-combat types,” Tang Jie added.

Madam Shui gave him a profound glance. “That being the case, I suppose I should personally attend to you.”

She went to the rear courtyard, and after a while, she returned with a few silk boxes.

As they were opened, Tang Jie saw that they respectively held a pair of boots with purple lightning patterns, a fiery ring decorated with numerous flame crows, and three talismans.

Pointing at the boots, Madam Shui said, “These are the Violet Lightning Boots. The formation carved into them assists the Lesser Yang Foot Meridian and Lesser Yin Foot Meridian in circulating energy, reducing the time needed for art manifestation and improving energy circulation.”

Tang Jie’s eyes flashed as he blurted out, “The Violet Lightning Lunge?”

“Correct!” Madam Shui gave him a praising glance. “The Violet Lightning Lunge’s energy circulation utilizes the Lesser Yang and Lesser Yin Foot Meridians. When you wear these boots, you will find it easier and less taxing to use this spell, which is why they were known as the Violet Lightning Boots. It was made for people who cultivate the Violet Lightning Lunge.”

Tang Jie quickly put the Violet Lightning Boots on and then activated the Violet Lightning Lunge. He felt the energy smoothly circulating through his body like never before. The formation in the boots was perfectly in tune with the circulation method of the Violet Lightning Lunge, saving the cultivator from having to circulate energy through specific pathways. It was no wonder it reduced the cost and improved the effect of this spell.

Tang Jie tested the boots out and found that he was 30% faster than before and could cast the spell for 20% less. He was elated and said, “These are wonderful.”

“It’s good that you like them,” Madam Shui chuckled as she pulled out the fiery ring. “This is the upper-grade spell weapon, the Blazeraven Ring. Once thrown out, it will release one hundred Blazeravens that will attack the target. It is excellent at attacking groups and attacking from a distance, and it can even work in one-on-ones, fitting your requirements exactly.”

The Blazeravens had the offensive power of an ordinary Fireball, but one hundred of these ravens attacking represented a formidable force that could even surpass the level of an upper-grade spell weapon.

Tang Jie tried it out, but he found that the Flameraven Ring used up quite a bit of spiritual energy. One use consumed around five hundred drops of spiritual liquid, and it only lasted for around three minutes.

Madam Shui had taken this out most likely because he had the Cosmic Breeze Pearl and could store spiritual energy. With two thousand drops of spiritual liquid, he could use the ring four times, which was far better than other students.

Besides that, the Blazeravens that were released could be eliminated. The ring imprisoned the souls of the Blazeravens, and so long as the souls did not disperse, the Blazeravens could be reborn, but the ring could be weakened in this manner.

Even so, the Blazeraven Ring was still a rather impressive spell weapon, its power approaching that of a low-value art relic, so Tang Jie once more voiced his thanks.

As for the three talismans, they were clearly three art talismans, each one containing a powerful spell on par with the Heavenly King Mara Incantation.

Art talismans were rather valuable in the cultivation world. While all those at or above the Mortal Shedding Realm could use arts, talismans that could hold arts required many rare and valuable materials to produce, and creating talismans was a profession all on its own in the cultivation world.

The materials for creating the three talismans alone were so expensive that inviting someone to actually make the talismans was barely anything. And with these art talismans, Tang Jie could unleash a powerful art without any casting, but he would have to provide the spiritual energy consumed.

These three talismans used leather as their paper and blood as their ink, making them of a much higher class than ordinary talismans. Besides the power of their arts, they could also be used multiple times.

The three talismans Madam Shui had offered were the “Heavenly Pearl Slash Talisman”, the “Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman”, and the “Minor Five Elements Escape Talisman”, all of which were very practical and powerful arts. The Heavenly Pearl Slash Talisman could create a massive sword to attack the target, and it could be used twice. The Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman had a suppressive power against the majority of fiends and could be used three times. With this talisman, Tang Jie could have suppressed the fiend tiger without needing to waste all the materials on that Fiend-Conquering Demon-Executing Formation.

Of course, the Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman had a time limit, and even two uses of the talisman might not have been enough for the negotiations with the fiend tiger. This was why Tang Jie had opted to not use it.

As for the Minor Five Elements Escape Talisman, as it said in the name, it was an escape art. While its ability to escape and break through barriers was inferior to the Great Five Elements Escape Art, it was a very usable art below Mortal Shedding. This talisman could be used five times.

Each of these talismans had to cost more than eight hundred coins, and the set of three cost twenty-five hundred.

As for the two spell weapons, the Blazeraven Ring was upper-grade and the Violet Lightning Boots were middle-grade. All together, their value was exactly eight thousand.

Madam Shui said, “I chose these three according to your needs. I said I would give you a discount, and I’m not going to go back on my words. You can select one more that is not over eight hundred.”

She was essentially giving him a 10% discount.

After thinking it over, Tang Jie replied, “Madam is truly generous, and this lowly one will not reject this kindness. Does Madam have a Nine Nethers or Yellow Springs Talisman?”

“A Nine Nethers Talisman? A Yellow Springs Talisman?” Madam Shui furrowed her brow. “What do you want Ghost Dao items for?”

These two talismans were both Ghost Dao spells. The Dao of Ghost Raising was a banned art in the Rosecloud Domain and was forbidden from being transmitted, but there were still some spell arts of the Ghost Dao unrelated to raising ghosts that were passed down and were not banned.

The Nine Nethers Link spell and the Yellow Springs Ghost Refiner were two of them.

There were people in the Basking Moon Sect who knew how to use these spells, but as they weren’t welcomed and were rarely valued, these talismans were rather rare.

Madam Shui was shocked that Tang Jie had brought it up and couldn’t help but wonder why Tang Jie wanted them.

Tang Jie smiled. “When this lowly one was coming back from his dangerous trek, he came across a ghost. The ghost had a green face and fangs, and half its body was missing. Though I consider myself bold, I was scared out of my wits upon first seeing a ghost. Later on, I realized that since we students cultivate the proper path, we rarely encounter ghosts. Suddenly using the spells of the Ghost Dao might easily take one by surprise and upset them.”

He had naturally just made this reason up. The truth was that after getting a taste of the power of a Ghost Guard in the Valley of No Return, he wanted to use them some more, but as he was afraid that others might see it, he had come up with an idea.

He would get a ghost talisman from the academy to use Ghost Guards with, and it would be fine so long as he didn’t use it in front of anybody. And if there were any problems, he could just push the blame onto the school.

Madam Shui didn’t think that far. She found his argument reasonable and smiled. “Is that so? Let me go and see if we have any.”

She looked around the rear courtyard for a while and really did manage to find two Yellow Springs Talismans.

She handed them both over and said, “These don’t sell very well, so you can take both.”

Tang Jie hastily thanked her.

The Yellow Springs Talisman could draw in all lingering souls within a hundred kilometers, forming them into a ghost soldier to attack the target. The effect depended on the environment, and it was best used in a graveyard.

But Tang Jie didn’t care about this. He just needed it to summon ghosts, upon which he could mix a Ghost Guard he had refined in with the others, allowing it to exhibit its prodigious might.

Other people would think that he had just gotten lucky, that perhaps some cultivator had died and become a vicious ghost that he had summoned.

Each Yellow Springs Talisman could be used four times, so he had eight attempts in all.

So long as he didn’t throw himself into gruesome battles every day, it was completely possible to use them all the way to the Mortal Shedding Realm.

After purchasing these things, Tang Jie went to Qi Shaoming and returned the one thousand coins, and after speaking with him for a little longer, he headed to Heaven One Pavilion.

This time, he chose the Trace spell, the most basic scouting spell in the cultivation world.

After comprehending the Dao of Insight, Tang Jie had been pretending that he could use this spell. As the saying went, at the end of the road was the Way. If he didn’t even learn the spell, how could he possibly reach the end of the road?

But the Trace spell was not his path. The Divine Firmament Sword Classic had an even more powerful observation spell art: the Eye of Heaven.

It was said that at higher levels, this spell art couldn’t just track someone down, but even peer through the void and see through illusions, glimpsing the boundless heavens and the netherworld below. It could even display prodigious power, sweeping through fiends and monsters.

Tang Jie planned to use the Trace spell as a cover for the Eye of Heaven. While it would be of no help to him in the short term, it could let him get the jump on enemies hiding in the shadows.

After doing all this, Tang Jie went back to his house and gave the sprite core to Yiyi, who successfully advanced to the middle grade of Spirit Sensing.

Perhaps because the attributes didn’t match, while Yiyi did absorb the frost attribute of the sprite core, she didn’t inherit any spell arts. But Water generated Wood, so all of Yiyi’s spell arts received a big boost in power, particularly her flower formation. Its power became even more terrifying, and even someone as strong as Tang Jie could be trapped in it for a while. Yiyi also gained a new ability. She could freely transform into a flower and back within her flower formation, which would allow her to hide herself within it.

Tang Jie had used up most of his resources and received a significant boost of power in return.

Putting aside his formidable body, the level of his equipment had also risen. All he lacked was proficiency in cultivation. But there was nothing to be done about that. He just hadn’t had enough time.

In the following days, Tang Jie diligently cultivated, sparring with Wei Tianchong in his free time.

After his bold declaration, Wei Tianchong had begun to work much harder, diligently cultivating every day, going to the battleground every day and returning covered in wounds. As time passed, his strength increased, and he managed to get into the top fifty of his class.

And this was without the little fox participating.

There were other students who were also diligently practicing, and the one progressing the fastest was probably Cai Junyang.

Cai Junyang had progressed so quickly mostly thanks to Tang Jie.

In the battle of the Valley of No Return, Tang Jie had given Cai Junyang ten thousand coins, and with the addition of his own efforts, even after subtracting the thirty percent cut, he still had thirteen thousand coins after leaving the valley.

This was the most money he had had since entering the academy.

He had gotten into the school based on his talent, and he had no family background and no resources to speak of. He had relied entirely on his strength and training to get this far, and it was only because the likes of Liu and Ping had backers that they were able to slowly surpass him. This enormous fortune could be considered a huge boon to him.

And this wasn’t all.

According to the school’s rules, the students who had handed over the most to the school could get contribution points based on their ranking.

No one had harvested more than Tang Jie, but he had used up all his gains in the valley, so he was near the bottom of the list and had no hope of getting any contribution points.

Cai Junyang had handed over six thousand coins’ worth of goods and was ranked first among the students. Instead of giving him any contribution points, the academy had given him an opportunity to learn from the Divine Firmament Sword Classic.

This was undoubtedly an enormous gesture of kindness.

He became the second in the class, after Tang Jie, to enter the ninth floor of Heaven One.

No one knew what he had obtained, only that Cai Junyang had not left his house after leaving Heaven One Pavilion, and spent every day cultivating!