The negotiations continued for three days.

Tang Jie made full use of the experience from his past life, patiently grinding down the Seven Absolutions Sect and fighting for every piece of profit he could get. By the end, the Seven Absolutions Sect was tired out, and after one final reduction of the resources wanted, they reached an agreement with Tang Jie.

Despite the reduction, the Seven Absolutions Sect would still need to send out many people to gather the resources required, and it would probably take years until they collected everything.

Of course, Tang Jie was in no rush. In any case, the items he had agreed to hand over were still in the valley, and if he wanted to get them out, he needed to grow stronger.

The Seven Absolutions Sect then sought to have Tang Jie stay as a guest for the next few days. There were three reasons for this. The first was to develop a friendship with the sect. After all, this was only a single business deal. It didn’t mean that Tang Jie was immediately going to hand over everything in the valley. The second was to wait for Wang Juemie, since this guy was so anxious to have a fight with him. The third was that they wanted to discuss another deal with Tang Jie, one regarding Godhead Palace.

But compared to the hidden realm deal, the matter regarding Godhead Palace was much more delicate. Both sides understood that they were enemies of Godhead Palace, but they also wanted to be the reinforcer and not the reinforcee.

Since the Seven Absolutions Sect wanted him to stay, Tang Jie decided to take their offer.

An excellent residence was arranged for him, rich in spiritual energy, and he was served only the finest foods and attended to by the best servants. As he couldn’t cultivate for the time being, Tang Jie spent these days in leisure. When he was bored, he would go out to see other people in the Seven Absolutions Sect, meeting with Mu Yi and the others. It wasn’t long before he was getting along with everyone.

A few days later, Tang Jie met with the Seven Absolutions Sect’s formation master, Hong Shenji.

It turned out that the reason he hadn’t been here earlier was that Hong Shenji had gone to the western border to repair a formation.

As formation professionals, they immediately got along like old friends.

Thus, when he had nothing else to do, Tang Jie would go over to Hong Shenji’s place to exchange pointers regarding formations.

As expected of a veteran formation grandmaster, Hong Shenji had a vast and deep store of knowledge, an understanding of formations above Tang Jie’s. But Tang Jie had a greater understanding of mathematics, which let him calculate faster, and his mind was more unconventional, letting him come up with new and interesting ideas.

One had experience and knowledge and the other had creativity, so they were both able to learn a lot from each other and soon developed a deep friendship.

It was also at that time that Tang Jie learned that Hong Shenji actually had the Death Gate Banner and Injury Gate Banner, and Hong Shenji learned that Tang Jie had the Alarm, Stop, and View Gate Banners. Thus, the two of them began to try to get the other side’s banners.

Tang Jie argued that since he had more banners, Hong Shenji should sell his banners to him. But Hong Shenji argued that his banners were better, as the Death and Injury Gate Banners were both focused on lethality, which would greatly increase the power of any formation the two banners were used in. It was precisely because Tang Jie lacked these two banners that the formations he was able to set out had always been very limited in might.

Both sides refused to back down, wanting the other’s treasures while refusing to let go of what they had, happily squabbling with each other.

A month soon passed.

Today, Tang Jie was arguing with Shen Hongji about the banners again when there was a sudden burst of light over Splendor Year Hall. A bolt of lightning cracked down from the heavens, opening a fissure in the sky. Behind that fissure were endless black clouds that roiled with evil energy.

A large figure jumped out of that fissure, brazenly laughing, “I’ve come back alive!”

Who else could it be but Wang Juemie?

But this Wang Juemie was all mangled and maimed. There was a large hole in his chest, through which one could see that his heart had been broken up into several chunks, and a small part of his head had been cut off, exposing his brains and leaving one of his eyes to dangle around. Even so, Wang Juemie was still alive, and the little ghost riding on his shoulder was none other than Little Three.

As Wang Juemie excitedly roared, a bellow of fury came from the fissure behind him.

A massive hand of white bone reached out of the fissure, radiating tendrils of black energy that condensed into wicked flames that extended toward Wang Juemie.

But just when the white bone hand was about to capture Wang Juemie, a sword of light flew out from the distance.

This sword of light slashed into the bone hand, but the hand did not break. Instead, it gave off a cracking noise like shattering porcelain, and countless ghost fragments broke off from it.

A moment later, all of the bone fragments fell away from the hand, revealing the pitch-black claw underneath. It was smaller than the hand of white bone, but it was even more intimidating, threatening to paint all of the skies over the Brocade Harp Palace black.

A gale of sword energy erupted from Splendor Year Hall, and four beams of light assailed the black hand. A howl of pain arose from that black rift, and a sinister voice cried out, “I’ll remember you!”

The hand retreated into the fissure.

The fissure closed.

“Pah, remember me all you want. I’m not afraid of you.” Wang Juemie plopped on the ground, no longer able to stand, and started to laugh.

Despite his horrifying injuries, his booming laughter was full of vigor and energy. In the distance, Mu Yi’s eyes flashed. “Did he finally achieve a breakthrough?”

The five True Lords of the sect, led by Ji Qingfeng, appeared above the mountain, their expressions grave.

The five of them combined had failed to hold this Ghost Emperor’s hand. It was clear that this was no ordinary Ghost Emperor, but one of the Ten Emperors of the Nether Domain. Wang Juemie definitely wasn’t strong enough to escape from one of the ten Nether Emperors, so the answer was obvious: Little Three.

Looking over that translucent ghost, they saw that it was lying weakly on Wang Juemie’s shoulder—a clear sign that it had taken on a huge burden in this escape.

Ji Qingfeng bowed to the approaching Tang Jie. “Thank you for your assistance, Little Brother Tang.”

“It was nothing. Sect Master is too polite.” Tang Jie called Little Three back and put it into the diagram so that it could rest. He then turned to Wang Juemie and smiled. “Greetings, Great Brother.”

Although Wang Juemie was severely injured, he was as energetic as ever, erupting with laughter. “Greetings to you too, Tang Jie! You really are something else! I took the Lifeless Path in order to defeat you, but you sent your ghost to save me! I can’t believe it! But even so, I, Wang Juemie, will still have a fight with you. I want all of the Rosecloud Domain to know that the number one genius of the Rosecloud Domain is me! Nobody can defeat me!”

He stood back up, his entire body overflowing with fighting intent that warped the air around him.

It seemed like he was ready to fight as soon as Tang Jie agreed.

Tang Jie chuckled. “We’ll have our fight, but what’s the point in forcing yourself? Take your time and recover first. We’ll fight once you’re all healed up.”

“There’s no need to wait that long!” Wang Juemie waved his hand. “These injuries are nothing! The only annoying thing is the Hearteater Nether Emperor’s Azure Nether Energy. But now that it’s not here, with Master’s help, its remnant energy can be neutralized.”

The five True Lords raised their hands, sending five streams of energy into Wang Juemie’s body. Wang Juemie began to circulate his own spiritual energy, and gradually, the azure energy on his face began to disappear.

A few moments later, all of the azure energy was gone, but his body remained injured.

Wang Juemie didn’t care, saying, “With the Azure Nether Energy gone, I just need to have a meal now. Bring me wine and meat!”

His call resounded through the heavens.

Countless disciples immediately began delivering wine and food, but the food came in the form of whole pigs, sheep, and cows, all of them fed on the finest spirit grains. While they weren’t fiends, they were brimming with spiritual energy and good enough to serve as a restorative.

Wang Juemie wolfed the food down, quickly devouring three cows, two pigs, and four sheep, though it was a wonder where exactly all that food went after it entered his stomach. Shockingly, as he ate, his wounds began to heal.

It had to be understood that these were no ordinary injuries, but injuries inflicted by ghosts of the nether Domain. Any ghost that could pierce his Horn Dragon Demon Body had to possess extraordinary strength, and the wounds were also contaminated with ghost energy of varying effects that made healing the wounds extremely difficult.

But just by eating all this food, Wang Juemie was recovering from these wounds. His ability was on par with, if not better than, Tang Jie’s.

“Life… Dao entering!” Tang Jie murmured.

He was now certain that Wang Juemie had entered the Dao of Life.

He definitely hadn’t been relying on the nature of his constitution to last until now. Only a deep understanding of the Dao of Life and its usage could grant him such incredible recovery ability.

In a contest purely of body cultivation, Tang Jie’s original body was slightly inferior.

And in terms of spell arts, Wang Juemie had seemingly managed to improve what had been a major flaw. After eating his fill and healing most of his injuries, Wang Juemie took off into the air and flew around. The clouds churned and wrapped around him, turning into clothes.

Wang Juemie shouted, “Tang Jie, do you dare fight me!?”

“Do you dare fight me!?”

His voice bounced around the mountains and valleys.

The countless cultivators in the Middlecross Mountains raised their heads and saw that peerless figure above, and reverence appeared in their eyes.

Seeing this, Tang Jie turned to Hong Shenji and asked, “Old Man Hong, who do you think will win in a fight: me or Brother Wang?”

Hong Shenji proudly stroked his beard. “This old man naturally leans toward Juemie. Tang Jie, while you’re strong, Juemie has walked the Lifeless Path and grown much stronger, creating a miracle that hasn’t happened since the creation of the art.”

“If that’s the case, want to make a bet? If I win, you give me your two banners, and if I lose, I give you my three banners.”

“This…” Hong Shenji immediately hesitated.

“What? Don’t have the guts?” Tang Jie smiled.

Hong Shenji hardened his resolve. “Of course I have! I’ll take the bet.”

“Great!” Tang Jie laughed and looked up at Wang Juemie. “An opponent like Brother Wang is exactly what I’m looking for.”

He stood up and flew into the air.

The two most famous prodigies of the Rosecloud Domain stood across from each other, blazing with battle intent.

Wang Juemie shouted, “Tang Jie, although you saved me, I won’t be holding back!”

“I also have no plans on holding back,” Tang Jie casually said. “Since we’re fighting, we naturally have to use our full strength in order to enjoy ourselves. On the battlefield, fighting one’s opponent with one’s full strength is the greatest respect one can show, not holding back.”

As he spoke, his clothes exploded, his body beginning to grow larger and radiate power.

“Hahaha, excellent words!” Wang Juemie laughed, and his body also began to grow stronger, until a giant stood across from Tang Jie. Their auras clashed, throwing the clouds into chaos and stirring up a gale that swept across the mountains.

Seeing this, Ji Qingfeng ordered, “Quickly, activate the formation!”

Once these two started fighting, if the formation weren’t activated, they would end up dismantling the entire mountain range.

Although they weren’t at the level where they could shatter stars with their punches, a mountain was no problem at all.

Upon seeing that the formation had activated, Wang Juemie crazily laughed. “Then let’s get started! Watch my fist!”

A punch hurtled toward Tang Jie.