Treasure Left Behind by a Cultivator!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Tang Jie knelt on one knee, gasping for breath. The black-robed elder's head had rolled several circles across the ground. Tang Jie wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and looked back. With the black-robed elder's death, the two Corpse Puppets seemed to have lost their strength as well. They collapsed limply onto the ground, unable to crawl back up.

"I... I won?"

Tang Jie murmured, but a wave of dizziness swept over him, nearly making him faint.

Tang Jie had cultivated the Boyhood Art to the fourth layer. His internal strength was so profound that it could injure people through their bodies. When the Radiant Moon Qi condensed upon a blade, it could form three feet of blade aura, cutting through anything in its path. This was his first time using it against an enemy, yet it had achieved astonishing results, allowing him to kill the black-robed elder in the space between life and death!

"Urgh!"

Tang Jie gritted his teeth and pulled the Profound Nether Cone from his chest. Blood immediately gushed out, and the pain made him bare his teeth.

Earlier, Tang Jie had condensed the Radiant Moon Qi, making his muscles as hard as refined steel. Even so, the Profound Nether Cone had still pierced through. If it had gone another inch or two, it would have struck Tang Jie's heart, and by then, even the gods could not have saved him!

Tang Jie sat cross-legged and circulated the Boyhood Art to heal his wounds. Silvery Qi cycled through his mouth and nose. The pain and dizziness gradually faded by more than half, and the wound in his chest had stopped bleeding.

After standing up, Tang Jie began searching the black-robed elder's headless corpse.

As a cultivator, the black-robed elder ought to have been quite wealthy, right?

In the end, Tang Jie truly found several things on the black-robed elder. Aside from several thousand taels in banknotes and the Profound Nether Cone, the black-robed elder had five other items.

A bloodstained wooden token, a black command token, an ancient-looking book, a small jade plate of unknown purpose, and an opened envelope.

"Is this... the Corpse Refining Art?"

Tang Jie saw the three large characters—"Corpse Refining Art"—on the cover of the ancient book.

"How vicious..."

Tang Jie flipped through it a couple of times, and his expression became ugly. This Corpse Refining Art recorded the spell for refining Corpse Puppets, turning people into soulless Corpse Puppets to be controlled by others. According to the records, living people made the best materials for refining Corpse Puppets, as they could preserve the puppets' ferocity!

It was easy to imagine how much agony a person would have to endure if they were refined into a Corpse Puppet while still alive—an existence worse than death.

The reason the black-robed elder had attacked Tang Jie was that he had taken a fancy to Tang Jie's strength and wanted to refine him into a Corpse Puppet!

"Hm? Is this a Soul Token?"

Tang Jie then looked at the small black wooden token. According to what he had read in the Corpse Refining Art, when refining a Corpse Puppet, a wisp of its remnant soul would be extracted and stored inside a Soul Token. As long as one dripped a drop of blood onto the Soul Token, one could use it to control the Corpse Puppet. This so-called Soul Token should be the bloodstained black wooden token.

Tang Jie glanced at the two motionless Corpse Puppets lying in the distance. After a moment of thought, he slit a tiny cut in his finger and dripped the blood that seeped out onto the wooden token.

The blood fell onto the wooden token and quickly seeped inside. At the same time, Tang Jie sensed that a strange connection had formed between himself and the two Corpse Puppets.

"Stand up!"

Tang Jie tried commanding them. The two Corpse Puppets swayed slightly, then stood bolt upright, straight as pine and cypress trees.

The faces beneath the two Corpse Puppets' black robes were pale, both appearing to be around forty years old. In life, they had been top-tier first-rate martial artists, but the black-robed elder had taken notice of them and refined them into Corpse Puppets.

"With these two Corpse Puppets, I have quite the pair of assistants," Tang Jie thought.

Corpse Puppets were impervious to blades and spears and possessed immense strength. Even a martial artist like Tang Jie, who could be considered beyond the first-rate level, would find it difficult to inflict a fatal injury on either of them. With these two Corpse Puppets, he could run rampant through the mortal world!

"Bury this fellow's corpse."

Tang Jie then had the two Corpse Puppets dig a pit in the wilderness and bury the black-robed elder's corpse.

Tang Jie was of course not kindly helping him bury his remains. He was merely trying to avoid trouble. If someone else discovered the black-robed elder's corpse and reported it to the authorities, it would certainly cause him no end of trouble.

After taking care of everything, Tang Jie headed home.

By the time he returned to Qingyuan Town, it was already late at night. Tang Tianhao was not at home, saving him quite a bit of trouble.

Tang Jie had the two Corpse Puppets enter the storeroom and covered them with two pieces of cloth, which would also prevent anyone from seeing them.

Afterward, while recuperating from his injuries, Tang Jie began studying the items he had obtained from the black-robed elder.

First was the Profound Nether Cone. This object was a magical treasure that had easily torn through Tang Jie's protective qi earlier. It was absolutely a peerless weapon capable of slicing through iron like mud. Unfortunately, Tang Jie was not a cultivator and could not unleash the Profound Nether Cone's power. In his hands, it could only serve as a short weapon.

Next was the envelope found on the black-robed elder. When Tang Jie opened it, he was immediately surprised.

"Brother Black Cliff, come to the gathering on November 15 and bring the token with you. I have also invited several other fellow cultivators. We Rogue Cultivators have neither sect nor affiliation, so we can gather together and exchange the treasures we need."

The letter was very brief, and its contents were simple. A cultivator had organized a gathering that several cultivators would attend. As for the purpose of the gathering, put plainly, it was a trade fair where they would exchange for and purchase treasures from one another.

The signature bore the title of True Man Snow Goose, and the meeting place and time were also marked.

"A cultivators' gathering?" Tang Jie thought for a moment before setting down the envelope. True Man Snow Goose had invited the black-robed elder, Black Cliff, to attend the gathering, but unfortunately, Black Cliff had died at Tang Jie's hands and could no longer go.

As for the token, it should be the command token engraved with a snow-white wild goose.

A cultivators' trade gathering would certainly be interesting, but the items they traded were cultivators' treasures. They probably would not accept silver, right?

Tang Jie shook his head and continued examining the final item. It was a small round plate made from an unknown kind of wood, with several transparent crystals embedded in it.

"What is this thing?"

Tang Jie was utterly baffled. Could this wooden plate also be a magical treasure belonging to a cultivator?

Tang Jie noticed a tiny pattern in the center of the wooden plate. He tried poking it hard with his finger, and something strange happened!

Whoosh!

The pattern on the round plate began to rotate, while the several crystals embedded in the plate also began to shine.

"Hm? In the air around me... there seems to be something more!"

Gradually, Tang Jie discovered something strange as well. He felt that there was something extra in the air around him. Tang Jie tried taking a deep breath, and he immediately felt refreshed and invigorated. Even the fatigue accumulated over the entire previous day seemed to vanish.

"Could this be... spiritual energy? I heard that cultivators absorb and refine the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth when they cultivate. That is why cultivators are also called Qi refiners. This wooden plate can gather the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth!"

Tang Jie's heart stirred as he recalled some things about cultivators.

Cultivators refined the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth to strengthen themselves. This wooden plate, meanwhile, might be a treasure like a Spirit Gathering Plate, capable of gathering the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth and assisting cultivation!

"I wonder if this Spirit Gathering Plate can benefit me?"

Tang Jie thought. Many cultivators cultivated in places rich in spiritual energy. As a martial artist, could he achieve an auxiliary cultivation effect by relying on the Spirit Gathering Plate?

Tang Jie decided to test it. He sat cross-legged and began cultivating the Boyhood Art.

Beside Tang Jie, the Spirit Gathering Plate continued spinning, drawing in the spiritual energy from its surroundings.

Strands of spiritual energy flowed around Tang Jie and entered his body, tempering his sinews and bones and making his muscles tougher.

"This..." Tang Jie's body trembled. The speed at which the true qi inside him circulated seemed to have received divine aid, increasing by at least threefold!