Purple Jade Huang

At noon the next day, Tang Yuan glanced at the two suns in the sky and rushed out of the formation without hesitation, speeding east. He had no desire to return with Qi Feiming, lest Qi Feiming, who had come away empty-handed, decide to kill him along the way.

Qian Xiaobao and the other three understood at once. They immediately banded together and headed west.

Qi Feiming watched Tang Yuan and the other four leave, sighed softly, and charged into the formation alone...

After racing east for two hours, Tang Yuan did not head south. Instead, he returned to the orc camp: he still wanted to obtain the "Purple Jade Huang."

Zhao Xiaode, inside the Profound Nether Cavern Realm Myriad Ghost Banner, had confirmed that what the orc chief with the seven-colored feathered crown wore around his neck was indeed the "Purple Jade Huang."

At dusk, Tang Yuan concealed his presence and returned to the orc camp. He found himself admiring Qi Feiming somewhat: Qi Feiming was still inside the formation, fighting hard to cut down the orc soldiers.

Looks like I'll have to wait another day, Tang Yuan sighed inwardly. He found a high spot and hid himself.

After eight days and nights of nonstop fighting, Tang Yuan slept wonderfully and even had a pleasant dream.

In the dream, Tang Yuan had reached Foundation Establishment and led his five children in establishing a Purple Mansion immortal clan at Prosperous Dragon Lake, revered by ten thousand households.

"Ah, why?

I suppressed my cultivation for over forty years and waited for over sixty. Why won't heaven let me obtain this 'Purple Jade Huang'?!

Heaven is unjust!"

Tang Yuan was still enjoying his dream when Qi Feiming's resentful, furious roar woke him.

From a distance, he watched Qi Feiming cut down another orc soldier, then rush south, his face filled with grief, indignation, and resentment.

Tang Yuan waited until Qi Feiming was out of sight, then summoned Tang Yi and sent him to follow Qi Feiming. He was somewhat worried that Qi Feiming might lose his head and turn back again.

After waiting for over two hours, Tang Yi returned to report that Qi Feiming was indeed racing south with all his might.

Tang Yuan straightened his clothes and strode into the orcs' protective formation with an imposing bearing.

While still dozens of zhang from the orc soldiers, Tang Yuan cupped his hands in greeting and shouted:

"This humble cultivator, Tang Yuan, greets the chief. I hope the chief will come and speak with me."

After all, the Holy Cardamom Sect had attacked the orcs of the Barbarian Di Secret Realm as many as nine times, and some disciples had been captured alive by the orcs each time. As a result, some orcs had long since learned to speak the human language.

A stir ran through the orc soldiers. Following a roar, several thousand of them lined up on either side, leaving a gap more than two zhang wide.

In less than half an incense stick's time, the orc chief came over. He stood nearly two zhang tall, wore metal battle armor and a seven-colored feathered crown, and carried a massive axe.

"Chief, I presume both this formation protecting your tribe and the purple jade huang ornament you wear were gifts from a mighty human cultivator." Tang Yuan cupped his hands again.

"So what if they were?" the orc chief said in a muffled voice.

"Since that human cultivator gave your tribe these two treasures, he must have intended to protect your people.

I, Tang Yuan, would naturally not dare defy that mighty cultivator's decision. Besides, I am not fond of slaughter.

Now I need the ornament you are wearing, Chief. I hope you will give it to me.

Otherwise..." Tang Yuan wore a thoroughly humble expression.

Before coming to the Barbarian Tribe Secret Realm, Tang Yuan had asked Kou Cheng about it. The Barbarian Tribe Secret Realm had originally been part of the same world as the outside. More than a thousand years ago, before a human [Golden Core True Lord] passed away, he had separated this part of the world from the outside and passed away within the Barbarian Tribe Secret Realm.

The fact that third-grade Spiritual Qi could be refined from barbarian beast teeth was probably connected to this: after the Golden Core True Lord passed away, the Spiritual Qi and Law Power in his body returned to a world of changing seas and mulberry fields...

"Hmph, otherwise what?

You humans slaughter my people. Why would I give you the ornament?

Don't think I don't know. You come here to slaughter my people every sixty-odd years, but you have to return within forty days." The orc chief's face was full of anger.

"There are still several days before the forty days are up. Aren't you afraid I could wipe out every one of your people in less than two hours?" Tang Yuan raised his chin.

"Hahaha...

With this formation in place, even after several of you fought desperately, you only managed to slaughter a few hundred of my soldiers.

And you alone think you can kill all my warriors in two hours?

Enough nonsense. Die!" The orc chief sneered and waved his great hand. The orc soldiers immediately surrounded Tang Yuan.

It seemed the orc chief would not sit down and talk obediently without a fight.

Tang Yuan chuckled, took out the Profound Nether Cavern Radiance Myriad Ghost Banner, and summoned the ghost spirits Zhao Xiaode, Wuma Lin, Du Qing, and more than a hundred others.

During the battles with the orc soldiers over the past few days, Tang Yuan had already summoned the ghost spirits from the Myriad Ghost Banner under cover of night.

Tang Yuan had discovered that the ghost spirits' cultivation did not change at all within the formation. Against the orc soldiers, they were like blades slicing through melons and vegetables.

Moreover, the ghost spirits scarcely used ranged spirit arts, fighting almost entirely at close quarters. They were the perfect bane of the orcs, who favored hand-to-hand combat.

The orc chief was startled for a moment to see more than a hundred ghost spirits appear out of thin air, but he still gave the order to attack.

Tang Yuan shook his head helplessly and said in a low voice, "[Profound universe, blessed nether, swiftly obey the decree]:

All ghost spirits, heed my command. You may wound the orcs, but you must not kill them."

All at once, cold winds rose on every side, and the ghost spirits charged the orc soldiers with eerie howls.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The orcs' blades struck the ghost spirits as though cutting through empty space.

Even when some orcs used spirit arts to cleave a ghost spirit in two, its body could gather back together and recover in an instant.

The ghost spirits' attacks on the orc soldiers, however, drew blood with every blow.

Had Tang Yuan not ordered them to wound but not wound, the ghost spirits would already have begun devouring the orc soldiers' flesh and blood and consuming their souls.

Blood flowed like a river, and the orc soldiers howled all around.

Seeing that several hundred of his tribesmen had fallen and could not rise in less than two incense sticks' time, the orc chief cried out urgently.

When the orc soldiers stopped attacking, Tang Yuan recalled the ghost spirits.

"Please spare my people, Immortal Master Tang. I am willing to offer you this jade huang ornament with both hands." The orc chief took the jade huang from around his neck, held it in both hands, and walked toward Tang Yuan.

Tang Yuan smiled, accepted the jade huang, and examined it carefully in his hand:

"The jade huang was dark cyan throughout, approximately three inches wide and one inch thick, with a curved shape forming about one-third of a circle.

Both sides were carved with dragon, fish, and cloud patterns, and one side bore a one-inch taiji diagram.

There were two round dots in the taiji diagram, one white and one purple. The purple dot gave off a faint trace of Spiritual Qi."

So this purple jade huang only has a purple dot in the yin root carving. It isn't purple throughout. Tang Yuan pondered for a moment, then looked at the orc chief:

"May I ask, Chief, is this the only purple jade huang or purple jade object in your tribe?"

The orc chief scratched his head, thought for a few moments, and replied:

"To answer you, Immortal Master, the tribe does have a few other jade huang, but this is the only one that is purple or bears a purple spot.

The jade huang in your hand was indeed given to my tribe, along with this formation, by a mighty human cultivator more than a thousand years ago."

"All right, then bring me a jade ring about the same width as this jade huang," Tang Yuan said with a nod.

"Please wait a moment, Immortal Master. I'll fetch it myself..." The orc chief turned and ran toward the tents...

In less than an incense stick's time, the orc chief returned with two jade rings bearing no carved patterns.

Tang Yuan put away the jade huang and jade rings and was just about to leave when the orc chief stopped him.

"Immortal Master, do you have any of these 'red spirit crystals'?

These red spirit crystals are the fuel that powers the formation protecting my tribe, and we don't have many left.

If you have any, could you give me a few? I can trade things for them." The orc chief held a red crystal in his hand.

Tang Yuan took the crystal and looked at it, then smiled. So the red ore he had dug up in the Thousand Ghost Cavern, more than a hundred pieces of it, was red spirit crystal.

"I do have some red spirit crystals." Tang Yuan looked at the protruding canine teeth in the orc chief's lower jaw.

"One crystal for ten teeth. How about it?

You have several thousand people under you, anyway."

The orc chief naturally knew that these human cultivators wanted his people's lower canine teeth, and that they had to come from warriors and elites.

"If you can give me a hundred red spirit crystals, I'll give you two thousand teeth.

Two thousand lower left canine teeth from the elites of my tribe." The orc chief held out his fist.

This orc chief was ruthless enough. For a hundred red spirit crystals, he was actually going to pull the teeth of two thousand of his people.

Yet among the several thousand orc soldiers here, there were certainly no more than five hundred who could be called elites.

But seeing the confident look on the orc chief's face, Tang Yuan could only hold out his fist as well. "Deal!"...