Sovereign of the Three Realms

The fatty was cautious by nature because this was his way of survival. Thus, even though Cao Jin had said thus, the fatty still didn’t express anything and had his trademark superficial clinging to his face, appearing completely harmless to the world. Cao Jin knew that Wu Heng was the sort who wouldn’t make a move unless it was one that was completely assured, just like a hunter wouldn’t loose a falcon until he spotted the hare. Cao Jin smiled faintly and said nothing more, making an earth rank spirit herb appear in his hand with a flip.

“Fatty Wu, I’ve never liked to waste words. I want to go to someplace, but I need to borrow your skills in formations. This is the deposit, take it.” Cao Jin threw the earth rank spirit herb down at the fatty’s feet.

Fatty Wu chuckled but didn’t reach out to take it. He flicked a glance at the herb at his feet, finally picking it up after careful consideration and elimination of danger. A slight smile appeared on his face as a sliver of greed flashed through his almost imperceptible eyes. Although he was quite shocked at how generous Cao Jin had been, he didn’t display it outwardly.

The fatty smiled mischievously as he tossed the earth rank spirit herb up and down in his hand. “Senior brother Cao, why do I feel like there’s to be a heavy price for this earth rank spirit herb?”

Cao Jin smiled indifferently and replied, “You can reject it if you think the price is too high. There aren’t too many formation geniuses in the sect, but there are still some. I’ll even take another step back and say that it’s fine even if I can’t find a formation genius from the sect to help me. The only reason I came to you was because we’re from the same sect. It’s not like I don’t have backups to choose from.”

It would be false to say that Wu Heng was not moved in the face of this earth rank spirit herb. Moreover, Cao Jin had said this was just a deposit. In other words, there would be more remuneration later on. To add on to that, he was a cautious person at heart. Wu Heng didn’t want to offend Cao Jin, one of the sect’s ten great disciples.

“Senior brother Cao, since you think so highly of this fatty, then let’s discuss this in detail in my residence,” The fatty entered his residence with a flash of his body.

Cao Jin was skilled in arts and hence fearless as he followed the fatty in. Entering the cave also removed the possibility that others might hear them.

“Senior brother Cao, can you tell me the details now?” Wu Heng chuckled.

“I’ve found an interesting place when visiting the Myriad Domain this time. But that place is protected by a formation and is usually very difficult to enter. I have some understanding of formations, but while I was there, I couldn’t find any ways to break it. Junior brother Wu, you’re a great master at formations. Consider this stalk of earth rank herb as payment for asking you to accompany me to that place. If we enter that place, then I’ll take sixty percent of our gains and you’ll take twenty.”

“What about the remaining twenty?” Fatty Wu’s round eyes spun.

“The remaining twenty percent will be left for junior brother Shi Zhen.”

“Oh? Junior brother Shi Zhen, he’s a second rank pill king. I’ve heard he’s going to try for the examination to be certified to be a third rank pill king soon.” Wu Heng was a little surprised.

“That’s right. Only with my martial prowess, your talent in formations and junior brother Shi Zhen’s aptitude for pill dao, there will be hope,” Cao Jin smiled faintly.

“Since we’ll be working together, why should senior brother Cao receive sixty percent?” Wu Heng’s signature smile still hung on his face even as he asked that question.

“Does this even need to be asked?” Cao Jin’s brow furrowed.

“Eh…” Fatty Wu opened and closed his mouth but didn’t continue asking. Instead he changed the question, “It sounds like a good prospect but how do I know if that place is worth going? Are there any dangers?”

“I’ll paying you a stalk of earth rank spirit herb as deposit. You tell me if it’s worth it.” Cao Jin asked indifferently.

“The earth rank spirit herb is good, but I need to be alive to enjoy it.” Fatty Wu smiled selfishly. “Senior brother Cao knows what a death-fearing coward this fatty is. I will not take such dangerous risk regarding without a sufficient payoff.”

Cao Jin nodded slightly. He stared at Fatty Wu for a few seconds before suddenly extending his hand. “Since it’s like that, give that earth rank spirit herb back to me. Pretend that I’ve never come to you.”

Cao Jin abruptly stood up. This seemed to affect Fatty Wu instead as he hurriedly laughed in reply, “Senior brother Cao, let’s talk over this nicely alright? Since you want your junior brother to put in effort, you’ve got to give me some hints.”

“I won’t say anything else. I’ll just tell you that sky rank spirit herbs appeared in that place not long ago.”

“What?” Fatty Wu suddenly leapt to his feet. “Sky rank spirit herbs?”

There wasn’t a trace of emotion on Cao Jin’s face as he nodded remotely.

“This… Fine, I’ll go. But if there’s really any profit, senior brother Cao will take half. I’ll split the remaining half with senior brother Shi Zhen.”

In the end, it was still a problem with the split of the profits. Wu Heng wasn’t a person who’d wake up early for nothing. Cao Jin thought for a brief moment before nodding. “I can do that.”

“Wonderful. Such decisive thinking, as expected of one of the ten great disciples.” Fatty Wu laughed raucously and wrapped in a fawning note in things as well.

“When should we set off?” Wu Heng had become extremely motivated in a flash. He could not helped but be moved by sky rank spirit herbs. He was only a sage realm expert who usually used true saint rank spirit herbs. Only emperor realm experts were qualified to dip into earth rank spirit herbs, and what more of sky rank spirit herbs?

“The sooner the better. What preparations do you need to make?” Cao Jin asked.

Wu Heng thought for a instant before replying, “Give me three days to prepare. I need three days to get some things ready to break through the formation.”

Cao Jin nodded then stared meaningfully at Wu Heng, “Junior brother Wu, I trust that I don’t have to remind you what you need to be careful of during our cooperation?”

Wu Heng smiled. “If Senior brother Cao cannot trust me, then we can swear heavenly oaths before we set off. We can work together sincerely with these oaths.”

Cao Jin might have been the one warning Wu Heng, but in reality, wasn’t it Wu Heng who was also afraid that Cao Jin would betray them after he got what he wanted? After all, working together with a top tier genius like Cao Jin was akin to scheming with a tiger. There was always the possibility that Cao Jin would burn the bridge after crossing the river. Hence, Wu Heng still felt that swearing a heavenly oath would be the safest option.

“We don’t have to wait until we set off. Let’s swear it now.” Cao Jin usually did things very thoroughly. He certainly didn’t want Wu Heng to reveal this secret the moment he walked away. The two of them swore their oaths on the spot and agreed to depart three days later.

After three days, second rank pill king Shi Zhen met up with Cao Jin and the two of them came to Wu Heng’s cave together. Before the three of them set off, they swore another round of heavenly oaths.

“Senior brother Cao, can you stop keeping us in suspense now?” The scholarly second rank pill king, Shi Zhen, spoke up before Wu Heng had the chance to speak.

Cao Jin smiled leisurely. “It’s not that I want to keep you in suspense, but that this matter is related to many things. Everyone has heard of Mt. Rippling Mirage in the Myriad Domain, no?”

Wu Heng and Shi Zhen glanced at each other before shaking their heads. Clearly, as disciples of a first rate sect in the Upper Eight Regions, they weren’t too interested in the lower regions. Although the Ninesuns Sky Sect’s plans involved the Myriad Domain, these plans weren’t relevant to most people. They naturally wouldn’t care for matters irrelevant to them.

Cao Jin wasn’t surprised to see the two shake their heads. He explained, “On my trip to the Myriad Domain, I happened to see the various sects emerge from Mt. Rippling Mirage. Every sect that had entered had received sky rank spirit herbs!”

“Every sect?” Shi Zhen could not help but ask hoarsely as he sucked in a breath of cold air. As a second rank pill king, he was naturally more aware of the value of the sky rank spirit herbs. Even in the Upper Eight Regions, sky rank spirit herbs more or less didn’t exist outside of a few special areas. Areas able to produce sky rank spirit grass were all remote, ancient places that were incredibly difficult to find, or even ruins left behind from ancient times.

“That Mt. Rippling Mirage, could it be be an ancient ruin? Shi Zhen was moved.

“I don’t know if it’s an ancient ruin. Anyways, according to the report I received, the sects extracted a total of twelve stalks of sky rank spirit herbs from the mountain!”

“What?” Shi Zhen was even more startled. “They harvested twelve stalks of sky rank spirit herbs all at once? How… how is this possible?”

Even in the Upper Eight Regions, this was something difficult to see even once a century. It was very rare to find a cluster of sky rank spirit herbs. At least, in the recent century, no one in the Upper Eight Regions had heard of such a thing. Of course, the Upper Eight Regions were vast and unbounded. Maybe such a thing had happened, but news of it had been suppressed by various higher powers. Nevertheless, one thing was certain, there definitely had not been a case in which twelve stalks of sky rank spirit herbs had appeared at one time in the recent history of the Ninesuns Sky Sect.

“Senior brother Cao, can it be that your information is wrong?” Fatty Wu could not help but ask. He found this matter too hard to believe.

“My report is one hundred percent accurate. It’s definitely not false,” Cao Jin’s tone was assured. Please, the Tristar Sect had nearly been destroyed for the sake of this information, so how could their information be false? Moreover, he had extorted the Tristar Sect’s sky rank spirit herb from the grasp of their sect head as well. With that genuine sky rank spirit herb, Cao Jin would naturally not suspect their information as false.

“But if that place really has sky rank spirit herbs, those sects have already swept the whole place clean. There shouldn’t be any left, right?” Fatty Wu raised another doubt.

“That Mt. Rippling Mirage also contains an enormous ancient herb garden. They might not have cleared the area in such a short amount of time. Moreover, places able to produce sky rank spirit herbs might contain fortuitous chances for us. Perhaps if we’re lucky, we might discover an ancient ruin and receive some inheritance that could even surpass the value of sky rank spirit herbs?”

However, Fatty Wu replied, “These are just guesses. So many people have entered that place. I think they must have more or less taken everything good in there. Why spend so much effort breaking into that restricted area when we can just take them from the Myriad Domain?”

His idea was coincidentally the same as Cao Jin’s initial idea.

Only, Cao Jin had extinguished this line of thought after his suffering at the Regal Pill Palace. Once they exposed their identities, they’d derail the Ninesuns Sky Sect’s plans, to say nothing of whether or not they were able to seize the herbs. Even if they held high positions in the sect, they definitely wouldn’t escape punishment. Thus, after careful consideration, Cao Jin decided that entering the restricted area of Mt. Rippling Mirage was the more attractive option.

Shi Zhen also supported Fatty Wu’s idea. “That’s right, Senior Brother Cao, I think it’ll be better if we demand for the herbs from the Myriad Domain’s sects directly.”

Cao Jin smiled coldly. “If things were so simple, why the hell do you two think I sought the two of you out? The Sky Sect’s plans involve the Myriad Domain. If we rob them in broad daylight, we’ll be directly disrupting the sect’s plans. Do you two think you have the capacity to challenge the sect’s plans?”

The two fell silent. They didn’t have that kind of courage at all.