Chapter 432 Deal

It took me less than half an hour to reach the borders of the forest and another hour after that on the hoverboard to reach the location in the first commission I received.

In front of me was a large pond. It seemed too calm to be this clear. Usually, still, water gathers moss and algae. But the water in this pond was abnormally clear for a still-water pond. It was clean and motionless.

In the middle of the pond was a small boulder that protruded from the water's surface. And on top of that boulder were three stalks of Blood Dawn Flowers.

'Well, at least I confirmed the location, but since the flower petals are still closed, I need to leave this place for now.'

Having located the first commission I turned to the north and headed deeper into the black tiger's forest.

I found it interesting that the sect had mentioned the exact location of the Blood Dawn Flower in this commission, with a map to boot. Yet still, it hasn't been claimed by any of the sect members.

Perhaps the Dark Heavenly Tiger is the reason why no one dares to take resources from this place. Or perhaps there was another reason for that flower to still be there.

The second commission was slightly harder. Not in terms of difficulty, it was actually finding a specific type of moss that only grew on the bark of thunder trees.

Thunder Trees are nothing unusual, I've seen many in this forest. The problem was the chances of Thunder Moss growing on Thunder trees are rare.

Though they call it thunder, the correct name should be lightning, since these trees attract lightning. The Moss would then grow on the burnt bark after a while. But the condition to create this moss isn't easy. Since it needs a specific humidity and a dark atmosphere.

The dampness isn't an issue since this is basically a forest, nor is the darkness since all of this forest is dark. Thunder Trees are not as large as these skyscraper-sized trees that seemed to cover the skies themselves. They are relatively shorter. And to have lightning strike down, between all of these massive trees and hit the thunder tree, then hope for it to birth the moss was really something like a stroke of luck.

It took me several hours of searching, left and right, only to find perfectly hale and healthy thunder trees that didn't seem to have ever been struck by lightning.

I kept searching and searching to no avail.

Sadly, I'm limited on the use of my Divine Sense, since it would annoy the hell out of the Dark Heavenly Tiger, and would attract several unwanted creatures into his territory.

So, I had to do this the old-fashioned way. To actually look for them.

I resumed my search after a break, making sure to keep my eyes peeled on anything I would need later on.

In my search, I managed to find a lot of good stuff. Spirit Stalks, Spirit Blade, Mooring Grass and some other medicinal and poisonous herbs.

All of these herbs are actually on commissions back at the Merit Hall, so I can just take them now, and then claim the merit points after I return to the sect and tear off their commissions.

Yet, I'm still unable to find any Thunder Moss.

I moved about randomly in the forest, surprised at the fact that the Dark Heavenly Tiger didn't come to me. But thinking about it, even if he was next to me I wouldn't notice him.

I sighed, "I mean, you already know that your stealth is too powerful for me to notice you, but I can still feel those piercing gazes almost boring a hole in the back of my head." I said.

Hearing no response I was about to continue my thing.

"Your instincts are sharp," I heard.

I felt my balls climb back and hid in my body. The Dark Heavenly Tiger was actually here.

But thankfully, I didn't shake or yelp, I was actually too damn frightened to even react.

"Well, instinct, maybe," I turned and sighed.

"I guess I'll need your help," I said.

"And why should I help you?" he said.

"I have a feeling that you need me for something," I said.

"Hmm, interesting, how did you come to that conclusion?" he asked.

"Well, you wouldn't be here if you didn't need me, also I know you're curious, but you're not that curious to follow me while I'm picking up grass," I said.

"Very well, it wasn't as convincing of a reason as I had hoped you would make, but it is good enough, indeed I'm not that curious to follow you around or as bored. But I need you to do something for me," the tiger said.

"Yes, but let's make it a fair trade shall we?" I said.

"You dare barter with me?" he said.

"Give and take, it's the basics of all friendships," I said.

"Friendship? With a bipedal?" the tiger scoffed, "But it does sound interesting."

'Man, curious cats are cute,'

"So I've been looking for Thunder Moss, I can't seem to find it," I said.

"You're looking in the wrong place, I know where you can find Thunder Moss, as a matter of fact the area you'll be heading to is why I came for you," the tiger said.

"Good, let me hear it then," I said.

"There is a saint class toad that lives near a fully grown Thunder Tree, the toad is poisonous and very powerful, the problem is, he lives on the banks of a rivulet that streams down my territory. The poison it passively releases is deadly to nature here, kill the toad." The tiger said.

I looked down at my body and said, "I'll need to go back to my original body for that, I don't think this body can survive the toad."

"No, that would be boring, otherwise I'd have done it myself. Kill it using this body," the tiger said, "Show me something interesting," It grinned.

'Sonovab...'

I sighed inwardly. Why the hell do you have to put me up to something like this, killing a Saint Class beast would already be incredibly hard for my original body, and now he wants me to kill it using a Soul Formation cultivator's prows...

God damn it.

"Well, just show me the way, and I'll think up of a plan," I said.

"Follow me then," the tiger said.

The tiger flew forward, not flying mind you, his wings didn't even spread, but the mere steps he was making caused him to look as if he was flying.

Yet what interested me the most was how stealthy, soundless and how fast he moved.

His aura didn't leak, nor did his Qi, he was moving without even shaking a single stalk of grass.

"How do you move like that?" I asked.

"Instinct," the tiger replied.

I was interested in the way he moved and took more note of how he stepped and walked.

Every time the Dark Heavenly Tiger spread his legs, you could see Qi swirling around his paws in a way that stops even the air itself from breaking.

It was incredible, it was the same as trying to step into a pond, but not having it cause any ripples.

Strange, but not hard to understand. It was as if was giving and taking the exact same force he applies with every step.

I tried to do the same while I was moving, using my own Qi to stop the wind from breaking too much upon contact with my own motion, but it didn't seem to work, and felt that I was actually exposing myself even more than I was being stealthy.

"Your breathing is wrong, your breathing needs to match your movement otherwise you're a walking Qi torch," the tiger said not even turning his head.

I nodded and continued following the tiger, trying to calm my breathing and synchronize it with my moves.

It was almost impossible to mimic, but I could see myself succeeding if I were to diligently try.

"You bipedal are not attuned to nature, it would be hard to perfectly mimic the Traceless Step. But you seem to have some understanding of it at least. Do not rush your understanding," it said.

I nodded and continued following the tiger.

He was clearly going easy on me on our trek, otherwise, I'm sure with his cultivation the tiger would have already arrived at the location where the toad is.

After a couple of hours, we finally arrived at a clearing, an actual clearing where there were no trees.

In front of us was a large opening with a single tree in the middle.

The tree looked torched black but had many green leaves on it. There were even fruits on this tree.

The tree was surrounded by a large pond that had a rivulet streaming water into it.

"Do you see that filthy thing?" the tiger asked.

My eyes wandered until they landed on the toad the tiger was talking about. But this wasn't a small toad, this damn thing was bigger than a damn elephant.

It was lazily relaxing half its body inside the pond while croaking every once in a while.

It was as the tiger said. The toad's body had many pores that were leaking poison into drinkable water.

"When did this toad come here? I doubt it had been long since it was here since not a lot of wildlife had been affected."

"It came here a few days ago, I was about to finish it off, but you came at a good time. It is most definitely a stupid creature since it hadn't realized it was in my territory. But I don't want to deal with poisonous filth. So you think you can do it? killing it I mean," the tiger said.

I looked at the toad, then at the area around it once again then smiled, "Piece of cake. But it might take me a bit of time, I hope you're not too pressured for time," I said.

"I'll give you one month," he said.

"Oh, not that much, I was thinking one day," I said.

"One day? You're telling me you can kill a Saint Class beast, using this body, in one day?" the tiger asked.

"Yes, I should be able to," I said.

"Very well, show me then, that sounds interesting. And you're making me curious," the tiger said.