Guan Zhenyan laughed loudly.

Of course Sage knew just how this man operated. He only gave just enough information to be sure to reel Sage in and then would charge his fee for the most important and helpful part. He only bothered to appear when he knew he could get something out of Sage and this time was certainly no different.

“My disciples know me best.”

Who is your disciple, you cheapskate!

“A Dragon’s Pearl is very useful for storing Qi. That little pearl in your hand is just as good as a Spirit Crystal the same size as a wagon. Of course, that’s not all it's good for. It also has a very useful application for avatars and incarnations.”

A wagon? That’s about the size of the Spirit Crystal used in a Flying Ship, right?

Sage was surprised by this finding, but if there was another use, it was certain to be even more important, right? Especially if it got this fellow to show himself. Guan Zhenyan only showed his face when he was curious, or there were benefits to be had.

“You must want something quite important if you’re talking it up this much already.”

Guan Zhenyan’s projection nodded, and took a puff on his pipe, “That’s right. You have to build the proper amount of suspense before you make a big reveal.”

Sage resisted the urge to roll his eyes while Guan Zhenyan laughed, “The Dragon Pearl can be a stand-in for your clone’s lack of a core,” he saw a glimmer in Sage’s eye and he nodded, “That’s right. Your clone will be able to cultivate.”

His own cultivation was depending upon the Tree of Life, and that couldn’t be copied over to the Soul Clone. It split soul and spirit power with him, but its Qi was feeble in comparison to his own. If it could cultivate a separate technique then it could likely reach the same level as strength as himself.

Guan Zhenyan smiled, “After it cultivates, it can even form a body of its own,” seeing that Sage was going to speak, the man held up his hand, “I know. What do I want? Well, it's actually very simple! You don’t even have to give me anything for this knowledge. All you have to do is take me somewhere.”

“Take you somewhere? Right into a trap you’ve set? Or is it somewhere extremely dangerous that will get me killed merely travelling there?”

“Haha, good guesses, but not quite right. A few hundred years from now, you’ll take me to a place I’ve hidden a few treasures. It won’t be easy, or safe to get there, but if it was, why would I have you do it? Any random fool could do it in that case.”

“So, you expect me to agree to such a vague and open ended agreement? I can just go and research how to use a Dragon Pearl.”

“Oh, so you think it's common knowledge? Not even that gluttonous Tao Ba knows this method.”

At this point, Guan Zhenyan faded away. Sage was a little annoyed, because it was like the man knew that he wished to go and immediately confirm whether or not he was telling the truth. Sage prepared a feast and summoned Tao Ba. The skinny white haired boy with a large stomach was a bit more terse than usual, and he didn’t dawdle as much as normal. He ate a dozen large meals and didn’t give Sage the opportunity to butter him up much before he asked, “What is your question?”

Sage held up the Dragon Pearl, “How can I use this to make my clone cultivate?”

Tao Ba shook his head, “I cannot help you. You seem to know its name already, but only Dragons know how to use them as anything other than an energy container.”

Tao Ba disappeared, and Sage felt like the boy had got in trouble last time and was trying to keep more distance from him. Heh, even so he just can’t help himself to a good meal and a bit of praise.

Inevitably, Sage cursed inwardly as he called, “Guan Zhenyan.”

The man’s projection appeared with a smile, “I knew you couldn’t resist. I’m actually a little jealous of your find. Dragon Pearl’s are exceedingly rare, and while they’re quite valuable to others, they can’t use them like I can. I’ve only run into a few even in the Tianxia Capital.”

“I won’t agree to your deal without a few limits of my own.”

They negotiated terms back and forth for a while before Sage was finally satisfied. Before 300 years have passed, he would have to journey to a distant location outside of the Tianxia Empire. If Sage deemed the journey too dangerous at any point, he had the right to halt at any time, but he had to try again within the next decade. He would have to take Guan Zhenyan where he wished, but Sage had control of when and how much danger he was willing to face.

Sage went to Guan Zhenyan’s cell in the Universe Ring and the man was holding a contract written upon a Demonic Beast Skin. The ink was some sort of mix of blood and spiritual herbs, and after reviewing it for any tricks or twists in language, Sage struck his chest and coughed out a drop of essence blood which he used to sign the contract. This was a type of agreement at a higher level than the Oathstone. An oath made with the Oathstone could be broken, but it would cause grave damage, or death to the very weak. Breaking the oath of an Oathstone might severely damage or kill the body, but for a Nascent Soul if they had the right methods they could create a whole new body to inhabit. The Blood Contract was unbreakable. If it was not fulfilled, not only would their body die, their soul would be burned away as well.

He certainly wasn’t happy to be placed under such a restriction, but he had a plan for the Soul Clone and this unexpected windfall was worth the risk. A short time later, Sage received the ‘Emperor Incarnation’ technique and it was just as Guan Zhenyan described. It was more than that as it was a full fledged cloning technique to create a complete avatar. By using a large number of very rare and expensive materials it could build a complete clone that could cultivate and operate entirely on its own. It was truly like having a second version of oneself. Of course, the materials required were extravagant and extremely rare. Some of them were even thought to be extinct entirely, at least in the reference books he’d seen them mentioned in.

Thankfully, Sage already had a method to create a nearly complete avatar and Guan Zhenyan hadn’t lied to him. This technique used a Dragon Pearl to create the core of the avatar and he should be able to use it upon his Soul Clone. Sage left the Universe Ring and got in contact with the Mount Song Sword Sect, having them collect a few supplementary materials he needed to use along with the Dragon Pearl. After giving most of his savings to Wan Ling, and then spending tens of thousands on these materials, Sage was left with only 153,000 Spirit Stones. Comparing this to the more than a million he had in the past made him frown, but he quickly moved on.

He went back into the ring and started a weeklong process of transforming the Dragon Pearl into the core of his Soul Clone.