After Becoming the Hero's Ex-fiancée

Dark Ice Flame (2)

Ming Yu let out a howl. The dust in her heart was washed away, and her cultivation base, which had not moved for a long time, suddenly loosened a little.

Zheng Wan didn’t know that today’s encounter had made Ming Yu Zhenjun go from one who fought for Li Wei secret to one who was going to fight for him openly.
Presently, she had already walked to the entrance of the black market with Cui Wang. After showing two black market passes, they entered without any issues.

“Zhenjun, this way please.”
A young, black-clothed female cultivator came over. She wore a strange black dress, and her cultivation base was at the Centring rank. The material of her clothes was thin and clung to her body, showing off her slim waist. It was Zheng Wan’s first time seeing such attire outside, and she couldn’t help but take a few more glances.

Then, she looked at Cui Wang, and saw that he was looking steadily ahead, as if the person in front of him was nothing but a roadside breeze——
She couldn’t help but feel a little happy.

After all, Cui Wang was the first man she had a skin-to-skin relationship with. If he was easily swayed by another, wouldn’t that mean her charm was just average?

The first thing that came into view was a market square that was like any other, but the cultivators who set up stalls were a little different. Many of them were wearing black cloaks that could block out the detection of others’ soul consciousness and had halos of vital energy around them, causing her to become breathless if she got just a little close to them.

Cui Wang brought her closer to him.
“Don’t look around.”

“…Okay.”
Zheng Wan nodded obediently and followed him closely.

Thanks to her frequent trips to the Scripture Depository, she could recognise many of the things on sale at a glance. The quality and grade of the goods sold here were obviously better than those at the stall market. At least, amongst whatever she had seen so far, there were many high-grade items, and even an earth-grade primordial flame.

These so-called primordial flames referred to innate primordial fire, and earth-grade primordial flames was earth fire. However, even the most ordinary earth fire was worth a hundred top-grade Yuan stones, and was considered to be a great enhancement material by alchemists and weaponsmiths.

As for top-grade primordial flames, they were extremely rare and almost impossible to find. If one encountered primordial flames that corresponded to their vital roots and used them for cultivation, one’s combat power could be instantly increased by one whole rank, let alone the enhancements it could bring to alchemy and weaponsmithing.

Zheng Wan has always wanted an ice flame.
Many things in the dream are vague and blurt, but one thing was certain— when Cui Wang obtained the immortal sect’s treasure trove, he got an immortal-grade Purple Gale Flame. Among the top ten primordial flames of the cultivation world, the Purple Gale Flame ranked first in terms of combat power. Along with the primordial sword qi, it became his killer weapon—
In the Heavenly Realms, those who have seen it have all become a pile of ashes.

The only one who knew about it was a soul that lived in his sea of consciousness.

Perhaps because she had been staring at the earth flame for a little too long, Cui Wang asked, “You want it?”

Zheng Wan shook her head.
“No.”

Her refusal did not surprise Cui Wang. Also, he wasn’t like those ingratiating gentlemen in the mortal world who would try to please her by offering the things she’d merely glanced at.

“Cui Wang, why aren’t you asking me why I don’t want it?”
Zheng Wan looked at him curiously.

Cui Wang said matter-of-factly, “Naturally, Maiden Zheng would only want things that are the best.”

……He really knew her well.

In Zheng Wan’s sea of consciousness, Granny Jin laughed loudly.
“That ex-lover of yours is really clear-minded and astute.”

“Eh?” said Granny Jin suddenly. “Do you see that square-faced cultivator in blue in front?”

“Yes.”

“There are a lot of things at that stall that you need now. Quickly, get over there.”

Zheng Wan looked ahead and saw that there was indeed a lean, square-faced cultivator sitting there. He had squinty eyes and a scraggly beard, looking rather unkempt. She quickened her pace.

When she got to the stall, she found that there were indeed a few things that she could use.

There was ice-type cinnabar pigment, which she couldn’t find anywhere in the market just now, and even an ice talisman brush made of the fur of snow wolves.

“How much are you selling these for?”
Zheng Wan pointed to the talisman brush and the two boxes of cinnabar pigment. One box of cinnabar pigment would allow her to draw about three thousand talismans, but the talisman paper… After some thought, she pointed to a ream of Xuan talisman paper next to the pigment too.

Now that she wanted to draw Ice Heart Talismans, the yellow talisman paper she had was somewhat useless. If it could be replaced with Xuan talisman paper, the quality of her talismans should also be better.

“The cinnabar pigment is made with the blood of icefield bears, it will be one medium-grade Yuan stone per box. The talisman brush is made of the thinnest and toughest tuft of fur from the tail of snow wolves, so it will be more expensive— it will be twelve medium-grade Yuan stones. As for the talisman paper, it will be eight hundred Yuan beads per ream.”

If she were to buy only the cinnabar pigment and talisman paper, the money she had would be enough.

Previously, she already had 800 low-grade Yuan stones, and during the day, she had sold another batch of ice shield talismans at the stall market and earned 380 low-grade Yuan stones, giving her a total of 1180 Yuan stones. She had then gone to the Seven Treasures Court to buy a vitality-gathering formation plate1 for 450 Yuan stones, and she now had 730 low-grade Yuan stones left, which was equivalent to seven medium-grade Yuan stones and thirty low-grade Yuan stones.

Two boxes of cinnabar pigment would be two medium-grade Yuan stones, and five reams of Xuan talisman paper would be four medium-grade Yuan stones, coming to a total of six medium-grade Yuan stones. That would leave her with only one medium-grade Yuan stone and thirty low-grade Yuan stones——
It was far from enough for the talisman brush that costs twelve medium-grade Yuan stones.

However, an ice-type talisman brush like that was extremely hard to come by…

Footnotes:

1 Previously translated as Yuan Gathering Formation Plate