After taking several deep breaths and suppressing the excitement in his heart, Zhang Ming smiled, his cheeks faintly flushed.
"Pleasure doing business with you!"
He held out his hand, and the woman knowingly placed the jade box into it.
"What do I need to do?"
Zhang Ming was no fool. Since she had paid such a great price, she must have demands of her own.
Otherwise, just like before, why not simply wipe out the Zhang Family and conceal everything about the Mine?
"You really are clever. I'm starting to like you a little," the woman said with a smile.
"Same here. This place is quite suitable. How about we do it once right here?"
When it came to climbing higher through words, any man was invincible.
Visible to the naked eye, Zhang Ming keenly noticed that after those words left his mouth, the black-clad woman's body trembled slightly, and the way she looked at him changed. It was as though she had never seen someone as brazen and shameless as Zhang Ming before.
Zhang Ming thought to himself, I was only running my mouth, but I never expected you to be such a pure little lady.
The black-clad woman did not take the bait. Instead, her attitude turned colder.
"Continue producing armor and weapons. Both their quality and quantity must surpass what you made before.
"Besides that, manufacture bows and crossbows!"
"Bows and crossbows!"
Zhang Ming's pupils suddenly contracted, further confirming the guess in his heart.
His hesitation lasted only a moment. They had already sold several hundred sets of armor and weapons, so adding bows and crossbows was no big deal.
Exterminating nine generations and exterminating eighteen generations were not much different.
Thus, Zhang Ming agreed without hesitation.
"Fine. Armor and weapons, bows and crossbows—we have it all!"
"May our transaction be pleasant. The formula for the medicinal tonic you require, along with the cultivation method formed by combining the Mighty Bull Martial Arts School's three techniques, will be given to you as a gift after three months of our pleasant cooperation."
"Fine."
Zhang Ming smiled faintly, his gaze sweeping across the exquisite curves that her black clothes could not conceal.
"You know my name is Zhang Ming. You should at least tell me yours, shouldn't you?"
"Jiang Yingxue!"
"Jiang Yingxue. A good name. Moonlight shadows reflect snow, illuminating heaven and earth; cold rivers reflect snow, painting the vast sky."
After casually spouting two lines of nonsense poetry and seeing the deal concluded, Zhang Ming teased her again.
"Jiang Yingxue, there's no one here. How about we do it once?"
"You!"
This time, the black-clad woman—no, Jiang Yingxue—did not indulge Zhang Ming.
Before Zhang Ming noticed anything at all or had time to react,
there was only a whoosh. Jiang Yingxue, who had been several meters away, appeared before Zhang Ming as if she had teleported.
At some unknown moment, her delicate yet bone-piercingly cold right hand had been placed against Zhang Ming's chest.
The piercing chill made even his heartbeat seem to slow by several beats, while the temperature of his entire body plummeted.
Staring at Zhang Ming from inches away, Jiang Yingxue's face was full of disdain as she said proudly,
"With the slightest exertion, I can destroy all five of your organs and six bowels."
"Do you still want it now?"
The bone-piercing cold made him severely uncomfortable, as though death would descend the next instant. Yet it also brought an incomparable thrill, awakening the madness and fearlessness buried in Zhang Ming's bones.
"Yes!"
"If you give it to me, I want it!"
"You!"
"Shameless!"
Jiang Yingxue clenched her fists, but in the end, she did not take Zhang Ming's life over a few unpleasant words.
However, Zhang Ming's shamelessness made her unwilling to remain even a moment longer.
With an enormous bang, the door exploded open. Not giving Zhang Ming even a chance to say another word, Jiang Yingxue vanished from the room in a flash.
Only Zhang Ming remained in the room once more.
After Jiang Yingxue left, the smile on Zhang Ming's face gradually faded away, while the caution in his eyes grew even deeper.
Even after I provoked her like that, they still didn't do anything to me. What they want must be enormous.
One of Zhang Ming's purposes in provoking the Mysterious Buyer was to test the limits of their tolerance toward him.
Clearly, the result was that their tolerance for him was extremely high.
That was both good news and bad news.
The good news was that he was currently very safe. Until they obtained what they wanted, his safety was guaranteed.
The bad news was that once they got what they wanted, his end probably would not be a pleasant one.
"It doesn't matter. Though I don't know what they want, it is probably one of only a few things."
"None of those things can be completed in a day or two."
"So time is on my side."
For a transmigrator with a Golden Finger, what was time?
Time meant being an ant today and an ant slaying its predator tomorrow.
Knock, knock, knock. Footsteps approached from outside. Zhang Ming composed his expression and put away his wild thoughts.
"Young Master, Young Master, are you all right?"
The door's sudden explosion had terrified the two household servants standing guard outside, and they hurried in to inspect the situation.
Only after seeing that their Young Master was completely unharmed did the two servants breathe a sigh of relief.
"I'm fine. You can leave."
"Oh, right. Find someone to repair this door tomorrow."
"Yes, Young Master."
The two servants did not understand what had happened. They exchanged a glance, but still obeyed the order and slowly withdrew.
Inside the room.
Zhang Ming gathered his emotions and sat back down before the desk.
For the time being, he put the Mysterious Buyer out of his mind, his gaze settling tightly upon the jade box.
"Marrow Cleansing Flower. A single Marrow Cleansing Flower."
"Can this flower truly cleanse the sinews and bones and improve one's Martial Dao aptitude?"
Only one's own family knew its own affairs.
Zhang Ming knew best what his Martial Dao aptitude was like.
Even though he now relied on [Ignite Comprehension] to obtain perfected Martial Dao experience and enhanced cultivation methods, allowing his cultivation speed to soar and his Vital Energy to grow at an astonishing rate,
those things merely made up for the fact that his Martial Dao aptitude was poor.
In other words, if his current [Mighty Bull Fist] and Grand Completion-level cultivation experience were placed in the hands of a genius with better Martial Dao aptitude,
then with no shortage of resources, that genius would reach full Vital Energy at least twice as fast as Zhang Ming under normal circumstances.
That was the gap in aptitude.
Now that a Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure like the Marrow Cleansing Flower, capable of improving his aptitude and turning Zhang Ming from someone with dreadful Martial Dao talent into a Martial Dao genius, lay before him, how could he not be excited?
"Should I try it?"
The instant the thought arose, Zhang Ming had already made his decision.
That woman named Jiang Yingxue was very strong, at least in the Innate Realm, perhaps even close to the level of a Grandmaster.
If she wanted to harm him, she had no need to resort to such underhanded methods.
If the flower contained some messy means of control, such as a Life-and-Death Talisman or slow-acting poison,
there was no need to worry either. Zhang Ming believed that with enough time and the help of [Ignite Comprehension], there was nothing he could not solve.
If there was, that only meant he had not used [Ignite Comprehension] enough.
Turning around, Zhang Ming entered the inner room and gently opened the jade box.
The jade box was not large, only about the size of a palm. Inside lay a colorless, transparent flower as crystalline and clear as crystal itself. Its texture was peculiar, completely unlike that of any ordinary plant.
It looked like a beautiful flower formed entirely from pure ice crystals.
As the jade box opened, a rich, intoxicating fragrance spread out, instantly filling the entire inner room.
It was as though that fragrance had broken free of a seal and rushed directly into Zhang Ming's nostrils, seeping into the depths of his soul.
Enveloped by the fragrance, a feeling of comfort spread throughout his body, as though every cell in him were cheering.
"What a treasure!"
Zhang Ming cried out. Anyone who sensed the Marrow Cleansing Flower's peculiar aura would believe it to be an invaluable treasure.
Without hesitation, Zhang Ming took out the Marrow Cleansing Flower and quickly swallowed it.
The Marrow Cleansing Flower melted upon entering his mouth, transforming into a strange energy that coursed through Zhang Ming's entire body.
In an instant, as that strange energy traveled through him, Zhang Ming keenly sensed that his body was undergoing some kind of transformation.
At the beginning, the transformation was incomparably soothing.
But suddenly, bone-piercing pain spread through his entire body.
One moment, he was in heaven, enjoying the massage of soft, tender little hands.
The next, a demon had tossed him into a wok of boiling oil.
"Ah! Damn it, it hurts so much!"
The bone-piercing pain felt as though tens of millions of needles were stabbing through every part of his body.
His flesh, blood, bones, marrow, and meridians—every last part of him was enduring that agonizing pain.
As the strange energy coursed through him, even his senses seemed to sharpen several times over, and the pain in every inch of flesh was infinitely magnified.
Under the intense agony, Zhang Ming's entire body convulsed, veins bulging as he instinctively curled up and trembled without end.
Within only a few breaths, countless beads of blood seeped from his body.
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Ming had become a man drenched in blood.
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