Jiang Yingxue, D or Not D?

After taking several deep breaths and suppressing the excitement in his heart, Zhang Ming smiled, a faint flush on his cheeks.

"Pleasure doing business with you!"

He held out his hand, and the woman tactfully placed the Jade Box into it.

"What do I have to do?"

Zhang Ming was no fool. Since the other side had paid such a steep price, they naturally had demands.

Otherwise, why not do as before—simply wipe out the Zhang Family and conceal everything about the Mine?

"You really are smart. I'm starting to like you a little," the woman said with a smile.

"Same here. This place is just right—how about we D/a once here?"

When it came to talking his way upward, any man was invincible.

It was visible to the naked eye. Zhang Ming keenly noticed that after his words landed, the Black-Clad Woman's body gave a slight tremble, and the way she looked at him changed. It seemed this was the first time she had encountered someone as brazen and shameless as Zhang Ming.

Zhang Ming secretly thought, I was only talking big, but I didn't expect you to be such an innocent little lady.

The Black-Clad Woman did not take the bait. Instead, her attitude gradually turned cold.

"Continue producing Armor and Weapons, and both their quality and quantity must surpass what you made before.

"Besides that, produce Bows and Crossbows!"

"Bows and Crossbows!"

Zhang Ming's pupils contracted sharply, confirming his suspicions even further.

His doubts lasted only a moment. Armor and Weapons had already been sold by the hundreds; adding Bows and Crossbows was no great matter.

There was no difference between exterminating nine clans and exterminating eighteen.

So Zhang Ming agreed at once.

"Fine. Armor and Weapons, Bows and Crossbows—I can provide them all!"

"May our transaction be a pleasant one. The formula for the medicinal elixir you need, along with the Cultivation Method formed by combining the three Cultivation Methods of the Mighty Bull Martial Arts School, will be given to you as a gift after three months of our pleasant dealings."

"Sure."

Zhang Ming smiled faintly, his gaze sweeping over the woman's exquisite figure, which her black clothes could not conceal.

"You know my name is Zhang Ming. Shouldn't you tell me yours?"

"Jiang Yingxue!"

"Jiang Yingxue. A fine name. Moon shadows reflect upon snow, lighting heaven and earth; cold rivers mirror snow, painting the vast sky."

After casually spouting two lines of nonsense verse and seeing that the deal was done, Zhang Ming teased her again.

"Jiang Yingxue, there's no one here. How about we D once?"

"You!"

This time, the Black-Clad Woman—no, Jiang Yingxue—did not indulge Zhang Ming.

Before Zhang Ming noticed anything at all, before he could react in time—

With a whoosh, Jiang Yingxue, who had been several meters away, appeared before Zhang Ming as though she had teleported.

At some unknown moment, her delicate yet bone-chillingly cold right hand had been placed against Zhang Ming's chest.

The piercing cold seemed to slow even his heartbeat, while the temperature throughout his body plummeted.

Staring at Zhang Ming from mere inches away, Jiang Yingxue wore a disdainful expression as she spoke proudly.

"With the slightest exertion, I can destroy all your internal organs."

"Do you still want it now?"

The bone-piercing cold caused intense discomfort, as if death would arrive in the next instant. Yet it also brought incomparable stimulation, awakening the madness and fearlessness buried in Zhang Ming's bones.

"I do!"

"If you give it to me, I'll take it!"

"You!"

"Shameless!"

Clenching her fists, Jiang Yingxue ultimately did not take Zhang Ming's life over a few unpleasant words.

But his shamelessness made her unwilling to remain for even a moment longer.

With a thunderous bang, the door exploded open. Giving Zhang Ming no chance to say another word, Jiang Yingxue flashed away and vanished from the room.

Once again, Zhang Ming was the only one left in the room.

After Jiang Yingxue left, the smile on Zhang Ming's face faded until it vanished completely, while the caution in his eyes deepened.

Even after provoking them like this, they still didn't do anything to me. What they want must be enormous.

One of his reasons for angering the Mysterious Buyer had been to test the extent of their tolerance for him.

Clearly, the result was that their tolerance was extremely high.

That was both a good thing and a bad thing.

The good thing was that he was safe for now. Before they obtained what they wanted, his safety was guaranteed.

The bad thing was that once they got what they wanted, his end would probably not be pleasant.

"It doesn't matter. Though I don't know exactly what they want, it can only be one of a few things."

"None of those things can be completed in a day or two."

"So time is on my side."

To a transmigrator with a Golden Finger, what was time?

Time meant being an "ant" today, then an "ant" that turned around and killed its enemy tomorrow.

Thud, thud, thud. Footsteps approached from outside. Zhang Ming composed his expression and put away his wild thoughts.

"Young Master, Young Master, are you all right?"

The sudden explosion of the door had terrified the two 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 fix this door tomorrow."

"Yes, Young Master."

The two servants had no idea what had happened. They exchanged glances, but still followed orders and slowly withdrew.

In the room.

Zhang Ming gathered his emotions and sat back down at the desk.

For the time being, he cast the matter of the Mysterious Buyer to the back of his mind, his gaze fixed tightly upon the Jade Box.

"The Marrow Cleansing Flower. A single Marrow Cleansing Flower."

"Can this flower truly cleanse the sinews and bones and strengthen one's martial talent?"

No one knew one's own affairs better than oneself.

Zhang Ming knew better than anyone how poor his martial talent was.

Even though he now relied on [Ignite Comprehension] to obtain perfected martial experience and enhanced Cultivation Methods, allowing his cultivation speed and the rate at which his Vital Energy developed and strengthened to soar—

Those things merely made up for the fact that his martial talent was poor.

In other words, if his current [Mighty Bull Fist] and Great Perfection-level Cultivation Method experience were placed in the hands of a genius with better martial talent—

Under normal circumstances, with no shortage of resources, that person would reach perfected Vital Energy at least twice as fast as Zhang Ming.

That was the gap in talent.

And now, with a Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure like the Marrow Cleansing Flower before him—one capable of strengthening his talent and transforming Zhang Ming, whose martial talent was terrible, into a martial genius—how could he not be excited?

"Should I try it?"

The moment the thought arose, Zhang Ming had already made his decision.

That woman named Jiang Yingxue was very powerful, at least at the Innate realm, perhaps even close to a Grandmaster.

If she wanted to harm him, she had no need to resort to such lowly tricks.

If the flower contained some messy control methods like a "Life-and-Death Talisman" or "slow poison"—

There was no need to worry about that either. Zhang Ming believed that if given enough time, with [Ignite Comprehension] aiding him, there was nothing he could not solve.

If there was, it could only mean 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 strange, utterly unlike that of any ordinary plant.

It looked like a beautiful flower formed from pure ice crystals.

As the Jade Box opened, a rich, intoxicating fragrance spread out, instantly filling the entire inner room.

It was as if the fragrance had broken through a seal, rushing straight into Zhang Ming's nostrils and permeating the depths of his soul.

Enveloped by that fragrance, a feeling of comfort spread throughout his body. Every cell seemed to be cheering.

"What a treasure!"

Zhang Ming exclaimed. Anyone who felt the Marrow Cleansing Flower's strange aura would consider it an incomparably precious treasure.

Without further hesitation, Zhang Ming took out the Marrow Cleansing Flower and quickly swallowed it.

The Marrow Cleansing Flower melted upon entering his mouth, turning into a strange energy that coursed through Zhang Ming's entire body.

In an instant, as the strange energy flowed 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, piercing pain spread through his entire body in an instant.

One moment, he had been in heaven, enjoying the massage of soft little hands.

The next, a demon had tossed him into a wok of boiling oil and fried him alive.

"Ah, damn it, this hurts so much."

The bone-piercing pain felt as though millions upon millions of needles were stabbing through every part of his body.

Flesh, blood, bone marrow, meridians—everything was enduring that searing pain.

As the strange energy flowed through him, even his senses seemed to have sharpened severalfold, and the pain in every inch of his flesh was magnified without limit.

Under the violent pain, Zhang Ming's entire body convulsed. Veins bulged as he instinctively curled up and trembled without end.

Within only a few breaths, dense droplets of blood seeped out across his body.

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Ming had become a man of blood.