Why aren't you leaving yet?

Zhou Xuan's heart tightened involuntarily.

What does she want?

Just as countless thoughts flashed through Zhou Xuan's mind, Liu Ruyan had already walked up to him and stopped.

She looked at him, her eyes as calm as a bottomless pool of cold water. Her red lips parted slightly, spitting out a sentence that nearly made Zhou Xuan explode with rage on the spot.

"Why haven't you left yet?"

Her voice was beautiful, clear and cold like jade striking jade, but the content of her words was like an ice-tempered blade, stabbing straight into Zhou Xuan's heart.

Leave?

Zhou Xuan was stunned for a moment, and then an irrepressible fury surged from the bottom of his heart straight to his crown!

Why should I leave? Where am I supposed to go?

Who do you think you are? Is the Spirit Sword Pavilion run by your family? You decide to break up, and now you want to kick me out of the sect too?

Countless retorts and curses surged to his lips, but when Zhou Xuan saw the complete lack of emotional fluctuation in Liu Ruyan's eyes, he suddenly didn't want to say anything at all.

What is the point of arguing with someone who already views you as nothing more than a pebble on the side of the road?

He suddenly found it ridiculous.

The muscles in Zhou Xuan's face twitched, and in the end, all his anger dissolved into a sneer.

He said nothing, merely casting a faint glance at Liu Ruyan—a look as if he were staring at a complete stranger.

Then, he stepped forward and, without a word, brushed past her.

Ignored, Liu Ruyan's body stiffened slightly.

She stood where she was, not turning back, but the temperature in her beautiful eyes began to drop toward freezing point.

She had thought that by severing the past and giving him spirit stones as compensation, this former boy would have the sense to disappear from her world.

But now it seemed that not only had he not left, but he had even appeared at the Yunlai Market, a place only inner sect disciples were qualified to frequent.

His existence was like an insignificant thorn, pricking at her Dao heart, which was focused solely on the supreme path.

Liu Ruyan slowly clenched her jade hand hidden in her sleeve. Watching Zhou Xuan's back, which showed no lingering attachment as it disappeared into the crowded flow of people, a flash of resolute coldness crossed her eyes.

"It seems I must drive him away!"

As for Liu Ruyan's self-righteous resolve, Zhou Xuan felt nothing but cold mockery.

He had no time to deal with a woman living in her own world; his mind was entirely occupied by his grand plan to get rich.

Moving quickly, Zhou Xuan practically fled the Yunlai Market. That valuable copper fragment felt like a hot potato, making him afraid to stay out a moment longer.

Returning to the Miscellaneous Affairs Department and looking at his wooden hut, which had been blasted until only half remained, Zhou Xuan frowned.

Although it was crude, it was at least a place to shelter from the wind and rain.

He took the wooden boards and nails he had bought at the market out of his Universe Bag and began to hammer away.

The servants passing by saw this scene and cast looks of either sympathy or schadenfreude, but no one stepped forward to help; instead, they stayed far away.

Zhou Xuan was happy for the peace. He wasn't trying to build anything fancy; he just wanted to patch the holes so he could block the view from the outside.

After finishing the job hastily, he immediately ducked into the hut, closed the door impatiently, and with a thought, took out all his gains from the day.

Twenty-two first-tier monster cores, one hundred sheets of talisman paper, cinnabar, beast blood, a wolf-hair brush, and those three treasures he had scavenged from the trash heap.

His gaze fell immediately upon the rusted green copper fragment.

[??? (Fragment), refining and repairing requires: 1000 Gold Touch Value!]

Looking at this number, Zhou Xuan's heart couldn't help but leap wildly.

He took a deep breath and forcibly tucked the copper fragment and the other two pieces of junk back into the deepest part of his Universe Bag.

Now was not the time to study it!

The most urgent task was to get his hands on some Gold Touch Value!

His gaze finally settled on the stack of brand-new talisman paper and materials.

"Heh heh, my money-printing machine is ready to start!"

Zhou Xuan rubbed his hands together, a merchant-like grin appearing on his face.

He sat cross-legged, spread a sheet of blank talisman paper on the ground, picked up the wolf-hair brush, and dipped it into the bottle of monster beast blood that emitted a faint, fishy scent.

Making talismans—isn't it just following the pattern?

With the soul strength and comprehension ability of someone who had lived two lifetimes, could he really be stumped by this?

Full of confidence, Zhou Xuan raised his brush and drew the first stroke on the talisman paper.

Sshhh.

With a soft sound, where his brush tip landed, the thin talisman paper seemed to be touched by a branding iron; it was instantly burned through by a violent surge of spiritual power, and a wisp of black smoke rose.

"Damn it!"

Zhou Xuan's hand trembled, and he nearly dropped his brush.

He stared at the charred hole, stunned for a long moment.

What was going on?

Refusing to believe it, he swapped in a new piece of talisman paper, this time setting his brush down with even greater caution.

Sizzle!

Another hole!

"Damn it!"

Zhou Xuan's face darkened.

Only now did he realize that he had underestimated the task!

These lowest-grade blank talisman papers were essentially made of material similar to common toilet paper; they were incredibly fragile.

Meanwhile, the spiritual energy contained within the blood of a first-rank demonic beast, while impure, was exceptionally violent.

Using a brush filled with violent spiritual energy to write on fragile paper was no different than trying to crack an egg with a sledgehammer.

It would be a miracle if it didn't shatter!

"A miscalculation. If I'd known, I would've bought some trashy book like Detailed Introduction to Talismans at the market to read."

Zhou Xuan couldn't help but curse himself in his heart.

He calmed his mind, carefully recalling the plots of the novels he had read in the past.

Spiritual reinforcement, that was it!

Zhou Xuan's eyes lit up, and he picked up another piece of talisman paper.

This time, he didn't rush to write. Instead, he separated a sliver of the pitifully small amount of spiritual energy in his body and carefully channeled it into the paper.

Sure enough, under the reinforcement of his spiritual energy, the surface of the previously fragile paper shimmered with an almost imperceptible glow, becoming much tougher.

There was hope!

Zhou Xuan felt a surge of joy, immediately raised his brush, dipped it in the beast blood, and began to outline the runes on the paper.

This time, the talisman paper was not burned through.

But a new problem arose.

Maintaining the spiritual reinforcement of the paper while simultaneously controlling the steady flow of spiritual energy from the beast blood at the tip of the brush—this multitasking was shockingly exhausting for a rookie at the third stage of Body Forging like him!

He focused entirely, and soon, fine beads of sweat began to seep from his forehead as the spiritual energy in his body drained away like water from an opened floodgate.

When the final stroke was finished and a crooked, ghost-like Sharp Metal Talisman was finally complete, Zhou Xuan felt his vision go dark and his body go limp, nearly collapsing to the floor.

The spiritual energy in his body had been drained completely dry!

"Haa..."

Zhou Xuan gasped for air, looking at the talisman on the floor that could barely be considered a success, feeling like crying but having no tears.

"After all that effort, I only managed to draw one damn thing?"

He picked up the talisman, and the system prompt sounded.

[Inferior first-rank Sharp Metal Talisman: Can channel weak metal-element spiritual energy for a duration of one quarter of an hour.]

It could actually be used?

But the efficiency was far too low!

He had worked himself to the bone, drained his spiritual energy dry, only to draw this piece of junk.

By the time his spiritual energy recovered, it would be dawn. How the hell was he supposed to print money like this?

Zhou Xuan sat on the ground, looking dejected as he stared at the cinnabar, beast blood, and talisman paper before him, falling into deep thought.

Where exactly had things gone wrong?

Could it be that his grand plan to get rich was going to go bankrupt before it even started?

His gaze shifted back and forth between the cinnabar and the demonic beast blood, and suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck his mind!