"Trade... trade!"
The greedy instinct in Lu Changsheng's mind roared wildly.
"That's Three Lights Divine Water! With one drop, it's like having another life! Forget trading one Red Sun Fruit for it—even uprooting that tree outside and giving it to her would be worth it!"
But the reason of a man who lived by the Dao of Cowardice still tugged fiercely at him.
"Calm down! Lu Changsheng, calm down!"
"Fortune doesn't fall from the sky! Trading a drop of Three Lights Divine Water for one lousy Red Sun Fruit is such a losing deal even a fool wouldn't take it!"
"She must be plotting something! Maybe the water has some kind of tracking mark on it, or maybe it'll explode the instant it enters the formation!"
Lu Changsheng paced frantically in front of the control panel.
He wanted it. He wanted it so badly.
But he was also terrified of dying. Terrified out of his mind.
In the end, greed gained the slightest edge.
He took a deep breath, forced down the tremble in his voice, and shouted into the Sound Transmission Megaphone.
"Ahem... well..."
"That water sure looks fancy. Fine, since you're so sincere, I'll do you the favor of trading with you."
"But let's get one thing straight first! There's no way I'm opening the door and letting you in!"
Lu Changsheng began racking his brain for a solution.
"This woman's definitely no ordinary person. Anyone who can casually take out Three Lights Divine Water can't be some ordinary Primordial Unity Golden Immortal."
His eyes shifted, and he suddenly asked, "Before we trade, tell me your name!"
"I don't do business with nobodies! You said you're a cultivator wandering the world, so you must have a Daoist name and a place where you cultivate, right?"
Lu Changsheng was testing her, too.
If she gave him a name he didn't recognize, he'd take the water and keep pretending he was dead.
If she called herself an elder of the Dragon Clan or a protector of the Qilin Clan, he'd rather go without the drop of water than have anything to do with her.
Outside the formation.
When Nuwa heard his request, she saw nothing amiss.
In the cultivation world, exchanging names was the first step toward making an acquaintance.
The fact that he was willing to ask her name meant that some of his wariness toward her had already fallen away.
She smiled faintly. The green Flowing Cloud Skirt of Creation around her fluttered gently in the breeze.
She gazed at the layered curtains of light before her, her expression growing solemn.
Her red lips parted, and her ethereal voice rang across the land.
"I am Nuwa, of Mount Buzhou."
Just seven simple words.
She said nothing about her cultivation and made no boast of her origins.
For in the Primordial World, the words "Nuwa of Mount Buzhou" already represented supreme status and boundless potential.
But...
Those seven words, when they reached Lu Changsheng's ears,
were no less than a ten-thousand-ton nuclear bomb detonating in his mind!
"Clang!"
Lu Changsheng stumbled back, crashed into the white jade bed, and fell flat on his rear.
He was completely stunned.
His ears rang. His mind held only those two words, echoing wildly.
Nuwa?
Nuwa!!!
The legendary Nuwa who molded humans from clay, gathered stones to Mend the Heavens, and was destined to become a Sage—the one countless humans would revere as the Holy Mother?!
The biggest, longest, hardest golden thigh in the entire Primordial World?!
Lu Changsheng felt all the blood in his body rush to his head. His scalp prickled.
What had he just done?
He'd pointed at Nuwa's nose and cursed her as an inconsiderate bitch?
He'd threatened to walk outside and run her over, and said he'd have Purple Heaven Divine Lightning strike her?
He'd made a future Sage sit in the dust outside his shabby cave for a hundred years, and wait there for three thousand?!
"Fuck..."
Lu Changsheng clutched his head and shut his eyes in pain.
"What the hell did I miss?!"
"If I'd known Nuwa was sitting outside, why the hell would I have set up a formation? I'd have torn the door down and crawled out on my knees to cling to her leg!"
"As long as I could get on Nuwa's good side, as long as I could make myself familiar to a big shot like her..."
"Then in the Primordial World, even if those old dragons came looking for trouble themselves, they'd have to think twice about offending the Holy Mother!"
In that instant, Lu Changsheng's whole outlook did a complete 180.
His hostility and suspicion—the feeling that some villainous subjects were plotting against their sovereign—had completely transformed into fervent, obsequious eagerness to have a big shot take him under her wing.
But he had lived cautiously for eight thousand five hundred years. Wariness and suspicion had long since been etched into his DNA.
"No! I can't get carried away!"
Lu Changsheng dug his fingers hard into his thigh.
"She says she's Nuwa, so that makes her Nuwa? What if someone else is impersonating her?"
"Even if it really is Nuwa, she hasn't become a Sage yet! The Dragon-Han First Tribulation isn't over. She's only a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal for now."
"And besides... I cursed her so viciously. What if she holds a grudge and wants to trick me into opening the door so she can slap me to death?"
Lu Changsheng's mind raced.
He definitely had to cling to this golden thigh, but staying alive mattered even more!
He absolutely could not open the door! That was the bottom line!
"So you're Fellow Daoist Nuwa!"
Lu Changsheng got up from the floor, straightened his slightly rumpled dark-gold feathers, and cleared his throat.
He spoke into the Sound Transmission Megaphone, his tone changing in an instant.
The arrogance and vulgarity from before vanished without a trace, replaced by just the right measure of warmth and the air of a lofty expert.
"I've long admired you. Your name is like thunder in my ears!"
"Ah, what a case of becoming friends after a fight! Seeing your formidable skills, I thought you were one of those bloodthirsty fiends, so I spoke out of turn. I've offended you greatly, greatly offended you!"
Outside the formation.
Hearing this sudden change in tone, Nuwa nearly burst out laughing.
He'd changed his face faster than he could turn a page.
Just now, it had been "I" this and "I" that in the roughest terms; now he was calling himself "this poor Daoist"?
"You're too kind, Fellow Daoist. One cannot be blamed for what one doesn't know," Nuwa replied, playing along. "So, about this Three Lights Divine Water..."
"Trade! We absolutely have to trade!" Lu Changsheng declared firmly.
"It's my honor to trade with Fellow Daoist Nuwa."
"But..."
Lu Changsheng changed tack, his tone cautious once more.
"Once this formation is opened, it's quite troublesome to close again. Besides, I'm at a crucial point in my secluded cultivation and really can't come out to greet you."
"How about this? We can trade in a somewhat... special way."
Outside.
Nuwa tilted her head slightly, curious.
A special way?
Wouldn't they just open a gap in the formation and pass the items through? What could be so special about that?
Nuwa soon learned what true "Dao of Cowardice spirit" meant.
"Rumble—"
Before Nuwa, a tiny opening slowly appeared in the outermost curtain of light.
The opening was only as big as a fist.
Then,
a rope, slowly woven from some coarse-looking vines, crept out through the gap.
A small wooden drawer was tied to the end of the rope.
The drawer looked crude, with not even a trace of magical energy. It was nothing more than an ordinary object.
And its wooden surface was covered in dozens of yellow paper talismans scrawled with incomprehensible symbols.
"Fellow Daoist Nuwa, please put the Three Lights Divine Water in this little drawer."
Before you continue