Fellow Daoist, You're Truly Cautious

Lu Changsheng's voice came from deep within the formation, carrying a hint of tension.

"Once you've put it inside, take three steps back."

"Then I'll pull the drawer in."

"Between my thousandth layer of formations and the nine hundred and ninety-ninth layer is a sterilization buffer zone."

"After the drawer goes in, I'll roast it in the buffer zone with Pure Yang Fire for three days and three nights, to make sure there's no strange magical power or spiritual sense tracking attached to it."

"Once it's done roasting, I'll put the Red Sun Fruit I promised you in the drawer and send it out along the rope."

Lu Changsheng laid out his entire trade procedure, from beginning to end.

The whole place fell silent.

Nuwa stood where she was, staring at the wooden drawer hanging from the rope, swaying in the wind and plastered with cheap talismans.

Her eyes, brimming with the wisdom of creation, were filled with deep helplessness.

In this world...

How could there be a living being so afraid of death, so cautious?!

Afraid of spiritual sense tracking? Roasting it with Pure Yang Fire for three days and three nights?

Did he think the Three Lights Divine Water was some filthy thing to be pickled? It was the purest holy water in all of heaven and earth!

And he was actually using a lousy vine without a trace of magical power to pull in the drawer? Was he afraid she'd track him back to his location by following the fluctuations of his magic power?

Would she really do that?!

Nuwa took several deep breaths before she managed to suppress the urge to slap the wooden drawer to pieces.

"Fellow Daoist... you're truly cautious."

Grinding her teeth, Nuwa forced out those words.

"Better safe than sorry. The Primordial Land is a mess. You should learn to be more careful too, Fellow Daoist Nuwa."

From inside, Lu Changsheng imparted his survival tips without the slightest guilt.

Nuwa said no more.

She flicked a finger, and the drop of Three Lights Divine Water, radiating three-colored light, landed neatly inside the crude wooden drawer.

Then, as Lu Changsheng had asked, she took three steps back.

"Great! Pulling it in!"

Inside the cave, Lu Changsheng gave the vine in his hand a sharp tug.

With a whoosh, the little drawer shot into the opening in the formation at astonishing speed.

Then the curtain of light closed again, fitting seamlessly into place.

Nuwa stood outside, watching with her own eyes as a dazzling, dark-red flame suddenly flared in the gap between the thousand layers of formations and the nine hundred and ninety-nine layers.

It was pure Pure Yang Fire.

Lu Changsheng hadn't been lying. He really did roast the drawer containing the Three Lights Divine Water over and over with Pure Yang Fire for three whole days and nights.

During the process, Nuwa even faintly heard the sound of something being rinsed with clean water.

Lu Changsheng still hadn't been satisfied, so he'd used Earth Vein Spirit Spring that he'd purified himself to give that drop of Three Lights Divine Water a bath.

Giving divine water a bath.

It was probably only Lu Changsheng who could come up with something like that.

Three days later.

The wooden drawer, now somewhat charred from being roasted by Pure Yang Fire, emerged once more through the fist-sized opening.

Nuwa stepped forward.

The drop of Three Lights Divine Water was gone from inside the drawer.

In its place lay a fruit about the size of a baby's fist.

Its surface wasn't smooth; it was even somewhat pitted. Yet it gave off a strange fragrance that brought peace to the mind with a single breath.

Beyond that, a faint but unmistakable golden glow flowed within the fruit.

It was a trace left behind after years of nourishment by Heavenly Dao Merit.

Nuwa picked up the Red Sun Fruit.

At a glance, she saw exactly what it was.

"A fruit from a Post-Heaven Spiritual Root, the Red Sun Fruit Tree. Originally, it contained only a trace of fire-attribute spiritual energy."

Nuwa thought to herself.

"But after growing for so long beside that Fellow Daoist, it has been steeped in the pure merit energy radiating from him, and watered by the rich Earth Vein spiritual energy inside the formation."

"This fruit has undergone a transformation the likes of which has never been seen before."

It couldn't make someone ascend to immortality in broad daylight or greatly increase their magical power like those innate spiritual fruits.

But the trace of pure, flawless merit Dao-rhyme it contained was an invaluable treasure to powerful beings at a bottleneck, who were prone to developing inner demons!

Nuwa held the Red Sun Fruit beneath her nose and inhaled gently.

In that instant, her Dao heart, made faintly restless after lingering at the peak of the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realm for too long, seemed to be brushed by a spring breeze. It immediately grew calm and clear.

"A fine fruit."

Nuwa's peerlessly beautiful face lit up with a smile from the heart.

The exchange of this drop of Three Lights Divine Water had been well worth it. She could even say she'd gotten the better end of the deal.

Without the slightest hesitation, she put the Red Sun Fruit into her mouth.

The flesh melted as soon as it touched her tongue.

It became a cool, sweet liquid that trickled down her throat.

There was no violent surge of spiritual energy, nor any earth-shattering spectacle.

Only the purest tranquility slowly spread through her limbs and bones.

Nuwa closed her eyes and savored this rare peace.

Meanwhile.

Deep inside the cave, Lu Changsheng was holding a white jade Pure Vase specially made for storing the finest spiritual materials, grinning so broadly that his back teeth were almost showing.

The drop of Three Lights Divine Water floated quietly inside the white jade Pure Vase.

"I'm rich! I'm rich!"

"I traded some lousy fruit I eat for dessert for a life-saving divine treasure!"

Lu Changsheng hugged the Pure Vase and kissed it twice, then carefully stowed it in the deepest part of his Storage Jade Box.

The trade had gone smoothly, and the other party really was Nuwa.

Lu Changsheng's thoughts immediately began to stir.

"She's a future Sage. Now that we've made a deal and our relationship has eased, it'd go against the principles of a Dao of Cowardice cultivator who makes friends wherever he can if I didn't take the chance to get a little closer."

He couldn't open the door.

But he could stay inside, be online friends with a future Sage through three thousand layers of formations, and chat about the Dao. It was a deal with no downside!

Lu Changsheng leaned toward the Sound Transmission Megaphone again, his tone gentler and more familiar.

"Fellow Daoist Nuwa, how was the fruit? Did it meet with your approval?"

Outside.

Nuwa slowly opened her eyes, a touch of clarity in her gaze.

"This fruit is wondrous."

She didn't stint on her praise.

"Though its spiritual energy is meager, I have never encountered such purity of spirit in my life. Thank you for parting with it, Fellow Daoist."

"Not at all, not at all. As long as you like it, Fellow Daoist Nuwa."

Lu Changsheng chuckled from inside.

The two of them were separated by layer upon layer of glowing formations. Neither could see the other, yet somehow, the atmosphere between them had become harmonious.

Standing beside the boulder, Nuwa looked at the formation and suddenly asked,

"I've already given you my name, but I still don't know how I should address you, Fellow Daoist."

Inside the cave.

Lu Changsheng paused.

Give her his name?

In the Primordial Land, names were closely tied to karma.

Some powerful beings skilled in curses or divination could kill you from millions of miles away just by learning your name.

Lu Changsheng's paranoia nearly flared up again.

But then he thought about it.

The other party was Nuwa, after all.

A future Sage who cultivated the Dao of Creation, not a demonic cultivator who resorted to underhanded tricks. And she'd readily given him the Three Lights Divine Water just now.

Most importantly, if he wouldn't even give her his name, he'd never be able to cling to this powerful patron.

"Forget it. You can't catch a tiger cub without entering its lair."

Lu Changsheng cleared his throat.

"This poor Daoist... is Lu Changsheng."