Li Xiao stared at the list as if it had grown eyes and was now staring back at him. Normally, when his aunt had a bit of money, she'd leave him a small list of market errands — a modest collection of vegetables and herbs. But this one… this list felt like someone was politely suggesting he go and rob a bank.
"What are these?" he asked, lifting his eyes from the paper, utterly bewildered.
"If I'm going to become your guardian, I need to keep my body intact," the mysterious beauty replied calmly. "Those are just a few remedies."
He couldn't quite grasp the use of each ingredient, but he recognized the prices — painfully so. One word on that list caught his eye: ginseng,each letter screamed thousands of gold coins .
"What is… Yaochi Snow Ginseng? Or— wait— Graveyard Lily?"
He froze. "Graveyard Lily?" His eyes widened in disbelief.
"Wait, you can't be serious," he blurted out.
"This—this…" he stammered, staring at the list as if even more eyes had appeared on it. "This costs around two thousand gold coins on the market — and that's the minimum!" He didn't even trust his own words.
If his memory hadn't failed him, the last time he'd heard of a Graveyard Lily was years ago. He had picked a small flower by chance and sold it for one hundred and fifty gold coins — only to later discover it was worth much more. He'd only been seven then, and that memory still stung. If he had known better , he would have absorbed that plant instead of selling it and his cultivation might have reached the heavens by now.
The mysterious beauty sighed softly and rubbed her temples. "Just go and buy them. Besides, I'm sure you can easily get them."
"Woman— I mean, uh— well…" He tripped over his words, unsure what to call her. He hadn't even asked her name, and every time he tried, she brushed him off.
"Wusheng Xuebai," she said finally, almost as if she regretted revealing it.
Li Xiao blinked, astonished. The name itself felt heavy like thunder whispering through mountains . This woman still remained mysterious even he couldn't believe that was her name but he has nothing to do but call her that .
"Wusheng Xuebai… how are we even supposed to get these things? You can see my house doesn't exactly scream 'royalty.'"
She glanced around the humble room with cracked walls, a small table, dried herbs hanging from a beam and nodded faintly. It truly didn't scream I am rich.
"Go ask your girlfriend. I'm sure she's rich," she said, before her body dissolved into a trail of silvery mist that flowed back into the faint feather mark glowing on his palm.
Li Xiao stood frozen. "Girlfriend?" The word echoed oddly in his mind. He didn't have one and at his age, it would be considered improper to even think about it. Among all the girls he'd met which was almost none ,only one had been near him recently.
"She isn't my girlfriend," he muttered under his breath, glaring at the feather mark. "Maybe you'd know that if you didn't always disappear."
Hmph. That isn't my problem, her faint voice echoed in his mind.
Li Xiao exhaled deeply. Somehow, he had to find those items. Without guidance, his cultivation had been stagnant for six whole months at the third-turn foundation level.
He glanced out the window. Through the trees, he could see the faint silhouette of Mingdu Town shimmering in the distance and was his only chance to get the heck of these items but how could he afford even a single item on that list?
He stretched his arm experimentally. The pain was gone. Strange for someone whose bones had been shattered not long ago. Even with a healing pill, recovery shouldn't have been this fast. Yet somehow, he felt… whole.
Xiao Fengqi was still downstairs, no doubt indulging in the healing effects of his aunt's medicine pool. Asking a girl for money would be awkward enough, but pride doesn't fill your stomach.
He rummaged through a drawer. Eighteen coins rolled into view, casting a soft golden-green glow across his face. The emerald gold coins he had gotten from Zhao Lin would give him a head start but they weren't enough to buy even a single herb from that cursed list.
He swallowed his pride and looked downstairs.
Xiao Fengqi was already done, now dressed in her usual attire except for a light scarf around her neck and a bangle , one that surely belonged to his aunt, no doubt given as a thank-you gift.
"How's the little miss of the Xiao family doing?" he asked, voice dripping with mock sweetness.
She looked at him, puzzled. Their relationship had changed from ignoring each other to something almost resembling friendship and li Xuan couldn't even believe it . He hated rich people,the way they act like they own the entire universe, untouchable even by the laws of the universe let alone gods .
"I think the Zhao minions really hit him too hard," Xiao Fengqi thought, eyeing Li Xuan's forced smile. He smiled like someone learning how to do it for the first time and it wasn't particularly cute.
"Thanks to your aunt, I'm doing well," she said, her tone lighter. "My strength even advanced to the seventh-turn foundation level."
"Congratulations, you deserve it," he said warmly. Then, scratching the back of his head, added, "By the way… do you think I should change my look?"
Now she was even more puzzled. "So, Mr. Li Xuan wants to join a beauty contest?"
He nearly choked. "No, no, no! I just— I need some money."
Her lips curved slightly. "Ah, so that's what this is about. You need money. Sure, why not."
She flicked her wrist, and a black metal plate about the size of his palm slipped from her storage ring.
"A Black Silver Privilege Card!" he gasped, eyes wide.
"You need money, don't you?" Xiao Fengqi said, clearly amused.
Li Xuan felt his heart ache ,she was giving out money as if she owned a gold mine . Is this his rich people behaved , giving out money like it was it was some useless leftovers .
"Yes, but I just need a little," he replied shyly.
She raised an eyebrow. "Alright then."
Her fingers tightened around the card, and it shimmered before dissolving into a silver light that shot back into her storage ring. Another light appeared but this time a rusty brown card came into view .
"A Bronze Privilege Card!" he exclaimed again, almost fainting this time.
It wasn't that the card was more valuable than the first — but she actually had two of them. Each privilege card carried a certain amount of wealth within it, infused with spatial energy like a storage ring. The more stars on the card, the greater its value.
The silver card had six stars ,each star capable of storing up to 5,000 gold coins, expandable to 300,000 depending on the metal's refinement. The bronze one, though less refined, still held between 1,000 and 6,000 gold coins expandable to 100,000 gold coins
"This one should do the trick," she said lightly, tossing it toward him.
Li Xuan caught it clumsily, staring at her with wide eyes. Somehow, between embarrassment and gratitude, his heart felt both heavy and strangely warm.