After Becoming the Hero's Ex-fiancée

Poor Little Rich Girl (3)

Zheng Wan let out an insincere sigh and immediately threw the matter to the back of her mind and studied the emerald forehead accessory against the sunlight. There wasn’t anything particularly special about it, but it did seem of excellent quality.

The Phoenix Jade was strung on a thread of tough silk that couldn’t be untied, so Zheng Wan placed the ornament onto it. Apart from making it become as hot as boiling water which caused her pain, there was nothing unusual about it.

Just then, Zheng Wan suddenly remembered that on the day of her birthday, Cui Wang had taken blood from her fingertip to make the Phoenix Jade recognise her as its owner. So, she carefully took a dagger and made a light cut across her fingertip.

A small white slit appeared immediately, and blood fell on the crescent forehead accessory. Instantly, the entire room was filled with light——

The forehead accessory gently broke free from her hands. With a sudden leap and a cracking sound, it embedded itself into the Phoenix Jade’s tail feathers. On the already exquisitely carved phoenix feathers appeared a crescent moon, fully integrated as one.

The silk string broke and the Phoenix Jade dropped abruptly, disappearing in front of her body in a flash of light.

Zheng Wan realised that it was only now that the Phoenix Jade had truly recognised her as its owner. She looked into her soul consciousness and indeed saw the Phoenix Jade quietly sinking into her dantian. She called it out, held it in her hand, and refined it with her vital Qi repeatedly.

The Non-Emptiness Sutra contained a mantra used for refining. Magical artefacts took about fifteen minutes or so, Yuan artefacts took two hours, and as for divine artefacts… it wasn’t mentioned in the Non-Emptiness Sutra.

When Zheng Wan opened her eyes, she found that the moon was already in the middle of the sky. Moonlight fell on her couch, forming a thin film around her body.

With a slight notion, this protective film broke, and she felt full of clarity.

Zheng Wan finally knew what this Phoenix Jade was. If Cui Wang’s Dragon Pendant contained the first ray of primordial sword energy, what was sealed in this Phoenix Jade was the first ray of the new moon at the beginning of heaven and earth. In the long years that passed, this new moon of the Phoenix Jade was lost somewhere, causing this treasure to be neglected.

If this forehead accessory fell into the hands of others, without the Phoenix Jade, it was merely a beautiful mortal object.

Just then, the Non-Emptiness Sutra in her sea of consciousness suddenly trembled and spat out these words in gold: “As smoke and fog, like dust and illusion, with moonglow as a medium and the soul consciousness as the foundation, this is— the Illusion Creation Arts; offensive technique.”

“Illusion Creation Arts, Stage 1: Dawn of the Moon.”

Zheng Wan had a vague feeling that this Illusion Creation Arts was only supposed to appear when she advanced to the Accomplisher stage, but was now brought forward because of the Phoenix Jade.

One reason why others couldn’t practice the Non-Emptiness Sutra was that the cultivation method involved inducing desire, then curbing it, and the other reason was that before reaching the Accomplisher stage, its practitioners had no offensive abilities.

Its true power came from this Illusion Creation Arts.

If the cultivation of vital Qi and soul consciousness was internal cultivation, then this Illusion Creation Arts was external cultivation, and was a technique that could be used to deal with enemies.

Just as Zheng Wan was feeling at a loss, a voice suddenly rang out from her sea of consciousness, “That’s not bad. There are various types of mediums that can be used for the Illusion Creation Arts— flowers, the moon, birds, and animals, may all be used, but the best of them all is moonglow. Only the Illusion Creation Arts that uses moonglow as the medium is impossible to guard against.”

“Lass, you really are lucky. There’s nothing that can’t be destroyed by this primordial moonglow.”

“Granny Jin?” Zheng Wan broke into a smile instantly, “You— you’re back?”

Granny Jin sighed deeply.

“There’s something in the Scripture Depository that’s not very friendly to me, so I hid in your Phoenix Jade. Who knew, after going in, I couldn’t get out no matter what. Thank goodness you lifted the restriction. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to come out before you reach the Accomplisher stage. I was dying of suffocation there.”

“Now, I’ll teach you a refining technique. Use that to refine this Phoenix Jade again, and use it as your lifebound artefact. A lifebound artefact and its cultivator are one, and gain all boon and bane together— no one will be able to take it away.”

“Granny, is this Phoenix Jade a divine artefact?”

Zheng Wan assumed a solemn expression and began echoing the mantra to refine the Phoenix Jade.

“……You wish. It used to be, but now… You’ll have to work hard to earn loads of money to upgrade it.”

“So, it’s one of those arcane artefacts that causes bloodbaths in the cultivation world the moment it appears?”

“Where did you learn such nonsense from? However, it’s not far off. Sigh, you’d better sponge off more of that immortal aura of your ex-lover’s. See, hasn’t your unlucky disposition become lucky now?”

“……”

Zheng Wan closed her eyes resolutely.

It was only at noon the next day that the refinement process was truly complete.

She decided to take out the talisman paper, talisman brush, and cinnabar pigment that she had obtained on account of another’s power to practice and see how much talent she had. Zheng Wan had not the slightest amount of guilt about cheating a cheater.

“You want to practice talismans?”

Granny Ashes was shocked, “Lassie, don’t you know that it’s very difficult for ice vital roots to draw talismans?”

Zheng Wan placed “The Complete Collection of Talismans” on the table and was stunned when she heard Granny Jin’s words. “Why?”

She was even planning to count on drawing talismans to make a fortune and give her parents a good life.

“The vital Qi of one with ice vital roots are the most unruly, and are very difficult to gather and control. Those with gentle vital roots such as water vital roots, wood vital roots, and earth vital roots are most suited to being talisman masters.”