After Infusing Love Poison to the Cold Sword Sovereign - Chapter 37.1

The little girl blinked her eyes timidly, stealing a glance at Wu Ruo before lowering her head again, as if ashamed of disturbing her. Her small head hung very low.

“Sorry for bothering you, sister.” The girl even added another apology before Wu Ruo could respond.

Wu Ruo took a closer look. The mortal child before her had rosy cheeks and an adorably chubby face, her pigtails tied with bright red ribbons adorned with tiny plastic flowers.

It was clear that while the girl’s family wasn’t wealthy, she was dearly loved.

“It’s fine,” Wu Ruo said. “Is your mother the aunt selling clothes over there?”

“Mm-hmm, yes. I…” Encouraged by Wu Ruo’s friendly tone, the girl grew bolder. “Earlier, when you were buying clothes from my mother, I was copying texts in the back. I finished today’s classics and thought I’d try my luck to see if I could find you.”

“Why were you looking for me? Little one, you must have heard at your mother’s stall, I’m not the benefactor you’re searching for. In fact, this is my first time in Baishang.”

Wu Ruo trailed off mid-sentence. A strange sensation from hours ago resurfaced in her heart. When she had first seen the Baishang Street sign, an inexplicable sense of familiarity had washed over her. As she wandered through the market, it was almost as if she already knew what was being sold here.

But the title of “benefactor” carried too much weight. If this wasn’t her doing, claiming it would be tantamount to stealing someone else’s karma.

“I’m sorry, sister. I must have mistaken you for someone else. I can’t remember her face anymore. I’ve bothered many other sisters before too. I’m sorry.” The girl’s voice grew smaller as she spoke, her head drooping even lower, as if on the verge of tears.

Wu Ruo understood this feeling all too well. At best, it was excessive politeness; at worst, it was self-inflicted emotional exhaustion constantly fearing that one’s actions might burden others.

She patted the girl’s head gently. “It’s alright, don’t cry. Your sister will hear you. If you miss her, you can pretend I’m her and give me a hug. Maybe that’ll make you feel better.”

Seeing the light return to the girl’s eyes, warmth seeped into Wu Ruo’s heart. She crouched down and wrapped her arms lightly around the child’s back, lifting her slightly and spinning her in a small circle.

“Thank you.” the girl whispered into her ear.

But before Wu Ruo could set her down, a male vendor behind them began muttering curses under his breath. Apparently annoyed that Wu Ruo had examined his swords without buying anything, the man scowled, his thick brows furrowing. “Two penniless wenches, get the hell away from my stall!”

The girl flinched and immediately whispered, “Sister, I’m sorry.”

Wu Ruo cast a cold glance at the hostile vendor before setting the child down. Casually, she asked, “How much for that sword earlier?”

The vendor narrowed his eyes, sizing her up. Noticing the faint spiritual energy circulating around her yet clad in mortal clothing, he concluded she was some no-name rogue cultivator and sneered. “Tch, you couldn’t afford it even if I sold you!”

A neighboring female vendor couldn’t stand it anymore and interjected softly, “They’re still customers. Why not foster some goodwill? There’s no need for this.”

The male vendor furrowed his brows and sneered, “Damn woman, always yapping. Mind your own business, how much can you even earn in a day?”

“…” The female vendor lowered her head and fell silent.

Wu Ruo quickly assessed their cultivation levels. The woman was likely at the late Qi Refining stage, while the male vendor was at the early Foundation Establishment stage, a full realm higher, which was why he dared to bully her so brazenly.

On the small table in front of the female vendor lay scattered herbs of surprisingly high quality, along with a few mediocre-grade restorative pills. It was clear she was an alchemist, though still a novice.

In that case.

Wu Ruo stepped forward and approached the alchemist’s stall. “Miss, how much for these restorative pills?”

“Ten spirit stone fragments no, if you want them, eight fragments will do. I my pills are a bit pricier than others, but the ingredients are different.”

Wu Ruo understood. Her sensitivity to spiritual energy far surpassed that of most customers in Hundred Merchants Street. The reason her goods weren’t selling was because others offered cheaper, albeit inferior alternatives.

The woman’s prices were actually quite reasonable.

She smiled and said earnestly, “Good. No need for a discount, I’ll take them all.”

The male vendor nearby was about to mock her when his eyes suddenly widened at Wu Ruo’s next move. He gasped, “You, y-you!”

Wu Ruo reached into her Qiankun pouch not her own, but the one she had taken from Senior Brother Chen when he tried to stop her at Zhiyuan Immortal Sect’s gate. Her black snake had swiftly coiled around it and snatched it away.

Originally, she had felt a twinge of guilt. But after seeing Jiang Qingbei’s dream, where this Chen fellow had stolen money that rightfully belonged to her, that guilt vanished without a trace. Now, it was the perfect opportunity to well, spend money like Jiang Qingbei.

First, she pulled out Zhiyuan Immortal Sect’s exit token. She glanced at it, deliberately turning the side engraved with the sect’s emblem toward the crowd, then handed it to a little girl nearby. Mimicking Luo Qingyi’s usual tone, she said expressionlessly, “Hold this for me.”

The girl took it, puzzled, and curiously read the characters aloud as if wondering why the token was glowing: “Zhiyuan?”

The male cultivator’s lips began to tremble. Wu Ruo ignored him and continued rummaging through the Qiankun pouch Chen had stolen from her, scattering a handful of high-grade spirit stones. “How many of these pills do you have? I’m leading my disciples on a mission, I’ll take as many as you’ve got.”

One high-grade spirit stone was equivalent to ten ordinary spirit stones, or a hundred spirit stone fragments. They were rarely seen in Hundred Merchants Street, and owning even one was a sign of wealth.

But now, Wu Ruo casually tossed out dozens of gleaming high-grade spirit stones, showering them like a waterfall onto the female vendor’s table!

The male cultivator trembled violently, while nearby stall owners, sensing something extraordinary, crowded around to watch. Under their awestruck gazes, Wu Ruo calmly scattered another handful of pristine high-grade spirit stones.

“Oh heavens! She’s so rich!”

“A wealthy lady, my god! Could she buy some of mine too, please?”

“Mother of mercy, look at what her sister’s holding! That’s Zhiyuan Immortal Sect’s token! She’s a celestial from the number one sect!”

“Ahhhh! I’m so jealous of the girl across from her! She hit the jackpot, what a windfall!”

Wu Ruo smiled faintly but said nothing.

The rude male stall owner now looked utterly miserable, his face pale with regret, wishing he could slap himself hard a few times.

He hadn’t realized that the woman dressed in ordinary mortal clothes was actually a hidden cultivator and from the number one major sect in the cultivation world at that!

And she had so much money on her. If only he had been more polite, if only he had tried harder to sell his own sword, maybe he too could have struck it rich.

His face flushed red and then paled again as he overheard someone pointing at him and muttering about his earlier “heroic deeds.” Furious and humiliated, he wished he could crawl into a hole in the ground. Before the market even closed, he hastily packed up his things and slipped away into the crowd.

The female stall owner seemed equally stunned, her fingers trembling slightly as she hurriedly opened her storage pouch and pulled out a pile of bottles and jars. “I’ve refined two hundred in total.”

Wu Ruo quickly counted the high-grade spirit stones on the table twenty-nine. At the original price, she would have owed more than nine, so she added, “How much for this herb?”

“No need, no need! After I gathered these herbs, I couldn’t refine them with my true fire. Since you’ve bought so much from me, I’ll just give them to you.” the stall owner said, then began murmuring under her breath, “Two hundred times eight sixteen hundred fragments, sixteen.”

As the woman’s fingers hovered over the table, about to count out the change, Wu Ruo pressed her hand down. “Keep it. These herbs are of great use to me. Consider it a reward.”

The stall owner flustered and tried to refuse, but Wu Ruo held her hand firmly in place, leaving her no choice but to watch as the spirit stones were all poured into her storage pouch.

Wu Ruo then turned and swept her gaze expressionlessly over the surrounding onlookers, spotting a few with ill intentions eyeing the female stall owner. She added coldly, “Remember, I am the honored guest of Luoxue Peak of the Zhiyuan Immortal Sect. These spirit stones bear my spiritual imprint. Anyone who dares to steal them will suffer the backlash of karma.”

With that, she picked up the little girl and strode off into the distance.

Wu Ruo’s cultivation far surpassed that of anyone in Hundred Merchants Street, so she quickly left the crowd behind, arriving at a secluded spot where she set the girl down. “Here, this pill is rich in spiritual energy. Though it doesn’t look appealing, it’s actually quite beneficial. A mortal should be able to take it. I’ll give you one. Do you know if there are any other markets like Hundred Merchants Street in the Five Continents?”

She regretted the question immediately, this little girl was a mortal and likely only knew this one place. Just as she was about to say something to smooth it over, the child piped up, “My mom’s been setting up a stall here for a long time she might know! I’ll go ask her!”

Wu Ruo nodded. The auntie was quite friendly and skilled at her craft, so she didn’t mind exchanging for more clothes from her.

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