# Chapter 1713: Negotiation
"I don't have Divine Spring, but I do have something else..."
Zhang Ruochen took out a piece of skirt fabric, held it in his hand, and took a deep sniff, catching a faint fragrance.
It was the marriage contract he and the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden had written together.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden's phoenix eyes instantly blazed with dazzling light, strands of Source Power flowing between her fingers. "Are you threatening me, this Heavenly Maiden?"
Big Beard and Blind Man moved their feet, positioning themselves to Zhang Ruochen's left and right.
The three of them formed a pincer formation.
Zhang Ruochen remained unflustered, quietly taking out the Space-Time Secret Scripture and opening it.
Outside the courtyard, Xiang Chunan and Feng Yan sensed the tense atmosphere and immediately activated the attack formation. The entire Spirit Void Island began to slowly rotate.
Xiang Chunan leaped onto the courtyard wall and summoned the Metal Demon Crown. A faint Supreme Power erupted, causing the Sacred Qi between heaven and earth to violently tremble.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden's two willow-like brows furrowed slightly. She realized that directly attacking would make it very difficult to capture Zhang Ruochen, and instead carried great risk. So she waved her hand, signaling Big Beard and Blind Man to withdraw.
This was deterrence!
If both sides wanted to sit at the negotiation table, they had to possess equal strength.
If Zhang Ruochen still had his previous cultivation level, and didn't have Feng Yan and Xiang Chunan assisting him, the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden would have no scruples. She would have directly attacked, seizing the Divine Spring and marriage contract, instead of maintaining restraint like now.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden still appeared quite proud, lifting her snow-white chin like solidified fat. "Name a price. Sell both the Divine Spring and the marriage contract to this Heavenly Maiden."
Zhang Ruochen smiled. "You name a price too, Heavenly Maiden. Sell me Saint Monk Xumi's long beard."
"Can you afford it?" asked the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden.
Zhang Ruochen said, "You haven't named a price, so how do you know I can't afford it?"
"One hundred million Sacred Stones," the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden set her price.
Zhang Ruochen was silent for a moment. "Heavenly Maiden, you're really asking for the sky. A drop of Divine Blood costs about ten Sacred Stones. You want to sell a single long beard for the price of ten million drops of Divine Blood."
Even a Nine-Step Saint King who had lived for a thousand years might not be able to gather one hundred million Sacred Stones. This price was more than enough to buy a life-bearing planet.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden smiled. "You were the one who told me to name a price. Now that you can't afford it, who can you blame?"
In the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden's view, both the Guanghan Realm and the Kunlun Realm were weak worlds on the verge of destruction. One hundred million Sacred Stones was definitely an astronomical price. Zhang Ruochen couldn't produce it.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden continued, "That silver book of yours is a Space-Time treasure. Sell it to this Heavenly Maiden, and you should be able to gather one hundred million Sacred Stones. Or trade it for the Divine Spring."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Heavenly Maiden, your words still carry weight, don't they?"
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden thought Zhang Ruochen was preparing to trade the Divine Spring for the long beard, and was secretly delighted. "This Heavenly Maiden is destined to become the Heavenly Empress of a civilization someday. Of course my words carry weight."
Zhang Ruochen nodded, then took out a storage pouch and tossed it onto the stone table.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden quickly took the storage pouch and opened it to inspect. Immediately, the smile on her face disappeared, replaced by a look of shock and surprise.
It wasn't the Divine Spring.
It was one hundred million Sacred Stones.
One hundred million Sacred Stones was naturally a massive fortune, but the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden wasn't short of Sacred Stones. What she needed were things that couldn't be bought with Sacred Stones. For example, the Divine Spring.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden tightly gripped the storage pouch with her fingers, her voice icy. "This Heavenly Maiden underestimated you. I didn't expect you to be so wealthy."
From conquering the Yin Yang Hall, Zhang Ruochen had obtained over three hundred million Sacred Stones, making him instantly rich overnight.
Spending one hundred million Sacred Stones to purchase Saint Monk Xumi's relic was certainly well worth it.
Zhang Ruochen spread his palm. "Heavenly Maiden, can you hand over the long beard now?"
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden was very unwilling. What she wanted wasn't one hundred million Sacred Stones.
Zhang Ruochen continued, "If I'm not mistaken, your Thousand Star Civilization's ancestor gave you the long beard because he hoped you would give it to me. After all, this long beard is completely worthless to your Thousand Star Civilization."
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden indeed didn't value the long beard at all, treating it merely as a relic.
Even if a God was incredibly powerful, how much value could a single strand of beard left behind have?
However, this woman was extremely clever. She could see that Zhang Ruochen cared deeply about the long beard, so she didn't take it out. "Give it to you? On what basis? It's now the only relic left by Saint Monk Xumi. Countless Time cultivators and Space cultivators want to obtain it. The price of one hundred million Sacred Stones, this Heavenly Maiden thinks, is still too low."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze darkened. "Heavenly Maiden, are you going back on your word? If so, I'll have to go back on mine as well."
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden stared at the marriage contract in Zhang Ruochen's hand, then gritted her teeth.
As long as the marriage contract remained in Zhang Ruochen's hands, she would always be under his control.
Zhang Ruochen added, "If the Heavenly Maiden gives me the long beard, I can point you toward a clear path in cultivation."
"This Heavenly Maiden doesn't need you to—"
She stopped halfway, falling silent.
Because Zhang Ruochen's words had struck her weak point, bringing to the surface the worry hidden deep in her heart.
A flaw in her state of mind.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden had thought carefully about this issue and had to admit that Zhang Ruochen was right. The flaw in her state of mind was indeed quite fatal, potentially ruining her path to becoming a God.
And Zhang Ruochen's state of mind was somewhat unassailable. Perhaps he really could help her make up for this flaw.
Because the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden had discovered an unacceptable truth:
There were some things Zhang Ruochen could do that she couldn't.
For example, when seizing the Divine Spring, Zhang Ruochen had been able to risk life and death, approaching to within four hundred meters of the Divine Spring. This required not only strength but also a powerful heart that remained calm in crisis and charged forward courageously.
But she couldn't do it.
After a long silence, the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden finally spoke. "Tell me first. If it truly helps this Heavenly Maiden, I won't take your Sacred Stones, and I'll give you Saint Monk Xumi's long beard."
Zhang Ruochen became very serious, his lips moving as he transmitted a message to the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden.
At first, hearing these words, the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden's eyes showed a cold smile, quite dismissive, thinking Zhang Ruochen was trying to use her.
But after hearing Zhang Ruochen finish, she fell into silence and contemplation again.
No one knew how much time passed before the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden took out a starlight-gleaming iron box and placed it on the stone table. "I can give you the long beard, but if you want to know where Saint Monk Xumi entered Nirvana, you'll have to trade one hundred thousand drops of Divine Spring or the marriage contract."
Clearly, in the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden's view, the information about Saint Monk Xumi's Nirvana location was far more valuable than the long beard.
Zhang Ruochen opened the iron box, confirmed that it contained Saint Monk Xumi's long beard, then breathed a slight sigh of relief and quickly put it away.
To Zhang Ruochen, this long beard was priceless.
As for the information about Saint Monk Xumi's Nirvana location, he didn't necessarily have to obtain it from the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden. If he could crack the secret of the Sundial, he might also be able to find the Nirvana location.
Because the Ice Fire Phoenix had once been to Saint Monk Xumi's Nirvana location.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden seemed to think of something, her gaze turning strange. She laughed. "Zhang Ruochen, what exactly did you and Sister Luo Ji hide at the God-Sealing Platform?"
Zhang Ruochen asked, "What's wrong with her?"
"For the past year or so, she's used a lot of resources to search for Lin Yue. She even came to find me, asking about Lin Yue's identity and background. I've never seen her so attentive to a man before. It's very abnormal," said the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden.
Zhang Ruochen said, "You didn't tell her my true identity, did you?"
"Of course not."
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden also had some concerns, afraid that the Heavenly Beginning Celestial Maiden would catch her with evidence.
Although the various civilizations of the Ancient Civilization Faction appeared to be an alliance, there was also competition between them. They weren't a monolithic bloc.
Zhang Ruochen knew the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden was quite suspicious. If he didn't tell her something, she would probably investigate thoroughly. So he glossed over the details. "It's not really a secret. It's just that she and I killed the Ruiya Realm's leader, Wang Tian, as well as the Yin Yang Realm's leaders, Yan Wang and Lian Hou. She's looking for me, maybe to silence me."
"I knew you two were abnormal. So Wang Tian, Yan Wang, and Lian Hou died at your hands." The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden cleared up the confusion in her heart and laughed out loud. Her voice was as pleasant as an oriole in an empty valley.
This way, she now had leverage over the Heavenly Beginning Celestial Maiden, which might come in handy someday.
The reason Zhang Ruochen revealed this secret was actually because the Rakshasa Princess had escaped.
With the Rakshasa Princess's methods, she would definitely choose an opportune moment to spread this news, thereby inciting conflict between the Heavenly Beginning Civilization and the Ruiya Realm and Yin Yang Realm, or even between the Paradise Realm Faction and the Ancient Civilization Faction.
Even though Wang Tian, Yan Wang, and Lian Hou had all died at Zhang Ruochen's hands, the Rakshasa Princess would probably pin the murder charge on the Heavenly Beginning Celestial Maiden in the end.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden led Big Beard and Blind Man out of the pavilion.
Just as she was about to leave the courtyard, the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden suddenly stopped. "Zhang Ruochen, I'll think carefully about that clear path you mentioned. Honestly, you're quite cunning. From today onward, you're my biggest competitor. I'll do everything I can to surpass you in every aspect."
Watching the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden leave the courtyard, the corners of Zhang Ruochen's mouth curled up slightly. He muttered to himself, "Smart, she's smart. But the smarter people are, the more they tend to outsmart themselves."
Zhang Ruochen looked at the storage pouch containing one hundred million Sacred Stones on the stone table, and his smile grew even wider.
That was one hundred million Sacred Stones, and she actually didn't take them.
How proud must her heart be?