Ashen God
Chapter 389 - 388: Mutated Sunflower Seeds

Chapter 389: Chapter 388: Mutated Sunflower Seeds

After quickly finishing his mutated black plum, Zhang Yanhang turned to look at Zhou Muxi beside him, who had been silently watching him eat without speaking. He felt like she was probably getting a bit jealous watching him enjoy the fruit, so he generously handed over the paper box to her, "Don’t be shy, eat all you want."

"Who would want this stuff!" Zhou Muxi replied as she took the box and merely glanced at the shriveled mutated black plums inside. Their sorry appearance made her hand the box right back to Zhang Yanhang.

"Since you don’t want to eat this, then what do you want to eat?"

After catching the discarded black plum from Zhou Muxi, Zhang Yanhang thought it over and decided he would throw it away later, considering it really had no significant edible value left. But since there were no trash cans nearby, he put it back into his waist bag for now.

"Of course, I want the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures!"

Zhou Muxi felt like Zhang Yanhang was tantalizing her on purpose, flaunting his indulgence in Heavenly Materials while only offering her a shrunken fruit that failed to mutate. Who could stand it? Uncle might bear it, but Auntie couldn’t!

"It’s not like it’s impossible. If you have something suitable, I could sell you a Xuanyin Fruit."

As he spoke, Zhang Yanhang pulled out a black-tinged Red Fuji apple from his waist bag. He remembered that Zhou Muxi needed this item, so if the price were right, he was quite willing to make a trade.

"Xuanyin Fruit? Nice name. I can clearly feel it’s filled with a substantial amount of pure Yin Qi..."

Zhou Muxi figured that if she could eat the Xuanyin Fruit, she would at least save a week’s hard cultivation and accelerate her progress to Fourth Tier by one-eighth. Therefore, she was determined to get her hands on it.

At the same time, this opportunity also gave her a genuine sense of the Sea Seal Zhang Yanhang’s strength; he had casually produced an item of such high quality.

"I wonder if you have any other Heavenly Materials that can increase Yang Qi. If so, I’d like to buy them together...

Besides absorbing Yin Qi, I need to absorb an equal amount of Yang Qi to advance to Fourth Tier."

Zhou Muxi had come to the department mainly to obtain more cultivation resources, but she didn’t expect that even before the interview began, she would stumble upon an unexpected treasure.

Knowing Zhang Yanhang, the Sea Seal, she was sure that he could likely produce the high-level Heavenly Materials needed to boost Yang Qi if she requested it. After all, he was the Ultimate Seal who could stumble across four serendipities in half a day; a mere leak from the corner of his mouth would amply enrich her.

"Indeed, I have some Heavenly Materials that can increase Yang Qi."

Zhang Yanhang once harvested a mutated sunflower seed, engorged with Sun and Moon Essence, from a Mutant Sunflower. For men, this seed only serves to boost Yang Qi, and also to some extent enhance fertility.

For women, however, it can nourish both Yin and Yang. That’s why he had kept this seed without using it; most of the Heavenly Materials he had left were either unsuitable for him or wouldn’t produce noticeable effects.

He’d typically eat any suitable Heavenly Materials for himself immediately upon acquiring them, not leaving any behind.

"So there really is one, and the Yang Qi it contains is completely on par with the Xuanyin Fruit, belonging to the same category of high-level Heavenly Materials..."

Although Zhou Muxi truly despised Zhang Yanhang, the Sea Seal, before, his face now seemed kinder and more agreeable, no longer repulsive. The more she looked, the better he appeared to her taste, oddly fitting her aesthetic preferences.

As this thought involuntarily arose in her mind, Zhou Muxi suddenly felt like something wasn’t quite right.

"Although we should start discussing the chips for the trade next, let me change the subject for a moment and ask, how many points do you have in the Charm attribute?"

Zhou Muxi seriously suspected that her recent thoughts were due to Zhang Yanhang’s overwhelming Charm attribute, which had caused a Passive Charm effect on her.

"After all, I am a Second Tier Awakened, and my Attribute limit is there. So, my Charm attribute value is pretty low, barely forty points."

Although Zhang Yanhang too wished to quickly raise his Charm value to fifty points like his other Attributes, he had not yet found a way to further increase his Charm attribute value.

He could only hope that the new Monster Nest he’d connect to after breaking through the tunnel might drop Charm-enhancing equipment like the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu. If so, reaching fifty points shouldn’t be difficult, considering he was only eleven points shy at the moment.

However, if he couldn’t get Charm-enhancing equipment, he’d have to think of other means, such as using Free attribute points to boost his Charm or relying on Multiple Choice to get some Artifacts that could do the job.

"Forty points?! Could it be that you—the burly man with thick brows and big eyes—are actually a Charming Awakened?"

As a female Third Tier Awakened, Zhou Muxi’s Charm was merely twenty points. Yet, here was a Second Tier male Awakened with forty points—effectively double her value.

When it came to the actual effect, his influence on her Charm was manifold, no wonder he could so easily dominate her and create a Passive Charm effect.

Upon learning that Zhang Yanhang had forty points in Charm, Zhou Muxi felt an overwhelming envy emerge within her.

After all, though she was an Awakened, she was still a woman who very much desired to raise her Charm value. But limited by her Free attribute points and the need to improve her strength, she had allocated them all to her Main Attribute.

"How is that possible? Charm is just one of my Sub-attributes. If it were a Main Attribute, I would have raised it to fifty points a long time ago."

Sometimes, Zhang Yanhang really did wish to make Charm one of his Main Attributes for the Heavenly Destiny Dominator profession, so he could use Free attribute points to raise his Charm without a guilty conscience.

Yet he also knew it was unrealistic to want Charm as a Main Attribute and that it would significantly hinder his power progression.

After all, if Charm were to become a Main Attribute, he would need to raise it to fifty points when not equipped, just like his other Main Attributes, and he certainly did not have that many resources to allocate to Charm.

Although the degree of abnormality in his Charm attribute value had greatly reduced from the beginning, there were still nineteen points that came from Equipment bonuses. If Charm became a Main Attribute, then Zhang Yanhang would need to fill this nineteen-point gap completely, which would be extremely torturous.

Once he did that, his Free attribute points would be completely insufficient, and as a result, it would slow down the rate at which he could improve his other four Main Attributes. Therefore, he finally felt that it was fine for Charm to remain a Sub-attribute and did not need to change it.

"Since Charm is not your Main Attribute, why did you increase it so much? Are your Free attribute points really so abundant?"

Zhou Muxi racked her brain and still couldn’t understand why Zhang Yanhang’s Charm attribute was so high, which was really puzzling.

However puzzling it might have been, Zhou Muxi felt an inexplicable sense of relief upon learning that Charm was not one of Zhang Yanhang’s Main Attributes.

After all, muscly men with Charm as their Main Attribute inevitably brought to mind strange things such as ’Ass♂we♂can,’ ’dou you like VAN♂games,’ and ’Wu Lake Nandrolone Muscles Golden Wheel’.

"Of course, I wouldn’t use Free attribute points to increase a Sub-attribute like Charm. I simply raised it incidentally through other channels."

Zhang Yanhang had no idea why Zhou Muxi would digress with such an odd question, and he was eager to start the trade, so he quickly answered her question.

"Not using Free attribute points? Other channels? You’re not suggesting equip..."

Zhou Muxi suddenly had a bad feeling, and whether it was because her intuition was accurate or due to her deepening understanding of Zhang Yanhang, she didn’t even manage to voice the second syllable of the word before Zhang Yanhang suddenly raised both his hands.

"My Charm attribute was mainly raised to this level thanks to the bonuses from Equipment. Take these rings for example, I have ten Blue Quality rings, each providing a one-point Charm attribute bonus. So, just these rings alone can increase my Charm by ten points."

While speaking, Zhang Yanhang switched his standard police gloves to a hidden state to reveal the ten Crimson Iron Rings on his fingers and quickly activated the luminous special effect inherent to the Crimson Iron Rings.

"I’m such a fool; I knew it would come to this, yet I still had to ask..."

Perhaps it was due to receiving too many strong shocks in a short period of time, but Zhou Muxi’s threshold for such matters seemed to have increased.

As she looked at the ten uniformly designed Blue Quality rings on Zhang Yanhang’s fingers, she still felt a strong shock, but her face involuntarily revealed a serene smile.

By now, Zhou Muxi had come to terms with it; she had deeply realized what kind of non-human existence the Ultimate Seal represented. So now, she just wanted to quickly complete the trade with the other party, acquire the Xuanyin Fruit and the Mutated Sunflower Seeds, and get a taste of the broth that leaked from the Ultimate Seal’s teeth.

"Do you want to see my other accessories? I have more that can increase Charm attribute value."

Zhang Yanhang had just finished speaking when he saw Zhou Muxi beside him suddenly start frantically shaking her head.

"No no no, I don’t want to see any more accessories. Let’s just get on with the trade."

Even though she had come to terms with it, Zhou Muxi still couldn’t endure the complex emotions mixed with disappointment, anger, and unwillingness, brought on by being outclassed by a Low-level Awakened. So, she quickly shook her head in refusal.

"Alright, we should have done this from the start. What I want mainly are Artifacts that can permanently increase attribute values, or Items that can increase the Life Value limit and Energy Value limit would also do.

Of course, increases to Secondary attributes like defensive power, Constitution limit, Movement Speed, and Attack Speed are also acceptable."

Zhang Yanhang did not particularly need Equipment at the moment, so he wanted something more practical, Items that could permanently enhance various attributes.

"I don’t have any Artifacts that can increase Attribute values on hand, but earlier, a girlfriend left with me a Dark Purple Quality Item to help her sell it, with the Usage effect of increasing the Life Value Limit.

If you are willing, I could trade this Dark Purple Quality Item for the Xuanyin Fruit and the Mutated Sunflower Seeds. As for my girlfriend, I should be able to cope with it later..."

Although she felt a bit guilty toward her girlfriend, Zhou Muxi thought that if she compensated her out of her own wallet, even if she didn’t get the items she wanted, it probably wouldn’t be much of an issue. After all, they were good friends and shouldn’t fall out over this kind of thing.

"A Dark Purple Quality Item that can increase the Life Value Limit? Really? Can I?"

Zhang Yanhang initially just wanted to swap for some Purple Quality items, but unexpectedly, the other side directly offered a Dark Purple Quality one. This made him wonder if the Xuanyin Fruit and Mutated Sunflower Seeds he held were some kind of High-level Heavenly Materials?

But upon second thought, he found it irrelevant—whether they were High-level Heavenly Materials or not, they were of no use to him, so selling them now for a Dark Purple Quality Item felt like turning trash into treasure, regardless of any loss or gain.

Moreover, Zhang Yanhang thought that the current situation was a ’now or never’ deal. It was hard to come across a sucker, and he would feel remiss if he didn’t fleece her thoroughly, especially considering the female Ghost who had long coveted the Xuanyin Fruit.

The female Ghost had always wanted to obtain the Xuanyin Fruit, but unfortunately, she would never have a chance again.

More importantly, he didn’t feel he would necessarily lose out because Zhang Yanhang felt like he had encountered a customer who specifically needed Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that could increase Yang Qi and Yin Qi, which was why they were willing to offer a high price for the Xuanyin Fruit and Mutated Sunflower Seeds.

"Yes, of course!"

Zhou Muxi thought Zhang Yanhang was asking if the transaction would affect her friendship, and naturally, she was completely fine with it.

"Then I’m relieved."

Seeing how readily the other party agreed, Zhang Yanhang thought she probably wouldn’t come after him for a "post-sale service" feeling swindled after the deal.