Chapter 49.1

ji qingzhou gripped the umbrella tightly, and her eyes stayed on the pattern drawn on it, which was sunset flowers in spring, bright and lovingly inseparable.

the ribs of the umbrella totalled to twenty-eight, light and delicate, while the surface of the umbrella was bright red mirroring a burning fire that surrounded the whole umbrella. it actually was hard for ji qingzhou to stare at such vivid colors for a long time, but she still took a second look at the umbrella’s surface.

she liked it very much. it was eye-catching, and the moment it fell on her hand, she sensed a sort of familiarity, as if this umbrella rightfully belonged to her.

the handy magic treasure was like a right arm for a cultivator, and now ji qingzhou felt like the umbrella was a part of her body, something she could move at her whim.

then again, where did shen rongyu get the magic treasure?

ji qingzhou gently stroked the umbrella’s surface with her bare hands and traced the exquisite falling flowers painted on it with her fingertips. she said to shen rongyu, “xiao yu-shixiong, it’s pretty.”

shen rongyu’s eyes stayed on the umbrella in her hand and he pursed his lips. when ji qingzhou got the umbrella, he knew that she was very compatible with it.

his eyes flashed imperceptibly. from his perspective, the inseparable falling flowers on the umbrella’s surface morphed into a scroll portraying hell with evil skeletons and the bubbling sea of blood. when he looked closely once more, the umbrella’s surface was still decorated with fresh falling flowers. the brush strokes when it was painted featured a short tune in one spring afternoon.

“this umbrella is special, so you have to pay a certain price to use it,” shen rongyu informed her. “zhouzhou, in the world of cultivation, using an umbrella as a magic treasure is considered unlucky.”

“why?” ji qingzhou was not superstitious, so she didn’t care about these things. she tentatively tried to open the umbrella.

shen rongyu’s gaze moved with her hand touching the umbrella frame. he asked, “no more changing it?”

“i won’t change it.” once ji qingzhou decided something, she would never change her mind. since shen rongyu gave her this umbrella and she liked it very much, why would she change to another?

“you will naturally know the answer when you compete against each other in the magic class,” shen rongyu said calmly.

“en.” ji qingzhou couldn’t care less about these things. it was nice as long as she had a magic treasure to use.

as she opened the umbrella, all the flowers seemed to rustle down. the fire on the umbrella burned, but she hid under it, blocking the light around. it was as if there was a shadow in the corner for her to escape in.

shen rongyu remained silent. his eyes fell on ji qingzhou’s face, his gaze deepening.

ji qingzhou didn’t dare to meet his eyes, so she quickly lowered the umbrella in her hand to block her front, blocking shen rongyu’s view of her.

through an umbrella, her slender figure was cut out in the sunlight.

shen rongyu called out to her, “zhouzhou.”

she moved her umbrella a little away, and behind the flakes of falling flowers, she embarrassingly revealed her eyes, which were as clear and limpid as glass.

“xiao yu-shixiong?” ji qingzhou asked, “what is it?”

shen rongyu said, “you can use your magic power to resonate with it.”

even though ji qingzhou hadn’t tried to resonate with the umbrella, she was sure that she could communicate with it.

sure enough, just as she released magic power in her hand, it quickly merged into the handle of the umbrella.

she learned without anyone teaching her. she drove the umbrella into the air and let it spin in the breeze.

great, it can also be used as an electric fan, ji qingzhou thought.

however, using magic power to wield the umbrella and blow cool breeze was too extravagant because her magic power was being quickly absorbed by it. her meager magic power soon bottomed out.

shen rongyu held down her wrist. ji qingzhou had exhausted her magic power while playing, and the umbrella fell in turn. shen rongyu picked it up and put it away with one hand.

ji qingzhou had so much fun and forgot that she had limited magic power. she lowered her head and let shen rongyu clasp her wrist to help her absorb spirit qi and recover.

“burial snow has a name, so shouldn’t this umbrella have one too?” ji qingzhou flexed her fingers, and pulled her hand out of shen rongyu’s palm after replenishing her magic power.

“you don’t need to name it.” shen rongyu’s tone was light.

“xiao yu-shixiong, this is my umbrella,” ji qingzhou said stubbornly.

hearing this, shen rongyu gave a low laugh. he stared at her and said, “okay, what name are you going to give it, zhouzhou?”

ji qingzhou absolutely lacked the talent for naming things, so after a short contemplation, she uttered. “sansan1.”

shen rongyu: “…”

he agreed, “okay.”

ji qingzhou held her umbrella quite happily. she thought she would never have a magic treasure, but in the end, shen rongyu gave one to her out of nowhere.

in between shen rongyu’s lines, she figured that the umbrella was special, but she didn’t know what was special about it.

regardless, she didn’t care much about that. what concerned her more was —

“xiao yu-shixiong, i’ll give you the spirit stones that you paid for it.” ji qingzhou dug into her small purse and took out all her savings.

“no—” need. shen rongyu turned his face sideways, but before he finished his sentence, ji qingzhou had already brought a handful of sparkling spirit stones in front of him.

the spirit stones were bright and shiny. these were all ji qingzhou’s savings — she hid her spirit stones in her small purse, and except for the last time she went to the market with him and bought a jade pendant, she spent a little on the stone material, but she didn’t spend the rest and saved them.

“xiao yu-shixiong, it’s so beautiful, so it must be costly, right?” ji qingzhou took out her spirit stones and said while at it. “tell me how expensive it is, and i’ll give you my share when the sect distributes subsidies.”

in the end, she even found out the three coins she had accumulated before coming to xuanyun sect. although she didn’t know the conversion rate between mortal coins and spirit stones, she just gave everything to shen rongyu. this umbrella was definitely more expensive than boss yang’s sword.

footnote:

1 sansan/san (pinyin) – literally umbrella