It was a long time before the miserable screaming in the forest finally stopped.
Within it, three figures darted back and forth, avoiding the strikes from a bamboo stick again and again.
Continuing this further was meaningless. Mi Li tossed the bamboo stick aside with a satisfied expression. âNot bad, kid! You managed to split into three copies quite quickly. I expected it to take you at least a few weeks.â
Zu An gave her a disbelieving look.
Excuse me?!
Did you plan on beating my ass for that long?
Mi Li realized sheâd slipped up when she saw his furious expression. She said guiltily, âHow else could you learn how to split into three copies that quickly?â
Zu An mulled over her words. They did make some sense. The result of it was good at least, although he was still aching all over.
âDoesnât your Phoenix Nirvana Sutra require you to get beaten up in order to activate? Iâm helping you with that as well,â Mi Li added helpfully.
âThank you so, so much!â Zu An said resentfully.
One day, Iâll get my revenge and give you a good beatingâ¦
Mi Li coughed. âBy the way, thereâs something else I need to talk to you about. You canât just rely on getting beaten up to cultivate either. You should find some ki stones to aid your cultivation.â
Zu An shook his head. âI canât. Iâve tried it before. I canât absorb ki from ki stones.â
âYou canât absorb ki?â Mi Li frowned. âThatâs probably a special characteristic of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra. Iâd advise you to find some treasures to ingest, then. There are several pill masters who can make ki pills. Iâve heard of some cultivation techniques that prevent direct absorption of ki from ki stones as well, but Iâve never heard of any that negate the use of ki pills or treasures.â
Zu Anâs eyes lit up. Thatâs right! Arenât the Ki Fruits I get from the lottery similar to ki pills? Why didnât I think of this before?
Iâll have to ask Ji Dengtu about this later. He is a divine physician after all, so he should have some of these pills.
Mi Li spoke again. âIâve helped you seal away Old Miâs cultivation, but at the expense of all of the effort I spent detoxifying my poison. Iâll have to start all over again from the beginning⦠Hmph, I really wonder if I owed you something in my past life! Iâm going to sleep again. Be careful.â
Even though he knew that she helped him because their fates were closely intertwined, Zu An was still moved by this. âBig sis empress, youâve always been the one helping me. Is there something I can help you out with?â
âHelp me?â Mi Li sniffed. âI donât need it.â
Her soul body began to dissipate. However, just as she was about to disappear completely, her figure condensed again. âEven though I donât think you can do anything for me right now, your luck is honestly kind of ridiculous. Who knows, you might just be able to help me out somehow in the future.
âIf you have a chance, help me look for some One Life Water, an Agate of Enlightenment, and a Five-Colored Springflower. These are all essential ingredients I require to reconstruct a body after I fully detoxify the âRed Tears of Lady Xiangâ.â
Zu An immediately brightened up. âYou can reforge your body with just these three items?â
Mi Li snorted. ââJust three itemsâ? Do you know how rare these items are?!
âFor example, to find a Five-Colored Springflower, we first have to find an extremely rare Five-Colored Springtree with lotus-like leaves. âSpring begins and jade flowers bloom, spring ends and flowers fall; summer begins and red flowers emerge, summer ends and flowers wither; autumn begins and white flowers appear, autumn ends and flowers decline; winter begins and purple flowers sprout, but all things end with the descent of snow.ââ
Zu An was puzzled. âArenât there only four colors mentioned? Why is it called a five-colored flower?â
âI donât know either.â Mi Li said dejectedly.
âYou donât even know?â Zu An was blown away. Are you kidding me? This is vital information!
Mi Li grew defensive. âItâs because Iâve never seen this divine tree either. Iâve only read about it from ancient texts.â
Zu An stared at her, speechless.
Mi Li used to be the empress of the Qin Dynasty! The entire world had practically been hers! If even someone like her had never laid eyes on this before, did it even exist? How was he supposed to find something like that?
âHow do you know that it can reforge your body if youâve never even seen it before?â Zu An asked curiously.
Mi Li snorted. âYou donât need to worry about that. I just know.â
Zu An clicked his tongue. Women always loved pretending to be mysterious.
Mi Li sighed deeply. âOne Life Water and the Agate of Enlightenment are also legendary items. Not only do you need to possess a significant level of strength in order to obtain them, you need tremendous luck as well. Aside from these three things, there is another legendary item that is even harder to find.â
âThereâs something else? What is it?â Zu An asked.
Mi Li shook her head. âConsidering your current strength, it would be useless even if I told you.â
Zu An had nothing to say in reply.
When he sensed the discouragement in her voice, he couldnât help trying to console her. âBig sis empress, donât worry! Others might have a hard time finding these items, but have you forgotten who I am? Itâs no problem at all! Iâll find them for you.â
Mi Li was surprised by the confidence in his voice. âHave you heard about these items before? Or maybe you even know where to find them?â
Zu An shook his head. âIâve never heard about any of them before.â
Mi Li was so irritated that she laughed instead. âThen where the heck is all this confidence coming from?!â
You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 250 Rage points!
Zu An patted his chest. âDidnât I say I was the protagonist? Iâm the freaking king of plot armor!â
Which protagonist in his previous world didnât have the craziest luck? How could his luck be any worse than theirs?
Mi Li was speechless. She didnât feel like talking to him anymore, and went into hibernation. She didnât want to lose any more brain cells.
After she had gone back to sleep, Zu An went into the forest in search of his Taiâe Sword, and hid the Poisonous Prick in his shoe.
He walked over to Old Miâs corpse. Staring at the mummified corpse, he said with a sigh, âWhatever. Even though it was all a scheme, you did help me after all. Iâll let you rest in peace.â
He dug a grave and buried Old Mi inside. Then, he found Wei Danâs corpse and threw it into the pit as well. âThe two of you fought bitterly over an entire lifetime. Now that itâs all over, you two can keep each other company.â
A thought occurred to him. He took out a case and placed it next to Old Miâs corpse. âOld Mi, Iâve brought back your treasures. Youâre complete now. Live out your next life properly, all right?â
As for Wei Danâs treasures, there was nothing he could do about them.
Perhaps because the corpse was too dried up, or perhaps as a final act of kindness, an embroidered pouch fell out from within Old Miâs clothes.
âHuh?â Zu An immediately recognized it as a storage pouch. His mood brightened immediately. âOld Mi, Old Mi! I didnât expect you to be such a grateful person! Iâll take that, if you donât mind.â
Even though Old Mi didnât seem like the super rich type, for better or for worse, he was still a master rank cultivator. His storage pouch should contain some good stuff.
Unfortunately, he discovered that he couldnât open it at all!
He groped around Wei Danâs body and found another storage pouch. It looked more extravagant than Old Miâs, and probably had better loot as well.
It was a pity that Zu An couldnât open this one either.
Mi Liâs voice rang out beside his ear. âStop wasting your time. There are master rank soul imprints on them. You canât open them unless youâre the owner. Theyâre already dead, so you wonât be able to take anything out, even if there are items inside.â
Zu An was given a sudden fright. âWerenât you sleeping?â
âI havenât fallen asleep yet. Do you have a problem with that?â Mi Li shot back.
Sis, I have absolutely no problem with that. Please, do what you need to do.
âSigh, I need to sleep, but I sense someone approaching. Be careful.â Mi Li let out what seemed like a yawn, and her presence vanished.