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. āNot bad, kid! You managed to split into three copies quite quickly. I expected it to take you at least a few weeks.ā
Zu An gave her a disbelieving look.
Did you plan on beating my ass for that long?
Mi Li realized sheād slipped up when she saw his furious expression. She said guiltily, āHow else could you learn how to split into three copies that quickly?ā
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.
āDoesnāt your Phoenix Nirvana Sutra require you to get beaten up in order to activate? Iām helping you with that as well,ā Mi Li added helpfully.
āThank you so, so much!ā Zu An said resentfully.
One day, Iāll get my revenge and give you a good beating...
Mi Li coughed. āBy the way, thereās something else I need to talk to you about. You canāt just rely on getting beaten up to cultivate either. You should find some ki stones to aid your cultivation.ā
Zu An shook his head. āI canāt. Iāve tried it before. I canāt absorb ki from ki stones.ā
āYou canāt absorb ki?ā Mi Li frowned. āThatās probably a special characteristic of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra. Iād advise you to find some treasures to ingest, then. There are several pill masters who can make ki pills. Iāve heard of some cultivation techniques that prevent direct absorption of ki from ki stones as well, but Iāve never heard of any that negate the use of ki pills or treasures.ā
Zu Anās eyes lit up.Ā Thatās right! Arenāt the Ki Fruits I get from the lottery similar to ki pills? Why didnāt I think of this before?
Iāll 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. āIāve helped you seal away Old Miās cultivation, but at the expense of all of the effort I spent detoxifying my poison. Iāll have to start all over again from the beginning⦠Hmph, I really wonder if I owed you something in my past life! Iām going to sleep again. Be careful.ā
Even though he knew that she helped him because their fates were closely intertwined, Zu An was still moved by this. āBig sis empress, youāve always been the one helping me. Is there something I can help you out with?ā
āHelp me?ā Mi Li sniffed. āI donāt need it.ā
Her soul body began to dissipate. However, just as she was about to disappear completely, her figure condensed again. āEven though I donāt 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.
āIf 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 āRed Tears of Lady Xiangā.ā
Zu An immediately brightened up. āYou can reforge your body with just these three items?ā
Mi Li snorted. āāJust three itemsā? Do you know how rare these items are?!
āFor example, to find a Five-Colored Springflower, we first have to find an extremely rare Five-Colored Springtree with lotus-like leaves. āSpring 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.āā
Zu An was puzzled. āArenāt there only four colors mentioned? Why is it called a five-colored flower?ā
āI donāt know either.ā Mi Li said dejectedly.
āYou donāt even know?ā Zu An was blown away.Ā Are you kidding me? This is vital information!
Mi Li grew defensive. āItās because Iāve never seen this divine tree either. Iāve only read about it from ancient texts.ā
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?
āHow do you know that it can reforge your body if youāve never even seen it before?ā Zu An asked curiously.
Mi Li snorted. āYou donāt need to worry about that. I just know.ā
Zu An clicked his tongue. Women always loved pretending to be mysterious.
Mi Li sighed deeply. āOne 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.ā
āThereās something else? What is it?ā Zu An asked.
Mi Li shook her head. āConsidering your current strength, it would be useless even if I told you.ā
Zu An had nothing to say in reply.
When he sensed the discouragement in her voice, he couldnāt help trying to console her. āBig sis empress, donāt worry! Others might have a hard time finding these items, but have you forgotten who I am? Itās no problem at all! Iāll find them for you.ā
Mi Li was surprised by the confidence in his voice. āHave you heard about these items before? Or maybe you even know where to find them?ā
Zu An shook his head. āIāve never heard about any of them before.ā
Mi Li was so irritated that she laughed instead. āThen where the heck is all this confidence coming from?!ā
You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 250 Rage points!
Zu An patted his chest. āDidnāt I say I was the protagonist? Iām the freaking king of plot armor!ā
Which protagonist in his previous world didnāt have the craziest luck? How could his luck be any worse than theirs?
Mi Li was speechless. She didnāt feel like talking to him anymore, and went into hibernation. She didnāt want to lose any more brain cells.
After she had gone back to sleep, Zu An went into the forest in search of his Taiāe Sword, and hid the Poisonous Prick in his shoe.
He walked over to Old Miās corpse. Staring at the mummified corpse, he said with a sigh, āWhatever. Even though it was all a scheme, you did help me after all. Iāll let you rest in peace.ā
He dug a grave and buried Old Mi inside. Then, he found Wei Danās corpse and threw it into the pit as well. āThe two of you fought bitterly over an entire lifetime. Now that itās all over, you two can keep each other company.ā
A thought occurred to him. He took out a case and placed it next to Old Miās corpse. āOld Mi, Iāve brought back your treasures. Youāre complete now. Live out your next life properly, all right?ā
As for Wei Danās 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 Miās clothes.
āHuh?ā Zu An immediately recognized it as a storage pouch. His mood brightened immediately. āOld Mi, Old Mi! I didnāt expect you to be such a grateful person! Iāll take that, if you donāt mind.ā
Even though Old Mi didnāt 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 couldnāt open it at all!
He groped around Wei Danās body and found another storage pouch. It looked more extravagant than Old Miās, and probably had better loot as well.
It was a pity that Zu An couldnāt open this one either.
Mi Liās voice rang out beside his ear. āStop wasting your time. There are master rank soul imprints on them. You canāt open them unless youāre the owner. Theyāre already dead, so you wonāt be able to take anything out, even if there are items inside.ā
Zu An was given a sudden fright. āWerenāt you sleeping?ā
āI havenāt fallen asleep yet. Do you have a problem with that?ā Mi Li shot back.
Sis, I have absolutely no problem with that. Please, do what you need to do.
āSigh, I need to sleep, but I sense someone approaching. Be careful.ā Mi Li let out what seemed like a yawn, and her presence vanished.