Chapter 850: Westhound Tomb
Zu An was stunned. He said with a chuckle, “Then I probably wouldn’t die. Life is so amazing, and I have so many beauties waiting for me to be with them. I haven’t had enough of living yet.”
Mi Li was speechless. She looked at him silently. But in the end, she scoffed, “What else was I expecting from you?”
Zu An couldn’t help but ask, “Master empress, what’s up with you? You’ve been acting a bit strange ever since we entered this dungeon. You’re always preoccupied about something, and you suddenly asked me to become your disciple. And now, you’re asking me these strange things?”
Mi Li shook her head. “Now isn’t yet the time. You’ll know when it is.” Zu An wanted to continue asking her, but Mi Li asked impatiently, “Are you done? The other party is getting closer and closer to the floating continents. Are you going to head out or not?”
“Head out?” Zu An gave the floating platforms a troubled look. “But we don’t have the privilege of testing out the platforms one by one…”
“Who said we have to test them out? Also, do they really think they’ll succeed purely through brute force?” Mi Li harrumphed. Her voice was full of disdain.
As if to prove her words, miserable screams filled the air as she spoke. Many of the deathsworn soldiers fell from the sky, and even with the emperor’s abilities, he couldn’t save all of them. Two deathsworn soldiers fell into the mist.
There was an uproar on the other island. Zu An looked over and saw that many of the deathsworn soldiers were stuck at a certain point. They couldn’t make it past that point no matter what they tried.
They were all incredibly anxious. Some of them were scared by their companions falling and were in a hurry to come back, while some were thinking about the patterns of the floating platforms.
“Let’s go.” Mi Li paused for a moment, then added, “Make sure you immediately go wherever I tell you to. You can’t show any hesitation.”
“Alright, alright, I get it already.” Zu An grabbed Bi Linglong’s hand and said to her, “Let’s go as well.”
Bi Linglong was a bit hesitant. “They have so many people, but they still haven’t succeeded. If it’s just the two of us…”
Zu An replied seriously, “Trust me!”
Mi Li continuously rolled her eyes. This brat always used the things she taught him to court girls. It really was irritating.
When she saw how calm Zu An was, Bi Linglong gently bit her lip. She voiced her agreement, then followed him while holding his hand.
When he saw his subordinates’ confused behavior, Zhao Ruizhi felt a headache. He noticed movement on the other side and saw that Zu An and Bi Linglong were about to give it a try. He sneered, having already watched the situation for a while. The floating platforms on either end moved in different patterns. Trying to imitate their side’s trials would simply be courting death.
When he pictured Zu An taking a step but falling from the sky, Zhao Ruizhi grinned. That hateful brat was finally going to die. But when his hand shifted to the two individuals’ interlocked fingers, that bit of joy immediately vanished.
He had already served as an emperor for so many years. What kind of beauty hadn’t he met in his life? He obviously wouldn’t feel something like love for Bi Linglong. However, to a certain degree, Bi Linglong was his woman, his exclusive property. Only he alone in this world was allowed to touch her. Yet another man actually dared to be so affectionate with her in front of him! His masculine desire to dominate filled him with burning flames of jealousy.
You have successfully trolled Zhao Han for +365 +365 +365…
When Zu An saw the Rage points, he reached out his arm and pulled Bi Linglong into his embrace. Then, he shot Zhao Ruizhi a provocative look.
Zhao Ruizhi nearly exploded with anger. He could only look away expressionlessly.
Bi Linglong blushed, but she knew what Zu An was thinking. If it had been any other time, she would definitely have gotten angry. However, the two of them could die at any moment. She sighed and let him do what he wanted. She had no idea that another woman was helping her reprimand Zu An at that moment.
Mi Li said with a cold expression, “Put away those damn thoughts of yours and focus on what I’m telling you! We’re all doomed if you take even a single wrong step!”
“Okay.” Zu An didn’t dare to act carelessly either. He pricked up his ears and listened.
“From guimei to wuwang, wuwang to dayou, dayou to gutongren…” Mi Li said slowly.
“Stop, stop, stop!” Zu An quickly exclaimed. “Please speak human!”
Mi Li was speechless. When he saw how she was almost steaming with anger, Zu An quickly explained, “I know you taught me a similar chant when you changed my movement technique, but I really don’t know much about these divinatory trigrams. That means I’ll have to spend some time thinking about which way to go. Didn’t you say we don’t have any room for hesitation or delay, that a single misstep will ruin everything? That’s why you should just tell me whether to go forward, backward, left, or right.”
Mi Li stared at him. A while later, she sighed deeply. “If it were any other time, I would’ve made sure to beat the crap out of you.” Even so, she changed her way of speaking, giving him simple directions of forward, backward, left, and right.
Zu An quickly climbed up with Bi Linglong. Sometimes, he would step on several floating platforms in a row; sometimes he would make a huge detour in another direction. Sometimes, he would advance three steps and take two steps back.
Bi Linglong still trembled with fear at first, worried that they would fall like King Qi Manor’s people, yet Zu An was always able to bring them to a safe and correct direction. She couldn’t help but look at the man at her side. He really was becoming more and more mysterious.
A breeze blew past, and Zu An seemed like an immortal that moved amidst clouds. He looked confident and graceful. Bi Linglong blushed.
…
The other party also noticed what was happening on Zu An’s side. Zhao Ruizhi and the others had been waiting for him to fall, yet Zu An didn’t encounter any troubles at all.
Zhao Ruizhi was angry at first, but he quickly suppressed such useless emotions. Then, he carefully studied Zu An’s movements. “Huh? That seems to be the five elements eight trigrams[1] path…”
He began to think to himself. Even though the rise and fall of the platforms was different for each side, with his knowledge and resourcefulness, finding out the solution with that piece of enlightenment wasn’t too hard.
“But something isn’t right. If you follow this movement path, you’ll run out of places to go soon.” Zhao Ruizhi immediately noticed a problem.
On the other hand, Zu An quickly faced an important choice. “Take three steps to the left!” Mi Li said coldly.
Zu An was alarmed, because there was nothing there. Below that empty space was the dangerous pink mist. He wondered if Mi Li had made a mistake, but Mi Li urgently insisted, “Hurry, there’s no time!”
Zu An’s mind moved quickly. He suddenly recalled how Mi Li had asked him if he was willing if she asked him to die. Even though his reply back then had been that he wasn’t willing, he suddenly understood why she had asked him that. In that instant, he rushed three steps to the left.
Bi Linglong cried out in alarm. She grabbed tightly onto Zu An, as if she wanted to stop him from ending his own life. However, how could she compare to Zu An in strength? She was instead dragged along too. She closed her eyes and awaited death.
But then, she was shocked to discover that the two of them hadn’t continued to fall, but instead stood firmly in midair. No, she could sense that she was stepping on something solid.
Is this… a floating platform? She quickly realized what was happening. Then, she looked at Zu An in amazement. How did he know about this?
Zhao Ruizhi’s eyes narrowed. Then, they lit up. “So that was it! Aha!”
He was starting to even admire Zu An. That kid really was a talent. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the heart of a true subject within him, so he couldn’t be used.
…
Up in the air, the Zu An everyone was admiring was currently showering Mi Li in praise. “Master empress, you really are OP! You’re the light, you’re the way, you’re an everlasting legend…”
Mi Li felt a strange chill when she heard all those cheesy compliments. “Enough, enough already. Just keep going.” Even so, her grin gave away her joy. It wasn’t really because of the praise, but rather that he had chosen to trust her in that moment of crisis.
Just like that, under her instructions, Zu An climbed up one step after another. He arrived on the nearest floating continent soon afterward.
“It’s so beautiful!” Bi Linglong cried out in amazement. After all, the world below was full of death, while this was a world of pleasant meadows and fragrant flowers. There was even immortal mist lingering in the area. Under the rays of the sun, the distant golden palace and the white jade pillars looked grand and magnificent. It felt as if they had arrived in an absolute wonderland.
When he saw such a fantasy scene, which had previously only existed in dramas and games, before him, Zu An couldn’t help but ask Mi Li, “Master empress, are there really daoist immortals in this world?”
Mi Li floated over. She raised her head toward the grand palace. Her eyes were full of mysterious sorrow as she answered, “The universe is boundless. Who dares to claim that there are no immortals in this world? But all of this is nothing more than a fabrication.”
“Fabrication?” Zu An was confused.
“Do you know where we are?” Mi Li asked.
“Isn’t it a new dungeon?” Zu An asked probingly. “From the looks of it, it seems like some sacred mountain from the legends.”
Mi Li shook her head. “This is the Qin people’s ancestral court, Westhound Tomb.”
. Bagua ?