Chapter 860: F***** Up
Mi Li rolled her eyes. “Why would I need a disciple’s help? Your master is someone who can dominate the entire world; why would I end up needing your help? Just take care of yourself.”
Zu An knew there was no point in asking any more if she didn’t want to talk about it. He could only say, “Regardless, you should understand that now, in any situation, you aren’t alone; I’m here too.”
Mi Li waved her hand dismissively. “I get it, I get it. When did you suddenly begin to nag like a granny?”
Bi Linglong watched their interactions with a weird expression. For some reason, she felt as if these two really weren’t like master and disciple, but more like… Forget it, how is that possible? I’m overthinking.
Their group continued onward. Bi Linglong looked behind her from time to time. “Ah Zu, I feel uneasy. Shouldn’t the emperor already have caught up after how much time we spent here?”
Mi Li responded, “They were trapped by that immortal peach illusion. They might even have already all died there. Of course they won’t catch up to us.”
“Immortal peach illusion?” Bi Linglong was confused. She had seen those large and juicy peaches herself back then, and all of them had smelled incredible. She’d thought that they were definitely precious fruits.
“The place we were in before, of course. Those ugly skull-like fruits, those blood-sucking things… Not only would you not be able to prolong your life if you ate them, you might be sucked dry on the spot,” Mi Li replied.
Bi Linglong was horrified. She had already been in total awe toward Mi Li’s knowledge because of their interactions over their short time together so far. She trusted Mi Li’s words. When she thought about how she had been completely infatuated by those peaches back then, if not because Zu An had brought her away, she might have already eaten those poisonous fruits.
She looked at Zu An in surprise after having those thoughts. This guy was incredibly greedy, and yet he had actually been able to retain his composure unlike everyone else. Which side of him was the real Zu An?
Zu An said, “I trust that with the emperor’s cultivation and temperament, he would be able to break free even if he were temporarily trapped by those peaches. That’s why we shouldn’t place our hopes on the immortal peaches really having killed him.”
Mi Li nodded in praise. “You’re surprisingly cautious. Not bad, not bad. This will allow you to live longer.” Then, she yawned and said, “I’ve already been outside for too long, so I’m going to sleep. Call me if there’s anything.” She disappeared into a wisp of smoke and entered the Tai’e Sword.
Bi Linglong stared, dazed. She looked at Zu An’s sword and asked, “Your master is usually inside of that?”
“Mmhm.” Zu An gently caressed the sword. “She’s my master, but also my friend. She’s probably one of the people I trust the most in the world.”
It seemed that it was still extremely draining for Mi Li to be out for too long. He had to help her make another body. Speaking of, was the premonition she had mentioned about obtaining one of the materials talking about this dungeon?
“Brat, stop touching it randomly like that!” Mi Li’s unhappy voice suddenly rang out from inside the Tai’e Sword.
Zu An pulled his fingers back from the sword guiltily. “I was touching the sword; it’s not like I was touching you.”
“Whatever; you’re not allowed to do that. You’re way too cunning, so who knows what you’re actually thinking about?” Mi Li harrumphed.
Zu An was speechless. Bi Linglong couldn’t help but laugh, commenting, “Your relationship really is quite special.”
Zu An replied with a smile, “It’s different from other master and disciple relationships.”
Bi Linglong asked out of curiosity, “How did you two meet? Why is she inside your sword?”
What she really wanted to ask was if Mi Li knew about the things that had happened between her and Zu An, but she was too embarrassed to ask about that. As such, she could only ask in a roundabout way.
Zu An laughed and said, “That’s a really long story…”
…
The two of them chatted for a while, and time passed quickly. Eventually, they stopped just before a cliff’s edge before they realized it. They were already practically at the end of the first floating continent. The second floating continent was just a hundred zhang in front of them.
Zu An tried to see if he could move across. Jumping a short distance was fine, but any further and flight would obviously be restricted. He looked down from the edge of the cliff. There were no floating platforms like those they had taken on the way up.
“How do we get up there?” he mused, feeling a huge headache.
Just then, Bi Linglong spoke. “Ah Zu, hurry and come take a look over here.”
Zu An walked over when he heard her. He saw Bi Linglong crouching, pulling at some weeds. He used the Fire Phoenix to burn away all of the weeds, exposing a large array of stone slabs.
“This place is…” Zu An was surprised. The stone slabs’ material was extremely special, not suffering any damage even after coming into contact with his flames. They were made of a shiny, dark material that resembled black jade. A layer of light flickered across their surface. They were definitely something extraordinary.
Some of the stone slabs had some circular holes in them, but Zu An and Bi Linglong had no idea what they were supposed to be used for. Many of the smaller slabs had some fine lines on them, and it almost seemed as if there were some type of pattern to it all, but they couldn’t really figure it out. Some slabs had designs on them, but they looked as if they had been scrambled up.
“A puzzle?” Zu An’s eyes lit up.
“Oh? This seems to be a star atlas.” Neither of them noticed that Mi Li had already come out of the Tai’e Sword. Bi Linglong jumped in fright, but Zu An was already used to her unpredictable appearances.
“Star atlas?” Zu An hurriedly asked.
“Do you still remember the words on that stele we found underneath that weird fish temple?” Mi Li said.
“…left, Azure Dragon First Monarch, 51st year; right, White Tiger War General, 21st year; up, Vermilion Bird Light of Tombs, 31st year; down, Black Tortoise Holder of Wisdom, first year; the noble lunar moon at the center…” Those words appeared in Zu An’s head. His eyes widened in understanding when he looked at the stone slabs before him again. “I see!”
Just as Zu An was about to move the stone slabs, Mi Li frowned. “Careful, we have company.” Even as she spoke, she had already turned invisible.
Zu An quickly turned around. If it were any normal person, Mi Li definitely wouldn’t have been so apprehensive. She would just silence them if she had to. That meant there was only one possibility as to who it might be…
Sure enough, loud laughter echoed through the place as a voice exclaimed, “What a surprise! Sometimes, you can do your best to look for something and not find it, but it’ll show up right in front of you when you stop looking!”
The nearby tree leaves rustled from the sounds of laughter. Bi Linglong’s face paled. She grabbed Zu An’s sleeve and said with a shaking voice, “Ah Zu, let’s just jump if there’s no other choice. We can at least pass on painlessly that way.”
As a part of the royal family, she understood just how vicious the emperor could be. With everything that had happened between the two of them, there was no way they would have an easy death if they ended up in the emperor’s hands.
Zu An gently patted her hand. “Don’t worry, we’re not at that point yet.”
Bi Linglong was stunned. She really couldn’t figure out why he could still remain calm in this situation, but his composed voice had a strange calming ability. Her pounding heart also gradually relaxed a bit.
A bright yellow figure vaguely appeared on the horizon. Then, with a flicker and a streak of afterimages, he instantly appeared in front of the two of them.
Zu An sighed inwardly. This level of speed was something the emperor had even after this world had suppressed him. His crazy cultivation really was enough to leave Zu An in despair…
“Didn’t the two of you wish to die together as lovers? Too bad, that’s no longer your decision.” Zhao Ruizhi looked coldly at Bi Linglong’s hand. Their conversation earlier hadn’t escaped his ears. Now that he was close enough, the emperor believed that the lives of the pair were already in his grasp.
“Does your majesty plan to kill us?” Zu An sighed.
“Kill you?” Zhao Ruizhi sneered. “Letting you die just like that would be letting you off too easily. I’m going to castrate you and bring you back to the palace, then make you scrub the latrines day and night. Then, each year, I’ll chop off a part of your body to make you fully experience the fear of death. Finally, when your four limbs and five sensory organs are gone, I’ll throw you into the feces pit and keep you alive through medicine. Then, you can experience the palace eunuchs’ urine day after day…”
Bi Linglong’s knuckles turned white from how tight her fists were clenched. At several points, she wanted to throw up. She regretted not having decided to die earlier, because she couldn’t even choose to die now.
Zu An was also speechless. This bastard really is something else. Is this type of punishment something a human can think up? With how things were, there was no point in trying to converse politely. He said coldly, “Unfortunately, not only can you not do that to me, you must beg me.”
“Me? Beg you?” Zhao Ruizhi roared with laughter, as if he had heard the world’s greatest joke.
He Li and the others finally caught up while gasping for breath. They all looked at Zu An sympathetically when they heard his laughable words. Was this guy scared so badly that he had already gone crazy?
Zhao Ruizhi’s smile faded as he coldly said, “What an absurd joke. I’m going to castrate you right now. I want to see what you’ll do about it.”
Zu An had just been about to say something, but with just a clench of the emperor’s hand, it was hard to even breathe, let alone speak.
“I know you’re good at speaking, and you might actually have some strange idea to save your life, so I don’t want to hear anything.” Zhao Ruizhi snorted.
Zu An was speechless. Damn it all, I fucked up!