Chapter 861: The Stele Inscriptions’ Secrets
How could Zu An have predicted that the emperor would do such a thing? He couldn’t even say a thing. His entire plan had fallen through. He immediately panicked when he saw that the emperor’s hand was going to drop like a guillotine. You can cut off my head, but not my little head!
He quickly called out to Mi Li, “Master empress, save me!”
Mi Li harrumphed. “Hmph, let’s see if you’ll ever think yourself clever again.”
She had just been about to lend Zu An a helping hand. Even though each time she used her strength it would eat up a severe amount of soul power, and even though the emperor’s cultivation was so ridiculous, she couldn’t just watch Zu An throw his life away.
Fortunately, Bi Linglong spoke up just then. “You can’t kill him!”
Zhao Ruizhi was so annoyed he instead laughed. “Oh? Are you going to plead in his place?”
He Li nodded in agreement. The crown princess was usually so sharp; why had she suddenly become so stupid? Anyone else could speak out for Zu An’s sake right now, except you! Isn’t pleading for your male adulterer just adding fuel to the fire?
Bi Linglong’s face paled when she sensed the pressure in the emperor’s eyes. Despite that, she still straightened her back and said, “Because only he alone knows how to reach the palace over there. You’ve sought out immortality your entire life; there’s no way you would let this chance go.”
Even though she didn’t know that the other group had also obtained some ancient text, after spending so many years in the palace, she understood how the emperor thought. She had always been a smart girl, so she immediately realized that only immortality could temporarily hold back the wrath Zhao Ruizhi felt toward Zu An. Sure enough, it worked.
Even though Zhao Ruizhi was indeed convinced, he wasn’t willing to admit it. “Hah, do you think I need someone like him to get up there?” Despite those words, his hand stopped, and he instead threw Zu An off to the side.
He raised his head and looked at the floating palace. With a tap of his toes, he instantly vanished, dashing over. Even though that highest peak was a few hundred zhang from the island they were on, for someone with his cultivation, it wasn’t hard to reach at all.
However, his figure suddenly began to plummet shortly afterward. His expression changed. He grabbed toward the island he had taken off from. An invisible claw of air grabbed the edge of the floating continent. A moment later, he instantly returned to his original location.
“Flight is still restricted,” Zhao Ruizhi muttered with a gloomy expression. Fortunately, he had been prepared for this, or else he really might not have been able to come back.
“Your majesty, there seems to be a mechanism here. It might be the solution to crossing over.” He Li quickly came over to earn brownie points when he noticed that the emperor didn’t seem to be too happy. He pointed at the stone slabs on the ground.
Zhao Ruizhi’s eyes lit up as he walked over to the stone slabs. However, even with all of his knowledge, he was still completely lost. “This could be a diagram of the heavens, but why is it so messy? Could it be that it needs to be pieced together in a certain way…?”
All sorts of ideas entered his head, but in the end, he rejected every single one of them. He suddenly turned around to look at Zu An and asked, “Can you solve this mechanism?”
Zu An rubbed his neck and replied indifferently, “I can, but you’ll kill me as soon as I do so. Why would I bother?”
Zhao Ruizhi’s eyes narrowed. “Are you threatening me?”
“I’m not threatening you, I’m just telling the truth.” Zu An was wondering just how the emperor had incapacitated him so quickly. Why couldn’t he do anything in return? It really was a pain.
Mi Li’s voice said in his head, “His cultivation is indeed profound. After the master rank, every single rank is a huge transformation. He’s already at the earth immortal rank now, so many of his attacks are already beyond your understanding. It’s only natural that you couldn’t retaliate at all.”
Zu An sighed. “This kind of powerlessness really sucks.”
Mi Li said, “Since you’ve already called me your master, I should obviously take responsibility as your master. I’ll try to explain the commonly used methods people in his realm use in terms you can understand later. How much of it you can understand will depend on you. But with your aptitude, at the very least, you won’t be as helpless as you were just now.”
Zu An asked wryly, “Why didn’t you teach me a bit earlier then?”
“If you went up against people at his level, whether or not I taught you these things wouldn’t make a huge difference. It would just be about whether you died sooner or later. That’s why I didn’t think it made a difference whether I taught you or not.” Mi Li harrumphed. “Are you going to learn or not?”
“I will, I will!” Zu An immediately exclaimed apologetically. “Thank you, gorgeous master!”
Mi Li’s brows rose. “What did you call me?”
Zu An explained, “You know what happened between me and Zhao Han’s wife. She’s an empress too, so I think about her whenever I think of the word empress. Wouldn’t it be a bit disrespectful if I called you that? That’s why I changed it a bit. Master is gorgeous anyway, so I’m being honest when I call you that.”
The corners of Mi Li’s lips couldn’t help but tilt upward. “It’s just master; you’re not allowed to add any other words.”
“Yes, gorgeous master.” Zu An looked completely sincere. Mi Li was left speechless.
Zhao Ruizhi said just then, “If you can grant me eternal life, our past grudges will be completely meaningless. I won’t care about them anymore and will instead let you live. If you don’t believe me, I can make a vow.”
He sneered. Chopping off your limbs and turning you into human swine is still letting you live, no? That won’t count as violating the vow.
“A single word from your majesty is worth nine sacred cauldrons. Of course I believe them!” Zu An was overjoyed on the surface, but he sneered inwardly. I’d be an idiot if I believed your damn words.
But since both sides had ulterior motives, they came to an agreement in the end.
Zu An walked over to the stone slab array. “These describe the stars in the sky. As long as they’re arranged in the correct pattern, it should work.” He quickly moved around the stone slabs while speaking. Sure enough, the stone slabs could slide up, down, left, and right.
“…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…” He recalled the characters from the stele and gradually matched the stone slab puzzle to the corresponding shapes.
When he put the last slab in order, a clear sound of something starting up followed. The slab mechanism, and even the ground beneath it, quaked. Those present looked around, but after the slight tremble, there weren’t any other changes.
He Li remarked with a snicker, “Sir Zu, is this the so-called mechanism that solves our problems?”
Zhao Ruizhi’s gaze became fierce when he looked at Zu An.
However, Zu An didn’t pay them any attention. He carefully observed the slabs on the ground. His eyes shifted to the circular depression at the center of each stone slab. He thought of something, then took out the eighty-one pearls and arranged them into the depressions. Sure enough, they were a perfect fit.
Cracking noises emerged from underground. The stone slabs continued to rise and fall. Then, some of the stone slabs sank into the ground, while some other slabs slowly rose up. In the end, they formed several rectangular pillars. The new stone pillars had different diagrams on them, some resembling beasts, some resembling astrological signs. Eventually, the rumbling finally stopped, and the mechanism became still again.
Zu An frowned. Is the mechanism still not fully activated? He tried to move the pillars, but discovered that even though they couldn’t be moved at all, they could be rotated. Furthermore, when one was rotated, it would also make some of the other pillars rotate as well.
“So that was it…” Zu An realized what was happening, but he frowned soon afterward. Even though he had a rough idea of the solution, he didn’t know what kind of conditions the pillars had to satisfy. Many of the characters on the stele had already been missing.
Zhao Ruizhi suddenly laughed loudly. “So that was it! The heavens are on my side after all! Little bastard, you’ve already lost your value to me!” He gave Zu An a malicious look, as if he would attack at a moment’s notice. He hadn’t even made that vow anyway, so he didn’t have anything to worry about.
Zu An remained completely calm, as if he had expected as much. “I advise you not to burn your bridges so quickly. Even if you know the correct pattern, you can’t open this mechanism without me.” He had already realized that since he had found part of the solution on his way here, how could those people not have found anything? They had definitely found their own answers.
Zhao Ruizhi hesitated. He didn’t immediately take action and instead ordered He Li, “Match the diagrams based on the stele inscriptions we found in those ruins.” He had already made his decision to castrate Zu An as soon as He Li solved the mechanism.