Chapter 165: Heh, Men!

Seeing that the black-armored general had turned its sight to him, Shi Kun nearly peed his pants. He had lived a life of greatness, being born into a prominent clan, blessed with both looks and talent. There was a bright future ahead of him. 

Am I really going to die in this lousy place like that?

When he thought about how his brawny subordinate was sucked down into a ball by that black-armored general, he began shuddering in fear.

All of a sudden, green light surfaced on Qiao Xueying’s body, then she spurted a mouthful of blood. It was hard to tell what she had done, but she had managed to break free of the restraint rooting her in place. She quickly ran over to Shi Kun’s side and touched his head, and the same green light swiftly suffused his body too.

This was the power of life force, and it had the ability to curb the death aura of the undead.

Qiao Xueying’s face had turned pale, and blood was trailing from the corner of her lips. Clearly, using this power was extremely draining on her.

“Young master, we need to run!” 

There were still another few more seconds before Shi Kun was released from his seal, but before an expert of the black-armored general’s caliber, even a second or two was enough to take their lives. Not daring to waste any time, Qiao Xueying grabbed Shi Kun’s body and immediately ran toward the passageway.

“You’re courting death!” The black-armored general flew into a state of rage and charged toward the duo. 

Looking at the speed of the black-armored general, a hint of despair flashed across Qiao Xueying’s eyes. She gritted her teeth as her face steeled in determination. She knew that it was impossible for her to get away, so she decided to sacrifice herself to buy some time for the young master to escape instead.

Her hair morphed into countless vines that began whipping at the black-armored general. She was already completely depleted, and she was burning her life force here in order to sustain herself.

She considered using her two remaining uses of Moon Reflection here as well. While it wouldn’t allow her to get away from the black-armored general, at the very least, it could buy them some time for the young master to run away.

Her only worry right now was that the young master wouldn’t be able to flee decisively. 

If he insists on standing alongside me to fight the black-armored general, it’s likely that both of us will end up dying here.

But all of a sudden, she felt a force pushing her from behind, sending her flying in the direction of the black-armored general. She had been too focused on defending against the enemy in front of her that her back was unguarded, which resulted in her falling frontward helplessly.

At that moment, Qiao Xueying’s mind went completely blank. The only person behind her was the young master, so there wasn’t even any doubt on who could it be. 

Even so, she was reluctant to let go of that tiny sliver of hope that she might just be mistaken. She still turned around, hoping that she had it all wrong.

And when she finally saw Shi Kun’s frantically fleeing silhouette, she finally descended in despair. It turned out that in Shi Kun’s heart, she was nothing more than a pawn that could be thrown out at any moment in order to block an arrow… 

The black-armored general reached out and wrapped its massive hands around Qiao Xueying’s neck. The force was far greater than what Qiao Xueying could deal with, but it didn’t matter anymore as her heart had already died. 

She closed her eyes and waited for the moment that she was reduced to a dried corpse.

Unexpectedly, nothing happened even after a while later. She opened her eyes, only to see a perplexed look on the face of the black-armored general. To be more exact, its face was hidden in a layer of black mist, but for some reason, she was still able to perceive its feelings.

“Another betrayal scene, huh?” remarked the black-armored general wistfully before sighing deeply. It seemed to have dredged up memories from the distant past. 

Then, it harrumphed coldly and said, “I’ve always looked down on those who dared to betray their comrades. Come back here!”

It raised its other hand and began conjuring black mist, which swiftly revolved to form a black hole directed toward the entrance of the passageway.

Shi Kun was in the midst of fleeing frantically in the passageway when he suddenly felt a powerful force pulling him back from behind. He immediately lost his balance and tumbled a few rounds backward. In his fluster, he whipped out a sword and stabbed it into the walls of the passageway before barely stabilizing himself.

He was astounded by how a wind cultivator like himself was actually utterly helpless before this furious wind pulling him back. He could only desperately grasp onto the handle of the sword to hold his position.

But soon, the suction force grew stronger, causing him to fly in the air. His hands were also gradually slipping from the handle of his sword. In the end, one of his hands couldn’t hold on anymore and slipped off the handle, and he hurriedly reached out to claw at the cavern wall beside him before he could steady himself.

He knew that he would be a goner once he got pulled in, so he could only grit his teeth and hang on. His fingers were starting to bleed from clawing against the rough cavern wall, but he couldn’t care about that right now.

“Looks like you have a strong desire to live, but it’s meaningless.” The black-armored general’s fingers twisted as the suction force grew even greater, determined to pull Shi Kun back.

But all of a sudden, its body stiffened before it exclaimed in a mixture of horror and anger. “How dare you covet the Evanescent Lotus!”

It was in no mood to deal with Shi Kun anymore after the emergency struck. Black mist rose from his back and covered it and its steed before vanishing without a trace. Qiao Xueying, who was in its grasp, was brought away with it.

Shi Kun was still desperately struggling in the passageway with a despaired look in his eyes as he knew that he was swiftly approaching his limits. But all of a sudden, the suction force vanished without a trace, and he fell heavily onto the ground, knocking his face swollen.

Even so, he was delighted by the turn of events. He wasn’t sure what had happened, and he didn’t dare to investigate either. He quickly fumbled to his feet and ran out of the mausoleum desperately. Even when he had finally escaped through the stone doors, he continued running until he was finally several li away.

… 

Meanwhile, Zu An pulled out the Evanescent Lotus before slowly plucking out its petal one after another to feed his wife. There was a pained look on his face. “Honey, do you know what I gave up for your sake? If you treat me badly in the future, you would be worse than a human…”

“Heh, men~” sneered the feminine voice. “Your wife’s life is hanging by a thread, but you’re still dreaming of raising your cultivation. If I was her, my heart would be chilled by your deed.”

“You don’t know shit at all!” cursed Zu An. However, he couldn’t be bothered to explain it since his seal wasn’t anything honorable either.

“How dare you speak to me in such a manner?” said the feminine voice sharply.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +314 Rage.[1]

Zu An was stunned. Is that the name of that mysterious woman? What a queer surname she has. Had I not watched ‘Legend of Mi Yue’[2] in my previous life, I wouldn’t even know how to read that character.

However, he was in no mood to bother about her. He realized that Chu Chuyan couldn’t swallow the petal because she was already unconscious. Recalling how the feminine voice had reminded him that she only had sixty seconds left to live, Zu An didn’t dare to hesitate at all. He first bit the flower petals himself before feeding it to her mouth-to-mouth.

It was a dream of countless men to share a kiss with Chu Chuyan, but Zu An was in no mood to enjoy it at all. His mind was dominated by his worry for her to think about it at all. 

He didn’t dare to dawdle in the slightest throughout the entire process. He fed the petals of the Evanescent Lotus a mouthful by a mouthful to her. Both his nose and mouth were filled with a fragrance, but he couldn’t tell whether it was coming from the lotus itself or Chu Chuyan.

A while later, Chu Chuyan finally opened her eyes. It was hard to tell whether it was because she had recovered from her earlier frail state, but she stared at him with a red tinge on her cheeks.

“You’re awake?” Zu An was delighted. His heart was finally put at ease.

“W-what are you doing?” Chu Chuyan looked at the petals in his hands before glancing at his lips.

Feeling a little guilt-ridden, Zu An quickly clarified, “I was saving you earlier! I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you.”

Chu Chuyan was silent a while before nodding. “I know.”

The atmosphere was a little awkward. Zu An didn’t know what to say, so he instinctively bit the flower petals and leaned forward to feed her again. However, halfway through his actions, he suddenly froze up. 

She’s awake now, right? There’s no need for me to feed her like that anymore.

Chu Chuyan was also stunned by his action. She fidgeted unnaturally for a moment before turning her head away, saying, “I can do it myself.”

Zu An knew that she wouldn’t accept his mouth-to-mouth feeding now that she was already awake, so he could only pass the remaining petals over to her. “Here you go.”

Meanwhile, he swallowed the petal of the Evanescent Lotus that was already in his mouth, wondering if one was enough for him to dispel his seal. He took out the unsealing pill that Ji Dengtu had forged for him and swallowed it down right away.

Then, he quickly began examining the changes in his body.

As soon as he swallowed the unsealing pill, he could sense surges of heat gushing toward his abdomen. At the same time, there was also a refreshing pulse that appeared to be from the Evanescent Lotus. 

The surges of heat swiftly mixed together with the refreshing pulse as they moved downward, opening several of his ki meridians. He felt like the shackles on his body were gradually being pried open.

“There’s a chance!”

Zu An’s eyes lit up and he focused his attention on channeling the combined energy flow to open up his sealed meridians.

Everything went well at the start, but the combined energy flow suddenly seemed to have met with a particularly resilient barrier that he couldn’t break down no matter what he tried. Every time he tried, the combined surge of energy would whittle down a little. Eventually, he could only watch helplessly as it vanished.

There’s not enough medicinal energy!

Zu An was on the verge of tears. Heaven, just why is my life so hard?!

However, it was not all in vain. Zu An realized that his fifth formation had been filled up. Theoretically speaking, it would have required 377 Ki Fruits, which would have taken him a great deal of time. However, he managed to clear it easily with just a single flower petal here.

The rumors were true! A single flower petal could indeed raise one’s cultivation by a step.

But what’s the use of that? The ability I really wanted still hasn’t returned yet!

“What is this medicine?” asked Chu Chuyan.

Her mind was in a mess earlier, so she subconsciously swallowed down all of the flower petals which Zu An gave her. But when she felt a surge of mystical calming energy suffusing her own body, she immediately realized that what she had just consumed was not anything ordinary,

Her ki meridians were still in tatters, but her injuries were healing at an insane pace. In fact, she had a feeling that as long as she recuperated carefully over the next few years, she might just be able to reforge her devastated ki meridians!

While her cultivation would probably still remain crippled, and her movements might be even less nimble than that of an ordinary person, still, it was much better than being paralyzed her entire life.

“I chanced upon this medicine here, and I noticed that you were already on your last breath, so I gave it to you.” Zu An was not the type of person who didn’t leave his name behind after doing a good deed, but it felt way too intentional if he revealed the name of the Evanescent Lotus here. Besides, he was feeling too frustrated at having lost a chance to unseal ‘little Zu An’ that he didn’t even want to mention it right now.

Then, it suddenly dawned on him why he hadn’t heard the feminine voice all this while. 

“Who dares to touch my Evanescent Lotus?” a furious voice bellowed not too far away.

1. It’s a different Mi from Old Mi. However, this surname is quite rare, notably the surname of Queen Dowager Xuan in the Qin Dynasty.

2. It’s a famous historical drama on the Qin Dynasty following Queen Dowager Xuan, otherwise known as Mi Yue.

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