Chapter 148: Mirror Flower, Water Moon

Zu An's mind recalled the commanding presence of figures from his previous life, like Jack Ma, who famously regretted founding Alibaba, and Uncle Wang, who spoke of a 'small goal' of one hundred million. He mused that they must have been born with such a skill.

Speaking of which, now that he was in this world, it seemed he had also gained a skill. Thinking of Chu Chuyan's peerless beauty, he wondered if he were to declare "I don't know my wife's beauty" in front of a large crowd, the rage points he collected would surely go through the roof.

Hmm, that was a good idea. He would definitely try it given the chance.

He carefully studied the "Proximity Through Billions" skill. While it had no usage limit, it concealed a significant restriction: each activation required an enormous amount of money.

He wondered if the one hundred million referred to copper coins. If so, each use would cost 100,000 taels of silver. "Huh," he mused, "that doesn't seem like much when you calculate it."

He wouldn't even count the 7.5 million tael IOU, which he had already given to the beautiful Headmistress as a betrothal gift. Just considering his current silver notes, he still had about 650,000 taels, and the Four Seas Casino owed him another 500,000 taels. It seemed he could use the skill at least six more times.

If anyone else knew his thoughts, they would surely curse him. "100,000 taels isn't much?" Even for a wealthy merchant family in this world, it wasn't easy to produce such a sum.

Zu An was now considering something else: the actual effect of spending the hundred million. The description wasn't very detailed, only stating that it could make the target treat him as a friend for half an hour. But there were many kinds of friends: those who would die for you, drinking buddies, or mere acquaintances. To what extent could it go?

For example, if he used this skill on the beautiful Headmistress, could it make her willing to be his "bed friend"?

Zu An felt a little eager to try, but the thought of his "little brother's" seal immediately poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

The top priority was still to find the Traceless Illusion Lotus; he shouldn't dwell on such irrelevant thoughts.

He then continued to use up his rage points but didn't draw anything else special, only 70 vitality fruits in total. After swallowing and refining these fruits, his fourth cultivation array had accumulated 156, leaving him only 77 fruits short of the required 233.

Although his cultivation level seemed to grow slowly, if the Phoenix Nirvana Scripture's berserk characteristic was triggered, the vitality gained would far exceed the effect of these 70 fruits.

Not to mention that others in this world, even geniuses, would need at least ten years of arduous cultivation to reach the same realm, yet he had achieved it in just over a month.

If this secret were exposed, everyone in the world would surely go mad with jealousy and hunt him down, forcing him to reveal his cultivation secret.

Zu An wasn't unaware of this, but he wasn't satisfied. After all, he was determined to become the strongest man in the world!

Having read countless web novels in his previous life, his mind was filled with thoughts of how unbelievably powerful other protagonists were. What did his current achievements amount to?

In his heart, he wasn't comparing himself to the average person in the world, but rather to the incredibly formidable protagonists from his memories. Hmm, the standards for a genius were just that high!

After this period of rest, Zu An felt much better physically and walked out of the forest. He had originally intended to find Ji Xiaoxi but had been delayed by those assassins.

Having determined his direction, he walked towards the edge of the forest. He had just, for the first time ever, drawn two skill items, and his mood was quite pleasant.

However, the moment he stepped out of the forest, the smile on his face froze. All the hairs on his body instantly stood on end as he nervously stared at the woman not far away.

The woman wore a green dress; her figure appeared slender and delicate. A palm-width belt accentuated her waist, making it seem exquisitely narrow. Standing there, with the gentle breeze rustling her skirt and a translucent veil covering her face, she exuded an ethereal and otherworldly aura.

If it had been another man, encountering such a beautiful and delicate girl in the wilderness would definitely have been a very pleasant experience.

But Zu An had no mood to appreciate her beauty at this moment, because he knew just how terrifying the strength hidden beneath that delicate figure was.

The girl before him was none other than Xue'er!

The other party had obviously seen him too; her lips curved slightly upward. This guy had finally been caught!

Zu An's eyes darted around. Instead of turning and running, he walked over with a smile. "Oh, Miss Qiao," he said, "I didn't expect to meet you here."

Xue'er was startled. In her imagination, their meeting would be like enemies encountering each other, full of hostility, either a fight to the death or a chase and escape. The other party's natural tone completely caught her off guard.

Suddenly, she realized her current identity was Qiao Xueying, a student of the academy. This guy obviously didn't recognize her.

"Hmph," she thought, "he must know I'm the tenth most beautiful girl on the academy's beauty ranking and is just looking for an opportunity to flirt with me."

"This guy, really... even after all that, he's still so lustful!"

Rage points from Qiao Xueying +233!

Zu An, walking towards her, felt his heart skip a beat. It seemed this girl truly hated him to the bone; even a simple greeting could earn him her rage points.

At this moment, seeing him walk towards her so obliviously, like a clueless goose, the curve of Qiao Xueying's lips became increasingly pronounced.

She suddenly didn't want to kill him so quickly. This guy had made her so miserable before, and had even... done *that* to her. If she didn't properly toy with him, how could she vent the hatred in her heart?

"Miss Qiao, what are you thinking that makes you so happy? Is it perhaps because you saw me?" Zu An couldn't help but sigh. "There's no helping it; I was just born so handsome and graceful. It's hard for women not to be happy when they see me."

Qiao Xueying: "..."

After not seeing him for several days, this guy's brazenness was still the same.

Rage points from Qiao Xueying +131!

However, she still smiled slightly. "Young Master," she said, "aren't you afraid your beautiful wife at home will get angry acting like this?"

"Hmph," she thought, "I'll properly toy with you first. After making you completely infatuated, I'll then let you know my true identity. That guy's expression will definitely be very interesting then."

Zu An waved his hand. "Miss Qiao, don't worry," he said. "My wife said she doesn't mind me finding other women. If you don't believe me, you can go ask her."

Qiao Xueying cursed him inwardly as shameless. This guy was actually flirting with other pretty girls behind Miss's back.

The moment this thought arose, she was startled. She still subconsciously called Chu Chuyan "Miss" and even felt indignant for her. It seemed that after so many years by her side, many things had already been subtly influenced.

"Miss Qiao, why are you here alone?" Zu An patted his chest. "This secret realm is much more dangerous than expected. But you don't have to worry now. From now on, I'll protect you."

"You?" A hint of a sarcastic smile appeared on Qiao Xueying's lips. "Then thank you, Young Master."

"Could it be you don't believe me?" Zu An immediately grew anxious. "Do you know Yuan Wendong from the Heavenly Class? He's a fifth-rank cultivator, and he was defeated by me! And also..."

Qiao Xueying couldn't be bothered to listen to his nonsense. She directly interrupted and asked, "By the way, have you encountered any other students along the way?"

"Students? No," Zu An chuckled. "You're the first student I've seen. What a coincidence!"

"Didn't encounter any?" Qiao Xueying's gaze fell on the wound on his chest. "Then what about the wounds on your body?"

"Oh, I just encountered a few skeleton soldiers; it was quite strenuous fighting them," Zu An said with lingering fear in his tone, making it sound as natural as possible. "This secret realm is really strange; there are actually zombies and skeletons here. I've never heard the school mention such things before."

Qiao Xueying was startled. She thought of the situation in the valley she had just passed, and her brows involuntarily furrowed. Could it be that Jia Zhengjing and the others were so unlucky as to encounter a zombie horde and be completely wiped out?

"Huh, wife, why are you here?" Zu An said in surprise, looking behind her.

"Miss!" Qiao Xueying trembled all over and subconsciously turned her head, but there was nothing there.

Zu An had been waiting for this opportunity. He had been feigning ignorance and chatting aimlessly with her precisely to minimize her vigilance as much as possible. Sure enough, as he expected, this girl was indeed most sensitive to news about Chu Chuyan.

He thrust his sword towards the opponent's heart. This time, he didn't show mercy as he had last time, directly using the Certain Death Dagger. Although this young girl was quite pretty, it would be a bit of a shame for her to die like this.

But he knew that the other party had appeared in the secret realm specifically to kill him. With her fifth-rank cultivation, if he showed even a hint of pity, he would be the one to die.

The "Evil-Ward Dispel Sword Art" was already fast; furthermore, this strike was completely unexpected. Even Xue'er couldn't avoid it.

*Pfft*, blood splattered!

His... sword had entered Qiao Xueying's body!

But Zu An showed no joy whatsoever, because the sensation of the penetration was clearly wrong.

Sure enough, ripples appeared all over the Xue'er on his sword. Her entire being then transformed into a flower, which was torn into pieces by the sword qi. Meanwhile, the real Xue'er stood several meters away, glaring at him with a frosty expression.

It turned out that the moment Qiao Xueying turned around and saw nothing, she knew something was wrong. She had originally thought of enduring the attack with her protective vital energy, but every cell in her body was warning her; a terrifying sense of crisis enveloped her whole being.

Although she didn't understand why the other party could pose such a great threat to her, her body's instinct still immediately activated her innate skill, "Mirror Flower Water Moon," which she could only use three times in her life. It transferred the damage she received to a flower phantom.

"You actually made me waste one 'Mirror Flower Water Moon'!" Qiao Xueying's beautiful eyes seemed to spit fire.

Rage points from Qiao Xueying +1024!

Only she knew how great her loss was. With these three "Mirror Flower Water Moon" uses, she could, in a sense, be said to have three extra lives.

From the time she could remember until just now, no matter how great the danger she encountered over the years, she had never been willing to use it. She knew that only when facing truly insurmountable powerful experts in the future could these three opportunities be used to save her life.

But now, such a precious opportunity was actually wasted on a guy she had always considered an ant and a piece of trash!

It was a pity that the other party didn't respond to her. Instead, he took off running towards the small forest.

He firmly remembered the motto: if one strike misses, flee a thousand miles. At this moment, his figure was already about to disappear from Qiao Xueying's sight.