Chapter 1602: The Turning Tides of Fate

Zu An sighed. "Girls wearing skirts need to be careful, especially when you're up high. You're exposed."

Zhao Xiaodie was startled. She instinctively clutched her skirt, then floated down like a butterfly. "You brat, you're asking for death!"

Fury points from Zhao Xiaodie: +452, +452, +452...

"What exactly do you want?" Zu An asked with a frown.

"Kneel down and kowtow to this princess a hundred times. If I'm in a good mood, I might give you an antidote to ease your pain." A cruel smile appeared on Zhao Xiaodie's face. She didn't want to kill him so quickly, but to think that a mere hundred kowtows would completely cure the poison was a pipe dream.

She intended to first destroy his self-esteem with this method. Once she started, subsequent matters would be much easier; she would turn him into her personal dog.

Zu An calmly stated, "If I recall correctly, yesterday was the first time we met, wasn't it? Why are you so hostile towards me?"

Zhao Xiaodie sneered, "Only the weak pester with questions about 'why,' as if they needed a reason to be targeted. However, since this princess is in a good mood today, I don't mind telling you: you ambushed my brother and extensively damaged my father's affairs, which already severely offended me a long time ago. I truly didn't expect you to be so naive as to ask why."

"Ambush?" Zu An looked at her with a strange expression. "Has this woman's brain been addled from cultivating in the deep mountains for so long?"

His gaze made Zhao Xiaodie feel as if he were looking at an idiot, greatly annoying her. "I know my brother's talent very well. Although he wasted a lot of energy on women and worldly affairs, his cultivation is absolutely beyond your ability to deal with. I don't know what kind of despicable and shameless tactics you used to ambush him."

As she spoke, she couldn't help but frown. "Why aren't you defending yourself?"

The other party's reaction was strange. Logically, after being poisoned by her butterfly venom, he should have been writhing in agony on the ground by now. His composure gave her an ominous premonition.

"Why should I defend myself?" Zu An said calmly. "I'm simply watching your performance."

His nonchalant demeanor made Zhao Xiaodie feel like a clown, and she was incensed.

Fury points from Zhao Xiaodie: +499, +499, +499...

However, she wasn't stupid, after all, and didn't let anger cloud her judgment. She looked at him with a mix of surprise and doubt: "You're not poisoned? How is that possible!"

Even a Grandmaster would lose half their life, if not die, from her poison—though, of course, it wasn't easy to poison a Grandmaster in the first place.

Zu An looked at his finger; the wound on his fingertip had already healed in that short time. His Primordial Chaos Scripture not only gave him incredibly strong regenerative abilities but also had detoxifying effects. At least so far, most poisons he had encountered were ineffective against him.

Seeing him standing still, Zhao Xiaodie merely assumed he was feigning composure, secretly trying to expel the poison. So, she didn't give him a chance to gather himself, directly closing in. Once he engaged her in combat, with his vital energy and blood churning, the poison would no longer be suppressible.

To her surprise, the other party showed no sign of panic.

However, she wasn't worried. She was, after all, a remarkably talented disciple of the current generation of Lihantian, second only to Senior Brother Zhiyin. Dealing with someone whose vital energy fluctuations she couldn't even detect should be a piece of cake, right?

She raised her hand; her bright red nails were sharper than blades. The vibrant red color was from a nail polish she concocted by mixing various poisonous flowers, making it not only beautiful but also lethal.

Her nails slashed directly towards his neck. She controlled her strength carefully, intending to severely injure him without immediately killing him.

She saw him raise his hand and scoffed inwardly, thinking it was too late for him to realize he needed to resist now.

His agility was far inferior to that of even ordinary disciples in the sect. She wondered how her good-for-nothing brother had fallen into his hands.

Then, she suddenly paused, because even though he was clearly in front of her, she seemed to have lost all trace of his aura.

At that moment, his raised hand moved with surprising speed, reaching her first and directly gripping her wrist. Then, with a twist, a surge of immense force flowed through, and she could no longer control her hand.

Her entire body spun involuntarily, and her sharp nails, originally meant to attack him, were now guided by him to wrap around her own neck, the vivid red tips piercing into her fair skin.

Zhao Xiaodie's pupils constricted. Even she herself couldn't withstand this poison.

With a soft 'poof,' Zu An felt his hand go empty. The woman he had held in front of him vanished, replaced by countless small butterflies scattering in all directions.

Soon, the butterflies regrouped a few *zhang* away, gradually reforming into Zhao Xiaodie's likeness.

"Oh, interesting!" Zu An couldn't help but admire her technique. Turning herself entirely into butterflies to evade an attack felt quite impressive.

Zhao Xiaodie, however, now looked at him with profound fear, the leisurely cat-and-mouse expression completely gone from her eyes. "What is your true cultivation level?"

"I don't know." Zu An also found this troublesome. Ever since the effects of the Divine Rune Weapon Diagram and Taotie Devouring Heaven Art merged, his current cultivation system was completely different from those of other cultivators.

She clearly wouldn't understand if he told her he was at level 70.

Zhao Xiaodie merely assumed he was deliberately concealing it and sneered, "I certainly underestimated you before, but now I'm going to get serious."

Even from someone as powerful as the sect master, she could perceive a trace of their strength. He must have cultivated some aura-concealing technique. He couldn't possibly be stronger than the sect master, could he?

No sooner had she spoken than her robes fluttered as she circled Zu An like a colorful butterfly. Wary of his previous move, she didn't dare to engage in close combat directly, instead intending to confuse him with dazzling footwork and search for an opening.

Her Rainbow Butterfly Steps were a movement technique even her master praised, and naturally more than enough to handle this brat.

"Huh, why does he appear to be full of openings?" Zhao Xiaodie was puzzled. From any angle, he looked like an ordinary person, but what about that move just now?

She hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth and attacked him from behind. After all, she could transform into butterflies and flee, already placing her in an invincible position.

Just then, his hand moved again.

She was startled. Remembering what had just happened, she immediately transformed into a swarm of butterflies, scattering to evade.

Just then, she seemed to see a peculiar large bird, and then an invisible sound wave spread out, completely blanking her mind.

The butterflies, as if struck by frost, plummeted from the sky, all landing on the ground, and eventually reformed into her figure.

When Zhao Xiaodie regained her senses, she found that his hand was already pressed firmly on a major acupuncture point on her shoulder, rendering her utterly unable to gather any vital energy.

"Do you want to live?" The other party's teasing voice reached her ears. Zhao Xiaodie was filled with both grief and indignation, never having imagined that her own words would come back to haunt her so quickly.