Chapter 195: Wood-type Spirits

Mi Li felt like she was going insane, thinking that she could actually fall for such an insignificant wretch.

Meanwhile, while Mi Li questioned her existence, Zu An swiftly circulated the Primordial Chaos Scripture to heal his injuries. He had to admit, his body, tempered by the Primordial Chaos Qi, was far more resilient than before.

Previously, if he had taken a sword strike of such immense power, his chest would likely have been blown open by the incredibly sharp sword energy, leaving a gaping hole, and his internal organs would probably have been minced.

But now, there was only a moderate wound on his chest. Although the sword energy had wreaked havoc inside his body, his muscle tissues were repairing themselves at a visible rate.

He finally managed to pull the long sword out of his chest. Hearing the grating sound of the sword scraping against his ribs, Zu An felt a little dazed. If it were his past self, he would have probably fainted just from hearing that noise.

He even wondered if Chu Chuyan's sword had tetanus on it. But with his current physique, he probably didn't need to fear such viruses.

"What are you... doing?" A voice, filled with astonishment, suddenly rang out from not far away. It was Qiao Xueying, who had evidently heard the commotion from the doorway and come to investigate.

However, the scene before her eyes startled her. Zu An, covered in blood, had fallen from the wall. She seemed to have vaguely seen him pulling a sword out of his chest just now.

That sword was Chu Chuyan's Snowfall Divine Sword. Having been by her side for so many years, how could Qiao Xueying not recognize it?

Qiao Xueying swiftly moved to the wall and rushed to support the slumped Zu An. Observing him up close, she finally saw how horrifying the wound on his chest was. She intended to get medicine for him, but halfway through reaching, she realized that after a series of battles, she had already run out of all her medical supplies.

"Miss Chu, have you gone mad?" Qiao Xueying turned around and glared at Mi Li. "I know what just happened must be hard for you to accept, but he was trying to save you. You didn't have to go for the kill!"

Zu An was somewhat surprised and smiled as he looked at Qiao Xueying's profile. "I never would have thought: the one who wanted to save me now wants to kill me, and the one who wanted to kill me is now saving me."

Qiao Xueying shot him a fierce glare. "You're this injured and you still have the nerve to joke around."

"I'm not dead yet, am I?" Zu An said, supported by her. He could feel her soft, slender body and found it hard to reconcile her with the girl who used to have a murderous aura.

Qiao Xueying was suddenly a little stunned. She used to think this guy was cowardly, base, and shameless, but she never expected him to be so unexpectedly calm when facing life and death. In contrast, some seemingly elegant people would reveal their true ugly selves in a crisis.

Mi Li looked at the two of them, a hint of mockery on her face. "Well, well, I never thought a shameless fellow like you would be liked by so many women."

Hearing her words, Qiao Xueying reacted as if pricked by a needle, immediately jumping up and pushing Zu An aside. "Who likes this guy?"

Zu An, however, looked smug. He spread his hands and said, "There's nothing I can do. Not only am I devastatingly handsome, but I'm also incredibly profound. The longer women interact with me, the harder it is for them to resist my charm. Queen Sister, you might have secretly fallen in love with me, which is why you're speaking out of jealousy."

Qiao Xueying: "..."

Mi Li: "..."

Rage points from Mi Li +513!

"You're asking for death!"

She flicked her sleeve, and a massive sword energy, tens of meters long, ripped through the air!

"Watch out!" Zu An had just said it when he was already prepared to dodge. Instantly, he hugged Qiao Xueying and rolled a few times on the ground, narrowly avoiding the earth-shattering blow.

From Mi Li's standing position all the way to the wall the two had been leaning against, a deep sword mark appeared, as if the entire ground had been split in half.

Qiao Xueying looked horrified. "This... this..."

She couldn't believe the scene before her. Having been with Chu Chuyan for so long, she naturally knew Chu Chuyan was a cultivation genius. But no matter how talented, she wasn't very old, and there wasn't a qualitative gap between them. So, what was going on now?

Zu An quickly explained to her, "Be careful, that's not Chuyan. She's been possessed by Mi Li!"

"What?!" Qiao Xueying suddenly looked at Chu Chuyan. No wonder the person felt so different from the image in her memory. "Has Miss Chu been killed?"

Zu An shook his head. "No, Mi Li has only temporarily occupied her body. Her soul is still there; it's just suppressed and has lost control of the body."

Mi Li didn't attack again. Instead, with her hands clasped behind her back, she looked at Zu An with some curiosity. "Although you're weak, you're quite knowledgeable. I wonder why you know so much."

"I'm famously knowledgeable, from astronomy to geography. If you spend enough time with me, you'll find out I know even more—I can even show you the exclusive secret techniques of those highly skilled and virtuous Japanese teachers," Zu An said with a grin.

"Japan? Where is that?" Mi Li frowned, clearly having never heard of it. However, she wasn't interested. "With your amateurish skills, whatever secret techniques you know won't be impressive."

She paused, then continued to size him up. "On the contrary, I've always had a question: How did you know my name from the very beginning?"

Of course, Zu An couldn't tell her about the Rage Point system. He replied with a smile, "What if I told you we were fated in a past life? Hearing your voice was like hearing my wife speak; your name just naturally appeared in my heart. Do you believe me?"

"I'll believe you when pigs fly!" Mi Li scoffed coldly, flicking her sleeve, and another burst of sword energy shot out.

"Watch out!" This time, even Qiao Xueying was prepared. She quickly pulled Zu An, trying to dodge to the side.

However, Zu An also intended to pull her in the opposite direction. Their movements were exactly contradictory.

As a result, their pulling forces canceled each other out, and both of them jolted, colliding heavily and remaining rooted to the spot.

Zu An: "..."

Qiao Xueying: "..."

But what surprised them even more was that the incoming sword energy suddenly split into two mid-air, slicing past both their sides.

Clearly, Mi Li had learned from her previous failed attacks and had initially planned to strike ahead in the directions they might dodge.

As it turned out, they had accidentally done the right thing by staying still, coincidentally dodging her sure-kill sword energy.

Mi Li: "..."

Zu An burst out laughing, looking at the girl in his arms. "To dodge even that, it seems you really are my lucky star!"

Qiao Xueying, however, immediately pushed him away, nervously crossing her arms over her chest, her face flushed red as she glared at him.

"Are you serious right now? What time is it?" Zu An was speechless. "Besides, with your 'airport' chest, I didn't feel a thing just now. The only sensation was it painfully poking me. It's nowhere near as comfortable as Queen Sister's."

He was certainly speaking against his conscience there. While Qiao Xueying's figure was slender, she wasn't quite "airport" level; at least, she was larger than his sister-in-law.

Qiao Xueying: "..."

Rage points from Qiao Xueying +325!

Although she didn't know what an "airport" was, that didn't stop her from understanding the meaning of his words.

No woman could accept being told she had small breasts.

At the same time, few women could accept a strange man complimenting them on having large ones.

Mi Li couldn't help but recall the healing session just now. Although it wasn't her own body, she had experienced it firsthand from a first-person perspective.

Hearing him speak like that, it was as if he was deliberately boasting about his recent experience.

Rage points from Mi Li +404!

"I've never seen anyone so eager to court death. Since you're so desperate to die, I'll grant your wish!"

The moment she finished speaking, a black halo appeared behind her. Long swords, formed from qi, slowly emerged from the halo, then shot towards the two of them like machine gun fire.

"Holy crap!" Zu An was instantly dumbfounded. There was sword energy everywhere; there was nowhere to hide.

It wasn't that he hadn't seen flying swords before. During the clan competition, Yuan Wendong had also controlled many flying swords using his gold element ability, and Shi Kun's raging wind blades in the secret realm were also blades filling the sky. But compared to the scene before him, it was like a baby encountering a strong man. The suffocatingly powerful pressure bearing down on them was utterly despair-inducing.

This woman was truly going for the kill. People say a day as husband and wife brings a hundred days of kindness, but for her, a day as husband and wife brought a hundred days of enmity.

"Watch out!"

Qiao Xueying appeared in front of him. Then, her beautiful hair grew wildly, instantly forming a thick briar patch in front of her. At the same time, countless green leaves fluttered, creating a green barrier that shielded them both.

The sky-full of swords and blades shot into the briar patch. Countless thorns were severed, and the briar patch became shorter and thinner until it was completely leveled by the sword energy.

Next, the rain of swords assaulted the defensive wall formed by her green leaves.

The green leaf wall only lasted for three breaths' time before completely collapsing.

A look of determination flashed in Qiao Xueying's eyes. She pushed Zu An far away, then remained rooted to the spot, getting pierced by ten thousand swords.

"Xue'er!"

Zu An's eyes nearly split open with rage!

Qiao Xueying's entire body shattered into pieces, utterly annihilated by the countless sword energies.

"You actually killed her!" Zu An's eyes were bloodshot, and his gaze towards Mi Li was filled with hatred.

"What are you screaming about over there? She's not dead," Mi Li scoffed coldly, then looked towards another spot.

Tens of feet away, Qiao Xueying's figure slowly reappeared, a hint of paleness on her face.

Only then did Zu An recall that when she had pursued him, he had tricked her and stabbed her with the Certain-Death Dagger. Back then, she had used a move called "Mirror Flower, Water Moon" or something similar to evade the fatal blow. Most likely, she had used it again now.

"Are you alright?"

Zu An rushed over, examining her body from head to toe.

"Don't touch me inappropriately!"

Qiao Xueying slapped his hand away.

"Good, good, as long as you're okay." Zu An's heart, which had been pounding, finally settled down.

"I'm fine now, but I might not be later," Qiao Xueying said.

Qiao Xueying's face was extremely grim. This trip to the secret realm had been utterly unlucky. She had been betrayed by Shi Kun, then she had used her most precious 'Half-Life Connection' skill, and even "Mirror Flower, Water Moon," a technique she could only use three times in her life, had been wasted twice here.

"Did I owe this guy from a past life?!"

Mi Li looked at her curiously. "So that's the Elven clan's ultimate skill, Mirror Flower, Water Moon. Judging by the skill you just used, you must be a wood-elemental elf."

Zu An was stunned and couldn't help but examine Qiao Xueying. "You're an elf?"

---

Sigh, there's so much to deal with in middle age. With elderly parents above and young children below, and a family in between, unexpected things just pop up out of nowhere.

This morning, I accompanied my mother to the hospital. I spoke with the doctor for less than a minute in total, and then they ordered various tests. For the tests, I had to queue for many hours just to get a number, then wait another hour or two for my number to be called. Once called, it was another hour for preparation. After the tests, we have to wait 24 hours for the results before seeing the doctor again. I'll have to go to the hospital again tomorrow... I can't help but complain that every trip to the hospital feels like shedding a layer of skin.

I wrote this chapter at an internet cafe nearby while waiting at the hospital. It's been years since I last visited an internet cafe. The pervasive smell of cigarettes and instant noodles, people sprawled out barefoot sleeping, and the constant cursing from gamers made me feel like I was back in high school...