Chapter 205: Brain Damage Is Incurable

Mi Li was speechless. The man seemed mentally unbalanced no matter how she looked at him; would a normal person speak like that?

Mi Li's anger increased by 250 points!

"You bastard..." Mi Li gritted her teeth, about to lash out, but Zu'an held up a hand, interrupting her.

"Wait!"

"What are you doing?" Mi Li frowned, wondering what scheme he was devising now.

Zu'an remained silent. He summoned his keyboard and began a new round of the lottery draw.

He had lost over 30,000 points in the previous lottery round, so he couldn't afford to repeat that mistake. The moment he could draw again, he had to use up his anger points!

He had just 84 points remaining; now with an additional 250 points, he had a total of 334. This allowed him three draws, with 34 points left over.

For a moment, he even felt as if he had come out ahead.

As expected, he didn't win anything in any of the three draws.

But his mood was vastly different from before. He felt completely at ease, having finally gotten rid of the jinx he'd previously invited. It seemed he really shouldn't make casual vows in the future.

What goes around comes around; fate spares no one!

"Alright, Empress, what were you about to say?" Zu'an asked, his mood lightened, a smile now gracing his face.

"I was just about to say..." Mi Li began, then suddenly froze. "Huh, what was I going to say just now? He interrupted me so thoroughly that my thoughts are all disjointed."

After a long pause, she finally regained her composure. "Hmph, don't you have any idea why I would sign a 'Life and Death Pact' with you? Talking about it just infuriates me. If you ever make light or flirtatious remarks again, don't blame me for being merciless."

She paused, as if worried that such an ambiguous threat wouldn't faze him, then added, "While I cannot kill you, I can certainly break one of your legs. After all, your cultivation method improves through being beaten, so I would merely be assisting your practice."

"Hmm, the more I talk about it, the more I feel an urge to try."

Noticing her gaze constantly flicking to his legs, Zu'an was startled and quickly said, "I believe you, I believe you, no need to test it. By the way, I have another question: Since Qin Shi Huang clearly had a way to deal with you, why didn't he purify you back then, opting for such a troublesome sealing method instead?"

Mi Li snorted, "The purification from the Grand Primordial Scripture is only effective on soul entities. At that time, I had a physical body for protection, so why would I fear his purification?"

Zu'an wondered, "But why didn't he kill you first and then purify your soul? If I may be frank, while you are powerful, you shouldn't be comparable to Qin Shi Huang, right? He must have had a way to kill you."

Previously, Mi Li had always been vague about this. Now, it seemed because their fates were completely intertwined, she finally began to explain: "He was a very strong-willed man, always wanting me to submit and surrender, but how could I ever grant his wish? Of course, I also admit he likely still harbored a trace of marital affection and didn't completely go for the kill..."

"We remained in this stalemate, and not long after, Qin Shi Huang suddenly died. I, naturally, remained sealed."

Zu'an noticed her expression was somewhat strange as she said this; it was as if she were recalling past events, or perhaps reflecting on Qin Shi Huang's leniency towards her.

But for some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that she was deliberately concealing something.

He knew there was no point in pressing further. He decided to wait until they were more familiar with each other to find another opportunity to ask.

"Oh, right, you mentioned earlier that Zhang Han used the residual power of the Soul Suppressing Seal and, together with Xiang Yu, sealed the 200,000 undead army. Since Xiang Yu came here, given his hatred for the Qin royal family, it's impossible he would have let you go, right?" Zu'an asked.

"You know Xiang Yu so well?" A hint of surprise flickered in Mi Li's eyes. "Indeed, back then, Xiang Yu massacred the surrendered Qin soldiers, burned Epang Palace, and extensively plundered Xianyang. Later, he learned of my existence from Zhang Han and naturally had no intention of letting me go."

As she spoke, a trace of anger entered her voice: "He had long heard of my renowned beauty. Coupled with the fact that I was the Empress of Qin, his desire for conquest was aroused, and he harbored some inappropriate intentions towards me."

"Initially, he merely expressed some admiration within the underground palace. But eventually, he could no longer restrain himself and decided to break the Soul Suppressing Seal to reach me."

Zu'an was startled. "With Xiang Yu's strength, the Soul Suppressing Seal might not have been able to stop him, right?"

In the history of his previous world, Xiang Yu was renowned as the most formidable general in terms of martial prowess. In this mythical version of history, his martial strength must be absolutely astonishing!

"You're mistaken about that," Mi Li replied. "Xiang Yu's strength was indeed terrifyingly abnormal. The human seal and the earth seal didn't impede him in the slightest; his speed in breaking the formations was far greater than yours."

Zu'an looked sheepish, thinking to himself that losing to such a formidable figure was hardly shameful.

Mi Li then continued, "But he failed at the Heaven Seal. No matter how high his cultivation was, he simply couldn't contend with divine will. Furthermore, it seemed he encountered some troublesome issues outside later, so he never returned to the underground palace."

"Precisely for this reason, I previously thought the Heaven Seal was exceptionally dangerous. After all, even someone with cultivation as high as Xiang Yu couldn't break it, so I held no hope for a mere third-rank individual like you."

"Who knew, however, that you, this young man, would be the one to break the Heaven Seal? In a way, it was indeed fate."

By the end, Mi Li couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.

However, the thought that she had finally broken free from one seal only to enter another cage made her expression sour slightly.

Zu'an, however, became smug. "It seems I truly am the chosen one."

Seeing his smug expression, Mi Li remained displeased. "Hmph, if Xiang Yu hadn't damaged the Tai'a Sword's spirit again when he tried to break the formation, who knows how many times harder it would have been for you to break it this time."

Zu'an, however, showed no embarrassment. "That only proves I was chosen by fate to save you. Otherwise, why couldn't someone as strong as him break it, yet I, a mere third-rank cultivator, could?"

Hearing his words, Mi Li paused, muttering to herself, "Chosen by fate, huh..."

After a long pause, she finally regained her composure. Her crimson lips parted slightly as she said, "You've been asking me questions non-stop. Now it's my turn to ask you."

"Sister, please ask anything. I will tell you everything I know, holding nothing back," Zu'an replied with a smile.

Mi Li's breath hitched. Why did she instinctively feel he was about to lie when he said that? "Where did you get the Phoenix Nirvana Scripture from?"

"Oh, that? A mysterious old man gave it to me..." Since Mi Li was now bound to him by life and death, there was no point in hiding this. Even if he didn't say anything, she would certainly sense Old Man Mi's presence once they returned to the Chu manor.

Furthermore, Old Man Mi always exuded a chilling aura that made Zu'an feel uneasy, so it was probably better to mention it in advance and get her perspective.

Mi Li frowned. "Is he your father or your grandfather?"

Zu'an was speechless.

Why did that sound so much like an insult?

"Neither."

Mi Li sneered, "If he's neither a relative nor an acquaintance, why would he give you such a supreme secret scripture? Such an unusual act suggests sinister motives; he clearly harbors ill intentions."

Zu'an actually had similar suspicions, but no matter how much he pondered, he couldn't understand what he, at that time, possessed that Old Man Mi would covet.

"Maybe he found me handsome? Besides, I've always felt like I'm the chosen one. It wouldn't be surprising if powerful figures were practically begging to take me as their disciple or even insisting on marrying their granddaughters to me."

Hearing his words, Mi Li was speechless.

She examined him with a peculiar expression, unable to resist asking, "You don't have a mental illness, do you?"

Zu'an was bewildered.

You're the one who's crazy; your entire family is crazy.

Mi Li snorted, "If your brain truly is ailing, tell me soon. Although I am a rune master, I also possess considerable medical knowledge and should be able to cure you. We wouldn't want the condition to become irreversible. You should know that all medical texts explicitly state one thing: there's no cure for the brain-damaged."

Zu'an was speechless.

He quickly composed himself. "You're also a healer?"

"Of course," Mi Li haughtily snorted. "When Qin unified the world, they collected all the books from various states into the imperial palace. In my free time, I would often browse them. I successfully combined runes with medical arts, carving out a unique path. My medical skills are generally... quite decent."

Although she claimed her skills were "decent," her proud expression clearly conveyed a desire for praise and adoration.

"Since you're a divine physician, quickly save Xue'er!"

Zu'an was overjoyed, realizing this woman was a veritable treasure trove of abilities.

Mi Li's expression turned cold. "I have neither herbs nor spiritual pills at hand right now. How can I save her?"

"Tsk," Zu'an scoffed. "And here I thought you were more impressive." He had even been wondering who was more skilled, her or Physician Ji, but now it seemed there was simply no comparison.

"You don't need to provoke me," Mi Li said indifferently. "If I truly wanted to save her, I could. It's just that I'm currently in soul form, and my essence was severely depleted from two instances of my soul leaving my body. I barely recovered a little by relying on those undead. Why would I damage my soul body again for an unrelated woman?"

"Besides, her life isn't in danger right now. She can fully recover by taking some qi-and-blood-replenishing herbs and spiritual pills once we get outside."

Zu'an realized his concern was making him agitated, but he still couldn't help saying, "But I still think your medical skills aren't that impressive. Otherwise, how could you have been so gravely affected by a mere poison?"

Mi Li was truly angered this time. "Ignorant boy, what do you know? 'Xiang Concubine's Red Tears' is not something that should exist in the human world; it can easily poison an Earth Immortal to death. If I hadn't been skilled in both runes and medicine, and known how to project my soul, I wouldn't have been able to abandon my physical body in time to cling to life. Otherwise, I would have been utterly destroyed long ago."

Mi Li's anger increased by 512 points!

Zu'an was dumbfounded. This poison was incredibly powerful! It was a pity that Zhang Han had just used up the last drop. Otherwise, with this poison in hand, wouldn't he be able to eliminate anyone he wanted in the future?

Mi Li found it difficult not to get angry when speaking with Zu'an. Too weary to bother with him further, she turned directly to the terracotta warriors. "Thank you for your hard work earlier. If you hadn't fought bravely and bought us time, it wouldn't have been so easy for us to deal with those undead legions."

The terracotta warriors each displayed expressions of excitement. Clearly, after silently guarding this underground palace for thousands of years, finally receiving praise from the empress was an exceedingly glorious matter for them.

"Now that Zhang Han is dead and the Qin state has long perished, from now on, you shall pledge your allegiance to me." Mi Li stood with her hands clasped behind her back, her noble and elegant aura as empress fully evident.

The terracotta warriors exchanged glances, hesitated for a moment, then one by one knelt on a single knee and bowed to her. In the Qin army, this gesture represented an oath of allegiance.

Zu'an secretly rejoiced, thinking to himself that with such a group of enforcers under his command, wouldn't he be able to do as he pleased in the future?

If he didn't like someone, he could simply have Mi Li dispatch a few terracotta warriors; they could smash anyone to death.

"Ah, it seems I really am destined for a life of ease, living off others."

As he fantasized, a startling change suddenly occurred before his eyes. A murderous glint flashed in Mi Li's phoenix eyes. With a casual wave of her hand, the Tai'a Sword unleashed a massive sword energy, sweeping directly across the formation of terracotta warriors.

The terracotta warriors, in the midst of pledging allegiance, were completely unprepared and instantly sliced into two!