Chapter 207: You Really Invest a Lot in Picking Up Girls

Hearing her words, Chu Chuyan's usually fair, jade-like cheeks flushed crimson, and her expression became extremely unnatural.

Zu An was speechless.

*Aren't you ashamed, a young girl, saying such things!*

"When have I ever been incapable? I've always been perfectly fine!" Zu An retorted, his bravado masking an inner tremor.

"Heh!" Qiao Xueying responded with an eye roll. "Don't I know whether you're capable or not?"

Chu Chuyan finally spoke. "Divine Doctor Ji examined him and prescribed a powerful unsealing pill. The main ingredient was the Trackless Illusionary Lotus."

"The Trackless Illusionary Lotus? The one rumored to advance you by a minor realm with just one petal?" Qiao Xueying finally registered. "He gave that to you?"

As cultivators, they naturally knew that each major realm contained nine minor realms, and advancing even one minor realm was extremely difficult. Cultivating further became as hard as ascending to the heavens.

Just one petal could equal years of effort for others; if consumed in the later stages of cultivation, it could even be equivalent to decades or a century of effort. What an astonishingly potent item it was.

Chu Chuyan hummed in affirmation, and a hint of tenderness entered her gaze as she looked at Zu An.

"Legend has it the Trackless Illusionary Lotus has nine petals. How many did he give you?" Qiao Xueying pressed on. In fact, she had heard about the Trackless Illusionary Lotus from Zhang Han before, but at the time, she was consumed by extreme sorrow from Shi Kun's betrayal and held captive by Zhang Han. Her heart was completely desolate, so she hadn't paid much attention to what was happening around her.

"All... he gave them to me," Chu Chuyan replied, her voice growing softer as she recalled the moment he had fed her the Trackless Illusionary Lotus with his mouth.

Qiao Xueying looked at Zu An with a complex expression. "You certainly spare no expense when you're wooing a girl."

She reflected that while they had both come to the underground palace, she had consumed the precious "Half-Life Bond" and lost half her lifespan, yet Chu Chuyan had received the Trackless Illusionary Lotus from Zu An, and her cultivation had almost advanced by an entire major realm.

Comparing oneself to others truly was infuriating!

*How could I be so miserable...*

Sensing her low spirits, Zu An couldn't help but snort. "Don't be so unbalanced. What I gave up for you was no less than for her." He thought of the tens of thousands of Rage points, and, more importantly, the negative debuff that prevented him from drawing anything useful from three lottery attempts.

Otherwise, who knows what powerful skills or items those tens of thousands of Rage points could have yielded?

Qiao Xueying was feeling a bit indignant, wondering what he could have possibly given up for her. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind. She recalled the time when her life hung by a thread, and he had conjured a bottle of miraculous, instant recovery medicine out of thin air.

Although he was vague about it, she knew very well that the world operated on the principle of equivalent exchange, and to obtain such a divine medicine, he must have paid a huge price.

Although she couldn't clearly remember everything that happened before, she still recalled that when facing an extremely terrifying enemy, this man had stood in front of her, covered in blood, protecting her again and again.

As she thought of this, her gaze toward Zu An softened.

However, her heart sank when she saw Chu Chuyan beside them. *What a pity; they were the true couple.*

*Fate was truly cruel. If that night, the two of them had truly...*

Thinking of the embarrassing incident that night, Qiao Xueying instantly reacted. "Wait, since Miss Chu ate all the Trackless Illusionary Lotus, how did you recover?"

*This guy, he couldn't perform when he was with me, but he's fine when he's with Miss Chu?*

"Later, in the sealed world, I had another wondrous encounter, and by chance, it was resolved," Zu An replied vaguely. "Alright, alright, you're a young girl. Aren't you ashamed constantly asking about such things?"

Qiao Xueying snorted. She was indeed too embarrassed to ask further, but she felt a little puzzled. *I was also in the sealed world, wasn't I? How did I not know about any wondrous encounter he had?*

Although Chu Chuyan and he were husband and wife, their relationship was truly awkward. Moreover, on this matter, she was the 'victim,' so how could she possibly ask further?

The three of them, each lost in their own thoughts, continued to ascend. Chu Chuyan had initially been extremely wary, fearing that zombie warriors might suddenly burst out, but for some reason, all the zombie warriors they encountered fled far away.

"Did they know I wasn't their opponent, so they fled in advance?" Chu Chuyan wondered, puzzled. "But that shouldn't be the case; these creatures shouldn't possess such high intelligence."

Just then, Zu An suddenly asked, "Xue'er, what are your plans for the future?"

Qiao Xueying shook her head and said blankly, "I don't know either."

"Since you've seen Shi Kun's true colors, then come back to the Chu clan. We will always welcome you," Chu Chuyan added.

Zu An chimed in from the side, "That's right, that's right. You're my assigned chambermaid. After this trip to the underground palace, everyone's become familiar, so now you can warm my bed every day."

Qiao Xueying was speechless.

Chu Chuyan was speechless.

Rage points from Qiao Xueying +250!

Rage points from Chu Chuyan +250!

*Was this guy's brain kicked by a donkey?*

Qiao Xueying directly ignored him and looked at Chu Chuyan. "Thank you, Miss Chu. I appreciate your kindness, but I've broken with the Shi clan, and there are still many matters there I need to resolve."

"Do you need our help?" Chu Chuyan asked. She knew that large clans often employed many methods to control their subordinates, the most direct being using family members as hostages.

Qiao Xueying shook her head. "Thank you for your kindness, Miss Chu. I should be able to handle it myself."

Chu Chuyan sighed deeply. "Why have things become so distant between us?"

Qiao Xueying recalled the days years ago when they would crack sunflower seeds together and read storybooks, feeling like sisters. For a moment, she was filled with a myriad of emotions. Though she had a thousand words in her heart, they ultimately condensed into three: "I'm sorry!"

"In life, many things are beyond one's control. I never blamed you," Chu Chuyan replied softly.

The two quickly fell silent.

Zu An didn't quite understand what exactly went wrong with their relationship; he always felt it was all an act.

*Wouldn't it be great if everyone just lived happily together?*

*Any misunderstandings could be resolved by just sharing a big blanket and... *cough*... getting intimate, couldn't they?*

Of course, considering Chu Chuyan's current combat strength, for the sake of his life, he still didn't dare to voice these thoughts.

Just then, the ground suddenly trembled violently, and a lot of dirt and rocks fell from above.

A similar tremor had occurred before, when the 200,000 undead army broke free from the formation, but this tremor was even more intense than the previous one.

The zombie warriors who had been wandering around each displayed expressions of fear, fleeing in all directions like headless flies.

"This place is about to collapse! We need to get out quickly," Chu Chuyan said urgently, her beautiful face showing concern. She could already feel the elemental energy here was extremely chaotic, clearly indicating an imminent collapse.

Zu An knew that most likely, the Soul-Suppressing Seal had been broken, and he had taken away the array core, the Trackless Illusionary Lotus, and the Tai'a Sword. In addition, Mi Li, Zhang Han, and the 200,000 undead army were all gone. The thousands of years of balance here had been completely shattered, leading to its collapse.

"What a pity!" Zu An sighed regretfully as he ran, looking back reluctantly. He had planned to return here after sending Qiao Xueying for treatment.

It was, after all, the mausoleum where the Great Qin Empress was buried. Who knew how abundant the burial goods inside were; the effectiveness of the Rich Woman's Joy Ball had already proven that.

This underground palace surely contained at least ten to eight million taels of wealth, and perhaps other even more valuable treasures. For example, the weapons and armor there were definitely of a higher grade than those sold by the Chu clan—and the Chu clan's weaponry was already famous far and wide.

In his opinion, since these were all Mi Li's burial objects, then naturally, they all belonged to him.

Such a huge dowry gone, what a huge loss!

"Never mind, never mind. I unsealed my little brother, obtained the Tai'a Sword, and the first volume of the Primordial Chaos Scripture. It's already been a worthwhile trip."

Moreover, compared to all the wealth in the entire underground palace, Mi Li herself was probably more valuable. This woman was beautiful and full of treasures...

As this thought emerged, Zu An felt a little guilty. He noticed the Tai'a Sword had no reaction, and only then did he let out a sigh of relief, realizing she was truly asleep.

*I wonder if she can really read my thoughts...*

Zu An even admired himself a little; with collapsing rocks falling all around, he actually had the leisure to let his mind wander so much.

Chu Chuyan protected both of them the entire way. After an unknown amount of time, their eyes finally brightened as the three of them exited the entrance of the underground palace.

Almost instantly after they left the entrance, dull, massive thuds echoed from behind them. The entire underground palace completely collapsed; even the two magnificent gates at the palace entrance couldn't withstand the pressure and were utterly crushed by the collapsing mountain.

Dust billowed everywhere, as if forming a small mushroom cloud.

The once solid ground now resembled a turbulent sea, surging and heaving violently, so much so that Zu An couldn't stand steadily. He even faintly saw an invisible shockwave spreading out.

"Be careful!" Chu Chuyan came over and steadied Zu An. Tapping lightly on her toes, she quickly ran towards the distant forest. Her cultivation was now close to the seventh rank, making her much faster than Zu An.

Smelling the faint, elegant fragrance emanating from the beauty beside him, he could even feel her unusually soft body because they were so close.

Being held by his wife, while he himself held another beautiful girl in his arms, Zu An couldn't help but admire himself.

*How many men in the world are as amazing as I am?*

*Is there anyone else!*

Seemingly feeling him deliberately rubbing against her, as soon as they reached the edge of the safe forest, Chu Chuyan pushed him aside, her rosy face showing a mix of slight annoyance and anger.

Zu An was speechless. *I just brushed against you and you reacted so strongly, yet you clearly let me in earlier.*

However, his attention was quickly drawn to the billowing dust in the distance. Seeing the complete collapse of the mountain, he couldn't help but marvel that the power of heaven and earth was indeed beyond human capability.

Chu Chuyan suddenly tilted her head, listened intently for a moment, then quickly said, "Someone's coming. Quite a few, in fact."

"Many people coming?" Zu An instinctively looked for a place to hide. "Let's quickly find a place to hide and assess the situation."

"Hide?" A hint of cold arrogance entered Chu Chuyan's tone. "Now that I've fully recovered, why should I hide?"