Chapter 756: Breakthrough

Zu An also removed the mask from his face and said with a wry smile, "Did Your Highness forget there's someone else here?"

Yun Yuqing lightly dipped her feet, and her entire body slowly sank into the hot spring, revealing only her smooth, rounded shoulders and delicate collarbones. "You're different from others," she said.

"But I'm not King Wu," Zu An sighed inwardly. A mature philanderer should keep emotions out of it, but he found himself losing control of his feelings the more time they spent together. Ah, isn't it better to just stick to casual relationships? Why pursue pure love? I feel like I'm losing control.

Hearing his words, Yun Yuqing seemed about to speak but then stopped. She offered no explanation, only a faint, melancholic sigh.

An awkward silence fell over the room.

Zu An broke the silence. "You should remove the poison first. Don't delay what's important."

"Okay," Yun Yuqing murmured. She closed her eyes and formed an arcane hand seal. Nine runes slowly appeared in the air before gently descending onto the water's surface.

The runes cast a faint golden glow over the water.

Yun Yuqing then sat cross-legged in the water and focused on expelling the poison. After a while, Zu An noticed faint wisps of black mist dispersing from around her body and dissolving into the water. The golden runes flickered, and the black mist was gradually purified, eventually disappearing without a trace as the pool water flowed.

Zu An was somewhat surprised. According to legend, demons were typically fierce and cunning, but Yun Yuqing was the complete opposite.

She even worried that the expelled corpse poison might dissolve in the water and accidentally harm innocent people, so she had specially set up a formation to refine the residual poison.

A moment later, Yun Yuqing opened her eyes. Her face, flushed from the hot spring's steam, looked incredibly lovely and captivating. "A'Zu, I've completely cleared the corpse poison," she said.

Zu An also breathed a sigh of relief. "It seems those two didn't lie to us after all."

Yun Yuqing smiled, pursing her lips. "They are important figures in the Southern Border. Befriending them should prove helpful to you in the future."

Zu An's heart stirred. He had many questions for her, but he worried that asking them would irrevocably change their relationship.

At that moment, Yun Yuqing swam to the edge of the pool. "A'Zu, squat down," she said.

Zu An didn't understand why, but he complied. Yun Yuqing reached out and gently stroked his chest, pushing aside the outer garment he had worn to conceal his injuries from the city guards. She saw that most of his inner clothing was soaked with blood, and her fingers trembled slightly. "Does it hurt?" she asked.

"It didn't hurt before," Zu An replied with a smile, "but now that your delicate hand has touched it, it stings a little."

Yun Yuqing was momentarily taken aback; he had said the exact same thing to her back at King Wu's manor in Jibei Commandery.

She couldn't help but cast a resentful glance at him. "At a time like this, you're still making jokes."

"Don't worry," Zu An said. "I'm already Rank Seven now. I have strong regenerative abilities; I won't die."

Yun Yuqing shook her head. "While Rank Seven cultivators possess strong regenerative abilities, an ordinary person struck by a fully charged siege crossbow bolt would likely die on the spot. Even if they miraculously survived, injuries like these would take at least half a year to heal and might leave lingering ailments. Though the bleeding on your skin has stopped, your internal injuries are likely far more severe. Come down quickly; I'll help you treat them."

As both a Rune Master and a demon, she possessed various healing methods.

Zu An's expression was peculiar. "Wouldn't Your Highness be inviting trouble into her home like this?"

Yun Yuqing looked somewhat resentful. "Given our relationship, why bother with such formalities?"

Zu An laughed heartily. "I suppose I was overthinking it."

With that, he stripped off his clothes and jumped into the hot spring. Yun Yuqing swam over, gently washing his wounds with one hand while the other pulsed with light, treating him.

"It's all my fault for arriving late and letting you get so badly injured," Yun Yuqing said, her eyes reddening and glistening with unshed tears.

Zu An shook his head. "If you hadn't arrived in time, I might have been finished there."

Yun Yuqing bit her lip lightly, saying nothing as she concentrated fully on his treatment.

Zu An closed his eyes as well. He had just been in intense combat, and while the Primordial Chaos Scripture automatically repaired his body, it was less effective than actively guiding the repair himself.

He wondered if it was Yun Yuqing's proximity during treatment, but he felt the surrounding Primordial Chaos energy was significantly denser than usual.

He didn't waste the opportunity, guiding the dense Primordial Chaos energy to repair his wounds. The gaping, bloody gashes visibly began to fill with flesh and stitch themselves shut.

Suddenly, Zu An felt a distinct "ding" in his mind, followed by a profound sense of enlightenment.

He distinctly felt the air become sweeter. If his previous channel for absorbing Primordial Chaos energy was a muddy country path, it had now become a county-level road, accelerating his absorption speed manyfold.

"What's this?" Zu An exclaimed, both surprised and delighted.

At that moment, Mi Li's voice echoed, "I didn't expect you, kid, to break through to the third layer of the Primordial Chaos Scripture so quickly. Tsk, tsk, tsk, what ridiculous luck."

Dressed in red, she vaguely appeared on the blade of the Tai'a Sword beside him, not fully materializing.

Zu An was both surprised and overjoyed. "Empress, you're finally out! I was nearly killed in a trap just now, and you didn't even warn me."

Mi Li snorted. "I told you before, if you want to become a true powerhouse, don't always rely on me. Besides, if a hunt of this caliber can kill you, you might as well be dead."

Zu An simply stared.

Ah, the Empress is still so straightforward. Well, a strict teacher makes a good student.

"By the way, what does the third layer of the Primordial Chaos Scripture do?" Zu An wondered, recalling that the first layer granted powerful regeneration and the second purified evil. What new ability did this one offer?

"It can make you immune to all poisons," Mi Li said with a wry smile. "At least in the future, you won't be drugged and framed like in the Crown Princess incident."

Zu An's face flushed. "That was just carelessness, pure carelessness."

At the same time, he felt invigorated. Immunity to all poisons was excellent! While cultivators in this world were incredibly powerful and physically robust, rendering many ailments from his previous life insignificant, the poisons here were far more potent, capable of affecting even high-level cultivators.

He had suffered several setbacks due to poison before, but now that he was immune, he would have far fewer worries.

"Don't get too happy too soon," Mi Li said with a strange expression. "This way, in the future, you'll no longer be able to use the excuse of being drugged with an aphrodisiac to take advantage of girls."

Zu An immediately straightened his face. "Am I that kind of person? I've always been pure, upright, and honorable, relying solely on my personal charm..."

Mi Li interrupted him with a cold laugh. "Heh!"

Her gaze fell on Yun Yuqing beside him. "Tsk, tsk, this must be the Princess of Wu you mentioned. Truly a peerless beauty; even I feel sympathy for her..."

A hint of awe flashed in her eyes. Then she suddenly glared at Zu An, annoyed. "You scoundrel, did smoke rise from your ancestral grave? What virtues or abilities do you possess to be accompanied by so many beauties capable of toppling kingdoms?"

Rage points from Mi Li +33 +33 +33...

Zu An proudly tilted his chin. "Naturally, it's my unparalleled charm."

Mi Li's eyelid twitched. "Don't make me hit you."

At that moment, Yun Yuqing's surprised voice came from beside them. "Your injuries are recovering so fast! Such large gashes, and now even your internal organs have healed."

She had been treating him and could clearly sense his body's rapid recovery.

"Haha, you already know how resilient my body is," Zu An replied subconsciously, then cast a guilty glance at Mi Li beside him.

Mi Li snorted. "Why are you looking at me? She's bathing in the hot spring with you like this, and you're still unaffected? Are you even a man?"

Her personality had always been strong and domineering. Seeing Yun Yuqing's delicate and innocent demeanor, she felt an urge to thoroughly tease her.