Chapter 853: Appears

"What the hell?" Zu An was startled. Although in his previous life he occasionally 'appreciated' tentacle-themed content, it was far less enjoyable when he himself became the target of a tentacle attack.

He pushed off the ground with his toes, quickly darting aside with Bi Linglong to evade this wave of rapidly growing weeds, which he had momentarily mistaken for tentacles.

However, weeds were everywhere, growing wildly in every direction, leaving the two of them with nowhere to escape.

Bi Linglong also drew her sword and began hacking at the weeds. The Crown Princess's sword was, naturally, incredibly sharp, and it quickly severed many weeds, but this could not stop them at all.

They were growing too fast, faster than she could cut them down.

Facing the endless long grasses, Bi Linglong's hacking speed quickly slowed. Then, two long grasses suddenly shot out from the side and wrapped around her arms.

Her body stiffened. In that moment of delay, her other arm and both legs were also entangled by the long grasses.

She let out a gasp. Having lost her balance, she was instantly pulled into mid-air by the grasses. Her limbs were spread wide, forming an extremely shameful 'X' shape.

More long grasses seized the opportunity to surge forward, twining upwards along her legs and quickly reaching her thighs.

Other long grasses coiled along her arms to her neck and were about to reach her face.

These strange grasses constricted her body, accentuating her curves. Usually dressed with strict propriety and reserve, she now exuded an unusual, alluring charm.

Bi Linglong had never experienced anything like this before. She was filled with both shame and fear, and her mind went blank.

Seeing this, Zu An grew furious. If anyone was going to play these kinds of games, it should be him with her!

He casually unleashed a Flame Blade, directly severing the long grasses that bound Bi Linglong. The flames immediately grew with the wind, and almost instantly burned away all the weeds on her.

Originally, these grasses were extraordinary species, impervious to ordinary fire. But little did they expect his Flame Blade was wielded using a Fire Phoenix, pure Phoenix flames. These long grasses couldn't possibly withstand it.

As if feeling the scorching pain, agonized screams echoed around them. The wildly growing weeds abruptly paused, then quickly retracted.

Bi Linglong fell from the air. Zu An tapped his toes, flew over, and caught her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm... I'm fine." Bi Linglong had blushed more today than all her previous blushes combined. The positions those hateful grasses had forced her into were simply too embarrassing, making her too mortified to face Zu An.

Zu An comforted her, "It's okay, actually, it looked quite good."

Hearing this, Bi Linglong felt like rushing forward and biting him. But then she reconsidered. Anyway, he had already seen everything there was to see, both what he should and shouldn't have seen, so what had just happened didn't seem to matter as much...

At this moment, Zu An had already turned his head to look in a certain direction. "Wait till I find that monster who bullied you and get revenge for you!"

After speaking, a massive Flame Blade ignited in his hand, and he chopped it directly towards a certain direction. He had just noticed that all the weeds had retracted in the same direction.

With a loud boom, the massive Flame Blade split open a large crevice in the ground. A black figure swiftly leaped out from it, continuously swatting at the flames on its body.

"Elf? Treant?" Zu An was startled because the creature's appearance somewhat resembled a humanoid.

Back then, Xue'er also had many vines on her head that could grow wildly and attack, a method somewhat similar to this creature's.

But Xue'er was so beautiful; who was this ugly monster in front of him?

From its appearance, it was hard to call it truly humanoid. Its entire body was covered in green fur, and only with difficulty could one discern a torso and limbs.

It let out a guttural sound. After it put out the flames on its body, it stared at Zu An with intense hatred.

Rage value from Han Zhong +111 +111 +111...

"Han Zhong?" Seeing this name in the system background, Zu An was surprised. So it really was a person.

"What? You say his name is Han Zhong?" Mi Li naturally knew that his 'system' could collect soul energy fluctuations generated by human anger, so it would never identify the wrong person.

"Yes, what about it?" Noticing her surprised expression, Zu An couldn't help but look strange. "Don't tell me you know this monster too?"

Mi Li's expression was complex. "Have you forgotten when I mentioned that Qin Shi Huang sought the elixir of immortality, and all the alchemists in the world sprang into action? The most famous were four: Xu Fu, Lu Sheng, Hou Sheng, and... Han Zhong."

Zu An was utterly confused.

Now he was truly surprised. How could Han Zhong be here, and how could he have lived until now?

"Is Han Zhong a demon race member or some other strange creature?" Zu An found it difficult to connect the monster before him with a human.

"No," Mi Li shook her head. "He is human. However, Han Zhong's behavior back then was a bit strange. Legend has it that he consumed calamus for thirty years, and then his entire body grew green fur. From then on, he gained photographic memory and became impervious to water and fire."

"Green fur all over, but it wouldn't grow *this* long, would it?" Zu An thought of the grass blades that had just been flying everywhere and how much he had burned with his Phoenix Flames. Yet the creature still had so much fur on its body; it was unimaginable how ridiculous this was.

"It wasn't this long back then; it's probably because so many years have passed." Mi Li gazed at the long-haired monster, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

Zu An wondered, *Ten thousand years of ill omen, resulting in green fur all over?*

At this moment, Mi Li said, "I know what kind of poison that girl just got. Han Zhong consumed calamus year-round, and calamus is toxic. These weeds are mostly calamus. After being poisoned, it causes strong hallucinations. However, it doesn't have an aphrodisiac effect. The fact that the girl was so wanton in her hallucinations after being poisoned shows that this is truly what she desires deep down, merely amplified by the illusion."

Zu An couldn't help but glance at Bi Linglong. *I never would have guessed*, he thought, *with her usual haughty and aloof demeanor. Could she secretly lust for my body?*

"Why are you looking at me like that?" A woman's innate sensitivity immediately made Bi Linglong feel uneasy.

"Nothing," Zu An smiled. "It's just that when you think about me like that, you can just say so; there's no need to suppress it so deeply."

At this moment, Han Zhong, on the other side, roared and charged over. With a wave of his hand, the power he unleashed was no less than that of a Grandmaster.

Zu An's expression changed. He raised his hand to block, and with a bang, he recoiled over ten feet. Han Zhong also tumbled backward, sprawling on the ground.

Feeling a numbness in his arm, Zu An was secretly alarmed. The opponent's strength would be truly difficult to handle in a full fight, and it would be troublesome if it attracted the emperor's attention.

So he called out, "Han Zhong! We can talk first."

The humanoid monster was getting up to charge again, but it froze upon hearing the name.

"Han... Zhong..." Its voice was incredibly raspy, as if it hadn't spoken for so long that it had forgotten how.

It clutched its head with both hands, its face contorted in pain. "Who... is Han Zhong, and who am I? Ahhh..."

It frantically shook its head and continuously punched it with its hands. Soon, its head was covered in blood.

Then it suddenly looked up. "Immortality... no, everyone is dead, everyone must die..."

No sooner had it spoken than it angrily lunged forward.

Zu An looked dejected. After all that, it still came down to a fight.

Since it was clearly of the wood element, he immediately used his Flame Blade, which indeed kept it suppressed.

The two fought for a while, when Mi Li uttered a surprised "Hm?" "Something's wrong. He seems to have only fighting instincts left and isn't using any combat techniques. Otherwise, with his cultivation from back then, having lived until now, you would be no match for him."

Zu An also felt it. The opponent was fighting like a beast, not even as well as a ferocious beast, which still possessed various innate abilities.

Just then, Mi Li suddenly floated out, and with a delicate touch of her hand, she struck a vital point on the opponent's lower ribs.

Han Zhong let out an unwilling roar, and then heavily collapsed to the ground.

Zu An stared at Mi Li in surprise. "You actually helped me."

"I wasn't helping you, but rather I have something to ask him." After Mi Li spoke, she materialized directly in front of Han Zhong. "Han Zhong, do you still recognize me?"

Bi Linglong was wondering why the monster had suddenly collapsed, when she saw a beautiful woman in a red dress appear out of thin air before her. Her eyes immediately widened in shock.