Shi Kun nearly peed his pants when he saw that the black-armored general had turned its gaze onto him. He had lived a life of greatness, being born into a prominent clan, blessed with both looks and talent. There was a bright future ahead of him. 

Am I really just going to die in this lousy place?

He shuddered with fear as he thought about how his brawny subordinate had been sucked dry and turned into a ball of waste meat by the black-armored general.

All of a sudden, Qiao Xueying’s body glowed with a greenish light, then she spurted a mouthful of blood. It was hard to tell what she had done, but she had somehow managed to break free of the restraints rooting her in place. She quickly ran over to Shi Kun and touched his head, and the same green light swiftly suffused his body as well.

This was the power of life force, and it had the ability to curb the death aura of the undead.

Qiao Xueying’s face had turned pale, and blood was trailing from the corners of her lips. Clearly, using this power was extremely draining on her.

“Young master, we need to run!” 

It would take another few more seconds before Shi Kun was completely released from the seal, but in the face of an expert of the black-armored general’s caliber, even a second or two would be the difference between life and death. Not daring to waste any time, Qiao Xueying grabbed Shi Kun’s body and immediately ran towards the passageway.

“You’re courting death!” The black-armored general charged at the fleeing pair in a state of unrestrained fury.

Noticing the speed of the black-armored general, a hint of despair flashed across Qiao Xueying’s eyes. She gritted her teeth as her face steeled with determination. She knew that it was impossible for her to get away, so she decided to sacrifice herself to buy some time for the young master to escape instead.

Her hair morphed into countless vines that began whipping at the black-armored general. She was already completely depleted, and she was burning her own life force in order to sustain her attack.

She considered using her two remaining uses of Moon Reflection here as well. While it wouldn’t allow her to get away from the black-armored general, at the very least, it could buy some time for the young master to escape.

Her only worry right now was that the young master wouldn’t be willing to flee on his own. 

If he insists on standing alongside me to fight the black-armored general, it’s likely that both of us will end up dying here.

All of a sudden, she felt a force shove her from behind, sending her flying in the direction of the black-armored general. She had been so focused on dealing with the enemy in front of her that her back was unguarded. The force of the shove sent her tumbling forward helplessly.

At that moment, Qiao Xueying’s mind went completely blank. The only person behind her was the young master, so there was no doubt about who it could be. 

Even so, she was reluctant to let go of that tiny sliver of hope that she might just be mistaken. She still turned around, hoping that she had it all wrong.

When she finally saw Shi Kun’s frantically fleeing silhouette, however, she finally descended in despair. It turned out that, in Shi Kun’s heart, she was nothing more than a pawn that could be sacrificed at any moment in order to block an arrow… 

The black-armored general reached out and wrapped its massive hands around Qiao Xueying’s neck. The force was far greater than what Qiao Xueying could deal with, but it didn’t matter anymore, as her heart had already withered. 

She closed her eyes and waited for herself to be reduced to a dried-up corpse.

The moment stretched out, and unexpectedly, nothing happened. She opened her eyes, only to see a perplexed look on the face of the black-armored general. To be more exact, its face was hidden in a layer of black mist, but for some reason, she was still able to perceive its feelings.

“Another betrayal, huh?” remarked the black-armored general wistfully before sighing deeply. It seemed to have dredged up memories from the distant past. 

It suddenly snorted coldly and said, “I’ve always looked down on those who dared to betray their comrades. Come back here!”

It raised its other hand and began conjuring a black mist, which revolved quickly to form a black hole, aimed toward the entrance of the passageway.

Shi Kun was fleeing frantically down the passageway when he suddenly felt a powerful force pulling him from behind. He immediately lost his balance and rolled backwards a few rounds. Frantic, he whipped out a sword and stabbed it into the wall of the passageway, barely able to stabilize himself.

He was astounded by how a wind element cultivator like himself was actually utterly helpless before this furious suction force which was pulling him backwards. He gripped the hilt of his sword with desperate force, and it was all he could do just to maintain his position.

Soon, however, the suction force grew stronger, causing his body to lift into the air. His hands were also gradually slipping off the hilt of his sword. One of his hands finally lost its grip, and he hurriedly reached out to claw at the cavern wall beside him to steady himself.

He knew that he would be a goner once he got sucked in, so he could only grit his teeth and hang on. His fingers were starting to bleed from digging into the rough cavern wall, but he couldn’t care about that right now.

“It looks like you have a strong desire to live, but it’s meaningless.” The black-armored general’s fingers twisted, further increasing the strength of the suction force. He was determined to pull Shi Kun back in.

All of a sudden, its body stiffened. “How dare you covet the Evanescent Lotus!” it exclaimed in a mixture of horror and anger.

This sudden emergency made it lose all interest in Shi Kun. Black mist rose from its back and enveloped it and its steed, then both vanished without a trace. Qiao Xueying, who was still in its grasp, was taken away with it.

In the passageway, Shi Kun was still desperately clinging on, a look of despair in his eyes. He knew that he was swiftly approaching his limit. All of a sudden, the suction force vanished without a trace, and he fell heavily, bashing his face into the hard ground and leaving it bruised and swollen.

Even so, he was delighted by the turn of events. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he didn’t dare to investigate any further. He quickly clambered to his feet and ran out of the mausoleum desperately. Even when he had finally escaped through the stone doors, he continued running until he was finally several li away.

… 

Meanwhile, Zu An had fished out the Evanescent Lotus from the pond, and was slowly plucking out its petals one by one to feed them to his wife. There was a pained look on his face. “Honey, do you know what I’m giving up for your sake? If you treat me badly in the future, you’ll be behaving like a beast…”

“Heh, men~” sneered the feminine voice. “Your wife’s life is hanging by a thread, but you’re still dreaming of raising your cultivation. If I were her, my heart would be chilled by what you’re doing.”

“You don’t know shit at all!” cursed Zu An. However, he couldn’t be bothered to explain it to her, since his seal wasn’t anything to be proud of.

“How dare you speak to me in such a manner?” the feminine voice said sharply.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 314 Rage points![1]

Zu An was stunned. Is that the name of that mysterious woman? What a queer surname she has. Had I not watched ‘Legend of Mi Yue’[2] in my previous life, I wouldn’t even know how to read that character.

However, he was in no mood to care about her. He realized that Chu Chuyan couldn’t swallow the petals because she was already unconscious. Recalling how the feminine voice had reminded him that she only had sixty seconds left to live, Zu An didn’t dare to hesitate. He chewed up the flower petals himself before feeding them to her mouth-to-mouth.

It was a dream of countless men to share a kiss with Chu Chuyan, but Zu An was in no mood to enjoy it at all. His mind was dominated by his worry for her, and he had no time to think about that. 

He didn’t dare to dawdle as he fed the petals of the Evanescent Lotus to her one mouthful at a time. Both his nose and mouth were filled with fragrance, but he couldn’t tell whether it was coming from the lotus itself, or from Chu Chuyan.

A while later, Chu Chuyan finally opened her eyes. It was hard to tell whether she had finally recovered from her earlier fragile state, but she stared at him with a red tinge on her cheeks.

“You’re awake?” Zu An was delighted, and he felt a great deal of tension and worry drain out of him.

“W-what are you doing?” Chu Chuyan looked at the petals in his hands before glancing at his lips.

Feeling a little guilt-ridden, Zu An quickly explained, “I was saving your life! I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you.”

Chu Chuyan was silent a while before nodding. “I know.”

The atmosphere was a little awkward. Zu An didn’t know what to say, so he instinctively crushed another flower petal in his mouth and leaned forward to feed her again. Halfway through his motion, though, he suddenly froze up. 

She’s awake now, right? There’s no need for me to feed her like that anymore.

Chu Chuyan was also stunned by what he was doing. She fidgeted unnaturally for a moment before turning her head away and saying, “I can do it myself.”

Zu An knew that she wouldn’t accept his means of feeding her, now that she was already awake, so he could only pass the remaining petals over to her. “Here you go.”

Meanwhile, he swallowed the single Evanescent Lotus petal that was already in his mouth, wondering if one would be enough for him to dispel his seal. He took out the unsealing pill that Ji Dengtu had concocted for him and swallowed it down right away.

He quickly turned his attention to his body, examining it for any potential changes.

As soon as he swallowed the unsealing pill, he could sense waves of heat surging toward his abdomen, accompanied by a refreshing pulse that appeared to be from the Evanescent Lotus. 

The waves of heat swiftly melded together with the refreshing pulse as they travelled downward through his body, opening up several of his ki meridians. He felt as though invisible shackles on his body were gradually being pried open.

There’s a chance!

Zu An’s eyes lit up and he focused his attention on channeling the combined energy flow to open up his sealed meridians.

Everything was going well at the start, but this combined energy flow suddenly seemed to meet with a particularly resilient barrier that he couldn’t break down no matter what he tried. Every time he tried to force it open, the energy flow broke against it, losing some of its potency. Eventually, he could only watch on helplessly as it vanished.

There’s not enough medicinal energy!

Zu An was on the verge of tears. Heavens above, just why is my life full of such hardship?!

However, it was not all in vain. Zu An realized that his fifth formation had been filled up. Theoretically speaking, it would have required 377 Ki Fruits, which would have taken him a great deal of time to acquire. However, he had managed to clear it easily with just a single flower petal.

The rumors were true! A single flower petal could indeed raise one’s cultivation by a step.

What’s the use of that, though? The ability that I really desired still hasn’t returned yet!

“What is this medicine?” asked Chu Chuyan.

Her mind was in a mess earlier on, so she swallowed all of the flower petals which Zu An had given her without much consideration. But when she felt a surge of mystical calming energy suffusing her own body, she immediately realized that what she had just consumed was something exceptional.

Her ki meridians were still in tatters, but her injuries were healing at an incredible rate. In fact, she had a feeling that, as long as she recuperated carefully over the next few years, she might just be able to reforge her devastated ki meridians!

While her cultivation would probably still remain crippled, and her movements might be less nimble than that of an ordinary person, it would still be much better than being paralyzed for her entire life.

“I chanced upon this medicine here, and I noticed that you were close to your last breath, so I gave it to you.” Zu An was not the type of person to not leave his name behind after doing a good deed, but it felt way too intentional if he revealed that it was the Evanescent Lotus. Besides, he was so frustrated at having lost a chance to unseal ‘little Zu An’ that he didn’t even want to mention it right now.

As his mind drifted, it suddenly dawned on him that he hadn’t heard the feminine voice all this while. 

“Who dares touch my Evanescent Lotus?” a furious voice bellowed from not too far away.