“You were all brave warriors of the Qin Dynasty, but you were betrayed by one of your own, and died with unresolved grievances,” said Mi Li. 

She paused for a moment to take in the indignant looks on their faces before carrying on. “You were pillars of the Qin Dynasty, and your demise left a gaping hole in our empire. Not too long after you fell, our Great Qin was overrun by barbaric rebels. I am as upset and indignant as all of you are. We aren’t enemies, but allies on the same side! Who was the one that caused this plight to befall us?”

“Zhang… Han…”

The evil spirits howled in unison, and the lake began bubbling furiously. Their eerie voices echoed loudly within the underground hall.

Zu An was deeply impressed by the sight laid out before him. It did not seem as though the evil spirits possessed much sentience. They had appeared to have been left with nothing but their instincts, and incapable of speech. At the very most, they could only utter some guttural howls. 

Somehow, though, they were able to vocalize Zhang Han’s name. This showed just how much they hated that man, such that his name continued to linger in their minds, even after their deaths.

“Indeed, it was Zhang Han! Our Great Qin entrusted our hopes to him, but he betrayed our imperial court. For his own safety, he chose to surrender to the rebels and sent our core forces to the grave. He deserves to die a thousand times over!” roared Mi Li powerfully.

Zu An frowned slightly. To be honest, he was a little sympathetic toward Zhang Han. To the soldiers of the Qin Dynasty, he was indeed a traitor who had betrayed them all, but he would never have chosen such a fate over being the savior of the Qin Dynasty if he’d been given a real choice. 

His previous successes on the battlefield had caused his political enemies in the imperial court to begin worrying over his growing influence, and they attempted to slander him before the emperor. It was already tough enough dealing with the rebels, without having to watch his own back as well. He knew that even if he defeated the rebels, his political enemies would more than likely find a reason to frame him and bring him down. Cornered, he was eventually driven into throwing his lot in with the rebels.

Killing the two hundred thousand soldiers under his command was never his idea. As someone who had switched sides, though, he was in no position to stop the rebels.

A single wrong step was more than enough to send him plummeting into the abyss. There was no longer any way to turn back.

Of course, even though Zu An had some small sympathy for Zhang Han, he wasn’t dumb enough to mention any of this at a time like this. He simply stood silently to the side, watching the events unfold, curious to see how Mi Li would wrap things up.

“Just a moment ago, I killed the sinner, Zhang Han, and exacted vengeance for the Qin Dynasty, and for all of you!” Mi Li glanced at Zu An, signaling him to throw the helmet and spear into the lake. “This is his helmet and weapon!”

Zu An felt a sharp pain in his heart. Both the spear and the helmet shone with a beautiful luster that hinted they weren’t ordinary items. If he were to put them on auction, they would surely spark a bidding war. It was a huge pity to throw them away like that.

However, when he looked into the lake and saw the hundreds of thousands of eyes staring back at him, he felt goosebumps rising all over his body. With a long sigh, he reluctantly tossed the helmet and spear into the lake.

As soon as the helmet and spear fell into the water, the evil spirits immediately rushed forward, their eyes bloodshot. They seemed to think of the two pieces of equipment as Zhang Han himself, and opened their mouths wide and chomped down on them.

Zu An was dumbfounded. 

What the hell? Zhang Han’s spear and helmet seem to be of a similar level as the Tai’e Sword in its current state, and yet, the evil spirits are munching down on them with their teeth? 

Even more shocking, though, the spear and helmet were actually growing smaller at a visible rate, and it didn’t take long before they both completely vanished from view.

Zu An stared at the lake in stunned silence.

The anger of the evil spirits seemed to have diminished slightly after they devoured Zhang Han’s helmet and spear. In fact, some of them even had serene expressions on their faces.

Mi Li made use of this opportunity to ask, “All of you turned into evil spirits due to your hatred toward Zhang Han. However, now that Zhang Han is dead, are you really content to continue living in such a state, never to be reincarnated?”

Her words stirred a hint of struggle within the evil spirits. Clearly, their inability to find inner peace was torturing them too.

“It’s about time for you to let go of your stubbornness, and reincarnate into a new body,” said Mi Li. “I’ll lend you a helping hand. In a moment, a Life’s Gate will appear here; you’ll be able to be born anew once you pass through the gate.”

Zu An was still engrossed in the sight before him, when a formula suddenly sounded in his ear. It was a ki transmission from Mi Li. “Channel the second rank of your Primordial Origin Sutra and manifest it in this manner corresponding to the Art of Afterlife…”

Zu An immediately did as he was told, channeling the primordial ki from the world together as he muttered, “Earth to earth, dust to dust. Those who have departed ought not to linger here…”

As Mi Li’s voice sounded, a white gate suddenly appeared in mid-air. It was about the size of a palm at first, but gradually grew larger, eventually reaching a height of several meters. The gate gave off an air of divinity and majesty.

Zu An’s eyes went wide with awe. He had never seen such a cool effect before. If I show off such a move in the future, won’t everyone bow down to me in awe?

At the same time, he could sense the disparity between him and Mi Li in terms of experience. The latter was clearly much more knowledgeable than him, with a vast library of wisdom to draw upon.

He turned to look at Mi Li, and was surprised to see that her figure had vanished without a trace.

Wait a moment, did she leave together with the Life’s Gate? Ah, what a pity. If only I’d known in advance. I would have taken my chances with the beautiful big sis empress… 

Mi Li was hardly impressed by his train of thought.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 555 Rage points!

“You really are a pervert through and through.”

Zu An was delighted to hear her voice. “Ah, you’re still here! You really scared me earlier! Where did you go?”

“Of course I’ve returned to the Tai’e Sword! Why would I remain outside after the Life’s Gate has been opened? I’d be asking to be purified!” snapped Mi Li.

Zu An finally remembered that Mi Li had made a deal with him precisely out of fear of his purification skill. The white gate seemed to possess some sort of mysterious suction force that drew the evil spirits out of the lake and through it. All of them had peaceful looks on their faces as they passed through the gate, apparently filled with great expectations for their next life.

A thin film covered the gateway, and the evil spirits that passed through it vanished without a trace, as if they had been transported into another mysterious world.

Zu An couldn’t help but wonder aloud, “Is the afterlife beyond this Life’s Gate?”

“Of course not,” sneered Mi Li.

“Huh?” Zu An replied, confused.

“The afterlife is something fleeting and unreachable. Some powerful experts in the world might have the ability to reincarnate, but this isn’t a dream that ordinary mortals could hope for. That Life’s Gate is nothing more than a manifestation of your purification ability. The evil spirits who pass through it will simply be disintegrated into the most fundamental form of ki,” explained Mi Li.

Zu An stared at her in stunned silence.

This woman is simply too vicious! Her speech was so impassioned that even I fell for it, but it turned out to be a big fat lie! It seems I really must keep my guard up against her, lest I fall for one of her tricks in the future!

“Of course, this is a just end for them. Evil spirits aren’t entitled to peace, even after death,” added Mi Li.

Like hell I would believe that!

Of course, Zu An wasn’t so dumb as to tell the evil spirits the truth about the Life’s Gate.

“Don’t waste this precious opportunity. Hurry up and assimilate the primordial ki that is being given off by the evil spirits,” reminded Mi Li.

Nudged on by her reminder, Zu An realized that the primordial ki in the surroundings was growing more and more concentrated as the evil spirits disintegrated. So, while maintaining the Life’s Gate, he drove his Primordial Origin Sutra to heal his injuries.

Meanwhile, Chu Chuyan stood at his side, guarding him. As she did so, she kept an eye out for Qiao Xueying as well. She was worried for her, since she had sustained severe injuries as well. While they were not yet fatal in nature, they could possibly pose some danger to her if left untreated for too long.

“Honey, I’ll be fine. You should take care of Snow first,” Zu An opened his eyes and said.

Chu Chuyan responded with a nod before rushing over to Qiao Xueying’s side. She noticed that she had already fallen into a semi-conscious state, so she quickly infused her ki into her body. While it was not as pure as primordial ki, it should be enough to slowly heal her injuries.

Some time later, Qiao Xueying’s eyes slowly fluttered open. She saw the Chu Chuyan was attending to her wounds, and a complicated look swept across her face for a moment before she whispered softly, “Thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me. It was Ah Zu who asked me to save you,” replied Chu Chuyan.

Qiao Xueying chuckled softly in response. “You’re still the same as always. You simply won’t admit to the kindness that you hold within your heart.”

Chu Chuyan’s cheeks flushed a little. The relationship between the two of them was a little awkward at the moment. Although Qiao Xueying was a spy sent by a hostile power to infiltrate the Chu clan, for some reason, Chu Chuyan was unable to bring herself to hate her.

Of course, after all that had been said and done, it was impossible for their relationship to go back to how it was before.

After a moment of hesitation, she changed the topic and asked, “Speaking of which, you were on bad terms with Ah Zu all this while. How did the two of you grow so much closer all of a sudden?”

“Don’t misunderstand it. There’s nothing between me and him at all. We’re just two individuals working with the same goal in mind. Our joint efforts to rescue you sparked some camaraderie between us—there’s nothing else beyond that,” replied Qiao Xueying.

Chu Chuyan chuckled softly. “I didn’t say anything. Why are you in such a rush to defend yourself?”

Qiao Xueying’s felt her cheeks grow warm. She didn’t say anything else, but she found her heartbeat quickening. What’s wrong with me? It’s not like I’m lying or anything. Why do I feel so guilty?

… 

It took a few hours before the two hundred thousand evil spirits were fully purified. With the disintegration of the final evil spirit, the temperature in the underground hall suddenly seemed to climb by a few degrees. At the same time, the black waters of the lake slowly grew clear again.

Zu An heaved a sigh of relief. He had managed to make a full recovery from his terrible wounds by absorbing the primordial ki, and he felt more spirited than ever. 

While he had been healing his wounds through the Primordial Origin Sutra, his body underwent a complete tempering session as well. He was at least two times more resilient than before. In fact, he felt that he could withstand a full-blooded blow from a fifth rank cultivator without taking much damage, as long as they did not tap into their elemental powers. 

He lowered his head to look at ‘little Zu An’. He couldn’t help but remember how shocked he’d been when he first heard of the story of Lao Ai[1] using his junk as an axle to turn the wheels of a carriage. However, now that he looked at it once more, it seemed no more than a child’s tale to him.

He couldn’t help but notice that he’d only absorbed less than half of the primordial ki earlier on. Most of the energy produced by the disintegration of the evil spirits had gone into the Tai’e Sword instead.

Zu An sighed softly and said, “Big sis empress truly is cunning. Despite all the trouble I’ve been through, it turns out that you’re still the biggest victor.”