Zheng Dan was speechless.

Wasn’t this dragon just slightly too disgusting? However, all of her attention was focused on the words ‘surely perished’. Her heart turned to ashes immediately.

Not even she could contend against this dragon’s strength, let alone Zu An, who was weaker than her.

“Why aren’t you resisting at all? This king will only feel happier the more you struggle!” The crimson dragon was rather unsatisfied. He raised a claw, easily slicing through her skirt.

Her skirt seemed as though it was cut by a blade, falling off neatly and exposing her fair, snow-white thighs.

“Despicable!” Learning of Zu An’s death had sobered her up a little. Despite the drug’s effects, Zheng Dan’s entire expression radiated with shame and indignance.

Unfortunately, faced with this massive dragon, her strength was like that of an ant. She thought about summoning her elemental power, but this dragon was most likely the fire element. This cave was full of ferocious fire elements—where would she find any traces of water element that she could use?

“Haha, things are much more interesting now.” That giant dragon roared with laughter when it saw Zheng Dan struggling.

“My beloved beauty, please wait for me. I shall be able to assume human form once I completely refine this Brilliant Glass Bead. I will then pour my love all over you.” The red dragon placed Zheng Dan in a corner of the cave. It released a breath that quickly formed a mist around her which prevented her from moving.

This was a completely unnecessary precaution. The effects of the drug in Zheng Dan’s body were fully activated. Only the thought of Zu An’s death had helped her regain a moment of clarity. There was no way for her to move her body now.

The crimson dragon nodded in satisfaction when it saw her obediently lying in the corner. It focused all of its attention on refining the bead floating in midair.

…

Meanwhile, outside the cave, Zu An’s body lay motionless. Suddenly, his finger twitched, and feeling slowly returned to his body as well.

A wave of pain ravaged his body. Zu An gritted his teeth, his face contorting. He had no idea just how many of his bones had been broken just now.

“You should be glad. If your body hadn’t been forged by the Primordial Origin Sutra, you would have already been turned into a puddle of flesh,” Mi Li said. “You just had to show off in front of a woman. Look at you now.” She seemed to be taking perverse pleasure in his suffering.

Zu An took a long breath to suppress the pain. He snorted. “No matter how painful it is, it still doesn’t hurt as much as when you beat the shit out of me.”

Mi Li had no reply.

She thought back to the scene where she had hacked at him endlessly, yet he crawled back up again and again. Back then, his entire body had been drenched in blood, every inch of him covered in wounds. She couldn’t help but feel slightly regretful.

Zu An turned back towards the cave. “Big sis empress, can you win against that dragon?” he asked, his voice downcast.

Mi Li’s projection shook her head. “My strength has fallen sharply after I turned into soul form. The effects of the ‘Red Tears of Lady Xiang’ are also too powerful, affecting even my soul. All of my attention is focused on purifying it right now, so I cannot do anything to that dragon.

“Even if I did have a way to get rid of that dragon, I still wouldn’t do it. Why would I throw away all of the hard work I’ve put in during this period, perhaps even suffer serious injury to my soul, all for the sake of a woman I have nothing to do with?”

From her tone, Zu An could tell that there might really be a way to deal with that dragon. He was just about to speak, but she spoke ahead of him. “Please do not tell me that you’ll commit suicide or something if I don’t save her. I, Mi Li, have always been a resolute and firm-willed woman. I never cower under threats.”

Mi Li sneered. “If I am exploited by you every time, then I’ll never recover. At that point, I might as well just let myself die early.” 

Zu An smiled in embarrassment. “Well, I didn’t threaten you.”

Mi Li grunted. “Who would have thought that an ordinary man like you would be such a skirt-chaser! You looked like you would go through life and death for the sake of your wife, and then you slept with that elf not long afterwards! How much time has passed since then? Yet look at you now. How are you already with another girl?”

Zu An sighed. “What can I do? When your luck with ladies is too great, you really become powerless sometimes.”

Mi Li had nothing to say to him.

If she had run into someone like this while she was still empress, she would have immediately ordered his castration.

Zu An managed to crawl to his feet. The Primordial Origin Sutra boosted his recovery abilities far beyond that of ordinary people. Even though he had been seriously injured, he had already recovered enough to move.

Mi Li jumped in fright when she saw him walk towards the cave entrance. “What the hell are you doing? Are you really going to throw away your life for that woman?”

There was not a single person who understood his strength better than her. Even though he had many tricks up his sleeve, all of it was meaningless in the face of absolute strength.

“Don’t worry, I have a plan.” Zu An said calmly.

He had to save Zheng Dan. She’ll die if I leave her in her current state.

He had learned about the lascivious nature of dragons from the academy’s records. Even though he didn’t understand what the two of them could even do, given their difference in size, there was no way he could watch Zheng Dan meet such a tragic ending. Not if he considered himself her friend.

“I won’t save you if you get into trouble!” Mi Li stomped her feet in anger. Even though she said this, she still followed along out of worry.

Zu An activated his Mirror Image technique, which had been given to him by Qiu Honglei. His aura grew more and more faint, until no one else could detect him.

Mi Li was shocked. When did this guy learn this trick?

He was clearly right in front of her, yet she couldn’t sense him at all! Even with her cultivation, she had to fully focus her mind and stare at him several times before she could sense his existence.

Zu An quietly reached the end of the tunnel, but didn’t continue on further.

After all, even though Mirror Mirage could hide his aura, it couldn’t hide his physical body. If that crimson dragon saw him, he would still be done for.

He carefully examined his surroundings. The crimson dragon was still continuously flying around the sparkling bead.

“Oh? That bead seems quite incredible.” Mi Li looked at that bead pensively.

How could Zu An be bothered with a bead right now? All of his attention was on Zheng Dan’s safety.

He looked high and low, and finally saw the corner Zheng Dan was lying in. She seemed like she was still okay for now.

“You want to save her?” Mi Li couldn’t help but ask. In her opinion, this was the same as courting death.

Zu An didn’t reply. He withdrew silently.

When they were finally back outside, Zu An said, “I’ll get some people to help out.”

“We are in the wilderness right now! Where would you find anyone?” Mi Li asked in confusion.

A mischievous smile appeared on Zu An’s face. “There will definitely be people around.”

Chen Xuan and the Whale Gang lackeys were right at their disposal!

Besides, Chen Xuan was out to get him, and Zu An had always wanted to deal with this constant threat. He just never had a chance.

However, a great opportunity had finally presented itself!

As for Liu Chan and his conspirators, he was sure that Zheng Dan didn’t want to keep them alive after they learned of her true identity.

Of course, from his perspective, it would still be best to keep one or two alive, to help the Chu clan deal with the illicit salt smuggling.

However, he couldn’t be bothered with all of that right now. He would let fate decide whether any of these fellows would remain alive.

He began to head back down the path that they’d taken to reach the cave. He had hoped that he’d thrown their pursuers off before, but now he was praying that they weren’t that stupid.

Fortunately, after walking for a while, he heard activity ahead. It was Liu Chan’s group, grumbling at each other for losing their targets.

Chen Xuan was with them, his face sullen. It was with great difficulty that he finally obtained the Eighteen Spring Winds, yet all of his efforts had only helped that Zu An out. He felt like his heart was bleeding!

You have successfully trolled Chen Xuan for 666 Rage points!

Zu An revealed himself at a distance away, laughing heartily. “I’m not trying to target anyone here, but all of you are trash! None of you could catch up to me even though I was carrying someone!” he mocked them.

Chen Xuan looked up, speechless.

Liu Chan, too, had nothing to say.

Everyone else from the Whale Gang stared at him, mouths open.

Did something happen to this guy’s head? Why had he run back, especially after he’d already gotten away?

Despite this initial reaction, their anger flared immediately afterwards, as they finally processed what that lout had said.

How the hell were they supposed to endure such mockery?

These Whale Gang members were all quick-tempered to begin with. They spent their days wading through violence and blood. How could they ever swallow such anger?

They screamed as one, and chased after the one who mocked them.

Chen Xuan hesitated, sensing something amiss. He had always been a careful person. 

However, his mind kept drifting to Zheng Dan. He knew that the poison had most likely taken effect completely, and he had to seize her before another man got to reap the benefits.

As such, he was compelled to follow the Whale Gang members. He figured that, no matter what kind of schemes this Zu An brat had cooked up, his strength was too low in the end. He didn’t pose any threat to him.

Even so, he was content to let Liu Chan and the others go ahead of him. If there were truly some sort of trap, these guys would be the first ones to fall into it.

Zu An took to his heels when he saw all of them chasing after him.

He could hear Mi Li’s sneer in his mind. “These are you so-called helpers? Forgive me for speaking bluntly, but that dragon doesn’t even have to worry about his food getting stuck in his teeth while he’s busy chewing all of you up.”

“I have a plan!” Zu An hissed in a low voice.

Because of the rugged terrain and the obstacles in the forest, no matter how much faster Chen Xuan was than Zu An, he still couldn’t catch up to him.

After keeping pace for a while, he suddenly stopped, a frown on his face.

Liu Zhan and the others noticed this. “Boss, what’s wrong?” they asked.

“Something isn’t right. I can feel it. This fellow is deliberately drawing us in that direction,” Chen Xuan said quietly, clearly troubled.

Liu Chan was doubtful. “Boss, aren’t you being a bit too careful? Even if that is what he is trying to do, so what? We’ve been chasing after him all this while, and he surely hasn’t had time to lay any sort of trap. There are so many of us here, and even you are here as well. Killing him will be all too easy.”

The rest of them voiced their agreement. Their minds were clouded over, burning with desire, thinking about how helpless Zheng Dan was. How could they think about anything else?

Chen Xuan was the only one with a clear head. “Do none of you sense anything strange? We didn’t even run into a single beast along the way. There can only be two possibilities. One, this place is too desolate, so no beasts roam these parts. The chances of this being true are small. The second possibility is that this is the territory of a powerful beast, so no other beasts dare to approach this place.”

The others grew alarmed when they heard this. He seemed to be making a good bit of sense.

Zu An noticed that his pursuers had stopped. He knew that they were probably suspicious. After all, Chen Xuan had managed to stay one step ahead of the law after all these years. He was definitely more careful than the average person.

This was something that he had prepared for. He activated his Fragrant Barf skill. “What a group of trash! I’m not going to play around with you all anymore! I’m going to play with your gang boss instead!”