“What’s inside this case?” This case was rather delicate and exquisite. It was made of first-rate pear wood and the decorative design on its surface was refined as well.

Old Mi sneered. “You don’t need to know what’s inside the case. Just remember what it looks like and bring me the same exact one that is in the Wei clan’s possession.”

Zu An scratched his head. “Elder, I’m confused. With your cultivation, wouldn’t it be easy for you to get whatever you want from the Wei clan estate? Why do you have to go through the trouble of sending me?”

After all, Old Mi could move around the Chu clan without anyone’s notice. Not even the eighth-ranked Chu Zhongtian noticed anything.

No matter how tight the security in the Wei clan was, it couldn’t be better than the duke’s estate, right?

Old Mi snorted. “I have my reasons. If I tell you to go, then go. Don’t give me all this nonsense.”

“All right.” Zu An shrugged his shoulders. Since it wasn’t too difficult a task, he’d just help this old man out.

Old Mi smiled in satisfaction. He turned around to leave, but stopped suddenly. “You absolutely must not open that case, or else it will endanger your life,” he warned Zu An. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Zu An jumped in fright. “It’s that dangerous?!”

“Just don’t open it,” Old Mi instructed.

By the time he finished speaking, his figure had already vanished.

Zu An became quiet. What in the world was inside that case?

The human mind was a curious thing. If Old Mi hadn’t warned him to not open it, he probably wouldn’t have this strong urge to peek inside.

He remembered the warnings on lightbulb packages from his previous world, which warned against putting them into your mouth. Usually, no one in their right mind would do something so stupid, but how could one not be curious after seeing this warning? Who knew how many warriors there were in the world who were willing to put their bodies on the line to test this out?

There was a kid from his school who obviously knew the reasoning behind why a light bulb couldn’t be removed after it was inserted into the mouth. However, being one who didn’t believe in myths or urban legends, he just had to give it a try. Of course, the kid wrapped a condom around it just in case. That way, he figured it’d be slippery and easy to remove.

In the end, reality taught him a harsh lesson. All of the students and teachers in the school saw tears streaming down his face as he ran towards the hospital with a condom-wrapped lightbulb in his mouth. To this day, this sort of social death made him cringe whenever he recalled it.

I’ll just sneak a peek later. I’m sure it will be fine. 

However, he couldn’t shake the sense of danger lurking in the back of his mind. This Old Mi definitely had an ulterior motive. He couldn’t let him keep controlling him like this.

He had to find a way to break free.

He immediately felt discouraged when he recalled Mi Li’s assessment of that old man’s cultivation. Unless he had a poison like the Red Tears of Lady Xiang, not even all of his cheats added together could help him at all.

And catching Old Mi off guard, like he did with that dragon, would be virtually impossible.

Increasing my cultivation is my top priority!

Zu An quickly checked the amount of Rage points he had collected—71,915 points.

So few!

Zu An frowned. Seventy thousand seemed like a lot, but it took a hundred points to draw the lottery once, and he would only average one Ki Fruit every ten draws. From this perspective, what he had wasn’t that much at all.

I’ve become complacent! I didn’t earn that many Rage points this time.

He was aware that, compared to when he first started out, this rate of farming was already pretty good. However the higher his base level of cultivation, the more terrifying the amount of ki fruits were needed to increase his cultivation further.

I really need a new way to farm more efficiently.

But he just couldn’t think of any amazing method no matter how he racked his brain.

Feeling helpless, there was nothing to do but start drawing the lottery.

Since he was in the bathtub already, he washed his face a few times and then pressed the ‘Enter’ key.

After a series of ‘Thanks for playing!’, he ended up with seventy-two ki fruits. He did not manage to draw any skills or items.

This was to be expected. After all, how could it be so easy to draw the good stuff?

He popped them into his mouth one after another like chocolates. He sensed his internal ki spread throughout his body and gather towards his ninth formation.

Huh?

Zu An sat up at once. He discovered that his ninth formation was now fully filled!

What the…

Zu An recalled that the ninth formation needed 2584 ki fruits to fill it up. He had only eaten 320 ki fruits before, and just ate another 72. There was no way it should’ve been enough!

Something dawned on him. He had been injured several times recently, and that strike from the dragon’s tail in Hidden Dragon Mountain had almost killed him.

At its core, the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra relied on him getting beaten up to cultivate.

However this still didn’t make sense! When Mi Li had hacked away at him until he was on the brink of death, with only the ‘Heiress Ball of Delights’ keeping him alive, he had basically died several times! Why were the effects of that single dragon strike so good?

Did that second attack that was blocked by Shang Liuyu’s pendant count as well?

He’d previously spent some time trying to figure out the rate at which the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra increased his cultivation, but today’s effects left him confused again. His previous hypotheses were all overturned.

Sigh, maybe this is something only big-shot mathematicians can figure out.

Zu An shook his head. He gave up on trying to decipher the pattern behind this system.

Right now, there was a more pressing issue that concerned him. He had obtained Grandgale when he reached the peak of the second rank. Was there something else waiting for him now?

He examined himself. He discovered that there were some special lines added to the ninth formation. Again, it seemed to vaguely trace out the outline of a giant bird.

“Yet another large bird?” Zu An had a strange look on his face. Do I have some kind of special affinity with big birds?

Grandgale’s body was snow white, with red tail feathers. This large bird’s body was an azure blue and looked like a goose. It was different from Grandgale’s imposing appearance, this bird looked much more affable.

However, its proud and unyielding gaze told him that this definitely wasn’t some harmless pushover.

There was a stamp like imprint to this big bird’s lower right side. There were two small characters: Blue Mallard.

Blue Mallard… it’s another one of the phoenix’s nine chicks after all. Zu An already had this suspicion when he first saw Grandgale. He’d finally gotten confirmation.

So what can this fellow do?

Following his prior experience with Grandgale, he poured his ki into the imprint of Blue Mallard. When his ki covered the entire diagram, Blue Mallard’s eyes shone. Then, a Blue Mallard projection appeared in front of him.

Zu An suddenly felt as though the water in his bathtub felt extremely comfortable. A sudden idea struck him, and he let his entire body sink to the bottom.

He discovered with shock that he could breath like normal underwater. He even had a feeling that, as long as he had enough ki to maintain Blue Mallard, he could remain underwater for however long he wished.

Zu An was overjoyed. Many of the fights he’d had somehow ended up with him in the water. Even though he knew how to swim, it was still quite inconvenient. With this skill, he could turn the water into his home field!

Another idea flashed into his mind. Since he could project Grandgale forward, what would happen if he did the same with this Blue Mallard?

He used Blue Mallard in the same way that he would employ Grandgale, projecting it towards the doorway. In an instant, all of the water in the tub seemed to have been summoned, rushing forth towards the doorway like a tidal wave.

The door was blasted to pieces by the crashing water. Even the walls around it were blasted full of holes.

Before Zu An could feel any excitement at all, stunned horror engulfed him. Chu Huanzhao was standing not far away from the shattered door, completely drenched by the torrent of water.

An excited smile was still frozen on her face. She stood shock still, and was probably contemplating her life at that very moment.

Zu An stood up in a hurry. “Little Huanzhao, are you all right?” Fortunately, the door and walls had absorbed most of the impact, reducing the danger to her.

“I’m fine…” Chu Huanzhao subconsciously replied. Suddenly, she screamed. She covered her eyes in a panic, her pretty cheeks immediately blushing a bright red. “Brother-in-law, you pervert!”