Chapter 204: River of Forgetfulness
Translator: Pika
Zu An was a little excited at the notion of someone as n.o.ble and powerful as Mi Li calling him master, but needless to say, how could someone as prideful and lofty as Mi Li do something like that.
You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +888 Rage!
Looking at the Rage points he had received from Mi Li, Zu An’s heart jolted in horror. He suddenly remembered something incredibly frightening—he hadn’t plucked off the flag where he wouldn’t receive anything from the lottery draws yet.
He had sworn back then that he wouldn’t receive anything for the next three subsequent drawings.
In truth, it was not that he had forgotten about this matter but he simply hadn’t been able to find an opportunity to do it. Ever since he left the seal, he had been too preoccupied with dealing against Mi Li and purifying the 200,000 evil spirits that he wasn’t able to get any time to himself.
As a result, he was basically wasting every single Rage points he was earning right now.
“Why don’t you try saying that again?” asked Mi Li with tightly gritted teeth.
“Shouldn’t you call me ‘master’ then?” Zu An quickly supplemented, “You’re the one who told me to say it again. I was just following your instructions!”
“...” Mi Li.
If it had been back then, she would have surely had the man who dared speak to her in such a manner tossed out of her palace to be executed.
When Zu An found the sharp blade of the Tai’e Sword pointed directly at his neck, he immediately recoiled in horror and exclaimed, “Our fates are linked together now! You mustn’t kill me!”
“I might be unable to kill you, but I can at least sever your tongue or your ears to vent my anger, right?” said Mi Li with a frosty voice.
“That won’t do! If you inflict any injuries on my body, I... I’ll kill myself right away!” Zu An harrumphed. “At most, we’ll just all die together!”
“...” Mi Li.
She suddenly felt incredibly exhausted. This fellow is obstinate like a mule, but at the same time, he’s shameless enough to ignore social conventions and the rules. How am I supposed to deal with someone like this?
Zu An made use of this opportunity to add on, “Also, you can’t kill them either. What’s the point of living in this world when I can’t even protect my women?”
“Your women?” sneered Mi Li. “That Chu woman is one thing, but are you calling that ponytail girl your woman too?”
“She isn’t yet, but it’s only a matter of time. After all, she has already been betrothed to me,” murmured Zu An in response. And you might be the next one too.
“What did you say?” Mi Li glared at Zu An coldly as Tai’e Sword rose into the sky.
“I’m saying that big sis empress shouldn’t get angry so often. Do you know that getting angry is bad for your skin?” Zu An pushed the Tai’e Sword away from his face as he explained cheekily.
“Do I need you to teach me how to do things?” Mi Li sounded extremely displeased.
“I’m just worried about you,” replied Zu An with a meek smile. “Things are different now. You used to have plenty of maidservants by your side, so you need not worry about it back then. However, now that you don’t have anyone to attend to you, you should start taking note of it now.”
“Hmph! I’m born with natural beauty, so why would I have to care about all of that?” said Mi Li. “However, what you said does makes sense. I happen to be lacking maidservants at the moment. These two women do look fairly decent. Shall I extract their souls and turn them into my maidservants?”
Zu An was appalled. He didn’t expect Mi Li would still be so determined to kill them after all that had been said. He decided to get straight to the point, “That won’t do. Absolutely not. If you take their lives, it’ll be over between us!”
Mi Li didn’t get angry this time around. She looked at him quietly for a moment before eventually sighing deeply, “You’re still too young. You haven’t seen how hideous a human can be, and you have never experienced betrayal from someone close to you before. You’ll surely regret it in the future.”
Zu An shook his head and replied, “I’m not the type of person who naively believes in human goodness either. It’s just that I’ve known them for some time, so I understand what kind of people they are. If they really do betray me, I reckon that they must have some compelling reason to do so.”
Putting aside Chu Chuyan, even Qiao Xueying who had been out for his life thus far was obviously someone with a strong front but a soft heart. The latter even went to the extent of sacrificing half of her lifespan in order to save him, so it went without saying that he could at least accord her with this bit of trust.
Mi Li harrumphed coldly. “Sometimes, you’re wily like an old fox, but on other occasions, you’re as dumb as a brick. Forget it, I’ll spare them on your account, but we’ll have to seal off their memories.”
“Seal off their memories?” Zu An was taken aback.
“Indeed. The secrets you hold are simply too dangerous that even if they don’t intentionally betray you, there’s no saying that they might accidentally leak it out to someone else. You don’t have the ability to protect yourself at the moment, and I don’t wish for anyone to know of my existence yet too,” said Mi Li. “This matter is not up for negotiation. It’s either I kill them or seal their memories. Make your choice!”
“Wow, I never thought that I would b.u.mp into the cliché amnesiac scene.” Zu An thought about the drama serials he had seen in his previous life and felt a little wistful. Such a plotline was usually just for the sake of creating drama out of nothing just so that the story can be prolonged for the sake of milking the audience.
“I know what you’re thinking,” sneered Mi Li. “Don’t worry, they will remember whatever they need to. I’ll just seal off the portions regarding our secrets.”
Zu An smiled sheepishly upon having his thoughts seen through, but he was satisfied with this outcome. From Mi Li’s perspective, she had already made a huge compromise.
“Right, how are you going to seal off their memories? Would it inflict any physical harm on them?” asked Zu An worriedly.
“I’ll be using a skill known as ‘River of Forgetfulness’. It won’t hurt their soul or body, so you need not worry.” Mi Li raised her hands and quickly formed a few complicated hand seals.
Zu An had to acknowledge that Mi Li’s hands were indeed very pretty. They were long and slender, and her red fingernails gave off a dangerous yet tempting allure.
Soon, Mi Li finished forming the hand seals. A river seemed to flow from between her hands, bearing the word ‘Forgetfulness’ on it. It washed over Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying’s body before gradually disappearing.
Zu An stared at the two women intently, afraid that something would go wrong. Fortunately, the two of them appeared calm throughout the entire procedure, not displaying any anomaly at all.
A moment later, Mi Li finally placed her hands down and said, “It’s done. They’ll forget everything about me and your secrets once they rouse from their slumber.”
Zu An couldn’t help but ask, “Big sis empress, are you a runemaster?”
The beautiful sight of Mi Li forming hand seals continued lingering in his head. He had heard that runemaster was another alternative route a cultivator could specialize it, and it was a mysterious but powerful occupation. Runemasters were capable of achieving feats that would otherwise be impossible for cultivators.
It was just a regret that he hadn’t been able to get acquainted with a runemaster thus far. The Chu clan did have a runemaster, but his skills were clearly lacking in comparison with Mi Li’s, being only able to inscribe runes on weapons to enhance and enchant them with auxiliary effects.
“Of course! I’m the greatest runemaster of the Great Qin Dynasty!” replied Mi Li proudly. Her air was so powerful that it colored Zu An impressed.
It’s amazing how some people are able to look cool even without trying. Haa, looks like I’m still far from matching her level.
“The Life-and-Death Contract and Life Gate you taught me earlier is the means of a runemaster, right?” asked Zu An.
“Indeed!” Mi Li puffed her chest up high.
Zu An pondered for a moment before asking in intrigue, “If you’re the strongest runemaster of the Qin Dynasty, you should be familiar with formations and the sort. How ironic it is that you ended up getting sealed instead!”
“...” Mi Li.
Do you have to mock me at every turn? I really want to give this infuriating b.a.s.t.a.r.d a good pummeling!
You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +233 Rage!
Noticing Mi Li’s awful complexion, Zu An wisely changed the subject, “Speaking of which, why didn’t you seal the Life-and-Death Contract with Ying Zheng back then? You wouldn’t have to worry about him turning his back on you then, right?”
“He’s a guy who thinks that his merits surpa.s.s that of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, believing that he’d live as long as heaven itself. How could he possibly allow his own fate to be bound to another person as an equal?”
Zu An nodded in realization. “So you asked him to sign the contract but got refused?”
“...” Mi Li.
“Ridiculous! The Life-and-Death Contract is a vow sealed only by two people deeply in love with one another. I’m in a political marriage with him, so why would I even seal such a contract with him?”
You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +567 Rage!
Zu An felt exasperated upon seeing yet another wave of Rage points coming in. Argh, what a waste!
“Hold on for a moment,” exclaimed Zu An.
He decided to draw the lottery right now to cut his losses. Based on his previous experiment, Wei Suo wasn’t able to see his Keyboard, so the same could apply to Mi Li too though he wasn’t too sure about that.
Speaking of Wei Suo, he was starting to miss that fellow. I wonder if he has been secretly checking on Princ.i.p.al Jiang’s stockings while I’m away.
Zu An quickly shook out the miscellaneous thoughts in his head and got to action. He was determined to get rid of the flag he had planted as soon as possible so as to minimize his losses.
He quickly checked on his Keyboard, only to be shocked to realize that he had actually acc.u.mulated a staggering amount of 34,584 Rage, which meant that he could draw 345 times!
This was the first time he had hated how proficient he was at drawing the ire of others.
d.a.m.n it! Snow, do you know how huge of a loss I’ve made because of you? You better bear me a soccer team’s worth of children in the future, or else your conscience will never be able to rest easy!
He quickly took a look and realized that the largest sum he had received was from the evil spirits. It was fortunate that there were only thousands of evil spirits nearing the surface of the lake who had witnessed his shamelessness and contributed Rage points to him, or else the amount would have been even greater.
If all 200,000 evil spirits contributed 6 to 9 Rage points each, that would total up to a sum of several million. Just how huge of a loss that would be?!
It suddenly dawned on Zu An that he should prepare a huge megaphone wherever he went so that he could make sure to taunt everyone properly and squeeze them dry.
With a heart bleeding in pain, Zu An began drawing the lottery. Just as he had expected, everything he got this time around was just ‘Thanks for partic.i.p.ating’. He didn’t receive a single thing at all!
It looked like he really wouldn’t be able to get anything until he finally removed the flag.
Seeing how Zu An was prancing around like a clown, Mi Li asked doubtfully, “What are you doing?”
“Nothing much. Let’s continue our previous conversation. Where were we again? Ah yes, I remember it now.” Zu An looked at the imposing Mi Li and blinked his eyes a few times before remarking, “You mentioned that the Life-and-Death Contract is something that would only be used by a couple deeply in love. The fact that you used it on me... doesn’t that mean that you’ve already fallen for my charms?”
“...” Mi Li.
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