Chapter 1267: Is Anyone Against This?

Yan Xuehen and the others were shocked. “You know this ancient language?”

With their knowledge and experience, they had seen similar characters before. They had even encountered isolated phrases in some ancient texts. There were even some in this world who specialized in deciphering such ancient characters, but unfortunately, even after so many years, they had only managed to decode a few dozen.

And yet, Zu An was reading them so smoothly, and he wasn’t babbling either. That line alone made all three women tremble, sensing a profound dao rhythm. Merely reciting it a few times made them feel as if they had received many benefits.

Zu An chuckled and said in an ‘embarrassed’ manner, “I just happened to know a bit by chance.”

“Kid, your luck is pretty good. Your opportunities really are a bit ridiculous. I'm even starting to get a bit jealous,” Yun Jianyue said, feeling deeply moved. In order to reach the level of grandmaster, apart from her amazing aptitude, she had had no shortage of miraculous opportunities. And yet, compared to Zu An, she instead felt like an ordinary person…

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Thank goodness Honglei had incredible foresight and picked out someone with such incredible potential early on, and that I didn’t really try to break them up too hard.

She even gave Yan Xuehen a smug look when she thought of that. This woman always clung to her ways, so she was probably feeling a lot of regret, right?

Yan Xuehen’s expression was conflicted. How could it only be regret? Not only had she failed to successfully break Zu An and her disciple up, she had almost thrown herself in too…

Yu Yanluo’s eyes were full of adoration as she looked at her lover. She was eager to hear the two grandmasters praise him a bit more.

“These things aren’t a big deal. Meeting all of you is my greatest blessing.” Zu An said with a gentle smile. The women all felt their hearts skip a beat when they heard those words and saw Zu An’s smile.

Yun Jianyue couldn't help but say snarkily, “It’s a pity that we don’t have male versions of charm techniques. Otherwise, if you cultivated one, you really might become a devastating male vixen yourself.”

Yan Xuehen nodded in deep sympathy. Is this guy a male fox-spirit or something?

Yu Yanluo grabbed Zu An’s arm and said sweetly, “My Ah Zu treats others with sincerity, so of course he’ll attract people who treat him with sincerity too.”

“Can you guys not?” When Yun Jianyue saw how Yu Yanluo had grabbed Zu An’s arm, her substantial chest squishing a bit under the pressure, she thought to herself, There are still more female vixens in this world. She asked, “Since you understand the characters in this book, what is it actually talking about?”

Zu An skimmed through the contents and said, “The contents are extremely abstruse and hard to understand, so it’s hard for me to get to the heart of them. But so far, it should be a book that talks about natural order and feng shui, geomancy, and so on. Based on what it’s saying, beginners can locate tombs through ‘gold and cave insight’, intermediate learners can use ‘source-seeking mine knowledge’, while advanced learners can change heaven and earth, or even major astrological trends, for one’s own purposes.”

Yan Xuehen’s expression grew serious. She replied, “This really is a miraculous book. There are all kinds of talents in this world, so I have heard of gold and cave insight, as well as source-seeking mine knowledge, but they all act in accordance with the flow of natural dao. Something like this that can actively alter the flow of the world only exists in legends. No one has ever been able to attain such a level.”

Zu An chuckled and said, “Do you all want to learn it? I can translate a copy for you two.”

“Forget it. I do not want to learn it,” Yan Xuehen replied. However, she really was tempted. As someone from the White Jade Sect, she was actually extremely interested in this field of knowledge. However, if Zu An taught it to her, wouldn’t they be alone in a room together often? If they got that close, who knew what kinds of things might happen!

Half a month before, she wouldn’t have hesitated at all if she were given such an opportunity, as she would have a completely clear and pure conscience. But there were simply too many things that had happened between the two of them as of late. They had had all sorts of intimate interactions, and Zu An had even seen her entire body twice. That ‘Love Is More Solid than Gold’ contract was still in effect too. She didn’t dare to spend time together with him in private.

“Don’t you usually love this stuff?” Yun Jianyue asked, giving her a strange look. She said to Zu An, “But that’s fine too. The two of us are clearly the masters, so why would the disciple end up teaching the master? Just learn it on your own first; there’s no big difference between you learning it and us learning it. We’ll just call you up whenever we need you in the future.”

“Do you have to say ‘call him up whenever’…” Yu Yanluo murmured, her expression strange. Why do these words sound so strange… Sigh, after being around Ah Zu for so long, I’ve started to become dirty-minded too.

“That’s fine too,” Zu An said, putting the manual away. He thought to himself that it was probably just too embarrassing for them to ask about it, so he’d just teach them in private later.

Yun Jianyue picked up the remains again. She pointed at a clear scar on the back, saying, “Even the spinal column was injured like this. If we consider the deformation of the ribs, he clearly died after having his heart ripped out from behind.”

Yu Yanluo’s expression changed. She asked, “Didn’t this guy have roughly grandmaster rank cultivation? How could someone rip out his heart from behind? Could he have been ambushed?”

“I think not, Yan Xuehen said as she checked the corpse. She continued, “He was caught from behind while running for his life. If he chose to run away, he definitely fought, but realized he could not win.”

“We’ve seen how fast the Pangolin race can run for ourselves,” Yu Yanluo said, pursing her lips. “Even with Ancestor Chuan Shan’s grandmaster-level strength, he was actually caught and killed! The one who killed him just sounds too frightening… This time, we’re all injured, so don’t take the risk for me. Let’s just return first.”

Yun Jianyue said with a carefree expression, “Cultivation is defying the heavens anyway. You can only distinguish yourself by striving to be the best. There’s no such thing as shrinking back.”

Yan Xuehen approved as well, adding, “Right. Even those fiend race juniors dared to advance courageously, so how can we back out now? That would simply damage our conviction in our own dao. Little sister Yu, there is no need to worry; we actually want to investigate this place too, and see just what this place has in it.”

Yu Yanluo was moved. Even though what the two ladies said was the truth, they clearly also intended to help her.

Zu An chuckled and said, “Don’t worry, with a meat shield like me in the front, two grandmasters overseeing things, and a Medusa Queen, we should still be able to protect ourselves even if we run into something terrifying.”

Inwardly, however, he continuously prayed, I’m not setting flags here! This is just to console them!

…

Just then, curses and exclamations of shock filled the air. Zu An’s party was startled and quickly rushed forward.

Soon afterward, they saw that the fiend race experts were cursing fiercely. There were even some who were pounding walls out of anger, as if they had missed an opportunity of a lifetime.

Zu An walked over to where Princess Suolun was and asked curiously, “Did something happen?”

Princess Suolun replied with a frown, “We followed that fat daoist priest over here, but then, he suddenly entered the wall and vanished. We thought that there was some mechanism at first, but we realized that he had left through an earth escape skill. We also realized that he might be a descendant of the legendary Pangolin race.”

Another woman interjected, adding, “Hmph, that damn fatty clearly could have fled using that earth escape skill earlier, and yet he had to make us chase him for so long! He must have been messing with us!”

Princess Changning felt a sense of danger when she saw Princess Suolun and Zu An walking so close to each other. Thus, she took the chance to chat with Zu An.

Zu An had already received Yu Yanluo’s explanation previously. Paired with their explanation, he offered his evaluation. “That fat daoist priest probably wanted to take the chance to throw you all off, but didn’t expect you to be so fast. It was only because he was left with no choice that he exposed his earth escape skill.”

Princess Suolun nodded and said, “Indeed. The Pangolin Race is hated by many. Unless he had no choice, he would not have exposed that fact.”

Princess Changning was really starting to panic. This woman is reacting way too quickly, stealing everything I want to say!

Suddenly, Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue called out through ki. “Ah Zu, hurry and come over here.”

Zu An realized something was up and quickly went over to them. He saw that the two of them were staring absentmindedly at a puddle. Similar puddles were everywhere, resembling the aftermath of rain; perhaps they came from some underground water source.

He was about to ask about them when his expression changed, because he sensed that the water was special. It looked like ordinary water, but when he examined it with his divine will, he sensed rich spiritual ki within. The water’s surface moved without any wind, and its movements seemed to resemble a certain sort of dao pattern.

“This is Prime Souldew. It can create immortal ki stones, or even divine ki stones. Things sealed within will never decay,” Yan Xuehen said. Her normally cold and indifferent gaze now contained a hint of covetousness.

Yun Jianyue began breathing more quickly as she said, “Among ki stones, heaven-grade ki stones are already top-quality goods. The reason why immortal and deity-grade ki stones are so rare is because they’re formed from this Prime Souldew, and any things sealed inside are usually all sorts of miraculous things. Whether it’s spiritual medicines, weapons, divine beasts, or even humanoid creatures, anything is possible.”

Zu An’s thoughts moved quickly. The substance was just like amber, but immortal and divine ki stones were clearly far more formidable.

Yu Yanluo came from a ki stone mining clan, so she knew such things like the back of her hand. She said, “Indeed, with enough Prime Souldew, the emperor could even seal his current body up and wait until one of his descendants could cure his heaven and man deterioration.”

The fiend race experts also moved over when they saw Zu An’s group surrounding the spot. Most of them hadn’t treated the puddles as a big deal at first, but there were plenty of talents among them. Someone quickly recognized them to be the legendary Prime Souldew, and they all enthusiastically tried to fight over it.

However, Zu An waved his hand, and a powerful aura appeared to block the others. He said, “I want this. Is anyone against that?”