Chapter 29

Treat with courtesy, no harm to the royal family. She naturally understood his meaning. Facing the questioning, she did not refute and admitted: "I said it."

"Your tone is not small. What ability do you rely on to dare to say such things?" Zhong Yanzi said in a low voice.

Zi Rao was unhurried, still with a faint smile, "The array techniques Zi Rao learned were all taught by my brother. I suppose Uncle still remembers that my brother liked to read books in the Bamboo Forest Hermitage since he was a child. The Hermitage collects all kinds of strange books in the world. My brother has read almost all the books over the years, and his learning can be said to be a collection of various families. However, most of what he knows about Qimen, Six Ren, and Taiyi Divine Numbers comes from that set of twenty-nine volumes of "Taiyu Strange Numbers"." She paused and raised her eyes quietly. Sure enough, Zhong Yanzi's face showed some unexpected emotions, "This set of books was written by Uncle, so speaking of it, my brother should call Uncle Master. Zi Rao only learned a little bit from my brother and dare not ask Uncle to acknowledge me as a disciple. It's just that when entering the array today, I saw someone who had such a good array board in hand but didn't know how to use it, so I couldn't help but teach her a few changes." She turned her head and smiled charmingly, "Princess, am I right? Have you remembered the array techniques I taught you?"

Han Xi was quite unconvinced, but had to admit that she had pointed out the array techniques, "Isn't it just array techniques? What's so great about it?"

"Hmm," Zi Rao nodded slightly, "I remember someone said that breaking the Great Qimen Nine Palaces Array is nothing remarkable, but fighting her Bailong'er is the real ability, right?"

Han Xi was stunned and blurted out: "Yes, so what?" Suddenly realizing something was wrong, she caught a glimpse of her uncle's gloomy face and swallowed the next sentence in time. Zi Rao smiled and said again: "Princess saying this means you think what my uncle taught is not as good as what your master taught?"

Han Xi's apricot eyes widened, and she said urgently: "Hey! I didn't mean that!"

Ye Xuanshang listened to their bickering from the side, and the corners of his lips could not help but curl up. Zhong Yanzi and Qiaoku Daozhang, these two old friends, mostly clashed in words because they held themselves in high regard and neither was convinced by the other. In this way, I'm afraid both of them would be unable to help themselves. Sure enough, before Zi Rao could speak again, Qiaoku Daozhang patted the head of the Jin Ni beside him and opened his mouth, "Hehe, the little girl is here to ask for face for the old pedant. The old Daoist's spiritual snake died quite unjustly. If I let you leave easily today, wouldn't the old Daoist have lost to this old pedant?" He raised his hand and pointed to the lake, "Try it, as long as you can get half a step out of this Chi Ze, the old Daoist will give you that snake gall for free today."

Zhong Yanzi's brows moved slightly. Zi Rao looked at the lake shore as instructed and was startled. Dark shadows appeared and swam in the lake at some point. Looking closely, they were actually a large number of giant crocodiles. Many of them were already lying on the shore. Under the gradually darkening twilight, their giant eyes seemed to open and close, ferocious and terrifying. Qiaoku Daozhang's taming technique was much more brilliant than Han Xi's. He summoned these giant crocodiles without any movement. Han Xi clapped her hands and shouted: "Master, Master, these giant crocodiles didn't dare to return to this island for a long time because they were driven away by Bailong'er. How did you summon them? Hurry and teach me!"

"Teach what?" Qiaoku Daozhang glared at her, "Relying on the spiritual snake and still losing to others, you have lost all of Master's face!"

Han Xi stuck out her tongue, "Master is the most powerful!"

Zi Rao had already withdrawn her gaze from the lake, smiled lightly, and as if she hadn't seen the giant crocodiles at all, she bowed gracefully to Qiaoku Daozhang, "Daoist, you are Uncle's friend, so you are Zi Rao's elder. No matter how ignorant Zi Rao is, I dare not compete with you for victory or defeat in front of you."

Qiaoku Daozhang was stunned, stared at her for a long time, and suddenly laughed: "Old pedant, this little girl has a sharp mouth. With just this one sentence, the old Daoist has become bullying the small, and I am embarrassed to make another move. Are you two uncle and niece teaming up to calculate against the old Daoist?"

Zhong Yanzi said coldly: "When did I say I had a niece?"

Zi Rao did not allow him to refuse, "Uncle! Zi Rao came to seek the snake gall today because my brother is suffering from a serious illness and has no choice but to do so. My brother is the head of the family. Once something happens to him, there will be chaos in the family. This matter involves a wide range and is no small matter. Uncle must know the stakes, so please let go of past grievances and help Zi Rao." As she spoke, she bowed, and this bow was the great ceremony of the royal family meeting their elders.

Zhong Yanzi lowered his eyes and did not stop her, but there was no emotional fluctuation on his face. Although he refused to acknowledge the royal family because of the changes back then, Zi Hao and Zi Rao had secretly helped him escape a great disaster. He had always been clear about gratitude and resentment. Seeing Zi Rao's request, he already had the intention to help. After looking at her for a while, he said in a low voice: "Your brother is reckless, forcibly practicing the Jiuyou Mysterious Penetrating kung fu, soaking his meridians with poison, and his martial arts are ruined. He is simply seeking his own death. Even if you get this snake gall, what's the use?"

Zi Rao pondered slightly and decided to tell the truth, shaking her head, "Uncle doesn't know, the poison in my brother's body is not because of practicing Jiuyou Mysterious Penetrating, but because of twenty years of decoctions!"

A flash of light flashed in Zhong Yanzi's eyes, "Decoctions?"

"That's right. Uncle thinks my brother has really been weak and sickly since he was a child?" Zi Rao's voice was calm, but it seemed to contain deep resentment, "The means of that woman, Uncle has also experienced. She wanted to control my brother, so she forced him to take hundreds of poisons as medicine since he was a child. For twenty years, poisons and antidotes alternated, so that now the poison has entered the bone marrow and eroded the five internal organs. Among the many martial arts skills in the Bamboo Forest Hermitage, my brother chose Jiuyou Mysterious Penetrating. It is certainly because this kung fu is very powerful, but it is also because he discovered that borrowing poison to refine Qi when practicing can guide the poison for his own use and find a way to control it. Now, most of the poison in his body is suppressed by this Mysterious Yin True Essence, so it doesn't get out of hand."

Zhong Yanzi's expression changed gloomily, and in his shock, he couldn't help but get angry: "That woman actually used such vicious means, how unreasonable!"

Zi Rao narrowed her phoenix eyes, gradually growing cold, "My brother has always hated others threatening him. The more that woman wants to control him, the more he won't let her succeed. When he decided to practice Jiuyou Mysterious Penetrating, he had already planned to compete with her. My brother and I have the same idea. After Uncle left home, that woman locked me in the Mysterious Tower and made me suffer the torture of not seeing the sun. But I insist on living well. For seven years in the tower, I practiced diligently every day, just to let her know that her imprisoning me was just creating my martial arts. Now I must seek medical treatment and detoxify my brother. If people have souls, I will definitely make her restless in the nine heavens and yellow springs forever!"

She said this very extremely, but it was very much to Zhong Yanzi's taste. He sneered: "Good, she wants to harm people, the old man insists on saving them for her to see!" He turned around, "Old Daoist, lend me your snake gall, are you willing?"

With their friendship, Qiaoku Daozhang naturally would not disagree, but they had been bickering for many years, and there was no reason for him to agree immediately. He rolled his eyes and stroked his beard, "Zhu Jiuyin is a thousand-year-old spiritual creature. The old Daoist won't suffer this loss. If the snake gall is taken out, it's better to use it to soak wine."

Zhong Yanzi knew him too well and threw out a sentence faintly, "Three bottles of hundred-year-old Snow Jade wine."

"Hundred-year-old Snow Jade?" Daoist Qiaoku's eyes lit up. After being greatly moved, he still shook his head, "Hundred-year-old Snow Jade for my thousand-year-old snake gall, not worth it, not worth it!"

Zi Rao didn't understand that Daoist Qiaoku was addicted to drinking, so she begged softly, "Daoist, if you are willing to lend this snake gall, let alone hundred-year-old Snow Jade, I can take out good wines like Cloud-Jing Clear Spring and East Sea Jade Marrow to honor you. And, our family has hidden several kinds of good wines that can't be drunk elsewhere. When the time comes, I will invite you to taste enough, okay?"

Qiaoku Daozhang's beard moved and moved, obviously greatly moved. Zi Rao saw this and took the opportunity to grind him softly. Qiaoku Daozhang didn't want to make things difficult for her either. How could he withstand such persistent begging? In the end, he agreed not to pursue this matter anymore. Zi Rao was overjoyed. When she bowed to thank him, she suddenly noticed that in the time it took to speak, the giant crocodiles that had originally gathered on the island had disappeared without a sound. The rippling lake waves were as flat as a mirror, and it was quiet and peaceful. She couldn't help but secretly marvel in her heart.

At this time, it was late. Qiaoku Daozhang ordered Han Xi to gather the Ghost Bone Insects to dissolve the Zhu Jiuyin's corpse, so as not to produce putrid miasma and pollute this lake island. The dotted Ghost Bone Insects drifted and gathered from the depths of the dense forest on all sides under the summoning of spiritual arts, attached to the Zhu Jiuyin's body lying on the island. Thousands of crystal lights gathered, cold and secluded, as if building a galaxy between the light waves of the lake, indescribably beautiful. Ye Xuanshang had not spoken since Zi Rao started bickering with Han Xi. At this moment, he just leaned quietly against an ancient tree that had survived nearby, looking at the strange scene not far away and the woman standing alone in the wind.

Knowing each other for just a few days, this woman who made him unable to control himself at first sight seemed to be an anomaly in his life. The other party's identity and thoughts had also been guessed and pondered in the gaze. Who exactly was she? Now it was about to come out. However, he didn't care much, even life and death were the same. He killed people just because he didn't want to die in the hands of such people. He accompanied her to take risks just because she attracted him.

Han Xi was somewhat brooding over the loss of her spiritual creature. Fortunately, she was young and only felt dull for a while, soon becoming interested in Snow Battle again. But she seemed even more curious about Ye Xuanshang, who killed the Zhu Jiuyin. After dealing with the Zhu Jiuyin, she pestered him with questions. Ye Xuanshang was surprisingly patient. Although he was extremely tired, he answered every question, occasionally telling her some interesting things about the martial arts world, soon making her happy, completely forgetting that everyone was still an enemy during the day.

Zi Rao had been thinking about Ye Xuanshang's injuries, paying attention to his expression several times, her eyes filled with concern. Ye Xuanshang looked at her intentionally or unintentionally and smiled faintly. The long night passed quietly, and it was another human world.

(End of chapter)