Chapter 169: Husband and Wife are One

While Li Miao, Yong Jie, and the Miao King were fighting lively, what was An Ziyang doing?

He was eating.

An Ziyang sprinkled a circle of star anise powder around himself to prevent any stray venomous insects from running over to him, then leaned behind a stone, listening intently to the loud noises constantly coming from the Pupa Chamber, while tearing off a piece of cake and chewing it in his mouth.

Yong Jie dragged him along without sleep or rest, and he only had a second-rate internal energy foundation, not as capable of enduring as Yong Jie. He couldn't intervene in the Miao King's side, and he didn't dare to leave, fearing that if he walked too far, he would run into dangers he couldn't handle.

So besides eating, he had nothing to do.

However, being able to eat in such a situation, his heart wasn't just ordinary.

After finishing a whole cake, the sounds from the Pupa Chamber still hadn't stopped, but instead intensified, almost tearing his eardrums apart.

Having no choice, he had to get up and walk in the opposite direction of the Pupa Chamber.

As he walked, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Sigh... the last ten years or so were in vain..."

He had mediocre talent, only his brain was considered lively, so his skills were basically in mechanisms, poisoning, and hidden weapons. Over the past ten years, with his methods, he could handle two or three first-rate experts without any problems, so he was actually a bit proud in his heart.

But after seeing the scene of Li Miao and Yong Jie fighting the Miao King, even he felt a bit disheartened.

No matter how hard the bow, it couldn't compare to one of Li Miao's Profound Heaven Fingers. No matter how thick the armor, it couldn't block one of Li Miao's punches. No matter how fierce the poison, Li Miao would flash out ten zhang away, and it wouldn't hit him at all.

An Ziyang, who relied on external objects, had no resistance in front of Heaven-Man experts.

Only the inheritance of witchcraft, which had lasted for thousands of years, could contend with Heaven-Man experts.

An Ziyang's mind wavered, and for a moment he was distracted, so he didn't notice a protrusion under his feet.

Bang!

He was tripped.

"Heh."

An Ziyang laughed at himself in his heart, swayed, and walked a few steps forward to stabilize his stance. But he let out a light "huh."

"Hmm?"

The place he just stepped on... seemed to be empty?

He squatted down, took an iron tube the length of a finger from his bosom, and tapped on the ground.

Ding. Ding.

That's right, it was empty. And it wasn't a naturally formed cavity, but one deliberately covered up, with a material different from the surrounding stone walls.

Others couldn't hear it, but he had inherited the true teachings of the God-Thief Sect and heard it clearly.

An Ziyang frowned, rubbed his tiger's mouth, and pondered secretly.

He naturally wouldn't rashly pry open the ground and go down to investigate. That was something only greenhorns new to the Jianghu would do.

This place was the root of the inheritance of witchcraft, filled with strange Gu insects and Gu poison everywhere. Who knew if below was a bug nest; him going down with his small frame would be purely sending himself to death.

Even if there was something tricky, he had to wait for Li Miao and Yong Jie to finish their business and let the tall ones stand in front.

Thinking of this, An Ziyang used the iron tube to carve a mark on the ground, then turned and left, just waiting for Li Miao's side to decide the winner before making plans.

He waited for another half an hour, and finally, the sounds in the Pupa Chamber gradually subsided.

An Ziyang didn't act rashly, but waited for another stick of incense's time, seeing that it was indeed quiet over there, only then did he carefully touch over, poking his head out from the secret passage to look into the Pupa Chamber.

This hundred-zhang-square room was already a ruin.

The walls were cracked, the ground was shattered, the jars containing the Pupa Girl corpses were all broken on the ground, and skeletons were scattered on the ground. The mountain of corpses to the front left had become a black mess, as if roasted dry, not a drop of juice to be seen.

In the center of the Pupa Chamber was a large hole, pitch-black and bottomless.

"Master, did you win?"

An Ziyang shouted, ready to run at any time.

Li Miao's lazy voice came from the large hole.

"Done long ago, come over."

An Ziyang then let out a long sigh of relief, walked quickly to the edge of the cave, and jumped down.

As he landed, he happened to land beside Li Miao.

And in front of the two of them was Yong Jie, kneeling on the ground with his back to them.

An Ziyang first patted Li Miao with a few flattery words like "Master's divine power is unparalleled, some small fry were just offering their heads, daring to offend Master's tiger prestige," and after being stopped by Li Miao with a wave of his hand, he turned to look at Yong Jie.

"Master is?"

Since he came down, Yong Jie hadn't made the slightest movement, not even the rise and fall of his body from breathing could be seen.

It was as if—he were dead.

Li Miao waved his hand: "Not dead, just a bit of trouble."

Having said that, he raised his hand and struck with a True Energy, pointing from a distance at Yong Jie's Dazhui acupoint.

"Hiss ah ah ah ah—"

Yong Jie let out a hiss like a drowning person reviving, and then his head dropped violently, gasping for air.

Although An Ziyang had no good feelings for Yong Jie, he had brought Yong Jie out of Shaolin after all. If something happened to him, not to mention how he would explain it to Ling'er, just the fact that the Shaolin Abbot who had just ascended the throne a few days ago died after being brought away by him would cause no end of trouble.

So, An Ziyang was still quite worried about Yong Jie's life or death.

He circled to one side and asked.

"Master, you—！！！！"

Before he finished half his sentence, An Ziyang retreated violently, his hand actually involuntarily locking onto the sleeve arrow trigger.

He only took one look at Yong Jie, and he was already scared into a cold sweat.

Only to see Yong Jie's upper body naked, revealing a broad and solid chest. And on that chest, there was actually a beautiful, delicate face of a woman, eyes half-open and half-closed! At this moment, it was actually smiling and looking at him!

"Master, this!?"

He turned his head violently to look at Li Miao, his usual flattering address for Li Miao actually changing.

Li Miao smiled and said slyly.

"What's there to be surprised about?"

"As the saying goes, husband and wife are one, right?"

Is "husband and wife are one" supposed to mean this!?

An Ziyang really couldn't stand Li Miao's attitude of joking about everything.

Fortunately, Li Miao was just teasing An Ziyang, and without waiting for him to ask further, he said.

"That is his wife, and also the Miao King."

"We smashed eleven fake bodies of the Miao King and found her true body. We also found the Gu insect that inherited the Miao King. But she ultimately left a backup plan, making it impossible for us to kill her along with the Gu insect."

"So we killed Ge Puqi and left the Gu insect, raising it in Master Yong Jie's heart to see if there's a way to crack her backup plan in the future."

"This face was beyond our expectations, but the Gu insect has been parasitizing Ge Puqi for many years, so it might be a bit homesick. Moving house and redecorating is also understandable."

An Ziyang asked: "What backup plan?"

"Master Yong Jie's daughter, Ling'er."

Li Miao said.

Amidst An Ziyang's suddenly turning pale expression, Li Miao continued.

"Back then, after Ge Puqi was parasitized by the Miao King Gu insect, she should not have been completely transformed into the 'Miao King.' And she wasn't willing."

"So she escaped the Miao region and met Master Yong Jie. Later, after giving birth to Ling'er, her Qi and blood were depleted, and she finally couldn't suppress the Gu insect, being completely transformed into the 'Miao King.' So she abandoned her husband and daughter and fled alone."

"It can be said that before giving birth to Ling'er, she was Ge Puqi."

"After giving birth to Ling'er, she became the Miao King."

"And this Miao King, naturally, would not have any soft heart for her own flesh and blood, so she left a backup plan on Ling'er."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 170 =====