Chapter 368

"Shuntian! Shuntian Prefecture!"

Shou Xia cried out in pain repeatedly. Cao Hanyan's fingers were like steel hooks digging into his temples; the intense pain made his consciousness dim, and even lies were difficult to organize clearly.

"How much wealth was transported!" Cao Hanyan shouted sternly.

"Gold, twenty thousand taels, silver one million..."

Cao Hanyan and Zheng Yi looked at each other, both eyes wide.

This number... was already more than double the annual revenue of the imperial court! Even without knowing what scheme was hidden behind it, just from this massive quantity, one could know that this matter was absolutely not small!

Cao Hanyan's fingers tightened again, this time with his strength and true energy changing along with it, having used the interrogation method Li Miao had taught him to the full extent: "Who did you give it to!"

Shou Xia wailed repeatedly in pain, saliva flowing from the corners of his mouth, until Cao Hanyan relaxed his strength slightly, and he hurriedly said.

"Liu, Liu Jin..."

"What was it used for!"

"Rit—"

Just as he spat out one character, Zheng Yi's eyes condensed, and she reached out to pull Cao Hanyan behind her, lifting her sword to carve out a mass of sword light!

Ding ding ding ding ding—

A cluster of cow-hair-fine needles glowing with a ghostly blue light stuck into the ground everywhere. The sword light exploded, and a sharp, peerless sword thrust out from within, heading straight for Shou Xia's face!

It collided with a pitch-black long saber!

Gripping the saber hilt was a pair of hands with bulging veins, and further up was a pitch-black night-traveling suit and mask, revealing only a pair of emotionless eyes.

Zheng Yi threw her body into the kill, forcing him back several zhang, and then chased after him, forcing him further and further away from Cao Hanyan and Shou Xia. Finally, the two chased and fled, disappearing into the distance.

Cao Hanyan hurriedly stepped forward to grip Shou Xia's neck, wanting to continue the interrogation, but he was stunned. When he turned him over, he was already bleeding from the seven orifices and on the verge of death.

Yet clearly, that person hadn't even been able to touch Shou Xia!

Cao Hanyan gritted his teeth and ran toward the outside of the palace with the corpse.

Li Miao and Zheng Yi were both fighting; currently, the only one who could save Shou Xia was Xiao Si.

————————

Li Miao punched Zheng Anqi into the high sky again, his figure blurred, and he appeared in front of Zheng Anqi again, smashing down with a leg-axe from mid-air!

Boom!

Zheng Anqi only had time to lift his hands to protect his chest before flying down like a meteorite! Huge stones splashed out, and even the surrounding streets shook as one!

But the next instant, he rushed out of the dust and smoke again, chopping a palm toward Li Miao!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The movements of the two were such that ordinary Jianghu experts probably couldn't even see them clearly. In a single breath, dozens of white circles exploded in mid-air, suddenly expanding—followed by a loud, booming sound!

Between the fist and palm exchanges, the gazes of the two collided.

"I see it clearly."

Li Miao's mouth hooked up, his fist bracing Zheng Anqi's arm, his single arm forming a claw and sweeping from bottom to top across Zheng Anqi's chest.

"What protective true energy, what immortal arts—they are all just 'usages' of this realm. Its foundation is nothing more than the four words 'Life-and-Death Crisis'!"

Zheng Anqi's eyes condensed.

Between the two fighting, they had already plowed through the entire Tianjie. The civilian houses on both sides had become ruins, the ground had sunk several feet, and the corpses lying on Tianjie had been beaten into powder.

But even with such a massive scene, the two had only been fighting for two sticks of incense... Just two sticks of incense, and the foundation of Xuanlan had been broken by Li Miao!

That's right, the so-called Xuanlan is actually the most simple and unadorned realm among the three natures, and its wonder can be summarized in one word—"Mastery."

Mastery of one's own nature and life.

During a fight, consciously feeding one's own "nature" back to "life," thereby obtaining a more solid and powerful Life-Cultivation Realm.

The foundation of the so-called protective true energy is just "Sumeru" strengthened by "Xuanlan"!

"So what if you see it clearly!"

Zheng Anqi said in a deep voice while fighting Li Miao.

"It doesn't matter, I just discovered some interesting things."

Li Miao's mouth hooked up, revealing a playful smile.

"If Xuanlan could feed back multiple cultivation realms at the same time, you should have long since strengthened all three Life-Cultivation realms; if Xuanlan could change the realm being fed back at any time, then your moves should have changed several times more, and I estimate I would have fallen into a disadvantage long ago."

"When this realm is cultivated, the Life-Cultivation realm to be fed back is already fixed, right? Just like you have always been feeding back Sumeru, and simply don't strengthen the other two Life-Cultivation realms at all."

"But this brings up a problem—"

Zheng Anqi's face was as heavy as water, the gloom within it like substance, about to drip down. The veins on his forehead bulged!

He pounced forward fiercely, both peaks piercing the ears!

Striking toward Li Miao's face, he even completely abandoned defense, like a mad demon wanting to stop Li Miao's next words!

"Anxious, anxious."

Li Miao lifted his arm to brace Zheng Anqi's palms.

"The more anxious you are, the more I have to say."

"All things have different natures, let alone human hearts. Even with identical experiences, backgrounds, and memories, it is impossible to shape two completely identical hearts—and even more impossible to shape two completely identical 'Xuanlans'."

"But how do yours and that Penglai remnant's Xuanlan look exactly the same... Unless it is, same root and same source!"

Zheng Anqi roared: "Shut up!"

Pouncing forward.

Li Miao, however, withdrew at this moment, avoiding Zheng Anqi's move, and said playfully.

"Your realms are not your own."

"Your martial arts are not your own."

"Even your faces are not your own."

"You are fakes, manufactured to store someone else's 'nature'!"

Zheng Anqi's eyeballs were blood-red, and when he attacked, he had even lost control, the escaping true energy drifting like clouds and smoke—Boom!

Collapsing a dozen zhang of civilian houses!

And Li Miao had absolutely no intention of fighting him, avoiding him while constantly attacking his heart.

"No wonder you all look about the same; nature and life are one body to begin with. You were deliberately made into a shape—just to better carry a Xuanlan that doesn't belong to you."

"The distinction between your Yingzhou's so-called Main Family and Outer Sect is actually the distinction between finished products and defective products... The closer to that standard template, the closer the Xuanlan you can carry is to perfection, and the higher your status."

"But to put it plainly—"

Zheng Anqi seemed to have been completely robbed of his sanity by anger.

In Jianghu fighting, the angrier one is, the more one must suppress the anger; the heart can be chaotic, but the fist cannot be unstable.

But the protective true energy on Zheng Anqi's body moved without wind, suddenly expanding, transforming from the dharma robe worn on his body back into ribbons several zhang long.

This was a manifestation of his mental state fluctuating, unable to gather his own "nature."

"Say no more."

Zheng Anqi said hoarsely.

"I don't hate you, I just want to decide who lives and who dies with you... because you and I are in the same boat, it's just that you are luckier. Even if you win in the end, I can accept it calmly."

"But if you say another word, even if I have to die with you, I will kill you."

The killing intent was biting; he was serious.

But Li Miao's mouth hooked up.

"I need something like you to empathize with me? Are you worthy?"

Stark white teeth opened, blood threads sticking, cold words spat out from within.

"What Yingzhou, what Penglai..."

"They are just a group of—chamber pots—manufactured to catch the stinking urine of an old immortal, with even their shapes prescribed, and they are even smug about dividing themselves into three, six, and nine grades according to those shapes..."

"Just chamber pots."

(End of chapter)