Chapter 204: Forget River

Zu'an felt a thrill at the thought of the noble and dignified Mi Li repeatedly calling him "master."

Mi Li had always been imperious; no one had ever dared to make such an audacious demand of her.

Rage value 888 from Mi Li!

When Zu'an saw the rage value he'd received, his heart skipped a beat. He suddenly remembered something: the "flags" he'd set for previous lottery draws still hadn't been cleared.

The first three draws were all destined to be unwinnable.

It wasn't that he'd forgotten; he simply hadn't found an opportunity to draw. Ever since emerging from the seal, he'd either been locked in a fierce battle with Mi Li—though, he was mostly on the receiving end—

or busy purifying two hundred thousand undead. He hadn't had a spare moment, completely unable to free his hands for a draw.

So now, every time he received rage value, it felt like he was losing money.

"Say that again?" Mi Li glared at him through gritted teeth.

"Shouldn't you be calling me master from now on?" Zu'an quickly added, "You told me to say it, so I'm just following your instructions."

Back in her day, anyone who dared to speak to her like that would have been dragged out and torn apart by chariots.

Seeing the Tai'a Sword emit a soft hum, its tip pointing at him, Zu'an was startled and quickly said, "Our fates are linked now; you can't kill me."

"I can't kill you, but cutting off your tongue or ears would still be satisfying," Mi Li said, her phoenix eyes filled with frosty malice.

"That won't work either. If I suffer any physical harm, I'll... I'll commit suicide immediately!" Zu'an snorted. "Worst case, we die together."

At that moment, she felt weary. This fellow was utterly unyielding, despicable, and without scruples, leaving her completely at a loss for how to deal with him.

Zu'an seized the opportunity to say, "Also, you can't kill them. If I can't even protect my own women, what's the point of me living in this world?"

"Your women?" Mi Li sneered repeatedly. "The one named Chu is one thing, but is this girl with the pigtails your woman too?"

"Not yet, but she will be eventually. She was already betrothed to me," Zu'an muttered to himself, "and maybe you will be too someday."

"What did you say?" Mi Li's phoenix eyes blazed with power, and the Tai'a Sword instantly flew up again.

"I was saying, Queen Sister, you shouldn't get angry often; it's bad for your skin," Zu'an explained with a grin, gently using his fingers to push the sword tip away.

"Do I need you to tell me how to conduct myself?" Mi Li's voice was full of displeasure.

"I'm just concerned about you," Zu'an said with an obsequious smile. "Things are different now. Back then, you had countless maids and palace girls around, so naturally you didn't need to worry about such things. But now that you're alone, you definitely need to pay attention."

"Hmph, I am naturally beautiful; I don't need all that nonsense," Mi Li quickly changed the subject. "However, what you said isn't entirely without reason. I do lack a few palace maids to serve me these days. These two girls look decent; perhaps I should extract their souls and have them serve as my maids for companionship."

Zu'an was greatly startled. He hadn't expected that after all the talk, she still intended to kill them. He decided to speak plainly: "No, absolutely not! If you try to kill them, I'll turn against you!"

This time, Mi Li didn't get angry. Instead, she watched him quietly. After a long moment, she let out a deep sigh. "You're still too young. You haven't witnessed the ugliness of human nature, nor experienced the betrayal of your closest kin. You will surely regret this in the future."

Zu'an shook his head. "I'm not some overly good-natured person who trusts easily. But I've interacted with them, and I understand their character. They would never betray me. If they ever did, it would surely be due to some unavoidable, painful circumstance."

Chu Chuyan was a given, and even Qiao Xueying, who had previously been her enemy, he now understood after fighting alongside her, was a girl with a sharp tongue but a kind heart. Moreover, she had sacrificed half of her life to save him. How could he not trust such a person?

Mi Li snorted. "Sometimes you're as shrewd as an old fox, and other times you're as foolish as a complete idiot. Fine, for your sake, I won't kill them. But this memory must be sealed away."

"Seal their memory?" Zu'an was startled.

"Exactly. The secrets you carry are too dangerous. Even if they wouldn't betray you, they have close friends and family, and they might accidentally let something slip. Once your secrets spread, with your current cultivation level, you'd be dead for sure. Moreover, I don't want anyone else to know of my existence," Mi Li quickly added. "There's no negotiating this. Either I seal their memories, or I kill them directly. You choose."

"A cheesy amnesia plotline now?" Zu'an shook his head like a rattle-drum. In his previous life, he'd hated amnesia tropes in TV shows, which always created a mess of unnecessary drama.

"I know what you're thinking," Mi Li said with a sarcastic expression. "Don't worry, they'll remember everything they're supposed to. I'm only sealing away secrets related to you and me."

With his thoughts exposed, Zu'an gave an embarrassed smile. Still, he was satisfied enough with this outcome. He couldn't just consider Chu and Qiao; he also had to think for Mi Li, as this was already a huge concession for her.

"By the way, how will you seal their memories, and will it harm their bodies?" Zu'an asked, still concerned.

"This technique is called 'River of Oblivion.' It's not a soul-damaging spell and won't affect their bodies," Mi Li's ethereal form said. She raised her hands, clasped them in front of her chest, and quickly formed several intricate hand seals.

Zu'an had to admit, the woman's hands were truly beautiful: long, slender, and pale, with the crimson polish on her nails subtly gleaming with a dangerous yet alluring luster.

In that brief moment of distraction, Mi Li had completed her hand seals. In a trance, it was as if a river flowed from between her hands, followed by a large character, "Forget," drifting over the river's surface. It then gradually swept over Chu Chuyan's and Qiao Xueying's bodies before slowly vanishing.

Zu'an nervously watched the two women, fearing any abnormality.

However, from beginning to end, the two women's expressions remained calm, showing no unusual signs.

After a moment, Mi Li slowly lowered her hands. "Done. When they wake up, everything about me, and all the secrets you carry, will be forgotten."

Zu'an couldn't help but ask, "Queen Sister, are you a runemaster?"

The serious and beautiful image of her forming the seals kept floating in his mind.

Since arriving in this world, he had heard that runemasters were another branch of cultivation, powerful and mysterious, often capable of achieving effects that cultivators couldn't.

Unfortunately, he had never had the chance to meet a true runemaster. The Chu family did have one, but they primarily just inscribed runes on weapons to add various auxiliary functions, which wasn't considered powerful.

"Of course, I am the most powerful runemaster of Great Qin!" Mi Li declared proudly. Her entire demeanor filled Zu'an with admiration; some people exuded grandeur just by standing there, without doing anything.

In contrast, he always had to actively show off, which meant he still had a long way to go.

"That 'Life and Death Covenant' and 'Rebirth Charm' you just taught me must also be runemaster techniques, right?" Zu'an asked.

"Indeed!" Mi Li's chest seemed to puff out even further.

Zu'an let out a curious "Oh?" "Since you're the most powerful runemaster, you must be very knowledgeable about formations and such. So why were you sealed here by someone else?"

Can't we just have a normal conversation?

This guy always managed to provoke her so easily, making her want to hit him.

Rage value 233 from Mi Li!

Noticing her expression, Zu'an wisely changed the subject. "By the way, why didn't you make a 'Life and Death Covenant' with Ying Zheng back then? That way, he wouldn't have been able to scheme against you."

Mi Li sneered. "Someone like him believed his accomplishments surpassed those of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, wishing for a lifespan as long as the heavens. How could he allow anyone else to be his equal, let alone bind their lives together?"

Zu'an said, "Oh, so it seems you wanted to make the covenant, but he refused."

"Nonsense! A 'Life and Death Covenant' is often a solemn vow made by two deeply in love people at the peak of their affection. He and I had a political marriage; how could I possibly want to make such a covenant with him?"

Rage value 567 from Mi Li!

Seeing more rage value credited to his account, Zu'an's face twitched. It stung too much.

"Hold on a moment!" Zu'an said to Mi Li, then immediately began drawing. He had experimented in class before; even Wei Suo couldn't see his keyboard system back then.

Speaking of Wei Suo, he missed him a little. He wondered if that guy had secretly checked what kind of stockings Principal Jiang was wearing these days.

He shook his head, quickly dispelling those random thoughts. Now that he'd found a brief moment of free time, he felt uneasy not quickly clearing the "flags" he'd set earlier.

He quickly brought up the keyboard and was instantly shocked to see the accumulated rage value: a whopping 34,584 points!

This was the first time he hated himself for being so good at earning rage value; the loss was immense.

Damn you, Xue'er! Do you know how much I've sacrificed for you? If you don't give me at least ten or eight children in the future, your conscience won't be at peace.

He checked briefly and found that the two largest incomes were from the undead army. His only relief was that only the outermost thousand undead by the pool had witnessed his shamelessness at the time, each contributing rage value.

Otherwise, if two hundred thousand undead had each contributed 6 or 9 points, that would have been millions in rage value income, and he truly would have wanted to kill himself from the loss.

"Hmm," he suddenly realized a business opportunity for earning rage value. In the future, when he went to a battlefield, he definitely needed to bring a megaphone so that everyone on the battlefield could contribute rage value to him at once.

With 34,584 rage points, he could draw 345 times in total.

Zu'an's heart bled as he drew, lamenting the immense loss.

Sure enough, this time, too, it was "Thank you for participating" every single time. If he'd had any doubts about the existence of that "flag" before, he was finally certain now.

Not a single thing was drawn from beginning to end!

"What are you doing?" Mi Li asked, looking suspicious. She saw him flailing his arms around like a shaman one moment, and gritting his teeth the next.

"Nothing, nothing. Let's continue our conversation. Where were we? Oh, I remember," Zu'an said, blinking and observing the queenly Mi Li. "You just said that a 'Life and Death Covenant' is often used only between deeply in love individuals. So, by using it on me, does that mean you've unknowingly fallen in love with me?"

There should be another chapter today.