Chapter 318: Strange Big Bird

"What's in here?" Zu An noticed the exquisite box, made of the finest yellow pear wood, with elaborate patterns adorning its exterior.

Old Man Mi said coldly, "You don't need to know what's inside. Just remember what this box looks like, and when you're at the Wei family's residence, bring me back an identical one."

Zu An scratched his head. "Senior, I don't quite understand. With your cultivation, it should be easy for you to enter the Wei family's estate and find something. Why send me?"

After all, Old Man Mi moved through the Chu family's estate as if no one were there; even the Eighth-Rank Chu Zhongtian hadn't detected him.

No matter how heavily guarded the Wei family's residence was, it couldn't be more secure than the Duke's Mansion, could it?

Old Man Mi snorted. "I naturally have my reasons for not wanting to act myself. Just go get it, and stop with the unnecessary questions."

"Alright," Zu An shrugged. It wasn't a difficult task anyway; he could just help him find it when the time came.

Only then did Old Man Mi smile contentedly. He turned to leave, but stopped abruptly at the doorway and specifically cautioned, "Once you find the box, do not open it under any circumstances, or your life will be in danger. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"That dangerous!" Zu An jumped in surprise.

Old Man Mi replied, "As long as you don't open it, you'll be fine."

After speaking, he vanished completely.

Zu An fell into contemplation. What exactly was inside that box?

Human psychology is strange. If Old Man Mi hadn't specifically emphasized not to look, Zu An might not have even considered opening it.

It was like the warnings on lightbulb packaging in his previous life: "Do not insert lightbulb into mouth." Normally, no one would do such a foolish thing, but seeing the warning ironically sparked curiosity, leading who knows how many people to test it out.

He even had a classmate in his previous life who, despite knowing the principle that a lightbulb swallowed couldn't be removed, refused to believe it and decided to try it himself. Of course, he made some preparations beforehand, specifically putting a condom over the lightbulb, thinking it would make it easier to remove due to lubrication.

Reality, however, taught him a harsh lesson. The sight of him, teary-eyed, pointing to the condom-wrapped lightbulb in his mouth and sprinting towards the school infirmary, was a moment of social suicide so mortifying that thinking about it still made Zu An cringe.

"Forget it. I'll just find it and sneak a peek. Then I'll know," Zu An decided privately.

At the same time, a sense of crisis arose within him. He didn't know Old Man Mi's true objective, and constantly being controlled by him was not a long-term solution.

He needed to figure out a way to get rid of him soon.

However, the thought of Mi Li's previous comments about Old Man Mi's cultivation made him feel disheartened. Unless Mi Li could cure the "Xiangfei Red Tears" poison and help him, even with all his "cheats," he probably couldn't handle the old man.

After all, he couldn't expect Old Man Mi to be as careless as the giant dragon.

"Improving my own cultivation is still the best path!"

Zu An quickly began tallying the rage points he had accumulated recently, which totaled 71,915 points.

So few!

Zu An frowned. Seventy thousand sounded like a lot, but it cost 100 points per draw, and on average, it took ten draws to get one Essence Fruit. Calculating it that way, not much would be left.

It seemed he had been slacking off lately, not earning enough rage points.

He knew that, compared to before, this speed was decent, but the further he progressed in cultivation, the more terrifying the number of Essence Fruits required became.

It seemed he needed to devise a new method to increase efficiency.

Unfortunately, no matter how much he thought, he couldn't come up with any significantly better ideas.

Left with no choice, he could only proceed with drawing prizes for now.

Currently in the bathtub, he casually splashed water on his face a few times before pressing the draw button.

Amidst numerous "Thank you for participating" messages, he ultimately drew 72 Essence Fruits, with no other skills or items.

This was expected; after all, good items weren't that easy to come by.

Like popping maltesers, he popped the Essence Fruits into his mouth handful after handful. He felt the essence energy begin to disperse throughout his body, flowing through all his limbs and bones, before finally converging towards the ninth formation.

"Huh?"

Zu An immediately sat upright, because he discovered that the ninth formation was completely filled.

That's not right!

Zu An remembered that the ninth formation required a total of 2,584 Essence Fruits. He had only filled 320 before, and this time he only ate 72, which was far from enough combined.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. He had been injured several times recently, especially by the giant dragon's attack on Dragon Concealment Mountain, which would have killed an ordinary person.

And the Phoenix Nirvana Scripture was originally cultivated by taking damage.

But it still didn't add up. Before, in the Yaoguang Secret Realm, he was tormented by Mi Li almost to death, barely surviving with a sliver of health thanks to the "Rich Woman's Joy Ball." That was equivalent to dying several times, with a similar effect. Could a single strike from the giant dragon have such a profound impact?

Could the strike blocked by the jade pendant given by Shang Liuyu also be counted?

He had been trying to calculate the proportional relationship between injuries and cultivation improvement in the Phoenix Nirvana Scripture, but now he was confused; his previous conjectures had been disproved by facts.

Alas, perhaps only the math geniuses from his previous life could figure out the pattern.

Zu An shook his head, giving up on trying to deduce the underlying rules.

He was now more concerned about another question: last time, after the second level was perfected, "Da Feng" appeared. Would anything appear this time?

He performed an internal inspection and found some special lines between the nine formations in his muscles, vaguely forming the shape of a peculiar large bird.

"Another big bird?" Zu An's face was odd. He thought to himself that he truly had a connection with big birds.

The previous Da Feng was entirely white with crimson tail feathers, but this new bird was completely azure, shaped like a wild goose. Unlike Da Feng's fierce and terrifying appearance, this bird looked much more amiable.

However, its untamed gaze indicated that its master was by no means a naive or harmless individual.

In the lower right corner of the large bird was a seal-like object with two characters written in small seal script: "Lan Fu."

"Lan Fu... It's indeed one of the Nine Phoenix Chicks," Zu An murmured, with an "I knew it" expression. He had already speculated this when he first saw Da Feng, and now it was confirmed.

What exactly was this thing for?

Drawing on his experience with Da Feng, he channeled the essence energy in his body into the lines of Lan Fu. As the energy flowed throughout Lan Fu's form, its eyes suddenly lit up, and immediately after, a phantom image of Lan Fu materialized before him.

At that instant, Zu An suddenly felt a strange affinity for the water in the bathtub. With a thought, he sank directly to the bottom.

To his surprise, he found he could breathe normally underwater, just as he did on land. He even had a feeling that as long as he had enough essence energy to sustain Lan Fu, he could stay at the bottom of the water for as long as he wished.

Emerging from the water, Zu An was both surprised and delighted. Several times before, he had been chased into the water, and although he could swim, it wasn't always convenient. With this new ability, if he encountered enemies on water again, it would be entirely his home turf.

He suddenly recalled that Da Feng could fly directly out. What would Lan Fu do if it flew out?

He tried to control Lan Fu to fly towards the door, just as he would control Da Feng. In that instant, the water in the bathtub seemed to be summoned, rushing directly towards the door like a raging wave.

In that moment, the door was shattered to pieces by the water, and even the surrounding walls were riddled with holes.

Before Zu An could even feel excited, he suddenly froze, because he saw Chu Huanzhao standing not far outside the door, drenched by the sudden surge of water.

A joyful smile still lingered on her face, but she was now frozen in place, evidently questioning reality.

"Xiao Zhao, are you alright?" Zu An quickly stood up, thinking how fortunate it was that the door, windows, and walls had absorbed most of the water's force, otherwise she might have been in danger.

"I'm fine..." Chu Huanzhao replied subconsciously, then suddenly shrieked, quickly covered her eyes, and her pretty face instantly flushed. "Pervert Brother-in-law!"