Chapter 790: Recognition of Master

Ma An stared in shock at the impossibly beautiful woman not far away. How did she appear out of thin air?

However, he quickly lost interest in such questions, overwhelmed instead by the woman's beauty. Although he had served in the imperial palace and seen countless beauties—the Empress, the Crown Princess, Concubine Bai, for instance, whose looks might not be much inferior to this woman's—the woman before him possessed a captivating allure that could bewitch anyone. She didn't need to speak or move; simply standing there and blinking her eyes was enough to utterly enthrall him.

Such a femme fatale existed in this world!

Ma An, having grown old, had long since become indifferent to female beauty. Yet, as he smelled the faint fragrance that had filled the room since the woman's arrival, he felt as though he had returned to his youth, and the stagnant pool of his heart suddenly stirred with life.

"What is this woman's relationship with Zu An, and why is she here?"

"It seems she was summoned by Zu An?"

"What special qualities does that Zu An possess? He's just a street hoodlum, yet he first won the favor of the Chu family's eldest daughter, and now he has such an intimate connection with this stunning beauty!"

Rage value from Ma An: 444444444...

Zu An was speechless. What was this all about? Why was he getting angry just from seeing a beautiful woman with him?

He couldn't be bothered with it, and simply told the beautiful woman beside him, "Daji, control him and find out who's behind him."

Daji had three abilities, one of which, 'Fox's Charm,' allowed her to control members of the opposite sex for a short period.

Daji nodded, then gracefully walked up to Ma An and gave him a smile that could topple kingdoms.

Ma An was utterly captivated in that instant, his mind filled only with thoughts like "I'm going to die, I'm going to die," and he couldn't help but drool.

"Who is the person behind you?" Daji couldn't speak, so Zu An had to ask.

"My master is..." However, in Ma An's eyes, it seemed as if Daji herself was asking him.

"Who is your master?" Zu An quickly pressed.

"My master is..." Ma An subconsciously muttered, then his expression suddenly changed, and he immediately snapped back to his senses. "Zu An, what kind of dark magic are you using?!"

Zu An frowned, wondering why the man had woken up at that moment.

At that moment, Mi Li's voice came: "Did you forget that 'Fox's Charm' has a condition for effectiveness? The target's cultivation must be lower than Daji's."

Zu An sighed, "Of course I remember. I just thought Ma An's cultivation was similar to Daji's, both around the early sixth rank. And I just deliberately drained his power, but I didn't expect it still wouldn't work."

"Since 'Fox's Charm' requires the target's cultivation to be lower than Daji's, that condition must be strictly followed. As for you draining his power, it doesn't affect his cultivation realm. While cultivators don't explicitly train their souls in the early stages, their souls are subtly nurtured. You drained his power, but his soul and realm still remain at the sixth rank," Mi Li analyzed.

"So what do we do?" Zu An had a headache. This Ma An was also cunning; he had tampered with his own body beforehand, so he couldn't be beaten or tricked. There really was no way to deal with him.

Mi Li thought for a moment and said, "Didn't I say before that the Spirit Gathering Pill can raise the level of her skills? This is a good chance to try it out."

Zu An's eyes lit up. "You're right!"

"You... who are you talking to?" Seeing Zu An talking to thin air, Ma An felt a chill run down his spine. He instinctively wanted to flee, but his body was limp, allowing him only to move a very short distance awkwardly.

Zu An ignored him, simply knocked him unconscious with a palm strike, planning to deal with him after he had refined the pill.

However, he soon realized a problem: "Queen Sister, but even Master Zhenxu doesn't know how to use this thing, does he?"

As he spoke, he pulled out the greenish-black small cauldron from his embrace. Honestly, at first glance, its color seemed ominous, but the longer he looked, the more well-proportioned and appealing it appeared.

"Master Zhenxu couldn't use it because he didn't know the proper method," Mi Li's red figure appeared, taking the greenish cauldron from his arms. Her slender, jade-like fingers traced its surface. After a long moment, she sighed softly, "Ah, it's a pity it's incomplete. But perhaps that's for the best, otherwise, a complete Nine Tripods would be beyond your current control."

Zu An felt a pang of discomfort. His Tai'a Sword was also sealed, and now the Nine Tripods was also incomplete. Was this luck good or bad?

Of course, he was more concerned with a practical question at the moment: "Actually, I've tried before, this thing doesn't really look like an alchemy furnace."

"What do you know?" Mi Li snorted. "The Nine Tripods are symbols of power, but they originally served to cook food. Have you forgotten what you saw in the Yin Ruins secret realm?"

"Oh, right," Zu An nodded. In ancient times, cauldrons were indeed used for cooking, but their size and number were strictly regulated according to one's social status.

"It's a pity that during my years as the King of Shang in the Yin Ruins, I never tried the Nine Tripods," Zu An suddenly said with some regret. Logically, since the Nine Tripods mysteriously disappeared around the time Qin unified the six states, the Shang Dynasty must have possessed them. However, at the time, his mind was entirely focused on passing the trials, and he hadn't considered these things.

Mi Li shook her head. "The Nine Tripods possess extraordinary power. King Wu Geng of Shang couldn't have spent so much effort to simulate the functions of the Nine Tripods within the Yin Ruins. In that secret realm, the Nine Tripods were most likely no different from ordinary cauldrons."

"I see," Zu An thought. No wonder he hadn't noticed any powerful Nine Tripods in the imperial palace during his long stay in the Yin Ruins.

Mi Li examined the greenish cauldron in her hand. "The Nine Tripods were forged by Yu the Great in the Xia Dynasty. Logically, only cultivation methods of the Xia royal family should be able to activate them. However, later, the Shang and Zhou royal families also collected the Nine Tripods, so in theory, their cultivation methods should also be able to activate them. Try circulating the 'Taotie Devouring Heaven Art' or the 'Phoenix Nirvana Scripture,' and inject your vital energy into the cauldron to see."

Zu An nodded. Because the 'Taotie Devouring Heaven Art' was too aggressive, he activated the 'Phoenix Nirvana Scripture.' As his vital energy flowed in, the greenish cauldron suddenly emitted a shimmering glow. Originally, its outer surface was pitted and uneven, looking quite ordinary apart from its eye-catching color.

Now, as the light bloomed, faint lines seemed to appear around the cauldron. Gradually, the pits and irregularities on its surface became more orderly, many resembling famous mountains and rivers, while others were strange, unidentifiable objects.

Mi Li's expression was excited. "Excellent, excellent! According to ancient pre-Qin texts, the Nine Tripods are indeed covered with the mountains, rivers, and various divine artifacts of the Nine Provinces."

As the Empress of Great Qin, she had never seen the Nine Tripods in her time, and she hadn't expected to see them now.

Looking at the small cauldron, now translucent and glowing, suspended in mid-air, no longer looking like its former unfortunate self, Zu An thought that if Master Zhenxu were to see it, he would probably be reluctant to give it away.

Zu An felt an ancient, desolate, yet majestic and profound aura emanating from it. Along with it seemed to come countless images he had never seen before.

Like slides fast-forwarding at dozens of times their normal speed, in that instant, Zu An felt his head was about to explode, unable to discern any of the images clearly.

"Focus your mind, 'Five Qi Aligning with the Origin'!" Mi Li's anxious voice vaguely reached his ears.

He didn't know how much time had passed, or if it had only been an instant. Zu An finally opened his eyes, his head throbbing intensely. He found his clothes were in tatters, and tiny beads of blood seeped from his skin, as if all his capillaries had burst.

He was horrified. "How could this happen?!"

Mi Li breathed a sigh of relief. "It seems your current cultivation is too low, and the Nine Tripods are too domineering. Forcibly activating them caused a backlash. Fortunately, your body has been tempered multiple times by the 'Primordial Chaos Scripture,' making it incredibly resilient; otherwise, you would likely have exploded and died by now. But it appears you've successfully made the Nine Tripods recognize you as their master, which is a blessing in disguise."

Zu An was startled, then looked at the greenish cauldron again. Sure enough, he felt a faint sense of connection, as if by blood.

"It really recognized me as its master?" Zu An was both surprised and delighted.

At this moment, Mi Li snorted, "Put on some clothes first, stop flailing around like that."

At the same time, she looked with some surprise at Daji, who had turned away at some point. "That's strange, this woman clearly has no consciousness, yet she looks shy?"