Chapter 794: 幽影楼楼主

Mi Li, who was standing by, was speechless. She snorted angrily, "She's truly a seductress. Even without a soul, she instinctively tries to charm men."

Daji seemed not to have heard. She remained kneeling before Zu An, gazing at him with an endlessly enchanting and pitiful look.

Mi Li looked at Zu An with a half-smile. "How long do you plan to keep her in that pose? Should I leave to make things easier for you two?"

Zu An's face flushed. He quickly composed himself and began feeding the Qi Gathering Pills to Daji one by one. Whether intentionally or not, her tongue seemed to brush his fingers as she swallowed the pills.

Zu An felt as if his blood had instantly boiled, but having weathered many storms, he quickly regained his composure. He took out four dragon scales he had prepared earlier. "How do I use these? She doesn't need to eat them too, right?"

Upgrading Daji's "Fox Charm of the World" from level one to level two required two Qi Gathering Pills, four dragon scales, and ten thousand taels of silver. He really couldn't understand why silver was needed or who would collect it.

"How would I know?" Mi Li scoffed, turning away somewhat uncomfortably. She thought to herself, *This guy is truly stubborn, and Daji is indeed a bewitching hussy.*

Zu An checked the system, but it didn't specify the upgrade process.

At that moment, Daji slowly rose from the ground. Perhaps due to having just consumed the two Qi Gathering Pills, her snow-white, beautiful cheeks now bore two flushes of rosy red, making her appear even more exquisitely enchanting.

She took the four dragon scales from Zu An's hand and arranged them around herself, aligning them with the cardinal directions.

Then, her fair, jade-like hand stretched out towards Zu An, and she looked at him with that same pitiful gaze.

Mi Li, watching from the side, secretly frowned. *Does this woman truly have no soul? She's so vibrant and lifelike; how is she different from a real person?*

Yet, she had indeed entered Daji's body before and felt no soul within her.

At this moment, Zu An had an idea and pulled out a ten-thousand-tael silver note. "Is this what you need?"

Daji didn't take it, continuing to gaze at him silently.

Mi Li spoke up, "It's likely ten thousand taels of actual silver, not a silver note. Most likely, the silver is needed as a medium to carry some mysterious power, or perhaps the silver itself provides the energy she requires."

After all, her cultivation was profound, and she had read extensively in the past, so she immediately offered her assessment.

Zu An understood. He took out ten thousand taels of silver from the Glazed Pearl spatial realm. Between the stash he found in the Red Dragon's cave and the treasures bestowed upon him in the palace recently, producing that amount of actual silver was not difficult.

As expected, once the silver was produced, Daji withdrew her hand and arranged the silver in an outer circle. She then began to meditate in the center of the circle. Faintly, the aura of the Qi Gathering Pills could be felt emanating from her body. Immediately after, streaks of clear light circulated, the four dragon scales lit up, and then the silver in the outer ring also began to glow.

"Is this a qi fluctuation or something else?" Zu An asked Mi Li curiously. He sensed a strange aura that didn't quite feel like qi fluctuation, nor was it primeval chaos energy or anything similar.

Mi Li shook her head. "She must be cultivating in a way we can't comprehend. Alas, the universe is vast, and there are so many unknown things for us to explore."

As she spoke the latter part, a hint of fervent excitement appeared in her eyes.

Zu An thought to himself, *I almost forgot, this woman is a scholar! After all, devouring all the books in the Qin royal library is quite an impressive feat.*

At this point, both noticed that the surrounding silver was gradually diminishing. It was hard to explain how it vanished; it wasn't an instant disappearance or a slow fading, but rather a subtle, unnoticed decrease.

Simultaneously, the number of dragon scales also began to decrease, eventually vanishing completely. Around Daji, circles of clear energy appeared, making her seem as if she were enveloped in mist.

After a while, the clear energy rapidly diminished and finally seemed to dissolve into Daji's body. At this point, Daji opened her eyes.

Zu An's heart stirred; he had already sensed Daji's skill improvement.

**Fox Charm of the World, Level Two:** Can temporarily control targets of comparable cultivation level.

"I hope this works this time." Zu An felt a bit anxious. Unlike a game, he couldn't precisely see Ma An's cultivation level; he could only guess.

Mi Li said, "Don't worry. Their cultivation levels were already quite similar. Ma An was almost controlled before, so he must have been just a hair's breadth away. With Daji's skill upgrade, it will definitely work this time."

Hearing her calm tone, Zu An felt considerably more settled. He dragged Ma An over, removed the restraints, and then splashed a basin of cold water directly onto him.

"Who is it? What's going on!" Ma An had just recovered, his consciousness still hazy, but the feeling of weakness and powerlessness in his body caused his recent memories to gradually resurface.

He struggled to compose himself. "I advise you not to waste your efforts. You won't get the information you want from me. If you let me go, I can guarantee that I'll let bygones be bygones, and this matter will be over."

"Do you take me for a fool or are you the fool? Do you really think I'd believe that?" Zu An rolled his eyes.

"If you're worried, I can perform a secret acupuncture technique on myself that will make me forget what happened today, so your safety won't be jeopardized," Ma An quickly said, his survival instinct driving his last efforts.

"No need for such trouble." Zu An waved his hand, signaling Daji to come closer.

Seeing the beautiful woman, Ma An scoffed, "Still trying to use her against me? Don't dream of it..."

He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly frozen. In his eyes, only her beautiful gaze remained, and in his mind, only Daji's every subtle expression.

"It worked!" Mi Li exclaimed excitedly from the side. With her discerning eye, she could naturally see that Ma An's consciousness was now completely controlled.

Zu An breathed a sigh of relief and quickly questioned him about the secrets of the person behind him.

Ma An shook his head somewhat stiffly. "It's not King Qi, but my master."

"Who is your master?" Zu An frowned, wondering why such a strange title was used.

"My master is the leader of the Phantom Shadow Tower." Ma An replied instinctively.

"The Phantom Shadow Tower!" Zu An's heart skipped a beat. This wasn't the first time he'd heard that name. Qiao Xueying had mentioned it to him before, saying she had joined the Phantom Shadow Tower to save her clansmen. He had also crossed paths with their assassins, knowing only that they were one of the most mysterious organizations in the world.

"Who is the leader of the Phantom Shadow Tower?" Zu An pressed eagerly.

"I don't know," Ma An's eyes were blank and unfocused. "The leader of the Phantom Shadow Tower never reveals their true face, always remaining shrouded in darkness and mist. No one in the world knows their identity."

Zu An frowned. "What other information do you have about him?"

Ma An replied, "I suspect he might be someone from the imperial palace."

"Someone from the imperial palace?" Zu An had initially only been curious about the identity of this mysterious Phantom Shadow Tower leader, but hadn't paid too much attention, as no matter how mysterious, they were still just the head of an assassin organization and unlikely to have a major influence on the court. But hearing that this person might be from the imperial palace sent a shiver down his spine.

He had been entering and exiting the imperial palace constantly these past few days and hadn't sensed anyone who might be the Phantom Shadow Tower leader.

More importantly, the imperial palace was the Emperor's domain. Could the Phantom Shadow Tower leader really be hiding within the palace right under the Emperor's nose?

Either the Phantom Shadow Tower leader was the Emperor's person, but the Phantom Shadow Tower had previously accepted a mission to assassinate him, and at that time, the Emperor was still waiting to get his Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. Therefore, it was unlikely they belonged to the same faction.

That left only one other possibility: the Phantom Shadow Tower leader had another public and legitimate identity that allowed them to stay in the palace without arousing the Emperor's suspicion.

But who could this person be?

Eunuch Wen? Zhuxie Chixin? The Empress? Eunuch Lu? Guo Zhi? Or perhaps the Crown Princess, Concubine Bai? Or even some unremarkable palace maid or guard? Faces flashed through Zu An's mind, even those of Pu Duandiao and Jiao Sigun.

Zu An's hair truly stood on end. Knowing that he was coexisting with such a powerful figure in the imperial palace, it was possible that this person had been secretly observing him all along, and his every move had not escaped their notice...

The exposure of his identity as Gold Medal Eleven was a minor matter. But privately releasing Qiao Xueying and Qiu Honglei, saving Yun Jianyue, and even that absurd night with the Empress—every single one of these was a grave crime punishable by extermination of nine generations of one's family. If these were known to others and used as leverage, wouldn't his life be completely at the mercy of that person's whim?