Chapter 850: West Dog Hill

Zu An was startled, then said with a grin, "In that case, I'm certainly not going to die. Life is too wonderful, and I have so many beautiful confidantes waiting for me. I haven't lived enough yet!"

Mi Li: "..."

She stared at him silently, then finally laughed and scolded, "Just like you."

Zu An couldn't help but ask, "Empress Master, what's wrong with you? Since entering the secret realm, you've seemed a bit strange – distracted, talking about taking disciples, and now saying such inexplicable things?"

Mi Li shook her head. "It's not time yet. You'll understand when the time comes."

Zu An wanted to ask more, but Mi Li grew impatient. "Are you done or not? We're getting closer to the floating island above. Are you going to start moving?"

"Start moving?" Zu An looked at the fluctuating small floating islands around them with some difficulty. "But we can't try each one individually."

"Who said we're going to try them?" Mi Li scoffed, her voice filled with disdain. "Do they really think brute force will work?"

As if to confirm her words, just as she finished speaking, several screams echoed from that side. Many of Prince Qi's personal guards suddenly stepped into the void and fell. Even with the Emperor's ability, he couldn't save so many people, and ultimately two guards still fell.

A commotion arose from that direction. Zu An looked over from afar and saw many people from Prince Qi's manor stuck at certain points, seemingly having tried various routes without being able to advance further.

They were all as anxious as ants on a hot pan. Some, frightened by their fallen comrades, were desperate to return, while others were pondering the patterns of the floating islands. It was quite a chaotic scene.

"Let's go," Mi Li said, then added, "No matter where I tell you to go later, you must act immediately. Do not hesitate for a second, understand?"

"Alright, alright, I got it," Zu An replied, then took Bi Linglong's hand. "Let's go too."

Bi Linglong hesitated. "So many people over there haven't succeeded. It's just the two of us..."

Zu An said firmly, "Trust me!"

Mi Li, standing nearby, rolled her eyes repeatedly. This kid often used what she taught him to flirt with girls, which was incredibly annoying.

Seeing the calmness in his eyes, Bi Linglong lightly bit her lip, murmured an assent, then squeezed his hand and walked forward with him.

On the other side, Zhao Ruizhi was having a headache watching the chaotic state of his subordinates. His peripheral vision caught the change on Zu An's side. Seeing the two of them intending to try, he secretly sneered. He had observed for a long time that the patterns of the miniature floating islands rising and falling on both sides were not the same. That kid trying to imitate their previous trial path was certainly seeking his own death.

Imagining Zu An stepping into the void, Zhao Ruizhi's lips curved slightly upward. "This hateful brat is finally going to die."

However, when his gaze fell upon Bi Linglong's hand intertwined with Zu An's, his nascent pleasant mood vanished like smoke.

Having been Emperor for so many years, he had seen all kinds of beauties and naturally harbored no romantic feelings for Bi Linglong. But in a sense, Bi Linglong was his woman, his exclusive possession. Only he in the whole world was allowed to touch her.

Yet now, a man was being so intimate with her right in front of him. That unique male possessiveness made jealousy burn in his heart.

Rage value from Zhao Hao: 365,365,365...

Upon receiving his rage value, Zu An reached out, wrapped an arm around Bi Linglong's slender waist, pulled her closer, and then provocatively glanced in Zhao Ruizhi's direction.

Zhao Hao was almost exploding with rage but could only turn his face away, expressionless.

Bi Linglong's face flushed slightly. How could she not understand Zu An's intention at that moment? Normally, she would have been furious, but recalling that they could die at any moment, she sighed softly and allowed him.

She didn't know that another woman was already scolding Zu An on her behalf.

Mi Li said with a cold face, "Put away your distracting thoughts and concentrate on listening to my instructions on how to proceed. If we take a single wrong step, we will be doomed forever."

"Okay!" Zu An dared not be careless and pricked up his ears to listen.

"Guimei towards Wuwang, Wuwang towards Dayou, Dayou towards Tongren..." Mi Li's voice slowly began.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Zu An quickly interrupted. "Speak in plain language!"

Mi Li: "..."

Seeing her as if about to explode, Zu An quickly explained, "I know the movement techniques you taught me before have similar incantations, but I'm really not familiar with these Bagua directions. Every time, I have to spend time in my head figuring out which direction is which. Didn't you just say we can't waste even a moment, and that one wrong step means eternal damnation? So, it would be much safer if you just told me 'forward, backward, left, and right'."

Mi Li stared at him for a long time, then finally let out a deep breath. "At any other time, I'd beat you until your butt was blooming like a flower."

Nevertheless, she changed her way of speaking, directly guiding Zu An with "forward, backward, left, and right."

Soon, Zu An, leading Bi Linglong, moved continuously back and forth across various floating islands. Sometimes he would step forward, traversing several miniature islands in a row, then circle around to return to the starting point, and sometimes advance three steps only to retreat two...

At first, Bi Linglong was still quite apprehensive, fearing she would fall like the people from Prince Qi's manor. But each time, Zu An steadily guided her to the correct spot. She couldn't help but look up at the man beside her. This man truly was becoming more and more mysterious.

A gentle breeze passed, and Zu An seemed to walk among the clouds like an immortal, his entire being exceptionally graceful and unhurried.

As she watched, Bi Linglong's face flushed slightly.

At this point, the people on the other side also noticed their situation. Zhao Ruizhi had been waiting to see Zu An fall, but to his surprise, Zu An walked as if on flat ground the whole way.

Initially, he was quite angry, but he quickly suppressed these useless emotions and then carefully observed Zu An's footwork.

"Hmm, it seems to be a movement pattern based on the Five Elements and Bagua..." Zhao Ruizhi fell into deep thought.

Although the patterns of the floating islands rising and falling on both sides were not quite the same, with his knowledge and cunning, finding the corresponding solution with this hint would not be difficult.

"But that's not right," Zhao Ruizhi immediately realized. "According to their movement, they'll soon run out of path."

On the other side, Zu An also quickly faced a major choice.

"Three steps to the left!" Mi Li's cold voice came.

Zu An's heart jumped. There was nothing there, just empty space below and the dangerous red mist.

He was wondering if she had made a mistake when Mi Li's urgent voice came again: "Quick, no time!"

Zu An's mind raced. He suddenly remembered that Mi Li had specifically asked him earlier if he would be willing to die if she told him to.

Although he had answered no at the time, at this very moment, he suddenly understood why she had asked that.

Almost simultaneously, he had already taken three steps to the left.

Bi Linglong gasped, clinging tightly to Zu An, even trying to stop him from seeking his own death. But her strength was no match for his; she was pulled along instead.

As she closed her eyes, bracing for death, she was suddenly surprised to find that they weren't falling. Instead, they were standing steadily in mid-air—no, she could feel solid ground beneath her feet.

This was... a transparent floating island?

She immediately realized, then looked at Zu An in surprise and delight. How did he know?

From a distance, Zhao Ruizhi's pupils constricted slightly, then his expression cleared with understanding. "So that's it, so that's it!"

He even felt a degree of admiration for Zu An. This guy truly was talented, but unfortunately, he had a rebellious streak and couldn't be used by him.

At this moment, Zu An, who appeared unfathomable in everyone's eyes, was frantically flattering Mi Li in his mind: "Empress Master, you truly are an eternal god... You are the electricity, you are the light, you are the eternal myth..."

Hearing his excessively cheesy flattery, Mi Li felt a shiver. "Alright, alright, continue ascending."

Despite this, the slight upward curve of her lips betrayed her current pleasant mood. It wasn't due to the flattery, but because at that critical moment, he had chosen to trust her implicitly.

Thus, under her guidance, Zu An stepped onto a staircase, step by step, and before long, he reached the nearest immortal island.

"It's so beautiful here!" Bi Linglong exclaimed with delighted surprise. Compared to the deathly aura below, this place was lush with green grass, filled with the fragrance of flowers and the songs of birds, and shrouded everywhere in ethereal mist. In the distance, golden palaces and white jade pillars gleamed magnificently under the sunlight, truly an earthly paradise.

Seeing such an ethereal scene up close, one that previously only existed in TV dramas and games, Zu An couldn't help but ask Mi Li, "Empress Master, are there really immortals in this world?"

Mi Li floated nearby, gazing up at the magnificent golden palace in the distance, an inexplicable sadness in her eyes. "The universe is vast; who dares to definitively say there are no immortals? But what you see before you is nothing but an illusion."

"Illusion?" Zu An was somewhat confused.

"Do you know where this is?" Mi Li asked.

"Isn't it a new secret realm? It looks a bit like some of the immortal mountains from myths," Zu An tentatively replied.

Mi Li shook her head. "This is the ancestral land of the Qin people, Xiquanqiu."