“Ah!” Yun Yuqing cried out in alarm. Her eyes were full of disbelief as blood gushed out of her mouth. “Ah Zu, what are you doing?”

Zu An didn’t reply to her, but instead stared at the dragon robed individual.

The emperor roared with laughter. “Husbands and wives will abandon each other before the face of true disaster. Unfortunately, it’s already too late, even if you express your loyalty to me by killing her. Die!”

That palm was now already less than a zhang from Zu An’s head. The pressure that descended created a palm imprint where he was standing. However, he still continued to stand proudly in place.

Zu An lowered his head and muttered quietly to himself, “This kind of power and pressure is indeed quite similar to the emperor’s. Looks like he really did leave a deep impression of his power in my mind.”

“However…” He suddenly raised his head, his eyes scorching as he stared at the dragon robed man on the roof. “After experiencing everything that happened that night, you will forever be a loser in my eyes.”

He raised his hand and intoned, “God said, let there be light!”

The skies seemed to respond to his words. The originally overcast skies scattered, and a strand of golden light seeped through the clouds and scattered the gloom.

Then, it enveloped the emperor. The emperor’s body began to smoke, and then his robes began to burn. Soon afterward, his entire figure was swallowed up by the flames. He screamed in agony. The terrifying palm in the sky also vanished like smoke in thin air, and the horrifying pressure vanished.

Screaming bitterly, the emperor ended up being burned to ashes.

Zu An had a self-deprecating smile as he said, “In the world of my own consciousness, I am obviously god. Who dares to be stronger than me?”

Yun Yuqing’s eyes widened in horror as she murmured, “That’s impossible…”

As she spoke, the surrounding scenery warped. There was no more emperor, no Zhuxie Chixin. All of the Embroidered Envoys were nowhere to be seen. All that was left were the figures of the deathsworn, who were currently fighting against Yun Yuqing.

Meanwhile, the expression of the ‘Yun Yuqing’ Zu An had just ‘killed’ warped as well. With that mysterious mantle and that golden hair, who else could it be but Jia Sili?

Zu An sighed. Jia Sili hadn’t died, as expected. The scene of his sword stabbing through her throat had been an illusion. 

Wait, when did I end up falling into her illusion? I was always on guard. Not even Hundredwarble gave me any warning signs. 

His eyes shifted to that bell around her ankle. It had kept making sounds ever since they began to fight. It was probably the source of the illusion.

Jia Sili stared at Zu An and asked, “Just how did you realize that world was fake? I didn’t think there were any flaws.”

Zu An sighed as he answered, “I found the entire thing strange from the start. I felt that Zhuxie Chixin and the others’ timing was too much of a coincidence. They came as soon as we finished fighting, as if they had been waiting in ambush all this time. These are the suburbs, after all! Even if the activity here alarmed some people, the ones who should have arrived first would be the City Defense Army, not the Embroidered Envoy.”

After all, he had always been the one investigating this case, so he should have the most intelligence. Not even he had anticipated that these people would be waiting in ambush, so how could Zhuxie Chixin and the others possibly react in time?

“You were able to deduce it was fake just from that?” Jia Sili found that answer inconceivable.

Zu An said indifferently, “There was also the matter of the emperor. He appeared too abruptly as well.”

In theory, the emperor needed him to harass King Qi. He wouldn’t kill Zu An the moment he saw him unless he knew about what had happened between Zu An and the empress. But how could that be possible? He wasn’t an omnipotent god.

Of course, there was a more important reason that had made Zu An even more certain, which was that he had never received any Rage points this entire time. Even though the other party could create such a powerful illusion, she couldn’t imitate the soul fluctuations of every single being.

“Now that I’ve answered your questions, you can rest in peace.” Zu An didn’t want to be like a villain who talked too much. He had always been waiting for his opportunity to strike. Now that the other party was distracted from hearing his answer, he charged over.

A black figure rushed over to intercept Zu An. He saw that it was one of the deathsworn that had died previously, and was now a corpse puppet controlled by the yin-yang man. He casually waved his palm to blast the corpse to pieces. He didn’t want it to delay what he needed to do.

But he immediately sensed that something was off, and quickly dodged several zhang to the side. That corpse suddenly exploded with a loud bang. Countless black and green body fluids splattered everywhere, and a foul stench spread through the air.

Zu An felt the urge to throw up. 

Damn it, it smells even worse than canned fish.

When the grass on the ground made contact with the body fluids, it immediately darkened and withered. Even the ground released sizzling sounds and began to smoke. It was obvious that every single drop was poisonous.

“Can you not be so gross, please?” Jia Sili said in disgust. She used the bit of time Shu Shuhao had bought her to dodge, so she wasn’t splattered by the body fluids. However, she tightly clutched her nose. She couldn’t stand the smell either.

“Hmph, I just saved your life,” Shu Shuhao said in his sinister voice. He leapt over to Jia Sili’s side just as the corpse had, in order to cover her. The corpse puppets under his control scattered throughout the surroundings as well.

Now that Yun Yuqing had obtained a moment of respite, she quickly rushed to Zu An’s side. Her face was covered in fine sweat, and her cheeks were flushed. The battle had clearly taken a toll on her.

Even though her cultivation wasn’t bad, she had used up too much power when she fought against the man with the two rings and the other experts. This Shu Shuhao’s cultivation wasn’t beneath hers, and he had used vile and vicious corpse demons to fight against her. As a woman, she had a natural fear of such things, so her combat strength had been reduced by a bit.

Zu An walked forward a little to cover Yun Yuqing. Then, he raised his sword in front of him. All of the muscles on his body went taut, like a lion that was ready to pounce.

Jia Sili laughed and said, “Oh my, big brother, we don’t want to fight anymore. Why don’t we just shake hands and have a chat?”

“It was still ‘little brother’ not too long ago. Now I’m suddenly the big brother?” Zu An sneered. “Why should I do something like that?”

“Big sis over here has already had a taste of little brother’s strength. That’s why I don’t dare to call you little anymore!” Jia Sili’s flirtatious tone made Yun Yuqing’s beautiful brows furrow. Jia Sili continued, “As for why we should just talk things out, that’s because we have a common enemy. Why should we fight to the death then?”

“Common enemy?” Zu An harrumphed. “Who shares a common enemy with you?”

Jia Sili laughed out loud. “Big brother, please don’t believe your own lies. The hostility you showed toward the emperor was clear enough. Also, you seem to have done something that has let him down. Even though big sis doesn’t know what it is, I’m sure that thing is enough for the emperor to kill you.”

Zu An’s expression changed. This woman really was a problem.

Jia Sili didn’t dare to remain careless when she sensed his killing intent. She pointed at the man with the two rings. “Big brother, please don’t fret and listen to this sister’s words. You should have heard what I said to those people just now. Back then, the Zhou Emperor invaded our southern border and killed countless clansmen of ours. We can never forget this blood enmity. But the emperor is too powerful right now and not someone we can face alone, so the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We don’t wish to waste any bit of power that can go against the emperor.”

Zu An said indifferently, “That’s just wishful thinking. I don’t wish to form alliances with others. On the contrary, I’ll feel more at ease when you’re all dead.”

The black and white Shu Shuhao said coldly, “Damn brat, you sure know how to run that mouth of yours.”

Jia Sili was also laughing so hard her body was rocking back and forth. “Big brother, I think you’re misunderstanding something! We really do want to cooperate with you, and not just use this chance to beg for mercy.”

She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. Suddenly, a bright circle of light appeared behind her out of thin air. Then, transparent weapons emerged from it one after another, aiming at Zu An and Yun Yuqing.

Jia Sili explained, “As a Spirit Master, apart from the mind illusion I just used, there is one other skill, which is ‘Fantasy Materialize’. I can make anything I imagine become reality. It’s hard to say who would come out ahead if we really fought to the death.”