Originally, with Han Zhong’s strength, it wouldn’t have been that easy for Mi Li to restrain him at all. But she was in soul form, so Han Zhong hadn’t been aware of her existence at all. Furthermore, all of his attention had been on Zu An.

When she saw Mi Li’s sudden appearance, Bi Linglong was shocked. Her first reaction was that there was a female ghost residing in the area. But were there any ghosts that were so pretty?

Furthermore, the woman exuded a feeling of elegance and pride with every action, leaving her in complete admiration. That was what she had strived for ever since she was young. She’d thought that she had already reached that level, but after encountering all sorts of things in this dungeon, her unstable mental state proved that she was still far off.

She subconsciously leaned closer to Zu An. “Ah Zu, be careful. I’d heard that red clothed ghosts are the most powerful and the most vicious.”

Mi Li turned around. “Damn brat, trust me when I say I might just turn you into a ghost myself!”

“Huh?” Bi Linglong jumped in fright. She hadn’t expected the ghost to be capable of speech! From what she knew, ghosts like these often possessed incredible cultivations. This place was full of vengeful spirits, and it even had that long-haired monster. Now, there was even a powerful ghost. She felt goosebumps all over.

Zu An couldn't help but chuckle. He said in consolation, “Don’t worry, she’s one of us.”

“One of us?” Bi Linglong’s eyes widened. “You’ve even slept with a ghost before?”

Her impression of Zu An was that of a total womanizer. He had so many pretty girls at his side! When she heard him call the ridiculously beautiful red-clothed ghost one of his own people, she instinctively thought they had ‘that’ type of relationship.

“Ahem…” Zu An quickly covered her mouth with his hands. He ‘saw’ black smoke come out of Mi Li and told Bi Linglong, “Watch what you say, she’s just my good friend…” He quickly changed his tone when he sensed Mi Li’s vicious glare. “Uh… Actually, she can be considered my master.”

Mi Li harrumphed. “A master is a master; what do you mean ‘considered’?”

“Master?” Bi Linglong realized that she had misunderstood and felt embarrassed. As such, she bowed guiltily. “Greetings, master. I offended you earlier; I hope master can look past it.”

Mi Li rolled her eyes. “You’re not even married yet; don’t copy whatever he does.”

Bi Linglong stood there blankly. She was overwhelmed by embarrassment. Why the heck had she called the ghost master too? Ahhhhh, this is way too embarrassing!

Zu An chuckled, taking Bi Linglong’s hand to calm her down. Bi Linglong wanted to pull her hand back. She didn’t even know if it was because of her personality or if she was just embarrassed.

Mi Li had already turned back around to look at Han Zhong. When she saw his muddled eyes, she frowned. “Speak!”

Han Zhong raised his head to look at her. He didn’t have much of a reaction at first, but he seemed to have remembered something soon afterward. His expression became one of horror. “A ghost! A ghost!” If not because his key acupoint had been sealed, he might have already run for his life.

Mi Li was speechless. What the hell is going on today? Why the hell is everyone treating me like a ghost today?! Even though her current form was a bit like a ghost, it wasn’t nice at all to treat others this way!

She squatted down and moved her face closer to him. “You already recognize me, right?”

“You’re the empress… Wait, the empress has already died, you aren’t… Ah… Everyone is going to die… Ahhhhh…” Han Zhong looked as if he had gone mad and clutched his head in pain.

“Empress?” Bi Linglong was surprised when she heard those words. She quietly moved closer to Zu An and asked, “Your master is an empress?”

“Yeah,” Zu An replied.

“Which country’s empress is she? What kind of country has an empress with her level of grace?”

“Uh… This is a bit hard to explain. It’s not one of the countries you know about.”

“Then why would she suddenly appear here?”

“She’s actually always been by my side; it’s just that she usually doesn’t like to meet strangers. That’s why she didn’t show herself.”

“Always been by your side? Then doesn’t that mean she saw everything between us?!” Bi Linglong was horrified. She’d thought that what had happened was just their secret, but now that she knew that someone had been watching the entire time, the overwhelming shame made her want to disappear forever.

“Oh, just shut up already. It’s not like you two really slept together, so what are you being all shy about?” Mi Li turned around to shoot the two of them a look, seemingly annoyed that she had been distracted. Then, she turned back around to continue questioning Han Zhong. Unfortunately, he only mumbled indistinctly and couldn't offer any meaningful replies.

Bi Linglong was speechless. She really wanted to retort, but she felt that what Mi Li had said actually made sense. She actually couldn't respond. Just then, Zu An moved close and asked, “Then should we just do it so she has nothing to say anymore?”

“Get lost!” Bi Linglong harrumphed. She knew that Zu An was saying those things to help her out, but why did she really want to hit him right now?

Zu An realized that there were more important things going on. He moved to Mi Li’s side and said, “He’s already lost his rationality. I don’t think you’ll be able to get much out of him.”

Mi Li frowned. Her hands quickly formed a complex but beautiful seal. Then, a complicated and profound rune appeared, sticking to Han Zhong’s head. It entered his skin and disappeared.

“A rune master?” Bi Linglong was shocked. After all, even though there were quite a few cultivators in the Great Zhou Dynasty, rune masters were quite rare. That was especially the case with high level rune masters, and every single one of them was considered a national treasure.

The speed at which the woman produced a rune, as well as the intricacy and profundity of that rune, seemed to be superior to any rune master she had ever seen before! Bi Linglong didn’t even know if the head researchers at the academy could compare to the woman…

Han Zhong ceased his wild beast-like roars, and his expression gradually became clear. He raised his head to look at Mi Li, saying weakly, “Thank you, your highness the empress.”

“There’s no need to thank me. This rune is called a Dying Flash Rune. Your life will quickly reach its end,” Mi Li said indifferently.

Zu An was alarmed. Tsk, big sis empress, you really are fierce and decisive! But I don’t really mind that part about you…

Han Zhong slowly shook his head. “Continuing on in that half-ghost, half-human state can’t be considered truly living either. I thank your highness for setting me free as well.”

Mi Li voiced her acknowledgment. She clearly didn’t care too much about such things, as there was a more pressing matter. She asked, “Why were you able to stay alive for so long?”

“Our group was searching for immortal medicine for his majesty. After searching for many years, I found a holy medicine from the legendary elf race that had been refined into a pill. Unfortunately, his majesty was suspicious and had me take it first. It was alright at first, but soon afterward, green hair grew all over my body, and my mind began to deteriorate. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t slow down the process. In the end, I turned into that freakish creature and completely lost my mind, becoming a monster…” Han Zhong’s tone was extremely calm, as if he were narrating something that didn’t have anything to do with him. It was clear that after experiencing the endless passage of time, he didn’t care much about life and death any longer.

Zu An noticed that Han Zhong had mentioned the elf race. He hadn’t expected elves to have existed even back then! It seemed this world really wasn’t the one he came from.

In reality, Han Zhong’s decision to find the elf race hadn’t been incorrect. Qiao Xueying had given Zu An half of her lifespan, so if the first emperor had found a group of elves to share their lifespans with him, he could at least have lived for a few more millennia.

But Zu An quickly changed his mind. The ability to share half their lifespan was the elves’ greatest secret. There weren’t many elves who had used the ability throughout history, and those outside the clan didn’t even know they could do such a thing. Otherwise, the entire clan would be finished.

He felt warm inside when he thought of that. Snow really did care about him. To be honest, it had been so long that he really was starting to miss her.

Mi Li continued to ask, “Then why are you here?”

“I don’t know; I’ve already lost many of my memories…” Han Zhong shook his head helplessly.

“Then what about Ying Zheng? Did he end up finding the panacea of immortality?” Mi Li asked.

“I don’t know, but at the very least, he shouldn’t have before I lost my mind.” Han Zhong sighed deeply. “How can there be eternal life in this world? My method was already extremely close, yet the end result was just a monster that lost all rationality. Even if you could live that way, how could that be considered immortality…”

His expression suddenly changed as he spoke. His eyes filled with horror when he looked at Mi Li. “Your highness, why did you…”

Mi Li cut him off. “I’m the one asking you questions right now, not the other way around. Right, this empress noticed that the statue consecrated in the master position inside that whale bone temple was actually Xu Fu. Why would he be there? Furthermore, why does the stele call him the supreme sovereign?”

“Xu Fu? Xu Fu!” Han Zhong had a blank look on his face, but then he suddenly clutched his head in pain. “I don’t know, I don’t know… Ha ha ha! All of you are going to die… You’ll all die… No one will survive…”

Mi Li’s expression changed. She was just about to ask more questions when the other party’s voice came to a screeching halt. When she examined him up close, she saw that he had already taken his last breath. A look of fear had frozen on his face before he died, as if he had faced something extremely terrifying.