Chapter 515, Part II: Show Me What You've Got!

“Di Yi?” All these names were starting to make Zu An’s head spin.

Mi Li replied, “He is the second-last monarch, as well as the father of King Zhou, whom you might know more about.”

“Oh, King Zhou!” Zu An’s eyes lit up. “I know who that is. He fell in love with the fox spirit Daji, which resulted in the destruction of the Shang Dynasty. Everyone knows that. I wonder just how beautiful Daji was for him to completely lose himself in that way.”

Neither modern textbooks nor the ‘Investiture of the Gods’ contained many positive things about King Zhou of Shang and Daji. However, he didn’t really care about that. He was burning to know just how stunning history’s most famous fox spirit really was.

“You really are a pervert!” Mi Li berated him. After his interruption, she moved on from the ‘Match Made in Heaven’ mural. She pointed at the last mural and said, “I believe the Daji that you so desperately want to see is right here.” 

Zu An peered at it curiously, and saw a woman outlined by graceful lines. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see her real appearance through such a medium, and could only tell from her curves that she indeed possessed an exceptionally beautiful figure. “Wow, her waist is so thin! And her chest is so large, it’s almost on the level of Big Manman…”

Mi Li rolled her eyes. She was already used to this degenerate side of him. She continued with her explanation of the mural. “This painting explains the eradication of the Shang Dynasty. Over here is the battle of Muye. The Shang Dynasty’s army changed sides right before the battle, leading to a crushing defeat… In the throes of despair, King Zhou committed suicide with his wife by self-immolation. Thus, the Zhou Dynasty was established. King Zhou’s son, the crown prince Wu Geng, was left in Yin City as an offering to the ancestors.”

“Huh?” Zu An was rather curious. “Wasn’t the Shang Dynasty completely wiped out by the Zhou Dynasty? Why was King Zhou’s son allowed to stay in the capital city, under the banner of the Shang Dynasty?”

“In ancient times, there was an unwritten rule stating that one could destroy a nation, but not their customs. However, this was rarely actually put into practice.” Mi Li sneered. “In the end, the victorious side was forced into making such compromises only because the defeated side still had a substantial force remaining. The Zhou Dynasty destroyed many other smaller countries following that—when did they ever allow them to carry on their customs? Our Qin State was never so hypocritical. If we want to wipe out an enemy, we would do it. If we said we’d eradicate a clan, that’s what we did.”

Zu An stared at her, speechless.

He noticed the frenzy in Mi Li’s eyes, and swallowed. This woman was a rather strong-willed person.

Mi Li continued, “The Shang Dynasty had existed for many centuries, after all, so even if King Zhou died, their remaining forces were still substantial. The Zhou Dynasty allowed Wu Geng to remain in Yin City as the monarch of the remaining Shang loyalists. However, you shouldn’t look down on him just because of how easily he was defeated in the Battle of Muye. Four years later, Wu Geng instigated a rebellion, and it took the Zhou Dynasty three whole years before he was defeated.

“Even though Wu Geng’s bloodline had ended, the Shang loyalists still had two other powerful forces. King Zhou’s uncle Jizi wasn’t willing to bow down to serve the Zhou Dynasty, so he led some of the people from Yin City to Beiqian, establishing the Chaoxian state. History calls it the Ji Clan Chaoxian. The only son of King Zhou’s older brother’s led several subordinates and established the Song state, which is quite famous as well, so you should know about them. There are many stories whose main characters are stupid Song people.”

Mi Li’s smile dripped with mockery. “After all, the Song state was made up of migrants from Yinshang. The other states were all made up of Zhou people, which is why they always mocked those from Song.”

Zu An was stupefied. All of that had actually happened? Many of those jokes had become commonly used phrases, even in his modern age. Even thousands of years later, everyone still remembered the stupidity of the people from the Song state… That’s really brutal.

“Ah Zu, Ah Zu?” Pei Mianman’s voice tugged at Zu An’s consciousness the same way she tugged at his clothes.

Zu An snapped out of his daze. “What is it?” he asked her.

Pei Mianman looked worried. “You were acting rather strangely for quite a while. You were looking at the murals and muttering to yourself. I thought that you’d been affected by some kind of spell! Are you all right?”

Zu An now realized that his conversation with Mi Li had gone entirely unnoticed by her. She couldn’t see Mi Li, after all. He was quick to reassure her. “I’m fine. I was trying to figure out what those murals were saying and fell into a little bit of a trance,” he said in explanation.

Pei Mianman was curious. “You can understand what the words mean?”

“Of course!” Zu An roughly explained everything he’d just heard, making some adjustments so that it was easier for her to understand.

Pei Mianman’s beautiful eyes grew wide with astonishment as she listened to what he said. She grabbed his arm. “Ah Zu, you’re so learned! You even recognize characters from the ancient past. I’ve already made up my mind. I am going to make you mine, even if Chuyan doesn’t agree!”

Zu An was left speechless.

The wonderful feeling of her hands on his arm completely overwhelmed him as well, and a look of ecstasy swept across his face.

“Hmph!” A cold snort sounded beside his ear.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 998 Rage points!

This kid is using my knowledge to show off in front of a girl! This is so annoying!!!

Seeing that big-boobed girl latch onto Zu An so intimately, as well as that stupid expression on his face, was enough to leave Mi Li feeling suffocated. Her soul body immediately vanished, and she didn’t reappear again, no matter how Zu An called her.

Oh no… did I really piss big sis empress off this time?

Zu An called and called, but she didn’t respond. He couldn’t help but say, “Big sis empress, you’re not jealous, are you?”

“Hah! Jealous my ass!” Mi Li finally responded.

Zu An laughed heartily. “I know, I know. You’ve spent quite a bit of time with a handsome and outstanding man like me. It’s completely natural for you to fall for me.”

Mi Li would have put her face in her hands if she had either of them.

She didn’t know where this fellow got his thick skin from. Did he actually think that she liked him?

She was the empress of an entire nation! How could she end up liking a brat from the streets?

If it wasn’t because their souls were tied together, she would have killed him with a single smack to the face.

If I really go blind and end up favoring this kid, I’m going to make him kneel before me every day and sing ‘Conquer’ as punishment!

Their souls were linked together, so they understood each other very well, and she had even gotten to know the song ‘Conquer’.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 33… 33… 33…

Zu An quickly apologized when he realized that he had pissed her off  for real this time. Unfortunately, Mi Li didn’t respond any further, no matter what he said.

Zu An was used to this as well. This stuff happened all the time. Sigh, what can you do when you have an arrogant big sis like her?

He held Pei Mianman’s hand as they continued to head deeper inside. Suddenly, his sixth sense tingled, and he quickly pushed Pei Mianman out of the way, throwing himself in the opposite direction.

A streak of cold light descended from above, lancing down on the ground where the two of them had been standing a split second ago.

“Ah Zu!” Pei Mianman reacted as well. Black flames surrounded her as she took up a combat stance. She caught sight of their attacker… and froze. “That’s…”

A skeleton stood facing them, sparkling with a vague luster. A faint red light flickered within its eye sockets, and it held a long spear in its hands. The skeleton gave off a powerful and menacing aura.

Zu An swallowed. “Doesn’t this fellow look kind of familiar?”

Pei Mianman replied, “I think it’s the same skeleton warrior that was kneeling by the stone gate…”

The skeleton warrior was already moving before she even finished her sentence. It flipped into the air and somersaulted to the side, then brought its spear down onto Zu An. It was clearly dead, yet it still had enough of an instinct to treat the man as the greatest threat, intending to eliminate him first.

Its aura surged powerfully. The aerial maneuver it pulled was incredibly stylish, making it look like a scythe-wielding reaper of death.

Zu An might’ve cheered in admiration if the skeleton hadn’t been coming after him.

However, the powerful feeling of fear welling up within him prevented him from acting carelessly. He drew his Tai’e Sword to face his opponent and charged at it head on, not bothering to evade. “Show me what you’ve got!” he roared.

*Boom!*

A thunderous noise echoed around the chamber. A figure flew through the air and slammed into a wall, sending several bricks tumbling.

Zu An crawled up off the ground. He spat out some dirt that had gotten into his mouth. “All right, you’re pretty strong, bro.”

Pei Mianman laughed. Even the way this guy fought was funny. She quickly summoned her black flames and moved in to support him.