Mi Li couldn’t believe her ears. Dark lines appeared on her face when she heard the conviction in Zu An’s voice.

Mi Li couldn’t listen to any more of his nonsense. She cut him off and said, “Cultivators of my generation always pursued the pinnacle of dao. We sought eternal life! Never have I ever met someone like you who would willingly limit your own potential!”

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 999 Rage points!

She was well and truly pissed off.

Zu An didn’t really care. “The path of dao is vague and vast,” he replied. “The cultivators of history are like carp crossing a river—innumerable. How many of them can really obtain the pinnacle of dao? Most of them can't even reach master rank.”

He had to give Old Mi some credit for reaching master rank. Zu An had thought that he was only at the ninth rank at first.

Mi Li said angrily, “That’s only true for the masses. But what about you? You have the legendary transcendent aptitude, and already possess two great techniques for cultivation at such a young age! You’ve had all sorts of encounters and obtained many different skills. With me as your personal guide, how could you possibly be considered ordinary?

“You’re satisfied with just a measly master rank? In my opinion, someone like you being stuck at the master rank would be history's greatest tragedy!”

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 66… 66… 66…

Zu An could sense how angry she was just by the inflow of Rage points. “It’s not that serious, is it? Isn’t a master already pretty badass? Why are you making it sound like some useless pleb level?”

He thought about the insane amount of ki fruits needed to fill even a single formation of his Phoenix Nirvana Sutra right now. Forget about master rank for a moment, reaching the ninth rank might even be a near impossible task!

Mi Li gave a dismissive sniff. “That’s only because you haven’t experienced the broader world yet. If you were in my position, you would realize just how pitiful a level of cultivation the master rank is!”

“Big sis empress, what rank are you?” Zu An asked curiously. This woman sure talked a big game, but what rank was she, actually? Grandmaster? Don’t tell me she’s an earth immortal!

Mi Li snorted. “Knowing too much won’t help you at all.”

Zu An curled his lips and mumbled, “Anyone can talk a big game. I remember you saying that you couldn’t even prevail against Old Mi.”

Mi Li’s eyebrows stood up almost vertically. “What did you say?”

Zu An immediately put on an apologetic smile. “Nothing, nothing! All I am saying is that I’m just a petty nobody who doesn’t aspire for anything great. How about I just spend some time as a master first, and we explore this later?”

“No way! Choose the second option!” Perhaps because of her past status as a glorious empress, Mi Li’s tone brooked no argument at all.

Zu An felt deflated. “Since you’ve already made the decision, why did you even bother asking?”

Mi Li snorted. “I was testing out your inner qualities.”

“So, what do you think? Don’t you feel that I’m really an optimistic person?” Zu An said with a chuckle.

Mi Li glared daggers at him. “You really can’t carve anything out of rotten wood!”

His lackadaisical expression irritated Mi Li to no end. “Focus! I’m going to seal Old Mi’s cultivation away now.”

“Can you please, please, please not seal it?” Zu An was still reluctant, and implored her one last time.

Mi Li sneered. “What do you think?”

She was in no mood to banter with him any further. Her slender fingers shot out and struck his acupoints.

A wave of cool energy entered his body. It was comfortable and refreshing, very different from the icy coldness of Old Mi.

Zu An subconsciously relaxed.

“It’s done!”

Mi Li finally announced in a cold voice. Her voice carried more than a hint of fatigue.

Zu An’s eyes widened. “Big sis empress, are you all right?”

Mi Li snorted. “I’ll live.”

Zu An narrowed his eyes.

“Take some time to examine your own condition,” Mi Li ordered immediately.

Zu An nodded, and did as she said. He didn’t feel odd at all. On the contrary, he felt even better than before.

He moved his focus to his internal formations, and was immediately stunned. Filling even a single one of the nine formations that made up his fourth rank seemed almost impossible before, yet now, all nine of the formations were completely filled!

He noticed that nine new formations had materialized across his body, and even the fourth of those formations was already glowing!

“I’ve reached the fourth step of the fifth rank already?” Zu An muttered to himself.

Mi Li snorted. “Old Mi’s cultivation was master rank, after all. Even though most of his cultivation has been sealed away, it’s not too surprising for the rest of it to raise you up a level.”

Zu An laughed in embarrassment. “I thought that it would take way longer for me to begin reaping the benefits.”

Mi Li rolled her eyes. “Since you’re already at the fifth rank, let’s see what kind of elemental skill you’ve awakened.”

“Which elemental ability is the strongest?” Zu An asked curiously.

Mi Li said indifferently, “Each element is countered by something else. There isn’t any element that is strictly better than every other one.

“Of course, it is widely accepted that the lightning and fire elements have more explosive power, and the ice element is excellent for control. The water and wood elements have advantages in healing. The wind element makes you faster, while the earth and metal element excel in defense. However, none of these characteristics are absolute. Every single element has outstanding offensive tools as well as defensive and restorative abilities. It all boils down to the cultivator’s own skill in the end.”

Zu An couldn’t help but ask, “Are these the only elemental types?”

Mi Li shook her head. “No, but these are the most common. There are other rare elements like the spirit element, light element, and dark element. It is rumored that there are even space and time elements. However, these are all rumors that have never been proven.”

Zu An was taken aback. “The ones you just mentioned sound pretty overpowered.”

“That’s not always the case. It still depends on the individual in the end. Of course, these elements do have their own inherent advantages.” Mi Li began to grow impatient. “Stop asking so many questions and tell me what element you are already.”

Zu An was stunned. “I have no idea. How do I find out?”

Mi Li frowned. “Concentrate on your breathing. Which element around you do you feel the greatest affinity with?”

The academy had taught him a little about the methodology for sensing elements. Zu An closed his eyes and gave it a try. After a while, he opened his eyes in puzzlement. “I don’t feel close to any element though. They all seem about the same to me.”

Mi Li frowned. “You have no elemental power? How is that possible?!”

Zu An tried again. Sure enough, None of the elements stood out to him.

He was about to give up when he suddenly remembered that a weird bird would show up whenever advanced a rank, which would grant him a new skill.

He immediately examined the formations that made up the fourth rank. Sure enough, they were linked together with lines, which formed the imprint of another new bird.

The weird bird resembled a titmouse[1], but was the size of a peacock, and had a dazzling scarlet coloration.

The characters next to it proclaimed it to be the ‘Hundredwarble’.

What did this Hundredwarble do?

Zu An was rather curious. He activated it subconsciously. A dazzling bird flew out, and released a pleasant-sounding call.

It’s song was more enchanting than even the most beautiful voice. It truly relaxed the mind.

But what did this bird do?

Was it only good for putting on a show?

If that’s the case, I can just bring a recorder around with me!

He immediately turned to Mi Li. “Big sis empress, do you hear anything?”

Mi Li didn’t reply. He was just about to repeat his question when he noticed the slack expression in her eyes.

What was going on?

He waved his hands in front of her.

Mi Li’s eyes returned to normal. She looked at him with a complicated expression. “You actually awakened the power of the spirit element.”

“Spirit element?” Zu An was stunned. It took him a moment to realize that she was talking about his elemental power, which awakened at the fifth rank.

The spirit element was one of the rarer elements.

Mi Li sighed deeply. “I sensed a wave of spiritual force invading my mind. If it wasn’t for my higher level of cultivation, my mind might have fallen under your control.”

Zu An was overjoyed. “Is this skill that awesome?”

What level was Mi Li at? The Hundredwarble’s song had even managed to control someone like her! Even though it had only been for an instant, that instant was long enough for him to do many things!

Mi Li snorted, “It’s too early for you to feel smug. I still haven’t fully recovered, and even my soul is exposed right now. I wasn’t prepared to go up against such an attack at all. If you were fighting against someone with strength similar to my own, your spiritual attack might not do anything.”

1. The titmouse is a small songbird.