Zu An smiled in embarrassment. “What are you saying, big sis empress? I don’t understand at all.”

Mi Li gave him a hard look. “When we were in the dungeon, I knew that something wasn’t quite right. With your crappy cultivation, I should have been able to kill you with a sneeze. However, I just couldn’t kill you no matter what I did.

“Even though the willpower you displayed back then astounded me, it would be way too easy if you could survive in this world on willpower alone.

“That was why I was always curious as to what you relied on. It seems as though this is the ‘system’ you speak of. The Hat of Forgiveness? This thing is definitely strange.”

Zu An was shocked. “You can see all this?”

Mi Li smiled ambiguously. “When did I say that I couldn’t?”

“Previously, you…” Zu An subconsciously began to speak, but he quickly caught himself.

“I just told you, the prettier the girl, the better they are at lying,” Mi Li said with a smile. “That medicine you used to save Madam Chu was quite amazing. She was in critical condition, but it brought her back immediately. Not even the court necromancers of the past could have concocted such medicine. Now, this Hat of Forgiveness thing, it really seems like quite an amazing magic artifact, if the description doesn’t lie.”

Zu An’s expression flickered several times. Countless thoughts flashed past his mind. It seems this woman had harbored suspicions about me for quite some time. She’d already seen all the nonsense that I go through while drawing the lottery, but she’s kept quiet about it all this time because she had yet to fully understand it. Now that she has a better idea, she’s decided to lay her cards on the table.

“Come on, you don’t have to be that nervous, okay? Our lives are already tied together. Why would I harm you?” Mi Li noticed how distraught he had become, and rushed to console him.

“You just told me that pretty women love to lie. How do I know if the life-and-death pact that we made was real or fake? What if you have a way to undo the restrictions? I’ll find myself being screwed over before I even know it!” Zu An snorted angrily.

“You learn pretty fast, kid.” Mi Li favored him with a proud smile. “But big sis didn’t lie to you about that.”

“I don’t believe you.” Zu An’s eyes shifted to her dress. “You’ve already caught me with my pants down. How about you take off your clothes to show your sincerity?”

You’re already a soul, why do you bother wearing clothes? It’s just like taking off your pants just to fart…

Mi Li’s eyes almost popped out of her face.

In a flash, the squeals of a pig being slaughtered filled the room. “Big sis empress! Please, I can explain! Let’s talk it out! I was just kidding!

“Ahhh!! Please, you can hit me anywhere, but don’t hit my face! I depend on this face of mine to survive!”

…

It took a long time for the room to become quiet again. Mi Li wiped off the blood from her fingertips, a dangerous smile playing across her lips. “Let this big sis teach you an important principle today! Don’t play dead when you shouldn’t.”

Zu An was lying paralyzed on the ground, his face completely swollen and his nose leaking blood. “I couldn’t figure out how to make you prove what you said was true, so I cracked a joke instead. Why do you have to be so violent?”

Mi Li snorted. “I was already extremely lenient. If someone had dared to say something like that in front of me back when I was empress, I would’ve executed their family down to the third generation!”

Zu An’s throat went dry. Why are all these women around me so bloody fierce?

Mi Li laughed and said, “Besides, I’m not just beating you up, okay? I’m helping you cultivate! Who asked you to pick up this Phoenix Nirvana Sutra that requires you to get beaten up?”

Zu An chuckled.

“Alright, enough of that. Let’s talk business.” Mi Li put away her smile. “Even the strongest of oaths can be unreliable. In the end, it all boils down to the interests of both parties, as well as the strength of both sides.

“Even though you’re weak, you do have transcendent level aptitude, and possess multiple secret techniques. You have this system as your trump card as well, so there is great hope for you to achieve immortality. You know, the stronger the man, and the more trump cards he has, the more attractive he is. I find that I’m beginning to like you more and more.” Mi Li smiled. “That is why you don’t have to worry about me harming you.”

Zu An was full of bitterness. “I thought that we’d gotten this close because we’ve hung around each other so much. It turns out you only like me because of these things! It was all strictly business for you!”

Mi Li scoffed. “Tsk, what else did you think it was? Do you really think an empress like me would give an immature brat like you the time of day?”

Zu An was clearly unhappy. “Are you sure that I’m not mature enough?”

Mi Li suddenly remembered the scene in the dungeon, where she had taken over Chu Chuyan’s body. Her face flushed red, and she quickly changed the topic. “Ahem ahem... let’s talk more about this trump card of yours. You called it a ‘system’, right? Why do you call it something so strange?”

“What else would I call it?” Zu An sniffed in annoyance. Having his trump cards exposed this way made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

Mi Li’s expression remained serious. “Based on my observations, this… system should be an extremely powerful magic weapon. Even though its power is inferior to some treasures I know of, its creativity is absolutely superior. You need to understand that destruction will always be much simpler than creation, so from a certain perspective, your magic weapon is even more precious.”

“Magic weapon?” Zu An was stunned. He’d spent way too much time reading web novels in his past life. It was always difficult for the protagonists to explain their cheats, so he didn’t think too much about his Keyboard system, and hadn’t tried to pry into its origins at all.

“Of course it’s a magic weapon!” Mi Li said. “It might have even been forged by history’s most powerful and talented rune master. His understanding of spatial laws and energy conversion, as well as his natural creativity, far surpasses any other exceptional expert that I’ve ever encountered.”

“Energy conversion?” Zu An was still mired in confusion. Why was this beginning to sound like the study of physics from his past world?

“Indeed.” Mi Li grew ever more excited, her voice full of admiration. “Regular magic weapons need ki stones to provide energy, while magic weapons that are more rare can absorb the natural ki around them to operate on their own. However, magic treasures aren’t people, so the rate at which they can absorb natural ki is limited. However, your system is different. Not only can it replenish itself through natural ki, it can even absorb soul force as an energy source.”

“Soul force?” Zu An was about to lose his mind. What the heck was this now?

“As the name implies, it’s the power of the soul,” Mi Li explained. “Normal souls will release soul force when they become agitated. When you constantly provoke others and turn their agitation into Rage points, it is actually a collection of soul power.”

Zu An’s eyes had begun to glaze over. However, after listening to her explanation, many of the questions and doubts in his mind began to dissolve. He couldn’t help but stare at her. “Big sis empress, are you a reincarnated physics professor or something?”

“What the heck is that?” Mi Li frowned. “I used to be an empress who unified the world, and I’ve read all sorts of ancient texts! How can my knowledge and experience compare to someone like you, a frog trapped at the bottom of a well?”

Zu An cursed her in his heart. You think you’re that great? Do you know how many Hollywood movies I’ve watched in my previous world, and how many Japanese works of art—all full of limitless passion—I’ve enjoyed? Do you see me bragging all day to you about them?

However, the expression on his face remained sincere. “This ‘soul force’ can be harnessed?”

“Of course it can,” said Mi Li. “The universe is so vast and great. There are many more paths of cultivation besides just relying on natural ki. There are many energies in this world that can be used for cultivation. For example, your Primordial Origin Sutra uses primordial ki.

“In addition, according to my years of research, natural ki is most likely not made up of a single form of energy. It should be considered a collective term that encompasses many types of energies. I know many races who harness the same natural ki, but their cultivation methods, as well as the results of their cultivation, are entirely different from those of the human race. Even the human race has many different schools of thought with regards to cultivation… Unfortunately, I was unable to distinguish the different types of energy that natural ki consists of.”

Zu An suddenly realized what she was talking about. The study of physics in his past world had resulted in the discovery of the four fundamental forces in the universe: the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, the electromagnetic force, and the gravitational force. Different forces led to different results.

However, the universe was incomprehensibly vast. These might not be the only types of force. For example, the natural ki and primordial ki in this world, as well as the soul force that was just mentioned, should exist as well. It was just that the humans on Earth had yet to be able to sense them.