He looked within himself to examine the current status of his cultivation. He was already at the fifth rank before, and four of the rank’s formations had been illuminated. Wait, why is the fifth formation also filled up now?

After all, this fifth formation required a total of 2,178,309 Ki Fruits to fill!

He began to revisit what had happened to him in this period. He had faced off against the Cash Warrior, and participated in a series of battles against Mosquito Daoist. He had suffered injuries from which he’d recovered from several times, contributing to the remarkable progress of his fifth formation. Even his Primordial Origin Sutra seemed to have improved quite a bit after constantly repairing his battered body. He sensed that he was getting closer to the third layer.

Getting continuously beaten up was the right way to cultivate the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra. He wouldn’t make much progress even if he sat around eating Ki Fruits all day.

He calculated that the sixth formation would need 3,524,578 Ki Fruits to fill. The paltry sum of Ki Fruits he had was a mere drop in this vast ocean, so he set aside the idea of using the Ki Fruits on himself.

Instead, he walked over to Daji and peered at her pure and charming face. “Open your mouth,” he ordered.

Daji was surprisingly obedient.

“Open it wider,” Zu An said with a sigh. No matter what state they were in, a beauty was still a beauty. Even without a soul, her movements were incredibly graceful.

Daji opened her mouth wider. Zu An slowly tossed the ki fruits into her mouth one after another. Fortunately, the ki fruits melted as soon as they went into her mouth. She didn’t even have to swallow them.

“Is this considered throwing food away?” Zu An couldn’t help but chuckle as he tossed the Ki Fruits one by one into her open mouth. What if I make her drink the Eighteen Spring Winds? What would happen then…?

He quickly dispelled this thought, and stopped his mind from wandering any further.

He didn’t immediately use up all 700 Ki Fruits, but fed them to her in batches, while paying close attention to the changes in her cultivation

He noticed that the more Ki Fruits Daji consumed, the faster her ki began to circulate, and her cultivation also climbed rapidly.

Zu An quietly kept count as he observed the results. 60 fruits were enough to bring her to the first rank, and 120 the second rank, after which the rate of increase began to slow. In total, the 700 Ki Fruits brought Daji to the peak of the fourth rank. She was just a hair’s breadth away from the fifth rank.

Her rapid progress made Zu An incredibly jealous. He had endured endless suffering just to get to the fifth rank! There’s no way he would’ve been able to reach such a level just by eating Ki Fruits. Meanwhile, this woman had already reached the pinnacle of fourth rank.

Even though he couldn’t figure out the exact mathematical relationship between the number of Ki Fruits consumed and the increase in her cultivation, he could tell that it was relatively linear, judging by the rate it had taken to get her to the fourth rank. Even though it would take more Ki Fruits in the future, it wouldn’t be the ridiculous amount that would be needed for him to raise his own cultivation.

He ran the numbers quickly in his head. If a thousand Rage points earned him a single Ki Fruit, he could raise Daji to the ninth rank with just a few million Rage points.

Even though a few million Rage Points seemed like a lot, it wasn’t impossible for him to collect that many.

Zu An was starting to look down on himself. This pretty chick over here could increase her cultivation so easily! Why was it so bloody difficult for him to increase his own strength through Ki Frutis?

A sudden development startled him out of his train of thought. He could sense that the ki around him had become somewhat different.

He was certain that he’d sensed traces of the fire element.

He moved his hand slowly around, and a sliver of flame unexpectedly appeared within his palm. Shocked, he shook his hand rapidly, and the tongue of flame vanished.

He collected himself and continued to observe the fire element around him silently. Without warning, another tongue of flame appeared in his hand.

He was prepared for it this time and examined it patiently. It didn’t seem to pose any threat to him—on the contrary, he sensed an intimate connection to it. He tried to experiment with it, and realized that he could control it with his will.

“Huh? How did you suddenly awaken the fire element?” Mi Li’s voice broke in, full of surprise.

Zu An jumped in fright. “Big sis empress, I’m really beginning to think that you’re spying on me!” he yelled. “That’s why you always appear out of the blue!”

Mi Li snorted. “Stop acting so smug. Who wants to keep tabs on you?”

Her soul body materialized, and she looked at the flame in his hand, clicking her tongue in wonder.

Pei Mianman was currently focused on communing with the owl statue. Her eyes were closed, and she wasn’t aware of what was happening around her.

“What is going on? Did you run into another lucky encounter?” Mi Li asked curiously.

Zu An pondered a moment, then summoned Daji. Mi Li would see her sooner or later, since he was going to rely on her to fight for him often in the future. He might as well take her out now so that she could examine her as well.

Even Mi Li jumped in fright when the ravishing beauty suddenly appeared next to her. “What is going on? Don’t tell me there are people living inside you?”

“No, no! Uh…” Despite racking his brains for a long time, Zu An couldn’t find a way to properly explain Daji’s existence. “Just treat her as something that I’ve summoned,” he finally managed.

“Something you’ve summoned?” Mi Li had a weird look on her face. She had heard of summoning beasts, departed spirits, and even giant dragons, but she had never heard of anyone summoning an exceptional beauty before.

Mi Li’s face suddenly went red. “You’re a freaking pervert after all!” she scolded him.

Zu An was taken aback by her sudden outburst.

What the hell? What on earth did I do wrong now? It’s this damned System’s fault more than anything!

“She isn’t conscious?” Mi Li was quick to notice the flaw within her after a short examination.

Zu An nodded. “She’s lost both her soul and her memories. She only has her fighting instincts left.”

Mi Li was curious. “Judging from your tone, you seem to know her past identity.”

“She’s Daji,” replied Zu An.

“Daji?” Mi Li twitched with shock. “The one from the Shang Dynasty?”

“How many other Dajis are there in this world?” Zu An said with a bitter smile.

“No wonder she was hailed as a fox spirit even after a millennia… She is truly a stunning femme fatale after all! Even a woman like me is touched by her beauty.” Mi Li’s praise was effusive. “But can this dainty thing fight? I’ve never heard of Daji having any fighting skill.”

Zu An couldn’t help but poke fun at her. “Even a Qin empress like you has such incredibly high cultivation. Can’t she be as strong as well?”

Mi Li blushed. This did make some sense.

She considered this for a bit, then asked, “Is she a fire element cultivator?”

Zu An froze for a moment, then nodded. “She should be.”

Daji could summon a nine-tailed fox, and the nine tails were all fashioned from flames. What other element could she wield but the fire element?

Mi Li’s expression was one of realization. “That makes more sense. From what I know, a summoner often shares some of the skills of the summoned being. She’s probably the reason why you can interact with the fire element.”

She said with a laugh, “I was wondering why a fifth rank cultivator like yourself hadn’t awakened any element yet. This was it all along. If you’re able to summon others like her who have different elemental skills, you might become the first person in this world to master all the elements.”

She paused, and then her expression grew strange. “From what I know, you lost both of your parents at a young age and were later raised by your uncle.”

Zu An was perplexed. He didn’t know why she suddenly brought this up.

However, he still replied, “To be honest, I still don’t know if my parents really died, or if they just went missing. I don’t even know who they are.”

Mi Li gasped. “There’s no need for any further confusion. I think I know who your father is.”

“Who?” Zu An was stunned.

Mi Li looked at him strangely. “The natural laws of the world.”

Zu An was stunned. What the hell?

Mi Li bared her teeth at him. “If you weren’t fathered by the natural laws of the world, then why do you keep having such ridiculous luck? ‘Master of all elements’. Do you know what a ridiculous concept this is?”

He remembered that he had asked such a question before. Most people could only awaken a single element, and only a very select few could perhaps cultivate multiple elements. Even so, that person would be considered a true genius, appearing once every millennia! If someone like him appeared, wielding all the elements…

Um… This really did seem like cheating.

Mi Li felt a shudder run through her. She was clearly quite shaken by this revelation. “People like us can only awaken a single element despite an entire lifetime of cultivation, yet a brat like you can somehow control all of the elements so easily! If I had met someone like you back when I was still alive, I would have ordered your death as soon as you were born.”

Zu An laughed in embarrassment. “You wouldn’t have to go that far, right? I mean, my cultivation is progressing really slowly, isn’t it? Gaining strength is so much harder than for an ordinary cultivator. Also, I have to pay a big price to summon someone like Daji. I won’t be able to summon anyone else for quite some time. There’s no way it would be that easy to master all the elements.”

Mi Li grunted in satisfaction. “That makes me feel so much better. But coming back to what matters most, the stronger you are, the better it is for me. That way, my safety is guaranteed, and you’ll be able to forge me a body that much sooner…”

Midway through her sentence, she trailed off, and turned towards Daji. “Didn’t you mention earlier that she was missing a soul?”

Zu An nodded instinctively. “Yeah, so?” He quickly caught on to her train of thought. “But she is my…!”

Before he could finish, Mi Li lunged at Daji, a huge smile on her face. “Don’t be so stingy! I’ll just borrow her body for a while. She’ll still belong to you in the future.”