Mi Li rolled her eyes: "Get out of here. Your master is invincible, why would I need your help? Mind your own business."

Seeing that she was unwilling to talk to him any further, Zu An knew that asking any more questions would be futile, so he could only say, "Anyway, you should know that no matter what, you are never alone. You always have me."

Mi Li waved her hand: "I know, I know. When did you start nagging like an old woman?"

Bi Linglong watched all this with a strange expression, feeling that the relationship between the two was not like that of master and disciple, but rather more like...

Forget it, how could that be? I'm just overthinking it.

The group continued on their way, and Bi Linglong occasionally looked back at the road behind her: "Auntie, I have a feeling of unease. Logically speaking, we were delayed there for so long, the Emperor should have caught up with us by now."

Upon hearing this, Mi Li said, "They were trapped in those illusory peaches and may have all died there, so naturally they couldn't catch up with us."

"The Immortal Peach Illusion?" Bi Linglong was somewhat bewildered. She had personally witnessed those juicy, large immortal peaches, each one exuding a unique fragrance, clearly indicating their extreme rarity.

"Of course it's the environment. Those fruits are as ugly as skeletons, things that suck people's life essence. If you eat that stuff, not only will you not be able to prolong your life, you might even turn into withered bones immediately," Mi Li replied.

Bi Linglong's face paled. After spending some time with Mi Li, she had come to admire Mi Li's knowledge greatly and naturally believed her words.

Thinking back to how he was completely captivated by the appearance of those immortal peaches, if Zuan hadn't pulled him away, he probably would have already gone and eaten those poisonous fruits.

Thinking of this, she looked at Zu'an with some surprise. This guy was usually greedy and lustful, but at crucial moments he was more able to control his mind than most people. Which one was his true face?

At this moment, Zu'an spoke up: "I believe that with the emperor's cultivation and temperament, even if he is temporarily captivated by those immortal peaches, there will be no real danger to him. Therefore, we cannot pin our hopes on those immortal peaches killing him."

Mi Li nodded approvingly: "You're quite cautious, kid. Not bad, not bad. That's how you live longer."

After saying that, she yawned and said, "I've been out for too long and I'm a little sleepy. I'm going back to sleep now. Call me if you need anything."

After saying that, he turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared into his sword.

Bi Linglong's eyes widened as she looked Zu An up and down at the Tai'a sword in his hand: "Your master usually hides here."

“Hmm,” Zuan reached out and gently stroked the sword, “She was both my teacher and my friend, and she was the person I trusted most in this world.”

It seems that Mi Li's current soul form has suffered a lot from staying outside for so long. I must rebuild her body. Speaking of which, she mentioned last time that she had a premonition of obtaining a certain medicinal herb. Could it be that this premonition was fulfilled in this secret realm?

"You brat, don't touch me like that!" Mi Li's displeased voice suddenly came from the Tai'a sword.

Zu An guiltily withdrew his hand: "I was touching the blade of the sword, not you."

"Anyway, you're not allowed to touch me. You're such a cunning little devil, who knows what you're thinking?" Mi Li snorted.

Zuan: "..."

Bi Linglong couldn't help but chuckle: "The relationship between you two, master and disciple, is truly peculiar."

Zuan couldn't help but laugh: "It's quite different from other master-disciple relationships."

Bi Linglong asked curiously, "How did you two meet? And how did she end up in your sword?"

What she really wanted to ask was whether the other person knew about what had happened between them, but she was too embarrassed to ask directly, so she had to ask indirectly.

Zuan laughed heartily: "That's a long story..."

The two chatted as they walked, and time flew by. They didn't know how long they had walked, but they stopped at the edge of a cliff.

This is almost the end of the first floating island. Looking up, the second floating island is just a hundred feet away in the sky.

He tried it out, and it worked fine for short jumps in this area, but flying over longer distances was naturally prohibited.

He looked out from the edge of the cliff, and there was no longer the tiny floating island that could be used as a step between the two islands.

"How are we supposed to get up there?" Zu An was extremely troubled.

Just then, Bi Linglong's voice came: "Azu, come and see here quickly."

When Zu'an heard the news, he went over and saw Bi Linglong bending down and pulling up the weeds on the ground. He used his Fire Phoenix Flame to burn the weeds clean, revealing a large array of stone slabs.

"This is..." Zuan was somewhat surprised. These stone slabs were made of a very special material. Their surfaces had just been burned but had not left any marks.

Its entire body is as black and lustrous as ink jade, with a layer of luster flowing across it, making it clearly an extraordinary item.

Some of the stone slabs have round holes; I wonder what they used to hold.

Many of the small stone slabs have fine lines on them, as if there is some kind of pattern in them, but you can't quite put your finger on it.

Other stone slabs have patterns, but these patterns appear to be scrambled.

"A jigsaw puzzle?" A glint appeared in Zuan's eyes.

“Huh, this seems to be a star map.” Mi Li appeared out of the Tai’a sword at some point, startling Bi Linglong, but Zu’an was already used to her unpredictable appearances.

"A star map?" Zuan asked hurriedly.

"Do you remember the inscription on the stone tablet we found under that strange fish temple?" Mi Li asked.

"...Left Azure Dragon Mengzhang Jiayin, Right White Tiger Jianbing Jiashen, Above the head Vermilion Bird Lingguang Jiawu, Below the feet Black Tortoise Zhiming Jiazi, Moon as Nobleman Entering the Center..." Zu An recalled those words, and when he looked at the large array of stone slabs, his eyes lit up, "So that's how it is!"

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