“Both,” Zu An admitted frankly as he hugged Pei Mianman’s body tighter.
“Scum!” Pei Mianman feigned anger and struggled. But Zu An continued holding her tightly, not letting her go.
Sensing his low spirits, Pei Mianman stopped struggling and gently said, “I heard you went off to look for Chang’e and the Goddess of Wu Mountain. You didn’t find them?”
“I didn’t...” Zu An finally released her. He grabbed her hand and led her to the table, where the two of them sat down. He told her everything that had happened in the last few days.
“To think tens of thousands of years would pass just like that.” Pei Mianman sat in a daze for a brief moment before abruptly asking, “Does the Goddess of Wu Mountain really look like me?”
Zu An assessed her beautiful face and replied, “You’re identical, but opposite.”
“What nonsense is that? You don’t need to tease me.” Pei Mianman harrumphed.
“I mean it.” Zu An stroked her hand. “The Goddess of Wu Mountain is opposite of you. You’re seductive and passionate, whereas she’s cold and lofty. If not for your identical appearances, I wouldn’t have believed she was your past incarnation.”
“Cold and lofty?” Pei Mianman felt stifled. “I knew it. You like Chuyan’s type more.”
Zu An burst into laughter. “Are you getting jealous of yourself?”
“What do you mean by myself? She is herself, and I am myself. We aren’t the same.” Pei Mianman puffed up her cheeks.
She had been imprisoned for a long time. When she was finally rescued, she abruptly learned that her lover had gotten together with another woman who was identical to her. To make things worse, the other party was likely to be her past incarnation, so she couldn’t even lash out. It felt as if something was seething inside her, but she couldn’t let it out.
“You are indeed different. I have never thought of her as you, and I would never think of you as her either.” Zu An thought it was interesting how two identical people could have such different personalities.
That made Pei Mianman feel better, but when she thought about how she was throwing a tantrum when he was already in a bad mood, she felt apologetic. “I heard the others chatting about the Goddess of Wu Mountain. She sounds like a very impressive woman.”
Zu An looked at her weirdly. “It sounds as if you’re complimenting yourself.”
“I am a beautiful woman. If she looks like me, she deserves to be complimented too.” Pei Mianman harrumphed with mirthful eyes. She hugged his arm and lay her head on his shoulder. “Tell me about your story with her.”
Feeling the pressure on his arm, Zu An was once again reminded about how Pei Mianman was different from Yaoji. “Didn’t the others already tell you?”
“They wouldn’t know as much as you.” Pei Mianman cast a sideward glance at him, her beautiful eyes nearly siphoning his soul away.
Zu An finally recounted his story with the Goddess of Wu Mountain.
At the very end, Pei Mianman was taken aback. “You didn’t bed her?”
Black streaks appeared on Zu An’s face. “Was that the point?”
“Of course it is! That’s completely unlike you.” Pei Mianman looked truly astonished. “I didn’t think you would be capable of a purely platonic relationship!”𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Zu An looked away, not wanting to respond to her.
“Fine, fine. I won’t tease you anymore, so don’t be angry, all right?” Pei Mianman coyly pulled his arm. “You want to meet that goddess again, right? That’s not that hard.”
Zu An was stunned. “You have a way?”
He had spent a long time racking his brain for a way he could be together with Yaoji, but it was to no avail. Could Pei Mianman have stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter or something?
Pei Mianman straightened her posture and looked at Zu An with an air of loftiness. “Big brother Zu, it has been a while, but we have finally reunited.”
Zu An was stunned.
He knew it was Pei Mianman’s cosplay, but he had to admit that her demeanor was indeed identical to the Goddess of Wu Mountain’s. He fell into a daze as he asked, “How did you learn to imitate her?”
“What do you mean, big brother Zu? This is how I have always been. It wasn’t easy for us to be reunited. Shall we head to Wu Mountain to reminisce our old days?” Pei Mianman continued speaking in a lofty manner.
Zu An burst into laughter.
That made Pei Mianman break out of character. “What’s with your expression?”
Zu An explained to her how in his previous world, ‘head to Wu Mountain’ referred to the union of a couple.
That made Pei Mianman’s face redden in embarrassment. “Why does your homeland have so many weird sayings? How indecent!” Thinking about the bold words she had said made her so ashamed that she wanted to bury herself in the ground.
Zu An hugged her. “Your acting is on point. Have you seen her before, or inherited any of her memories?”
Pei Mianman rolled her eyes. “Have you forgotten I’m close friends with Chuyan? Not to mention her master is the same type too. I’m more familiar with the cold beauty sort than anyone else. Copying her is a walk in the park for me.”
The mention of Chuyan and her master brought a tinge of tenderness to Zu An’s heart.
Just then, Xie Daoyun knocked on the door and said, “I don’t want to disturb your reunion, but there’s something I need to discuss with big brother Zu.”
Pei Mianman pushed Zu An away and tidied her clothes. She double-checked that everything was in place before replying, “You don’t have to be so polite. Come in!”
Xie Daoyun entered the room wearing shaman robes. She first glanced at the two of them before finally turning to Zu An. “Big brother Zu, we're almost done preparing for the Lord of Slaughter’s sealing. I thought about it, and I think it would be better for you to participate in the sealing ceremony to intimidate the monsters.”
“All right.” Zu An was aware that not all monsters were willing to retreat to the Monster World. There were still some who harbored hopes that he was bluffing.
Thus, he made his way to the sealing ground with Xie Daoyun. Many fiends were already on standby for the ritual.
To maximize the intimidation factor, Zu An let the Lord of Slaughter out and removed the seal placed on the latter.
The freed Lord of Slaughter angrily roared, “How did I get here? You’re courting death!”
Seeing those he deemed as ants encircling him, the Lord of Slaughter had an inexplicable feeling that he had forgotten something extremely important, but no matter how he racked his brain, he couldn’t recall it.
Zu An was impressed by Diyao’s abilities. The latter had only erased the Lord of Slaughter’s memories to prevent his dirty deeds from leaking out, but this worked out in Zu An’s favor too.
The Lord of Slaughter’s roar intimidated even the bravest Fiend race warriors. The immense pressure he emanated made the fiends gathered here tremble in fear. Even so, he couldn’t shake off the uncanny feeling he had. Thus, he suppressed his bloodlust and instead leaped into the sky with his humongous physique, opting to escape from here first before deciding on his next move.
However, a golden palm print suddenly appeared in midair and slapped him down to earth. The Lord of Slaughter struggled in anger, but he couldn’t break free of the palm.
Boom!
He was crushed into the ground, and a massive pit formed around him. He tried to rise back up, but several mountains were already being piled up on top of him.
Knowing he couldn’t hold back anymore, he unleashed his ultimate skills, causing the mountains on top of him to ripple. It looked as if he would break free at any moment.
Xie Daoyun was prepared for this, however. She flew into the air and began channeling the formation she had prepared beforehand. Formation runes glowed on the mountains, and the quakes shaking the mountains gradually calmed down. By the time the final formation rune was completed, the mountains had already fallen completely still.
The Lord of Slaughter had been completely suppressed.
Deafening cheers broke out from the fiends as they sang praises about Yumen Beiqing. To them, it looked as if their Saintess Yumen Beiqing had sealed the terrifying Lord of Slaughter.
However, the monster experts secretly observing this scene fell into despair. They could tell the truly terrifying one wasn’t the woman, but the man behind her. The Lord of Slaughter had displayed strength comparable to his peak earlier, but he was still suppressed with ease. What hope did they have against an entity like that?
The remaining hawkish monsters unhesitatingly turned dovish. They hurriedly opened their teleportation formations to escape from this terrifying world as fast as they could.