Chapter 190 Cooperation
She cultivated the Phoenix Sword Sect's Nine Heavens Phoenix Cry Technique.
Acting in the manner of a phoenix, her temperament was fiery and exceptionally explosive, only controlled and disguised by clever methods, making it unnoticeable to outsiders.
Beneath her beautiful and charming appearance lay a domineering, unyielding, and stubborn spirit.
Despite repeatedly suffering setbacks at Chu Zhiyuan's hands, she hadn't been frightened out of her wits and still stubbornly faced him head-on.
Such fighting spirit and willpower weren't common and were characteristic of a born phoenix.
The reason for not stopping her from continuing to suffer setbacks was that her Nine Heavens Phoenix Cry Technique required such trials.
Constantly rising up in the face of adversity, constantly evolving, a phoenix undergoing nirvana, thus advancing further.
Each nirvana was a resource for advancement.
Others relied on circulating their aura, true energy, or astral energy to continuously propel themselves forward, breaking through barriers and advancing further.
Her cultivation, however, depended on her state of mind.
Without the cooperation of her state of mind, circulating more astral energy or trying to break through wouldn't help.
Each transformation of her state of mind resulted in an advancement.
As her methods became more sophisticated and her wisdom more profound, fewer and fewer people and events could cause her setbacks.
Now, finally, such a person had appeared.
This was her destined benefactor.
However, she wouldn't reveal these things.
Only a grandmaster could comprehend this; Li Hongzhao herself wasn't aware.
It was simply that her nature was in harmony with the Nine Heavens Phoenix Cry Technique, unconsciously acting in this way.
If Li Hongzhao knew in advance, it would be detrimental to her cultivation; unintentional action was best, while intentional action would be difficult to achieve.
"Someone, please invite the Fourth Prince for a meeting."
"Hmph, it seems enemies are destined to meet," Li Hongzhao said unhappily, "I didn't want to see you."
Chu Zhiyuan cupped his fist slightly towards Su Qiuyan, then sat down opposite Li Hongzhao with a smile, his gaze sweeping over her beautiful face before saying, "Then why did you change your mind?"
After these two encounters, he had figured out Li Hongzhao's personality.
To meet her, there was no need to directly seek her out, as it would only make her more vigilant.
He only needed to appear within her line of sight.
Then, she would naturally come looking for him, and would inevitably meet him.
Li Hongzhao was just that competitive!
"Recently, Xiao-meimei has been avoiding me; did you instigate it?"
"Ruo Ling hasn't married in yet, and even if she has, whom she wants to see or not see is her own decision."
"Ridiculous!"
"Then why doesn't Your Highness directly go to her door and ask?"
Chu Zhiyuan smiled.
"Hmph, I originally thought Xiao-meimei was an extraordinary woman, different from the ordinary women of the world, but in the end, she's still the same, still having to act according to you stinky men's expressions."
"Your Highness is too presumptuous," Chu Zhiyuan smiled, "To presumptuously regard Ruo Ling as an extraordinary woman, and then presumptuously regard Ruo Ling as an ordinary woman."
Li Hongzhao frowned and stared at him.
"What Your Highness believes is vastly different from the real Ruo Ling," Chu Zhiyuan said, "Observe first, then observe again; how complex is a person? How can one truly understand them after just one meeting?
Does Your Highness always act so preconceived?"
Li Hongzhao bit her red lips and glared at him.
Chu Zhiyuan smiled and said, "Emotions first, disregarding facts."
"You're talking nonsense!" Li Hongzhao couldn't help but retort.
She found that her temper became particularly irritable in front of Chu Zhiyuan, easily igniting her inner fire, which was difficult to restrain, so she simply stopped restraining herself.
Exposing her true nature was exposing her true nature; in any case, they were purely rivals and enemies.
Chu Zhiyuan shook his head with a smile and said, "Embarrassed into anger… I hit the mark."
"Chu Zhiyuan, you're the one who's presumptuous!"
"Perhaps," Chu Zhiyuan said, looking like he wouldn't argue with her, smiling, "Ruo Ling doesn't want to see you; you should think carefully about yourself, find your own problem, and why Ruo Ling doesn't want to see you."
"Chu Zhiyuan, shut your mouth!"
"But your methods are indeed quite clever, directly having a great expert from the Phaseless Sect impersonate the Twelfth Prince, thereby completely controlling Great Lie?" Chu Zhiyuan said.
"What Phaseless Sect, what Twelfth Prince?" Li Hongzhao frowned, "I'm completely confused; explain clearly!"
"Your Highness, we've met so many times; don't you understand that you can't lie in front of me? Put away this act."
"What this act, what that act!" Li Hongzhao said impatiently, "Are you going to explain or not?"
She should still pretend; she couldn't easily be influenced by him.
Chu Zhiyuan said, "The Phaseless Sect's Great Transformation Phaseless Art can't be flawless; there must be weaknesses, right?"
"You can ask the Phaseless Sect; see if they'll tell you," Li Hongzhao glanced at him, "You even want to dig up the Phaseless Sect's secrets!"
Chu Zhiyuan smiled and said, "It seems Your Highness doesn't know either; what if the Phaseless Sect uses the Great Transformation Phaseless Art? Wouldn't even you be deceived?"
"Chu Zhiyuan, maybe the person in front of you isn't the real me, but an expert from the Phaseless Sect, right?"
Li Hongzhao burst out laughing, giggling non-stop, her figure trembling, her chest heaving.
She laughed for a long time, and under Chu Zhiyuan's calm gaze, finally said, "That's really hilarious… You think too highly of the Phaseless Sect, right?"
Chu Zhiyuan smiled and said, "Their flaw is in the spirit pills, right?"
Li Hongzhao looked at him with a smile, her beauty radiant.
Chu Zhiyuan pondered, "The Great Transformation Phaseless Art should consume a great deal of energy; one's own true energy can't be maintained for too long and requires a large amount of spirit pills to replenish it."
His understanding of the body far exceeded ordinary people; he knew that maintaining an abnormal state of the body would inevitably consume a huge amount of energy.
One's own dantian's energy was far from enough and required continuous cultivation of internal energy methods to replenish it, which conflicted with the operation of the Great Transformation Phaseless Art.
If one didn't have miraculous techniques like the Earth Origin Art or Heaven Origin Art, one would have to take pills.
And a large number of pills would be needed.
Li Hongzhao maintained her smile unchanged, "Chu Zhiyuan, you really should become a storyteller; you're too good at fabricating things out of thin air, the epitome of being presumptuous!"
She decided not to respond to Chu Zhiyuan's questions, so that he wouldn't be able to see through her lies.
Chu Zhiyuan nodded, "I hit the mark… The Great Lie's Twelfth Prince has been impersonated, so what about the real prince? Is he dead or imprisoned?"
Seeing Li Hongzhao's ambiguous smile and silence, he nodded, "Oh, not killed, just imprisoned… Great Meng hasn't gone completely insane after all."
Princes and heirs absolutely cannot be killed arbitrarily; this was an iron rule.
If Great Meng violated this rule, it would be an act of great rebellion, and the world would jointly condemn it.
Unless they could truly crush all opponents, they couldn't take this step.
Li Hongzhao suddenly had an impulse to block her ears or cover her face, so that he couldn't see through her clues.
Thinking of this, she turned her head and said, "Someone, help me borrow a veil."
"Yes!" A little maidservant responded from outside.
Chu Zhiyuan smiled and said, "What reveals your true nature isn't your face, but your eyes; otherwise, cover your eyes."
"Chu Zhiyuan, knowing too many secrets isn't a good thing!"
"Are you threatening to kill me?"
"My not being able to kill you doesn't mean others can't."
"For example?"
"Demons of the Evil Sect!"
Chu Zhiyuan raised his eyebrows and slowly said, "Disciples of the Evil Sect have entered the city?!"
"Heh, they're really tired of living! Which Evil Sects?"
"Go investigate yourself!" Li Hongzhao said unhappily, "Anyway, they're from the Evil Sect; maybe they're here for you."
Chu Zhiyuan smiled and said, "How do you know they're not here for Your Highness? In my Great Jing, there's the Jade Cauldron Sect, specializing in killing royal descendants to obtain greater power; has Your Highness heard of it?"
"…Yes."
"Why don't we join forces?" Chu Zhiyuan said, "Your Highness provides information, and I'll be responsible for sending the Town Guard Division to exterminate these Evil Sects."
"…What benefits would I get?"
"For every Evil Sect disciple killed, I'll release one of your prisoners; how about that?" He felt that this Li Hongzhao was truly a treasure.
Every time he thought he had squeezed her dry, there was often something new.
