Chapter 152: I Am Just Like Your Father

When Fan Li walked out of the Golden Illusion Array, Master Yichuan was dumbfounded.

"You...!?"

He suspected his eyes were playing tricks on him.

This was the Golden Illusion Array!

One of the Five Elements Great Arrays set up by Master Guiguji, yet it was actually cleared by Fan Li, who was merely in the Foundation Establishment realm?

Moreover, he was the very first one to exit the array!?

Fan Li couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Yichuan.

He looked around; nobody else was there?

So, he was the first to clear the trial?

Fan Li chuckled, found a mountain rock to use as a stool, and sat down.

About half an incense stick's time later, another figure walked out of the Golden Illusion Array.

The newcomer was none other than the Wanli Crown Prince!

Right behind him followed Zhang Juzheng.

"Teacher, it seems once again the two of us are the first to emerge. Ha... Fan Li!?"

Seeing Fan Li seated on the rock, the Wanli Crown Prince's smile instantly froze.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the Wanli Crown Prince demanded angrily of Master Yichuan. "Could it be that you cheated and secretly helped him clear the array?"

Master Yichuan rolled his eyes in exasperation.

He wished nothing more than for Fan Li to die inside the array, so how could he possibly have helped him?

And this Wanli Crown Prince—though brilliantly talented with the bearing of an emperor for a new era—was truly a terrible loser!

"Please watch your words," Master Yichuan said with a rigid expression. "Teacher Guiguji oversees the entire situation from the peak of Mount Yunmeng; how would I dare to engage in favoritism and malpractice? Furthermore, I share no personal friendship with Fan Li!"

Upon hearing this, the Wanli Crown Prince deemed it somewhat reasonable.

Yet, what was his status?

Even if he had wronged Yichuan, he would never, under any circumstances, apologize.

"Brother Yichuan, please calm your anger."

Zhang Juzheng stepped forward to smooth things over.

"Lord Fan's cultivation is merely at the Foundation Establishment stage, yet he was able to break through the array first; indeed, it defies conventional logic."

"It is only natural that His Highness the Crown Prince had his doubts."

Master Yichuan was in a foul mood, yet since the other party was the Wanli Crown Prince of the Great Ming Dynasty, he truly dared not offend Wanli if he hoped to secure a future for himself in Ming territory.

"Hmph."

Yichuan cupped his hands toward Zhang Juzheng, considering the matter settled.

The group continued to wait.

Soon enough, three more people emerged from the illusion array almost simultaneously.

Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu, and Guo Jia.

Seeing Fan Li, the three of them immediately walked over with smiles.

"Congratulations to Duke Jin for breaking the array!"

All three were pillars of their respective states—Wei, Han, and Wu—as well as direct disciples of Guiguji, so breaking the array was naturally a breeze for them.

Yet, seeing that Fan Li had also broken through, and even faster than them, they could not help but feel astonished in their hearts.

After another brief moment, Yan Yuan also stepped out of the illusion array.

"Lü Fubao still hasn't come out?" Fan Li frowned.

His ability to break the array first was due to two reasons: first, his five physical avatars had diluted the pressure of the Golden Illusion Array, making it much easier to regain clarity; second, thanks to Lü Fubao taking the risk to warn him, he had been alerted much earlier.

"Could it be that in order to protect me, she ended up trapping herself within the illusion?"

Lü Fubao was already inside the Golden Illusion Array to begin with, and then she had forced her way into Fan Li's illusion; she must have paid a heavy price for it.

"Junior Sister!"

Just as Fan Li was worrying, he heard Yan Yuan cry out in pleasant surprise.

As it turned out, Lü Fubao had finally emerged from the Golden Illusion Array.

Her face was deathly pale, her steps unsteady, and her body swayed like withered catkins, as though she were severely overdrawn.

The white veil she used to conceal her face had been lost somewhere along the way.

"Junior Sister, what is wrong?" Yan Yuan exclaimed in alarm.

Supporting Lü Fubao, he probed her condition slightly and found that her spiritual energy was mostly depleted, nearing complete exhaustion.

"Senior Brother, I am fine."

Lü Fubao forced herself to muster her spirits, her gaze searching around.

When she finally caught sight of Fan Li, a relieved smile broke across her face.

"You came out?"

"Mn."

Fan Li strode forward and grasped the woman's hand in his.

Lü Fubao was caught off guard, and the intimate skin-to-skin contact caused her pretty face to flush crimson, red and dripping like a ripe vermilion fruit.

"You... what are you doing? Let go!" she whispered nervously.

Merely holding hands caused Lü Fubao to tremble slightly all over from nervousness.

Fan Li paid no mind to this detail; he pulled out a small medicine vial and pressed it into Lü Fubao's hand.

"These are pills to replenish spiritual energy, take them right away."

Yet the moment Fan Li's voice fell, the Wanli Crown Prince's sarcastic sneer rang out.

"Hahaha! Truly laughable!"

"This beauty is at least in the Nascent Soul realm, and you think you can restore her spiritual energy with mere pills?"

"Pills of the Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow tiers—unless you can produce one hundred pills of the Mysterious tier, 8th grade or above, or fifty pills of the Earth tier, 3rd grade or above, you won't even come close to refilling her spiritual energy."

"Of course, if you have a 1st-grade Heaven-tier pill, a single one would be more than enough."

"Yet I am afraid you simply cannot produce one!"

"Hahahahaha!"

The Wanli Crown Prince laughed wildly, his gaze toward Lü Fubao brimming with unconcealed greed.

Without the white veil to hide her face, her stunning beauty could no longer be contained.

Lü Fubao was in the prime of her youth, her sweet appearance carrying a hint of delicate, tender greenness, like a blossoming yet unopened water lily.

"This Crown Prince happens to possess a Yin-Yang Dragon-Tiger Pill of the 1st Heaven tier."

The Wanli Crown Prince produced a porcelain bottle.

He uncorked it and poured out a dark, mysterious pill. Instantly, a rich medicinal fragrance permeated the air, making everyone who caught a whiff feel refreshed and clear-headed.

"It truly is a Heaven-tier pill!" Master Yichuan exclaimed in shock.

The Wanli Crown Prince wore a seductive smile as he looked at Lü Fubao once more.

"Beauty, if you choose to follow this Crown Prince from this day forth, this Yin-Yang Dragon-Tiger Pill shall be yours."

He looked supremely smug, waiting for Lü Fubao's reply.

As for Fan Li, the Wanli Crown Prince had long since ceased to take him seriously.

"Hmph! Take back your medicine; this young lady has no use for it!" Lü Fubao refused without the slightest hesitation.

While Heaven-tier pills were indeed precious, she was, after all, the daughter of Lü Chunqiu; how could she be bought with a mere Heaven-tier pill?

If word of this were to spread, it would utterly disgrace her family lineage.

Yet, inwardly, she sighed as well: "Heaven-tier pills are exceptionally rare; I fear Fan Li does not possess any. If I cannot recover my strength quickly, how can I possibly assist him in the trials to come?"

While Lü Fubao was lost in these anxious thoughts, Fan Li's voice drifted into her ear.

"Stop daydreaming and take your medicine quickly."

"Judging by your condition, a single pill is more than enough. Do not be greedy, lest your body fail to digest the medicinal potency."

"Keep the remaining pills for your own protection."

Hearing this, Lü Fubao froze slightly. Subconsciously, she raised her head, meeting Fan Li's entirely sincere gaze.

She offered a bitter smile: "How could a single pill possibly be enough to replenish my spiritual energy? Unless this is an entire bottle of Heaven-tier pills..."

As Lü Fubao spoke, she pulled out the stopper of the vial.

In an instant!

A torrential wave of medicinal fragrance surged from the bottle, almost saturating the entire mountain region!

Lü Fubao was stunned dumb!

What Fan Li had given her... was actually an entire bottle of Heaven-tier pills?!

"This... this..." Lü Fubao stared blankly at Fan Li, wondering if she was still trapped in the illusion array and being played with by him.

"This is impossible!"

The crowd was shocked.

The Wanli Crown Prince, in particular, completely suffered a mental breakdown!

"You also have Heaven-tier pills? And an entire bottle of them at that?"

To think that he, a dignified Crown Prince of the Great Ming, received fewer than a hundred Heaven-tier pills a year bestowed by Emperor Jiajing.

Yet Fan Li casually gave away an entire bottle as if it were nothing?

"What is there to make such a fuss about?"

Fan Li glanced sideways at the Wanli Crown Prince.

"Though you are the Crown Prince of Great Ming, stripped of embellishments, you still live off your imperial stipend."

"Whereas this Duke is just like your father—wielding the resources of an entire nation and the one who hands out the stipends."

"Mere pocket change like a bottle of Heaven-tier pills? This Duke can easily afford to give it away."