The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 445 Three Me
Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Zai stood, leaning on a chair. His palms, gripping the back of the chair, were white, and his fingertips were deeply embedded in the back. His other hand, hidden in his sleeve, was clenched into a fist and was trembling uncontrollably.

Several palace guards, skilled in healing arts, were surrounding the coffin, their hands pressed against Li Miao's major acupoints, sweating profusely as they poured their inner energy into him.

But it seems to be of no use.

No matter how they tried to treat him, the blood inside the coffin kept accumulating, and no matter how many times the wounds on Li Miao's body were healed, they could only keep up with the rate at which new wounds appeared.

"how?"

Zhu Zai asked in a hoarse voice.

"At the current rate, we can barely maintain it... but if Commander Li's condition cannot be stopped, even if we have mastered the Sumeru technique and our true energy can keep up, our spirits can only last until tonight at most."

One of the worshippers, sweating profusely, answered.

“Commander Li’s condition is too strange. There is no external interference at all, but various wounds keep appearing on his body... It’s as if his body is disintegrating from the inside.”

"Unless His Majesty returns, we can only barely maintain the status quo. Lord Zhu, do you have any ideas?"

Zhu Zai pondered.

He has a clue.

Li Miao fell into a deep sleep because of An Qisheng, so this must have been An Qisheng's doing.

It's probably a trap.

A trap set for Li Miao after the failed possession attempt.

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Dozens of pitch-black human figures leaped high into the air and rushed toward the solidified vortex.

Just as they were about to fall and were unable to move, the vortex suddenly broke free from its frozen state, and the waves surged.

They plunged into the sea.

The moment they enter the water, they instinctively close their mouths tightly to prevent even a drop of seawater from entering.

Fortunately, this is a mental image.

No need to breathe.

His gaze swept around, searching for Li Miao's figure.

"Who are you looking for?"

"!!!"

The dark figures suddenly turned around, about to instinctively let out greedy howls, when Li Miao grabbed the heads of two of them and shoved them violently into the deep water.

"Drink your fill!"

--------

"Lord Zhu! Commander Li has sent him!"

One of the worshippers surrounding the coffin suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with indescribable panic, and he turned and shouted.

Zhu Zai was already worried and was paying close attention to the commotion. When he heard the shouts, he rushed to the coffin and looked inside. His face turned pale.

blood.

Wound.

More than a dozen wounds suddenly appeared on Li Miao's body, each one deeper and more gruesome than the previous ones. One of them was even a foot long, lying across his chest, with blood spurting out in rhythm with his heartbeat.

In just a few breaths, the bottom of the coffin was filled with blood.

"Give it your all—no, I'll risk your lives for you!"

Zhu Zai roared.

"I don't care what tricks you usually hide. As long as you can save him today, whether you leave the court or want wealth and honor, I will grant you whatever you ask!"

"But if anything happens to him, none of you will survive!"

His words were filled with murderous intent.

No one would question the truth of his words. As a spy chief who had been in officialdom for decades, the fact that he spoke so clearly demonstrated his determination.

"Done!"

"Brother Wang, bring out your evil skills!" "Brother Zhou, when I was traveling the martial world, I obtained a healing technique from Shaolin. I will maintain my injuries, and you will heal me!"

The worshippers all nodded in agreement.

With Zhu Zai's words, "A generous reward will surely bring forth brave men," all the things they had hidden were now considered to have passed through official channels and were no longer a threat. Now was the perfect time to bring them out!
Not to mention that Zhu Zai promised them what they desired most—freedom!
The group had made up their minds; even if the King of Heaven himself came, they would cure Li Miao today!

"The demon is disintegrated!"

"Ghost Needle!"

"The Marrow Cleansing Classic!"

Several of the worshippers were either channeling their inner energy or fetching items. They were already preparing to fight desperately, but when they were ready to heal their injuries, their gazes fell upon Li Miao, and they froze on the spot.

"Breathing...?"

One of the worshippers murmured.

"My heartbeat seems to have stopped... Not just my heartbeat and breathing, but the circulation of Qi in my body has also stopped. It's almost like..."

Zhu Zai's face suddenly turned pale.

--------

Li Miao reached out and crushed the last human face.

In the seawater surrounding him, countless dark pieces of corpses were swirling and bobbing with the waves.

In a head-on confrontation, these dark humanoid figures were no match for Li Miao. Unable to devour Li Miao while submerged in seawater, and suddenly frozen upon entering deep water, they were easily captured by Li Miao.

But he didn't relax his eyebrows.

It's not over yet.

He should have won, but he still couldn't escape from his mental image.

"Does this mean we have to swallow all these body parts?"

Li Miao twirled his fingers, deep in thought.

Suddenly, his fingers paused.

"wrong."

“Nothing exists outside the mind; everything here is my sexuality. This body can move at will, but this sea is difficult to influence. Both are essentially sexuality, yet they are different.”

“There must be a difference, otherwise it is impossible to explain why An Qisheng and these body parts only cared about devouring me, but ignored this seawater and even feared it like a tiger.”

After pondering for a while, Li Miao's gaze suddenly became fixed.

"The Three Selves—Ego, True Self, and Real Self!"

"This body represents reason, the present self, so I can control it as easily as my own limbs. This sea is so vast, it should represent the true self, nature, and instinct, so I can only slightly influence it, not command it."

"By pressing these body parts into the seawater, I am essentially mixing impurities into my own sexuality... Life and death are at stake, and my physical body in reality will also be affected."

"This is An Qisheng's true intention: after the failed possession attempt, these body parts are a trap!"

Li Miao's mind raced.

His gaze swept across the surroundings, and he raised his hand in a gesture.

He stirred the seawater with his true energy, drawing the scattered, dark pieces of corpse into his hands.

“It’s too late to force me to swallow these things. If I leave them on the beach, without the seawater to keep them still, they will probably wake up again soon and continue to fight me. If I leave them in the sea, my body will gradually collapse under the life-or-death situation.”

“The true self, the id, the present self… and there is another true self.”

He suddenly shifted his gaze to the distance.

On the sea, a huge, dark storm, occasionally flashing with lightning, was slowly rolling.

"The true self".

That is my true self.

"The solution to this impasse lies within!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Miao leaped out of the sea. The seawater beneath his feet froze solid. Clutching the dark mass of corpse, he sped towards the dark storm.

(End of this chapter)