Chapter 174: How Lonely It Is to be Invincible

“No, that’s not right. This isn’t the underground palace we were in earlier,” said Qiao Xueying with a shake of her head. Her cultivation was much higher than Zu An’s, so her senses were far sharper. “The area we were at earlier was filled with death aura, but it’s much weaker here.”

Zu An scanned their surroundings carefully, and his face suddenly scrunched in bitterness. “If we aren’t in the underground palace, what’s with those things then?”

Qiao Xueying traced his gaze before jolting in horror. Several hundred meters away from them stood an army of terracotta soldiers. It was identical to what they had encountered back at the underground palace!

“Earth Seal, huh? These terracotta soldiers are made out of mud and are buried underground, making them intricately related to the earth. They must be the enemies we have to face here,” said Zu An grimly.

Qiao Xueying suddenly thought of something and sighed, “It’s a pity that the bizarre light-emitting stick of yours fell into the lake earlier, or else you’d be able to easily deal with these fellows and break the seal.”

A mysterious smile surfaced on Zu An’s lips as he summoned the Magical Flashlight out. “Are you referring to this?”

Qiao Xueying widened her eyes in astonishment at the black stick he had in hand. “Ah? Didn’t it fall into the lake earlier? Why do you still have it? Wait a moment, does that mean that you have a lot of it in your possession?”

She was quite certain that Zu An hadn’t picked up the stick after it fell into the lake earlier.

“How could I have duplicates of an artifact as precious as this? This is the same one you saw earlier on,” replied Zu An. “It’s just that it is linked to me telepathically, so it would automatically return to my side.”

Qiao Xueying looked at Zu An with a complicated look on her face. Just a month ago, she still thought that this man was a good-for-nothing, only to be bombarded with surprises one after another. “Why is it that the undead in the underground palace is so fearful of the light emanated by that stick?”

Zu An chuckled softly and said, “You haven’t called me big brother yet. I’ll answer your question once you do it.”

Qiao Xueying spat on the ground and said, “Pui, you sure are shameless! You shouldn’t be hooking up with other women behind the young miss’ back!”

“You’re a different case though. Have you forgotten that Chuyan has already given you to me? Since my wife has already approved of this, how can this be called ‘hooking up’?” said Zu An. “Besides, if anyone is hooking up with who, it’s you. You’re the one holding onto my hand tightly now.”

Qiao Xueying immediately retracted her hand hurriedly. With a reddened face, she explained in a fumble, “Y-you were the one who told us to link hands in case we strayed apart!”

It was quite entertaining to Zu An to see her furiously blushing cheeks. Despite her vile tongue, she does have a good face and an alluring figure. There’s no denying that she’s a beauty.

Zu An felt that he was suited to become a wastrel of a rich family. He would be perfectly satisfied living an idle life, spending his free time teasing some women. It didn’t seem like that bad of a way to spend his whole life. 

Pui! Zu An, how can you be won over by her charms so easily? Have you forgotten how she tried to kill you time and time again? You mustn’t be so shallow!

Zu An scorned himself.

Meanwhile, Qiao Xueying looked at him with a bizarre face. “Why are you looking at me with such licentious eyes? You must be thinking of something perverted.”

“What do you mean by licentious eyes? Please watch your use of words, young miss. This is called a caring gaze!” corrected Zu An.

It was then that some noises began sounding ahead of them. The two of them quickly turned their gazes over, only to see the terracotta soldiers turning in their direction.

“Hurry up and use that flashlight of yours to deal with them! It feels kind of weird getting stared at by so many eyes.” Qiao Xueying fidgeted uncomfortably under their stare.

“Alright.” Zu An felt rather disturbed by their gazes, so he switched on the flashlight and directed it toward the terracotta soldiers.

A white pillar of light immediately shone down on the army of terracotta soldiers, causing them to immediately break out of their neat formation.

“What do we need to do in order to break the seal? Do we really need to get rid of all of them?” Even with a rough sweep of the surroundings, Qiao Xueying could spot at least a thousand terracotta soldiers around. It definitely wouldn’t be an easy feat to deal with them unless Zu An used the light-emitting stick in his hand.

Zu An also shared the same thoughts in mind. He continued shining his flashlight on the terracotta soldiers. Where the light shone, the terracotta soldiers in the area would find their colors swiftly fading before crumbling into pieces, reminiscent of a snowman exposed directly under the sun.

“It’s no wonder why we weren’t allowed to take pictures in museums. It turns out that light is quite a powerful weapon against antiques,” murmured Zu An as he walked into the enemy’s formation with his flashlight in hand.

“So this is what it means for a person to single handedly defeat thousands. Ah, what a pity that there’s no spectator here to witness my greatness, or else my name would surely shake the world,” lamented Zu An. He suddenly remembered a song from his previous world and began singing it aloud, “Alas, how forlorn it is to be invincible~ Alas, how empty it is to be invincible~”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

Why did he suddenly start singing? The melody of the song sounds so weird. Also, aren’t the lyrics a little too arrogant? Hmmm, but it does carry quite a bit of impact. 

I wonder which formidable expert composed this song. It’s impossible for an ordinary man to compose such a majestic song. Argh, but it sounds so incongruous hearing such a song from a mere third rank cultivator!

Meanwhile, Zu An was still busy flashing at the terracotta soldiers with an excited smile on his face, “C’mon! I dare you to come nearer!”

You have successfully trolled the Terracotta Soldiers for +6 +6 +6… 

Why is this human so despicable? Why don’t you put down that light-emitting stick in your hand and have a proper fight with us then? I swear that I’ll beat the shit out of you within seconds!

“Heh, a bunch of weaklings!” sneered Zu An.

However, he noticed that while the flashlight could suppress them, its killing prowess was still severely lacking. For one, he had to shine the light directly on them in order to deal damage, and the damage output stopped as soon as he moved the light away. 

“Wuwuwuw~”

A warhorn suddenly sounded at this moment. The terracotta soldiers standing on war chariots waved the flags in their hands, and the formation gradually calmed down. Soon, a row of warriors armed with shields marched to the forefront to block off the terrifying light shining down on them.

Zu AN was stunned. These fellows are actually capable of strategizing?

He tried to shine the flashlight from different angles, but the light was completely blocked by the shields. The soldiers had wisely chosen not just to block in front of them but above them too.

This is ridiculous!

It was then that Zu An’s eyes narrowed in horror. He noticed that the archers standing at the far end at the back of the terracotta soldiers were nocking their arrows on their bows.

“Run!” Zu An immediately turned around and ran. He noticed that Qiao Xueying still hadn’t snapped out of her daze yet, so he quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her away with him.

“What are you doing?!” Once again, Qiao Xueying was angry by the sudden physical contact, but the whooshing sound above her soon silenced her rage.

She raised her gaze and saw a rain of arrows headed their direction, and her face immediately paled in fright.

What the hell! This fellow was still singing his lamentations about being invincible at one moment, and in the next, he was fleeing faster than anyone else. Know some shame!

“We won’t make it in time!” Zu An knew that they couldn’t possibly outrun the arrows, so he turned to Qiao Xueying and asked, “How long can your barrier last for?”

“Not too long,” replied Qiao Xueying with a pale face.

“Buy some time for me!” Zu An halted his footstep as he began digging the ground with Poisonous Prick.

Qiao Xueying was unsure what he was up to, but she still waved her wrist and weaved several tree vines together to form a shield. Right after that, the arrows began striking squarely on the vine shield.

Qiao Xueying let out a muffled groan upon the strike. Forcefully bearing the powerful impact of the arrows was inflicting significant internal injuries on her.

She wasn’t even in a state to speak at all. She focused all of her ki on repairing her tattered vine shield. She should have been able to last several minutes, but for some reason, she felt like an eternity had already passed her by.

“Ah!” Qiao Xueying suddenly exclaimed loudly as she sensed one of the arrows piercing through her defense and plunging into her shoulder. She gritted her teeth tightly to bear with the pain as she continued to focus her ki on her vine shield.

Nevertheless, she knew that she was swiftly approaching her limit and could only last for another three more seconds before her defense crumbled. By then, the two of them would be turned into porcupines.

3!

2!

1!

Qiao Xueying felt her body finally caving into exhaustion. Before she closed her eyes, she muttered, “I never thought that I would end up dying with this fellow.”

“Oh? I never knew that you were so interested in a lovers’ suicide with me,” a teasing voice sounded.

Stunned, Qiao Xueying hurriedly opened her eyes, only to see that she was lying in a shallow pit. The arrows flying over simply fell to the other side of the pit

So this was what he was digging all this while… 

Qiao Xueying finally understood Zu An’s intention, but she soon became conscious of the fact that she was held tightly in Zu An’s arm. They were directly in front of one another, such that she could feel Zu An’s breathing on her face. Just a slightly closer, and their lips would be touching.

“What are you doing!” Shocked, Qiao Xueying began struggling instinctively.

However, Zu An held onto her closely and said, “Stop moving! It wasn’t easy for me to dig this trench hole! You’ll expose yourself and get shot if you continue struggling!”

As if to verify his words, an arrow happened to brush across her sleeves right after. Seeing this, she immediately remained still, not daring to move at all.

In order to alleviate the awkwardness she felt, Qiao Xueying turned her head sideward and asked, “What’s the theory behind digging this pit? Why does the arrow shoot right above us and not on us?”

Zu An began explaining patiently, “This is what we call a trench hole. As you know, arrows usually fly in an arc, descending diagonally down on their enemy. However, this trench hole is created in a way such that it’s impossible for any arrows to hit us unless they fall vertically downward. That’s why no arrows are able to hit us.” 

It was a relief that his dagger was able to slice through any material as easily as if ripping through paper, and his strength was freakishly great now. Otherwise, there was no way he could dig out a trench hole big enough for the two of them to hide in within such a short period of time.

Qiao Xueying still looked a little confused. She couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you know so much stuff?”

“It took you awhile, but I’m glad that you finally realized my wisdom. You must have been blind to not recognize my greatness in the past,” replied Zu An. Even though she’s hateful, I must admit that she really has a soft body.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

Will you die if you just stop arguing with me for a moment?

The rain of arrows suddenly began to thin. Clearly, the archers had realized that they weren’t able to hit them.

Just as the two of them were about to heave a sigh of relief, the ground began to rumble loudly.

It was the cavalry! The cavalrymen had begun on their charge!

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