Chapter 171: Human Sealing

"Guess?" Mi Li's voice held a hint of playfulness.

"I can't guess," Zuan grumbled internally. *You're an aunt who's already had children; don't try to act cute and young here.* Naturally, he dared not voice these thoughts.

"You'll know once you rescue me," Mi Li paused, then continued, "Zhang Han has already gained the upper hand and will be back soon. Are you sure you want to waste time discussing this with me?"

"Then you should at least tell me how to activate the Seals of Heaven, Earth, and Man, right?" Zuan thought, *You can't possibly not know that much.*

Mi Li replied, "Look ahead. Behind the altar, there's a tunnel. At its end, you'll find a magic circle on the ground. Standing on it will activate the Seal of Man. If you can break that seal, the magic circle on the ground will open, allowing you to enter the next level. The following two levels are, in order, the Seal of Earth and the Seal of Heaven."

"I'm not sure what you'll encounter when you activate each seal, but it will be extremely dangerous, almost a matter of life and death. If you want to regret it now, there's still time."

Zuan glanced at Chu Chuyan beside him and smiled calmly. "How could I regret saving the one I love?"

Hearing his words, a faint blush appeared on Chu Chuyan's delicate, flawless cheeks. She nervously averted her gaze, embarrassed to make eye contact with him again. She had many things to say, but at that moment, nothing came out.

Qiao Xueying, standing nearby, looked from Chu Chuyan to Zuan, secretly sighing, wondering what she was thinking.

Zuan went to Chu Chuyan and took her hand. "Wife, I'm going to break the seal. I'll definitely find a way to save you. Of course, if I happen to die, you're not allowed to marry another man, or I won't rest in peace."

Qiao Xueying: "..."

That guy was, predictably, as annoying as ever.

Chu Chuyan had originally been moved to tears, but after his last sentence, she couldn't help but laugh and cry. "If you die, won't I die here too? How could I marry someone else?"

Zuan said, "What if some domineering Sword Immortal suddenly descends from the sky and saves you from Zhang Han? You'd be giving your heart away in secret, wouldn't you?"

Chu Chuyan's face immediately flushed crimson. "So you did see it that day!"

That guy had lied to her then, claiming he saw nothing. The thought of someone seeing such an embarrassing book title made her wish she could sink into the ground.

Zuan chuckled, then turned and walked towards the Seal of Man deeper in the tunnel, waving his hand in farewell without looking back.

"A'Zu!" Just then, Chu Chuyan suddenly called out to him.

Zuan's heart leaped with joy. He thought she would probably say something tearfully like, "I'll wait for you to come back, I'll never marry again." It seemed his efforts to boost his wife's affection during this time had not been in vain.

To his surprise, however, Chu Chuyan said, "A'Zu, if you dare to die in there, I'll immediately marry another man!"

Qiao Xueying was dumbfounded, wondering what was wrong with Miss.

Immediately after, Chu Chuyan softly added, "So you must come back alive."

Zuan, who had been feeling down, heard her change of tone, and the gloom in his heart instantly vanished. "Alright!"

Qiao Xueying bit her lip, thinking, *Miss has been with that guy for too long; she's even learned his bad habits!*

Zuan continued along the tunnel. Unlike the tunnel they entered when first arriving at the underground palace, this one was clearly much more elaborate. Both the floor and walls were intricately carved from marble.

Stone statues of various animals stood on both sides of the tunnel. Zuan quickly identified leaping horses, crouching tigers, reclining elephants, wild boars, stone fish, bears, lions, Xiezhi, camels, and Qilin. Each type appeared in pairs, positioned on opposite sides.

There were also some animals he didn't recognize, unsure if they were mythical beasts or unique to this world.

Every few meters along the walls, there was a small, gilded bronze statue of a kneeling palace maid holding a lamp, with a serene and elegant expression. Their design strongly resembled the Changxin Palace Lanterns he had seen in museums before.

After walking nearly a hundred meters, he finally stopped in a stone chamber. He noticed a highly intricate magic circle formed by patterns on the chamber floor. The patterns in the very center subtly formed the character for "man" (人).

This must be the Seal of Man Mi Li had spoken of. Zuan was about to activate the seal as instructed when he suddenly had a thought and turned to look at the slender, delicate girl behind him.

"Oh, you came?" This girl was, of course, Qiao Xueying.

Qiao Xueying replied, "It's no use me staying by Miss's side. I can't undo the black restraints on her, nor can I protect her when that black-armored general returns. I might as well come and see if I can help, especially since you're only a third-rank cultivator; it doesn't look like you can successfully break the seal."

Zuan couldn't help but retort, "Hey, I'm telling you, this little girl is clearly quite pretty, so why did she have to grow such a mouth? What you say is always so annoying."

Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes at him. "Likewise."

Despite their bickering, Zuan knew that having one more person to help meant a greater chance of breaking the seal.

Qiao Xueying took out some healing medicine and vitality pills, consumed some, then hesitated before offering a portion to Zuan. "Do you want some?"

Although this guy was annoying, since they were now fighting side by side, they should help each other.

Zuan shook his head. His current state was perfect; if his injuries healed, the burst effect of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra would be gone.

"Fine, don't take it then." Qiao Xueying pouted, assuming he was just bickering with her, and didn't bother to press further.

The two approached the edge of the magic circle. Zuan extended his hand. "Give me your hand."

"Why?" Qiao Xueying wondered, but instinctively extended her hand.

The next second, her hand was grasped. Feeling his warm, firm hand, Qiao Xueying's eyebrows twitched, and just as she was about to lash out, she heard him say, "Mi Li just mentioned that activating the seal might send us into a new space. Let's hold hands so we don't get teleported to different locations."

He wasn't sure what the teleportation mechanism was. Having played so many games in his previous life, he knew some teleportations were random. If the new space was vast and they were sent to different locations, it would be troublesome.

"You're really not trying to take advantage of me?" Qiao Xueying asked suspiciously, looking at their clasped hands. She wasn't used to such intimate contact with a man, especially this guy.

"Me, intentionally taking advantage of you?" Zuan scoffed. "My wife is the most beautiful woman in Brightmoon City. Why would I be interested in someone like you, who's as flat as a washboard with no chest or butt?"

"Who are you calling a washboard!" Qiao Xueying gnashed her teeth. She had actually started to change her opinion of this guy, but now she saw he was still the same annoying person!

Rage points from Qiao Xueying +468!

She couldn't help but glance down at her chest. It wasn't large, but it wasn't too small, was it? And what about her butt? Was he blind?

Just as she was about to retort, Zuan had already pulled her onto the center of the magic circle. A strange light flashed, and their vision blurred, followed by a momentary sensation of weightlessness.

When they regained their senses, they found their surroundings bright. They were no longer in the gloomy environment of the underground palace but outside a magnificent city. Before them stood towering city walls and palace gates, exuding an ancient, desolate sense of majesty.

"Holy cow, how big is that!" Zuan couldn't help but exclaim.

Qiao Xueying's face flushed. *He really is a pervert,* she thought. *Always staring at people's chests.*

*Wait, why would there be large-chested beauties within this seal?*

She hastily looked up, but saw no one else besides Zuan, let alone women.

Noticing he was looking up at the sky, Qiao Xueying subconsciously followed his gaze and was stunned herself.

Because in front of the city gates sat 12 gleaming golden bronze figures. These figures were colossal; even seated, they were over thirty feet tall, with feet more than six feet long. Just their presence exuded an inexplicable sense of awe.

Qiao Xueying unconsciously edged closer to Zuan, feeling a little reassured. "How exactly do we break this seal?"

Zuan said grimly, "Since it's called the Seal of Man, it's probably related to humans. But looking around, we don't see any sign of people. Could it be that we need to enter the city to trigger it?"

Qiao Xueying assented, "Let's go into the city and see."

The city before them looked so magnificent that one could easily imagine how prosperous it must be inside.

However, when they reached the city gates, they found them impossible to open.

Not to mention Qiao Xueying, even Zuan's current strength was thousands of pounds. Logically, the city gates should have been pushed open long ago. Yet, no matter how hard they pushed, the gates remained motionless, and there was no response from inside when they knocked.

"I'll climb over the city wall and take a look." Qiao Xueying took a few steps back, then took a running start and leaped directly towards the city gate.

Although a fifth-rank cultivator couldn't fly, their jumping ability was comparable to the lightness skills in martial arts novels. Logically, after such a long run-up, she should have been able to leap directly onto the city wall.

To her surprise, however, she landed still half the distance away from the top of the wall.

Biting her lip, she pushed off the wall with her toes, leaping upwards again while simultaneously shooting a vine from her sleeve towards the battlements.

Who would have thought that the city wall suddenly grew taller out of nowhere? She bounced around for ages, yet consistently remained half the distance from the top of the wall.

Frustrated, she had to jump back to the ground. "This city wall is really quite eerie."

Zuan, too, had witnessed the astonishing scene. He said gravely, "How about we try to ram the city gates open directly?"

With his and Qiao Xueying's combined strength, they could certainly generate tons of impact force, comparable to an ancient battering ram.

"Move aside, I'll do it!" Having failed to scale the wall earlier, Qiao Xueying was eager to prove herself to Zuan. Her beautiful hair grew rapidly in the wind, becoming longer and longer as she charged towards the city gates.

Zuan had personally experienced the immense power of her "beautiful hair" before. The walls of the Chu family mansion had been like paper in front of it, so these city gates would likely be punctured with several large holes.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Her long hair struck the city gates with a resounding crash, but the gates remained completely still.

"Huh?" Qiao Xueying stood rooted, somewhat questioning reality.

She was about to try again, unwilling to believe it, but Zuan grabbed her. "Don't bother trying. Look behind us."

Qiao Xueying froze, then turned around, suddenly feeling a chill down her spine. The 12 bronze figures, originally seated in two rows facing each other, had all uniformly turned their heads to look at them.

Immediately after, these seated bronze figures rose one by one, instantly growing to over fifty feet tall, then began to stride towards them.

Feeling the ground tremble violently under their heavy footsteps, as if experiencing a great earthquake, Zuan swallowed hard. "Damn it, are bronze figures considered 'people' too!"