Chapter 172: Twelve Golden Men

A legend surfaced in Zu An's mind: After Qin Shi Huang unified the empire, he collected all weapons from across the land, gathered them in Xianyang, and melted them down to cast twelve colossal bronze figures, each weighing thousands of *shi*, which he then placed in his palace courtyard.

In ancient China, the terms for "gold" and "bronze" were often interchangeable, so "golden figures" actually referred to "bronze figures." Furthermore, "a thousand *shi*" was certainly an exaggeration; these figures before him surely weighed tens of tons.

"Watch out!" Seeing the massive bronze figures charging forward, Zu An was still lost in thought. Qiao Xueying quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him aside to dodge.

With a deafening crash, the spot where they had just stood was stomped by the leading bronze figure, sending stone chips flying. When it lifted its foot, a massive footprint was left behind. If they had been caught and crushed, no matter if they were a third-grade or fifth-grade expert, they would surely be a flattened mess by now.

"You owe me another life," Qiao Xueying snorted, looking at Zu An.

"That doesn't count. I would have dodged even without your help," Zu An retorted.

"You truly are shameless!" Qiao Xueying couldn't help but curse.

However, other bronze figures charged forward, and she had no time to say anything more. The two had to dodge separately.

These bronze figures shimmered with a golden light. Their narrow eyes held an inexplicable majesty, and strange patterns adorned the center of their foreheads, seeming to display numbers from one to twelve.

Zu An wondered, "Are these bronze figures named Bronze Figure One, Bronze Figure Two... Bronze Figure Twelve?"

"It's just like those members of the Plum Blossom Gang."

While pondering, he quickly rushed behind the nearest bronze figure. These figures were too massive, and comparatively, their turns and maneuvers were not as agile.

Facing a bronze figure five *zhang* (about 15 meters) tall, Zu An's figure seemed tiny. Yet, he showed no fear. Channeling all his elemental energy, he fiercely kicked at its ankle.

Since these bronze figures maintained a humanoid shape and given their enormous size, their ankles must be their weak point.

With his full strength attack, even if he couldn't break its leg, he could at least sprain its ankle. Then, unable to support its massive weight, it would fall and no longer pose a threat.

However, his idea was grand, but reality was stark.

His full-force kick was like kicking a massive granite boulder. The bronze figure didn't budge, its ankle showing not even a scratch. But the retaliatory force sent excruciating pain through his foot bones, as if they were about to fracture.

At that moment, he recalled a joke he had heard in his previous life: An ant saw an elephant on the road and burrowed into the ground, leaving only one leg exposed. A little rabbit, seeing this, asked in confusion, "Why are you leaving your leg exposed?" The ant replied, "Shh! Don't make a sound. I'm going to trip that son of a b****!"

Zu An now felt he was that overconfident ant, to think he could trip this massive bronze figure with his foot.

The massive bronze figure was clearly provoked by his action, lifting its foot and kicking at him.

Zu An pushed off with his toes and quickly dodged to the side. Suddenly, he felt a strong gust of wind behind his head. He quickly activated the Sunflower Mirage skill, shifting several meters sideways through the air.

A harsh metallic scraping sound rang out. He saw another bronze figure wielding a several-meter-long greatsword, striking the spot where he had just been. It scraped against the stone slab, sending out dazzling sparks.

Zu An swallowed hard. He had noticed from the start that these figures had longswords hanging at their waists. They had initially looked like decorative pieces, but he hadn't expected them to actually be functional.

Calling it a sword, its blade was significantly wider than his body; it was more like wielding a giant door.

"What do we do? These bronze figures are impervious to weapons; my sword is broken," Qiao Xueying said. She dodged attacks from several other bronze figures and came to stand behind him, back to back. She was panting heavily, her chest heaving, clearly having faced perilous situations herself.

Zu An noticed the half-broken sword in her hand. He said grimly, "I refuse to believe they're truly invulnerable!"

With that, he summoned the Mortal-Slaying Dagger. His figure turned into an afterimage as he charged towards the bronze figures.

Fists and feet couldn't harm them, ordinary swords couldn't harm them, but he refused to believe even the Mortal-Slaying Dagger would fail!

Although these bronze figures didn't look like living beings, the Mortal-Slaying skill would likely be useless. However, the Mortal-Slaying Dagger also had the ability to cut through iron like mud, so it should be able to break through these figures' defenses.

In Qiao Xueying's eyes, several Zu Ans seemed to appear simultaneously. She knew this visual illusion was caused by his extreme speed and unique footwork. She couldn't help but inwardly marvel, "No wonder this guy, despite being only a third-grade expert, couldn't be killed by so many of us before."

Zu An pushed the "Bixie Swordplay" to its limit. His figure would flash and reappear at the foot of a bronze figure, the dagger darting out like lightning, forcibly carving off a large chunk of "flesh" from the bronze figure's heel.

He truly was determined to challenge these figures. He refused to believe he couldn't take them down!

The bronze figures roared, startling Qiao Xueying, who was nearby. "Do these things feel pain?" she wondered.

She saw the bronze figures, one after another, incessantly slashing their longswords at Zu An. Although their movements were slow, the swords had massive blades, and the figures had long arms and legs. Their combined attacks truly fell like a violent storm upon the ground. Even with Zu An's profound footwork, he was almost hit by a sword sweep.

Moreover, these bronze figures occasionally used both their hands and feet, chasing and attacking Zu An as if swatting a fly. The resulting air currents and ground-shaking impacts made his qi surge violently.

However, Zu An paid no mind to these things. Instead, he stared in astonishment at the twelve bronze figures. He had clearly just succeeded in cutting off large chunks of "flesh" from their Achilles heels, yet why did these figures seem completely unharmed?

"Look quickly, their wounds are automatically healing!" Qiao Xueying, with her keen eyesight, pointed at the bronze figures' feet and exclaimed.

Zu An's eyes narrowed. He watched as the wounds on their feet healed at a visible rate. The bronze pieces he had just cut off fell to the ground and then merged into it, disappearing, and the missing parts of the bronze figures' feet instantly restored themselves.

"It seems they can automatically regenerate in this environment," Qiao Xueying said, her face pale. "Although these bronze figures aren't very agile, their attack power is incredibly strong, and they're immortal! How can we fight them?"

The key was that Miss couldn't afford to wait. If they delayed for too long, Zhang Han would return!

"I heard fire counters metal. Do you know any fire-element cultivation techniques?" Zu An quickly asked.

Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes. "Don't you know I cultivate wood-element techniques? If I used fire, I'd probably burn myself first."

Zu An looked disgusted. "Useless! Not to mention protagonists in novels who are all masters of every element, even some villainous stepping stones often cultivate two elements. You're not even as good as a stepping stone."

Qiao Xueying was speechless.

"What kind of rubbish novels do you read? In this world, every cultivator can only awaken one elemental power. That's common knowledge, common knowledge, do you understand?"

Rage from Qiao Xueying +233!

Qiao Xueying was seething with irritation. This guy truly was incompatible with her; they must have been enemies in a past life!

"Since you're so knowledgeable about common sense, tell me what we should do now," Zu An said, gripping her hand as he dodged the bronze figures' attacks.

Qiao Xueying also fell into thought. She murmured to herself, "As the saying goes, 'The Great Dao has fifty, Heavenly Manifestation forty-nine. The Dao of Heaven lacks one, yet leaves a sliver of life.' This is merely a seal; there must be a way to break it. Therefore, these figures cannot be without a weakness; we just haven't found it yet."

Zu An couldn't help but retort, "That's a lot of nonsense. Say something useful."

Qiao Xueying's face flushed. She glared fiercely at him. "It means stop staring at their feet. The weakness must be somewhere else."

"Somewhere else?" Zu An glanced at the bronze figures. His first instinct was to look between their legs, but he found nothing there. Clearly, these bronze figures had no gender distinction, so the idea of attacking a vital spot wouldn't work.

The two split up and continuously circled the massive bronze figures. But no matter how they looked, they couldn't find anything that could be called a weakness.

"Hmm, do you think their weakness could be those strange patterns in the center of their foreheads?" Qiao Xueying, being a higher-level cultivator, quickly noticed some clues. Each time the bronze figures moved, a faint light flowed through the patterns on their foreheads.

Hearing her analysis, Zu An nodded. "That must be it. It seems there's some truth to the saying that big breasts imply a lack of brains."

Qiao Xueying froze. She thought, "What does 'big breasts imply a lack of brains' have to do with me? My chest isn't big..."

Suddenly, her expression changed. She finally realized that the opposite of "big breasts, no brains" was "small breasts, clever." He was indirectly insulting her.

Rage from Qiao Xueying +666!

At that moment, Zu An spoke again. "These bronze figures are too tall. Even if we know their weakness is on their foreheads, how can we reach it?"

These bronze figures were almost 20 meters tall. If they were inanimate objects, with their current cultivation, it wouldn't be difficult to leap onto them by leveraging mid-air. But these figures were highly aggressive; how could they allow anyone to leisurely climb up?

They had been relying on their agile footwork to evade them. The bronze figures' speed was indeed a bit slow, but running right in front of them would be courting death.

It was like mosquitoes in his previous life: they would bite and then fly away, making them hard to hit, as the difference in agility was too great. But if a mosquito flew directly in front of someone's face, that would be purely suicidal.

Zu An certainly didn't want to become a squashed mosquito. His mind raced, and suddenly, his eyes lit up. "I've got it!"

"Got what?" Qiao Xueying asked, seeing his expression.

"How long can your hair extend? And how tough is it?" Zu An quickly asked. Her hair, which grew at will in the wind during their previous skirmishes, had left an indelible impression on him.

Qiao Xueying showed hesitation. Such abilities were a cultivator's trump cards, usually kept secret. But seeing his serious expression, she still answered, "It should be able to extend over ten *zhang*. As for toughness... ordinary swords and blades can hardly harm it."

"Good. Extend your hair, make it as long as possible," Zu An said, grabbing her hair and pulling it outward.

Having a man touch her hair made Qiao Xueying feel both embarrassed and furious. Her hair instantly swelled, turning into countless whips, ready to lash at the annoying man.

"Don't get excited, don't get excited! I'm doing this to break the formation!" Zu An quickly explained. At the same time, he grabbed her hair ends and kept running towards the bronze figures, dodging left and right, quickly wrapping her hair around the foot of each one.

Qiao Xueying's mind was sharp; she quickly guessed his plan and inwardly praised his ingenuity. However, a chill ran down her spine. These bronze figures were incredibly strong. "Will they rip all my hair out later and leave me bald?" she wondered.

As expected, just as this thought arose, she felt an immense force on her head. Before she could even react, she was involuntarily yanked into the air. In mid-air, tears welled up from the pain as she cried and cursed the instigator, "Zu An, you bastard!"