Chapter 173: The Seal of the Earth

Just then, a giant sword suddenly swung towards her, bringing with it the distant sound of whistling wind and thunder. At this rate, not only would her delicate body be dismembered, but even another bronze figure would likely lose limbs if struck.

Qiao Xueying instinctively tried to dodge, but suspended in mid-air with no footing, she couldn't maneuver or evade. Watching the sword grow larger and larger in her vision, she sighed faintly in her heart and resignedly closed her eyes.

She hadn't wanted to live anyway, so dying like this wasn't a big deal. She just wondered if that guy, Zu An, could break the seal and rescue Miss.

For some reason, thinking of Zu An made her angry. She was dying because of him, and she wondered if he would feel even a slight pang of guilt when he remembered her later.

But remembering his lazy demeanor, Qiao Xueying dismissed the thought. How could that guy possibly feel guilty about her?

“You must be cursing me again,” a playful voice suddenly whispered in her ear. She felt herself enveloped in a warm embrace.

She quickly opened her eyes and saw Zu An looking at her with a wry smile. She was stunned.

However, she quickly realized the immediate danger and urgently pointed behind him, stammering, “Sword… sword…”

She was too flustered and nervous to form a complete sentence.

A dark gleam flashed in Zu An’s hand. The inevitable dagger had already sliced through her hair, and then moved several feet sideways in mid-air, narrowly avoiding the sword.

The giant sword, passing barely an inch from her nose, whipped up a gust of wind. Qiao Xueying’s beautiful hair scattered wildly across her face. She stared, somewhat dazed, at the man holding her, her heart pounding rapidly.

“What is this feeling? Why am I blushing? Why is my heart beating so fast? Is it... for this guy?” Qiao Xueying’s mind was in a turmoil.

“I saved your life again. I guess we’re even now,” Zu An said with a smile.

Qiao Xueying’s face flushed. Her mouth slightly agape, she couldn’t utter a word.

“Are you feeling your heart race and an unprecedented strangeness right now?” Zu An continued to ask.

“So what if I am?” Qiao Xueying regretted speaking as soon as the words left her mouth. How could she admit it? This guy would probably get smug.

To her surprise, Zu An said, “Don’t think you’ve fallen in love with me. This is a normal phenomenon, academically known as the 'suspension bridge effect.' When a person crosses a suspension bridge in fear, their heart rate involuntarily speeds up. If, at that moment, they happen to meet another person, they might mistakenly interpret the increased heart rate caused by the situation as a physiological reaction to being smitten by that person, thus developing feelings of love for them.”

Qiao Xueying was speechless.

She finally snapped out of it, and, enraged and embarrassed, pushed him away. “Me, fall in love with you? I’d fall in love with pigs, dogs, even zombies, before I’d ever fall in love with a guy like you!”

Anger value from Qiao Xueying: 111!

Zu An looked speechless, wondering why her anger value was so low given what she just said. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t like a mean-hearted, sharp-tongued girl like you either.”

Without further delay, he rushed towards the bronze figures with his dagger.

The giant bronze figures had their feet bound together with "ropes." Of course, Zu An wasn't planning to trip them with Qiao Xueying alone, because with their immense strength, they'd likely just tear her head off without stumbling if she tried.

Ultimately, the plan was simply to use Qiao Xueying's hair to entangle all the bronze figures, letting their own strength trip each other.

As their movements were uncoordinated, they soon pulled and tugged at each other until the first one fell. This naturally led to the others toppling over one by one. If they were human, a casual swing of their swords would cut through the hair wrapped around their feet. With their colossal strength and those gleaming giant swords, Qiao Xueying's hair, no matter how tough, couldn't withstand it.

However, these bronze figures clearly lacked sufficient intelligence. They continuously kicked their feet, but couldn't shake off the hair.

Zu An seized the opportunity. He ran directly to the nearest bronze figure and thrust his dagger towards its brow.

From such close proximity, he felt the immense size of the bronze figures even more acutely. Looking at their massive heads and eyes so close, he secretly shuddered. If that girl Xue'er had guessed wrong, he wouldn't even know how he died.

A soft *thunk*!

His dagger had plunged into the bronze figure’s forehead!

The bronze figure was too enormous, and the dagger was inherently short, making it feel like a toothpick pricking a person.

Zu An's unease grew stronger. He immediately pulled out the dagger and quickly retreated, wary of the bronze figure's impending counterattack.

However, to his surprise, as his dagger penetrated, the sharp glint in the bronze figure's eyes gradually dimmed and finally vanished. It became a lifeless bronze statue once more.

Zu An's heart brightened; it truly worked! He quickly activated his Sunflower Phantom technique, appearing tirelessly before other bronze figures, stabbing, pulling out, then moving to the next…

His speed was incredible. In just a few breaths, he had stabbed eleven bronze figures to death. But as he moved to stab the twelfth, that figure roared like a tiger, tore free from the hair binding its feet, and as it scrambled to its feet, it swung a palm at him.

Zu An tapped his toes, instantly changing direction. He dodged several yards backward. He was already in a weakened state; let alone taking a direct hit, even being grazed by the palm's wind could kill him instantly, so he dared not risk it.

By this time, the bronze figure had shakily gotten back on its feet. Looking at its eleven fallen companions, though its intelligence wasn't high, it still felt a surge of anger and couldn't help but roar at the sky.

Anger value from First Qin Emperor's Bronze Figure 1: 999…

Looking at the numeral "one" formed by the patterns on its head, he thought, *As expected of the leader; it's indeed not as easy to deal with as its comrades.*

Zu An retreated to Qiao Xueying's side. Seeing her beautiful long hair now cut to ear-length, he couldn't help but chuckle, “You know, if my hand had slipped just now and I’d accidentally scalped you, that would have been really amusing.”

“I won't bother with you, considering you just saved my life,” Qiao Xueying snorted. She lightly flicked her hair. Her medium-short hair grew a bit longer, even automatically weaving itself into delicate small braids.

Zu An stared, dumbfounded. He couldn't resist touching her braids. “Oh, it even has this function? You won’t even need to comb your hair when you wake up every day.”

Qiao Xueying glared at him exasperatedly and pulled her hair from his hand. “Don’t you know men and women should keep their distance?”

Zu An chuckled. “We just held hands and hugged. Besides, we’ve had more intimate relations before, so what 'distance' is there left to keep?”

Qiao Xueying’s eyebrows shot up. “You dare mention that!”

Zu An laughed heartily. “Alright, alright, let’s get serious. Grow me another length of hair; I’ll go tie up the remaining one.” The previous hair had been torn to shreds by the colossal bronze figures and couldn't be used again.

Qiao Xueying looked troubled. “I can’t. I’ve overused my energy today, and I can’t regenerate it in such a short time.”

Earlier, when they encountered the vampire bats, she had chopped off a large section of her hair because she disliked the bat blood on it. Then she cut off another large section just now, and with constant fighting, her energy depletion was too great to recover.

“What now?” Zu An fell into thought, looking at the charging giant bronze figure.

Qiao Xueying's expression changed slightly. “What are you standing there for? Get out of the way! We’ll think of something else.”

Zu An shook his head. “Chu Chuyan probably can’t wait that long. Watch me finish it in one move.”

Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes. “Look at you, still bragging at a time like this! If you can finish it off instantly, I’ll… I’ll follow your surname…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Zu An vanished from his spot. The next second, he reappeared on the bronze figure’s forehead, his dagger already plunged into the patterns between its brows.

The bronze figure’s charging body instantly stiffened. Its formerly gleaming eyes immediately dulled, and its entire body, due to inertia, toppled forward.

Zu An tapped his toes, leaping back just in time, and stowed the dagger in his sleeve. Behind him, dust billowed, accompanying the heavy thud of the bronze figure collapsing.

Qiao Xueying’s face flushed. *Why does this guy suddenly look a little handsome?* she thought.

“What did you just say?” Zu An was already back beside her.

“Nothing… nothing.” Qiao Xueying secretly rejoiced that he had been so quick and hadn't heard what she said, otherwise it would have been too embarrassing. “How did you do that just now?”

Before, when he used the Sunflower Phantom, it was fast, but at least there was a lingering afterimage. But that last move truly felt like teleportation.

“Want to know?” Zu An leaned closer to her.

Qiao Xueying leaned back uncomfortably. “Yes.”

“Call me 'good big brother,' and I’ll tell you,” Zu An said with a grin. That move just now was him activating his Gale ability, which had recently leveled up; he could now barely use it three times a day.

This skill was a divine technique for escape, evasion, and assassination. However, his current cultivation level was too low. While it was still useful against unintelligent foes like the bronze figures, the success rate of using it for surprise assassinations against high-level cultivators would be far too low.

Such people possessed vital energy protection and various elemental abilities that they could activate at will, making their defensive and evasive capabilities far superior to these mindless giants.

Zu An simply murmured in acknowledgment and didn't press the matter. What he was concerned about was something else: “The Human Seal should be broken now, right?”

No sooner had he spoken than the twelve bronze figures transformed into golden specks of light and vanished. Then, both felt a sense of weightlessness, followed by a blur before their eyes, and the next second, they were back inside the underground palace.

Qiao Xueying then noticed that their hands had unconsciously linked together, and she quickly pulled hers away in alarm.

Zu An didn't mind. Holding hands was to prevent them from being teleported to different places. But he wondered who had grabbed whose hand first just now.

“Oh? I didn’t expect you to actually break the Human Seal.” Mi Li’s voice came from beside them again. Her tone held a hint of excitement, as if she had finally glimpsed the dawn of freedom.

As soon as she finished speaking, the Human Seal array beneath their feet suddenly opened, and they both fell into the next level.

Noticing another almost identical seal array before them, Zu An knew this must be the Earth Seal.

“The Earth Seal should be harder than the Human Seal. Do you want to rest before entering?” Mi Li asked.

Zu An shook his head. “No need.” Chu Chuyan was waiting for him back there; he had to seize every moment.

Qiao Xueying shared the same thought. They both stepped onto the Earth Seal. Neither said anything, but their hands instinctively clasped together again.

A familiar sensation of weightlessness came over them. When they opened their eyes and saw the dim surroundings, they couldn't help but wonder, “Why are we still in the underground palace?”