“Why don’t you give it a guess?” There was a teasing edge to Mi Li’s guess.
“I don’t want to,” replied Zu An. Please, an auntie who already bore a child like you should stop acting cutesy here. Though, it was not as if he would really dare to say those words aloud.
“You’ll know once you save me,” said Mi Li. “Zhang Han has already claimed the upper ground there. It won’t be long before he returns. Are you sure you want to continue discussing this with me here?”
“Then you should at least tell me how I should release the Heaven, Earth, and Human Seal, no?” replied Zu An. Surely you should know that, right?
“Look ahead of you. You should see a passageway behind the altar. Walk to the end of it, and you’ll see a formation. As long as you stand on the formation, you’ll be able to trigger the Human Seal. If you can undo the Human Seal, the formation will automatically trigger the Earth Seal, and finally the Heaven Seal.
“I’m not sure what you’ll encounter in each seal, but if one thing is for sure, you’ll meet with great danger. There’s a good chance that you might end up losing your life. If you wish to back down, there’s still time for you to do so.”
Zu An shot a glance at Chu Chuyan and said, “Why would I regret saving a person I treasure?”
Redness crept onto Chu Chuyan’s fair complexion upon hearing those words. Too embarrassed to look him in the eye, she quickly averted her gaze. There were actually many things bottling in her heart that she wanted to voice out, but she suddenly found herself at a loss for words.
Meanwhile, Qiao Xueying alternated her gaze between Chu Chuyan and Zu An before sighing deeply in her heart.
Zu An grasped Chu Chuyan’s hand and said, “Honey, I’ll be undoing the seal now. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely find a way to rescue you. If I end up losing my life in there, you mustn’t marry another man, or else I won’t be able to rest in peace.”
“…” Qiao Xueying.
This fellow really is as hateful as ever.
Chu Chuyan was still moved by this touching scene a moment ago when the mood suddenly shattered under Zu An’s remark. “I would die too if you lose your life inside. How would I be able to marry another man?”
“But what if some powerful sword immortal or something descends from the sky and saves you from Zhang Han’s grasp? I mean, that’s how it’s always written in books!”
Chu Chuyan’s face immediately turned scarlet red. “You saw my book that day!”
He lied to me saying that he saw nothing at all! Just thinking about how that embarrassing book title was seen by another person made her feel so ashamed that she wanted to dig hole and bury herself in.
Zu An burst into laughter before walking toward the passageway where the Human Seal was. As he walked away, he raised his hand and waved it as an expression of farewell to her.
“Ah Zu!” Chu Chuyan suddenly called out.
Delighted, Zu An turned around, expecting to hear words like ‘I’ll surely wait for you to come back. If you don’t, I’ll live my life as a widow’. Ah, looks like my sacrifice wasn’t in vain after all.
Unexpectedly, things didn’t proceed in the direction he expected.
“Ah Zu, if you dare die in there, I’ll immediately marry another man!” shouted Chu Chuyan.
Qiao Xueying was flabbergasted. What’s wrong with the young miss?
Then, Chu Chuyan quickly added, “So, you must come back alive!”
Zu An was initially feeling a little stifled by those words, but upon hearing her change in tone, his mood cleared up, and he replied heartily, “Roger that!”
Qiao Xueying bit her lips. Damn it, the young miss has been led astray by that fellow!
Zu An slowly headed deeper into the passageway. Unlike the underground passageway he passed by earlier, this passageway was clearly much more exquisite. Be it the floor or the walls by the side, they were all elaborately carved into beautiful artworks.
There were all kinds of animal sculptures placed by the sides of the passageway. Taking a brief look, Zu An could see pairs of leaping horses, crouching tigers, proning elephants, wild boars, stonefishes, bears, lions, panthers, camels, qilins, and so on. There were also some animals which he didn’t recognize, and he wondered if they were mythological beasts or creatures unique to this world.
Every few meters, he would see a copper maid sculpture gilded in gold. The sculpture was sitting in a kneeling position, holding up a lantern. Its posture was elegant, resembling the sculpture of ‘Changxin’s Palace Lantern’ he had seen in a museum in his previous life.
After advancing for around a hundred meters, he finally came to a halt outside a stone chamber. He noticed that the stone chamber had an incredibly elaborate formation constructed around it, and at the very center of the intricate patterns was the character, human (人).
This was likely to be the Human Seal he had heard about from Mi Li. He was just about to activate it using the method he had just learned from her when he suddenly heard footsteps. He turned around, only to see a willowy woman standing right behind him.
“Hm? What are you doing here?”
The willowy woman was no other than Qiao Xueying.
“It’s meaningless for me to remain by the young miss’ side. Since I can’t release her from the black rope or protect her from the black-armored general, I might as well come with you and see if I can be of any help. Besides, I doubt that a third rank cultivator like you to break the seal all by yourself,” replied Qiao Xueying.
“I sure do wonder why the world put a decent-looking face on you, only to ruin it with a vile mouth,” retorted Zu An.
Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes. “The same goes for you too.”
Despite their bickering, Zu An was still glad to have another person’s help. An additional pair of helping hands meant a higher chance of breaking the seals.
QIao Xueying took out a couple of recovery medicine and ki pills and swallowed them. She hesitated for a moment before passing a set to Zu An too. “Do you need it?”
Despite the differences they had, they were somewhat standing on the same front right now. It was only right for her to share her resources with him too.
Zu An shook his head. He felt that he was in the perfect state at the moment. If he really recovered from his injuries, the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra would lose its effects right away.
“Forget it then,” replied Qiao Xueying with a pout. She thought that Zu An was throwing a tantrum with her, so she decided to ignore him too.
The two of them walked to the corner of the formation. Zu An stretched his hand over and said, “Give me your hand.”
“What?” Qiao Xueying was perplexed as to what Zu An was up to, but she still handed her hand over obediently.
Unexpectedly, she found her hand being grasped by a warm and firm grip right after. She immediately frowned at the abrupt physical contact. She was just about to blow her top when Zu An explained his action, “Mi Li mentioned earlier that we’ll be teleported into another space once we trigger the seal. We should keep our hands together so as to avoid getting teleported into different locations.”
He wasn’t certain how this teleportation formation worked, after all. He had played plenty of games in his previous life to know that there was something called ‘random teleportation’. If they were to be teleported into different locations, it could pose a great deal of trouble trying to meet up with one another.
“Are you sure you aren’t just trying to take advantage of me?” Qiao Xueying eyed their linked hands with a look of skepticism on her face. She wasn’t used to being in physical contact with other men, let alone this hateful fellow.
“You’re doubting that I’d take advantage of you?” scoffed Zu An. “Please! My wife is the number one beauty of Brightmoon City! Do you think that I would choose a washboard without breasts and bum like you over her?”
“Who are you saying is a washboard?” bellowed Qiao Xueying with gritted teeth. To think that my perception of him actually improved a little earlier on. Tsk! Looks like a leopard can’t change its spots. He’s still as hateful as ever!
You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +468 Rage!
She lowered her head to look at her own breasts. Fine, it’s not very big, but it isn’t small either! Besides, you’re saying that my bum is small? You must be blind!
Just thinking about this matter was enough to make blood surge into her head. She was just about to blow up once more when Zu An pulled her into the middle of the formation. There was a mysterious outburst of light, and their visions suddenly blurred. For a moment, there was a sudden feeling of weightlessness, as if they had fallen into a hole.
By the time they snapped out of it, they realized that their surroundings had brightened up. They were no longer in the dingy underground palace but a grand city. There were towering city walls and grand city gates right before their eyes, emanating an air of ancient majesty.
“Holy shit, how in the world is it this big?!” exclaimed Zu An.
Qiao Xueying’s face reddened.
This pervert. Staring at a person’s breasts. Hm? Wait a moment, how could there be a big-breasted woman inside the seal?
She quickly raised her head to take a look, but there was no one in her line of sight aside from Zu An. It was then that she noticed that he was looking at the sky, so she quickly followed his line of sight, only to freeze up in the next moment.
Right before the city gates stood twelve humongous copper giants gleaming with a golden light. They stood in two rows before the city gates, facing one another. They were already ten meters tall in a sitting position, and their feet looked to be at least two meters long. Their very presence felt incredibly intimidating.
Qiao Xueying subconsciously leaned a little closer to Zu An before her heart would calm down a little. “How do we break this seal?”
Zu An pondered for a moment before replying, “Since it’s called the Human Seal, it should be safe to assume that it has something to do with humans. I don’t see any signs of humans in the surroundings surroundings though… Do we have to enter the city in order to trigger the event?”
Qiao Xueying contemplated for a moment before nodding in agreement. “Let’s enter the city to take a look then.”
Judging from the tremendous height and span of the city walls, they could already imagine just how prosperous the city would be.
However, when they finally walked up to the city gates, they realized that they couldn’t open it no matter how they pushed.
One must know that Zu An’s strength was at least half a ton now, which should have been more than enough to open this city gate. Yet, despite the two of them exerting their forces in unison, the city gate wasn’t budging at all. They tried knocking too, but there was no response.
“Let me try flipping over the city wall to take a look.”
Qiao Xueying took several steps back before running forward and leaping upward toward the top of the city wall.
While fifth rank cultivators were still incapable of flight, they could easily cover great distances with their leaps, reminiscent of the qinggong[1] often seen in wuxia novels. Considering how she had even built up some momentum before her leap, she should have been able to easily get to the top of the city wall.
Yet, to her surprise, she realized that she was only able to reach half of the height of the city wall even at the highest point of her leap.
So, she tapped her foot on the side of the city wall to make a second leap. At the same time, a vine shot forth from her sleeves to head for the top of the city walls.
But to her astonishment, the city walls suddenly grew even taller, resulting in her constantly being stuck at the halfway point of the city walls no matter how high she tried to climb.
In the end, she could only give up and leap back down. “There’s something amiss about this city wall.”
Zu An had also witnessed the shocking sight earlier, so he understood what she was referring to. He took a moment to think things through before suggesting, “Should we try ramming the city gate down?”
With their combined strength, they should be able to exert a force comparable to those ancient battering rams commonly used for fortress sieges.
“Shoo, I’ll do it!”
After her earlier failure, Qiao Xueying was anxious to restore her reputation before Zu An. Her hair began to flutter along with the wind, growing longer and longer before abruptly darting toward the city gates.
Zu An had personally tasted the prowess of her ‘hair whips’ before. It was powerful enough to even tear apart the walls of his residence as if they were made of paper. Given her prowess, it should be more than enough to smash a hole into the city gate.
But unexpectedly, when her hair finally rammed onto the city gates, a resounding ‘bam’ echoed, but the city gates still wasn’t budging at all..
“Hm?” Qiao Xueying was stunned.
Unwilling to accept the outcome, she wanted to give it another try, only to be stopped by Zu An. “Stop. Look behind you.”
Qiao Xueying quickly turned around, only for goosebumps to rise all over her arms. The twelve copper giants who were standing in two rows facing one another earlier had all turned their gazes toward them.
These copper giants started rising to their feet, their height growing to over twenty meters in height. With huge strides, they began making their way toward the two of them.
The ground shuddered under their heavy footsteps, as if an earthquake was currently rattling the earth. Zu An gulped fearfully as he remarked, “Bloody hell… Are copper giants considered ‘humans’ too?”
1. A terminology used in wuxia novels to refer to superhuman movement skills
