Translator: Pika
As soon the evil spirits sensed the presence of the Tai’e Sword, all of them backed away in fright. It looked almost as if a bunch of ravenous folks had run to the dining table, awaiting to dine into their food, only to find a plate of shit under the metal lid...
Zu An wasn’t too sure what was going on, but seeing all of those evil spirits fleeing as if they had seen a ghost bulked up his courage. He immediately rushed forth and stabbed the Tai’e Sword into one of the slower evil spirits.
Despite being termed as ‘evil spirits’, they had corporeal bodies and were equipped in armor too. It seemed to be the equipment they wore prior to their death, and it was due to it that the formation of the terracotta soldiers ended up collapsing so quickly.
However, their defense seemed to be useless before the Tai’e Sword. Zu An was able to slice through their armor and body as easily as a burning iron brand slicing through an ice cube.
Puchi!
The evil spirit shrieked in horror upon being stabbed before its body suddenly dissipated into specks of blue light. Part of it was absorbed into the Tai’e Sword whereas the remaining part that harnessed a sliver of primordial ki was absorbed by Zu An to heal his wounds.
Zu An finally understood what Mi Li meant by ‘it won’t take long’. Most of these evil spirits were as strong as him, and those in commanding positions were even more powerful. Yet, regardless of how powerful these evil spirits were, Zu An was able to curb them with a slash each.
Rather than a massacre, it felt more like the balloon popping game he played once in his childhood. Any evil spirit that came into the slightest contact of his sword would immediately dissipate.
Chu Chuyan was planning to step forward to lend a helping hand, but she realized that any help she offered would only be excessive. It was as if Zu An was the evil spirit haunting them here!
Initially, the evil spirits were still rushing to escape from the lake, but under Zu An’s frightening prowess, they ended up leaping back into the lake to seek refuge.
A huge bunch of evil spirits ended up gathering in the lake, not daring to come up. However, it was apparent that they weren’t willing to get sealed again, so it resulted in a standstill.
Zu An was put on a spot.
I’ve only killed a hundred evil spirits or so thus far. Do you need to be so afraid? Aren’t you supposed to be vengeful spirits overflowing with malice, elites of the Qin Dynasty? Don’t you find it embarrassing to be hiding like cowards?
Zu An provoked them with his hands and taunted, “Why don’t you come up if you dare?”
But those evil spirits simply turned a blind eye to him. Do you take us for fools? Why don’t you come down here instead?
Needless to say, Zu An wouldn’t be so foolish as to leap into the lake. He knew how to swim, but fighting in the water was clearly disadvantageous to him, especially since the movements of the Tai’e Sword would be greatly slowed.
“What do we do now?” asked Zu An.
Mi Li harrumphed in response, “Aren’t you good at provoking others? Why don’t you use your advantage to lure them out?”
“...” Zu An.
“I might be good at provoking others, but I don’t know if it’ll work on ghosts. Those fellows know that they’ll die if they come up. No matter how dumb they are, they wouldn’t fall for my tricks,” replied Zu An.
“Try harder then. I believe in you,” replied Mi Li teasingly.
Zu An was a little annoyed at how Mi Li was nonchalantly looking at all of this, as if she was watching a soap opera. Irritated, he tossed the Tai’e Sword away before turning to the evil spirits underwater, bellowing, “Fine, I won’t use my sword. I’ll beat the crap out of you guys with my bare fists!”
Those evil spirits were stirred by what he had said. Zu An’s attitude was simply too haughty that it really was asking for a beating.
“Are you going to continue hole yourself up when I’ve already abandoned my sword? Tsk, what a bunch of scaredy cats. I heard that you’re supposed to be elites of the Great Qin Dynasty? How embarrassing!”
You have successfully trolled the Evil Spirit Warriors for +6 +6 +6...
Seeing that his taunts were indeed affecting them, Zu An decided to push a bit harder, “It’s no wonder why the Qin Dynasty was brought down so easily. With soldiers like you all, how could the Qin Dynasty possibly not fall?”
You have successfully trolled the Evil Spirit Warriors for +9 +9 +9...
You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +233 Rage!
While she was suppressed here by Ying Zheng, she was still the empress of the Qin Dynasty. It was infuriating to hear another person making light of the Qin Dynasty in such a manner.
Zu An was about to continue his taunt, but the evil spirits couldn’t take it anymore. With furious howls, they rushed out and pounced on him.
“Ah Zu!” cried Chu Chuyan in astonishment.
She immediately ran over to help him. After the previous recovery, she managed to repair her ki meridians and advance her cultivation by a rank, rising up to pinnacle sixth rank.
Had it not been for her injuries being too severe, such that a portion of the medicinal properties of the Evanescent Lotus was devoted toward preserving her life, she should have already made a breakthrough to the seventh rank by now.
For someone who wasn’t even twenty years of age to be nearing the seventh rank, this was definitely a remarkable feat even considering all of the prodigies in the history of the Zhou Dynasty.
As for Qiao Xueying, she was simply too injured to make any move, so she could only get anxious by the side.
Chu Chuyan moved as swiftly as lightning, and it took only a moment for her to reach Zu An’s vicinity. However, the latter’s body was already swamped by evil spirits by then.
The prowess displayed by the evil spirits was more than enough to kill Zu An several times over.
“Ah Zu!”
While Chu Chuyan still wasn’t accustomed to their current relationship yet, she couldn’t remain calm when he was in such deep danger. She quickly froze all of the evil spirits in her way and rushed over to Zu An’s side.
But all of a sudden, an explosion suddenly occurred, dissipating all of the evil spirits approaching Zu An at a furious pace.
Zu An emerged from the crowds of evil spirits, keeping them at bay easily with just his fists and kicks.
Chu Chuyan was stunned. When did Zu An become so formidable?
She could tell that these evil spirits were mostly at early third rank, but there were fourth rank and fifth rank cultivators mixed amongst them too. Admittedly, they weren’t very strong compared to Zhang Han and Mi Li, but they had a huge numerical advantage here. On top of that, they were well-versed with collaborative offense, possibly because they were from the army in their previous life.
Yet, they were being defeated by Zu An so easily?
Meanwhile, Zu An was feeling extremely exhilarated from bullying the evil spirits. He felt like an adult marching into a kindergarten to tyrannize a bunch of kids. These evil spirits were extremely vulnerable to the purification from the primordial ki, so he wrapped his primordial ki all over his body to ensure that not a single evil spirit could get close to him.
The evil spirits would rather attack the stronger Chu Chuyan than linger in Zu An’s vicinity.
“How dare you bully my wife!” bellowed Zu An as he rushed over.
Chu Chuyan’s face reddened upon hearing those words. While these evil spirits possessed hardly any sentience at all, she still felt embarrassed being called as such in public.
The evil spirits were infuriated too. Are you done or not?
So, the leaders of the evil spirits began taking charge, and the evil spirits swiftly changed strategies. Instead of fighting him in close-quarter combat, they used their weapons to attack him from afar.
This put Zu An in a great deal of trouble. There was only so far his hands and legs could reach after all. While his attacks infused with primordial ki were able to smash through those weapons with ease, the problem was that another evil spirit would fill its place right away.
A while later, Zu An realized that he was exerting himself too much. It took him far too much effort to kill an evil spirit, such that any primordial ki he gained from it wouldn’t be enough to make up for the loss in stamina.
Left with no choice, Zu An could only raise his hand and shout out, “Come, my sword!”
Surprisingly, the Tai’e Sword immediately rushed into his hand this time around.
“Big sis empress, you’re unexpectedly obedient,” remarked Zu An. He felt incredibly satisfied by how he was able to coolly summon his sword like how it was portrayed in the dramas and movies.
“Prattle on and I’ll sever your tongue. It doesn’t affect me anyway as long as I keep you alive,” replied Mi Li sharply.
“...” Zu An.
This woman’s temper is really horrible.
Zu An vented his wrath on the evil spirits, popping them off like balloons once again. It took only a few moments for him to slaughter all of the evil spirits that had risen from the lake. Even those that had gone for Chu Chuyan ended up being destroyed too.
The rest quickly darted back into the lake to hide.
“Why are you running off again? Let’s continue the fight!” said Zu An in displeasure.
You have successfully trolled the Evil Spirit Warriors for +6 +6 +6...
Noticing that they were eyeing his Tai’e Sword intently with anger in their eyes, Zu An laughed sheepishly. He tossed the sword into the cliff face and said, “Ah, I got too engrossed in the fight earlier. Don’t worry, I promise you that I won’t use my sword this time around.”
By working his talentedly glib tongue once more, he successfully lured the evil spirits once more. Of course, these evil spirits eventually fell to the Tai’e Sword without putting much of a fight afterward.
You have successfully trolled the Evil Spirit Warriors for +9 +9 +9...
Zu An scratched his head awkwardly and laughed, “Hahaha, this is the last time, really. I can’t help my instincts. Don’t worry, I’ll throw my sword even further this time around so you don’t have to worry about me using it anymore.”
You have successfully trolled the Evil Spirit Warriors for +9 +9 +9...
Like hell we’ll believe you! You’re even nastier than evil spirits like us!
This time around, no matter how Zu An tried to bait and threaten them, the evil spirits simply refused to leave the lake. Left with no choice, he summoned the Tai’e Sword back and asked, “Big sis empress, they aren’t coming out at all. What should we do?”
Mi Li sighed deeply and said, “They must have been appalled by how shameless you are.”
Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying nodded in agreement too. It was a rare sight to see the three women standing on the same front.
“...” Zu An.
“What should we do now then? Even if they are willing to come at me, there’s no end to them if I continue purifying them one by one at this rate,” said Zu An.
Not to mention, I’ve already duped them twice, so how could they possibly fall for it once more.
“Go and grab the helmet and spear over there,’ said Mi Li as she pointed the Tai’e Sword in a certain direction.
Zu An quickly rushed over there and picked up the fallen helmet and spear by the wall. It took him a while before realization finally struck. “It’s Zhang Han’s items!”
He immediately realized what Mi Li was up to, and he brought those two items right by the lake. It was then that Mi Li’s silhouette rose from the Tai’e Sword, emanating an imposing air worthy of a true empress.
“I am the empress of the Qin Dynasty, Mi Li. Some of you should have seen me before.”
Chaos immediately broke out amidst the evil spirits. While few of them had seen Mi Li in person, they were able to recognize the black phoenix robe embroidered with the unique patterns of the imperial family she wore.
However, even though everyone recognized her, not a single person kneeled down to pay respect to her. Instead, they directed confused and wary looks at her.
😉