He brandished his long spear as he stalked forward one step after another, closing in on Pei Mianman. “Be careful!” cried out anxiously.

The impact had left him struggling for breath, and there was no way for him to help her even if he wanted to.

However, Pei Mianman didn’t panic. She weaved to and fro, leaning backwards and avoiding her opponent’s vicious attack. Her movements were extremely graceful, as though she were performing a beautiful dance instead of fighting a battle where her life was on the line.

Zu An felt immensely relieved for her. He wasn’t that concerned about Pei Mianman’s flexibility. Instead, his mind was on her voluptuous chest. It was easy enough for the rest of her to avoid the deadly spear, but if she was stabbed in the chest, she would surely die.

Fortunately, she had accounted for that as well. She bent backwards, almost touching the ground, and the spear passed barely half an inch above her.

Zu An let out the breath he was holding. He belatedly realized that she was clearly used to her own body. She’d grown into it, and had been fighting for many years with it, which meant that she was in tune with what it could and couldn’t do. There was no need for him to be worried for her at all, at least not about this.

However, what he saw next made his heart race with anxiety once again. Having missed his first blow, General Ya Zhang immediately slashed his spear back towards her. Pei Mianman had leaned so far backwards that she was practically parallel to the ground, and there was no way for her to avoid it.

He was just about to rush forward to help when he saw Pei Mianman reach out her hand. She tapped it lightly against the spear, and she somehow managed to regain her balance. She pivoted about on her toes, her body bending like a willow branch, bending and weaving around the spear as it moved.

Ya Zhang swung his spear about, but it seemed there was no way for him to injure her. On the contrary, he seemed to be at a bit of a disadvantage. He wasn’t able to bring the powerful strength of his spear to bear.

“Entangling Feathersilk Art!” Zu An immediately recognized this movement technique. This was a close-quarters technique that she had taught him previously, and she was a skilled proponent of it. He had no idea that it could be used like this.

Again, it belatedly struck him that Pei Mianman wasn’t the delicate sort of girl that needed protection. Rather, she was a rare cultivation genius. It was only because of this dungeon, and all the unknown things within it, that she was left rather shaken. Thanks to the strange snakes, ghosts, and other oddities that had popped up one after another, she had only been able to display fifty to sixty percent of her abilities. Her compromised state was why she had been in danger several times, and he had to step in to save her.

She had finally managed to recover her usual air of dangerous seduction, perhaps because she had gotten used to her surroundings, or because something had happened while she passed through the barrier that had sealed the entrance to this tomb. Despite facing someone who was clearly far stronger than her, she didn’t seem at all as though she was at a disadvantage.

Zu An didn’t waste time admiring this. With Pei Mianman occupying General Ya Zhang’s spear, he took the opportunity to thrust his Tai’e Sword at the general’s skull.

The water buffalo had recovered by now. With a loud bellow, it ran over to help its master again.

Zu An was prepared for this. He took out a pair of red underpants from his Brilliant Glass Bead and waved it in front of the onrushing bull.

Ever since he’d obtained the wonderful spatial artifact that was the Brilliant Glass Bead, Zu An had filled it up with all manner of things. Aside from several treasures, he also kept all sorts of daily necessities within it.

As for the red underpants, it wasn’t because he had a weird fetish or thought it was a lucky color. He had underpants of all colors inside it—orange, red, blue, purple, green…  Wait, no… No green underpants.

The bull’s eyes immediately became bloodshot when it saw red, and charged straight at the pair of underpants.

Zu An tossed the red underpants at the wall, and the bull followed after it, ramming straight into the wall.

With a loud boom, the bull smashed its head into the wall, sending large chunks of debris tumbling down.

The walls of this tomb weren't made of normal dirt. They were special, made of dirt that had been compressed through repeated hammering, and then mixed with glutinous rice, tung oil, and other adhesive materials. It was so tough that regular blades would have been unable to leave a mark.

Despite this, a part of it was still shattered by the bull’s charge. It was easy to imagine just how powerful it was.

Of course, there was no way the bull would be unaffected. It was left dizzy and confused. Its horns were embedded deep into the wall, and no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t free itself. It would take a while before it was able to rejoin the fray.

Excitement shimmered in Zu An’s eyes. This was the opening he needed to pierce General Ya Zhang’s skull. However, a bronze hand suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his lethal strike.

There was a loud clunk, and he felt a tremendous force travel up the body of his sword, almost knocking it right out of his hands. The bronze hand shot towards him again.

In a panic, Zu An brought the longsword in front of his chest to block the blow, but even so, he was unable to completely ward off this attack, and the hand struck his chest. If it had been anyone else with his cultivation level, they would have been knocked out right away.

Pei Mianman was finally unable to handle the attacks from the general’s spear, and was flung to the side.

Both of them were breathing heavily, having exhausted quite a bit of energy during that brief exchange.

“Big sis empress, I’m really going to die if you don’t help us!” Zu An cried out in despair. There was no way he could beat this general. In the face of absolute strength, all his techniques and strategies were meaningless.

He could tell that General Ya Zhang was at least at the ninth rank, but his cultivation could easily surpass the master rank. The difference between the two of them was so great that he couldn’t properly gauge it.

Fortunately, Mi Li wasn’t feigning sleep. Instead, she replied calmly, “It’s not as though you have no way of dealing with him yourself. Why are you asking me?”

Zu An was stunned. “I do?”

Mi Li said, “The second level of the Primordial Origin Sutra can ward away evil. It is the bane of the undead! Isn’t that what you used to purify the twenty thousand departed spirits previously?”

Zu An stared blankly.

Mi Li’s expression grew a little strange when she saw his reaction. “Don’t tell me… you don’t remember?”

Now that he’d been reminded of it, Zu An finally remembered. He couldn’t help but scowl. “I really did forget.”

Sometimes, knowing too many things wasn’t necessarily a good thing. It was easy to forget his techniques.

If he had remembered, he wouldn’t have been in so much danger on that staircase! He could have completely destroyed them!

Then again, those were all Jiangjiang’s clansmen. If she’d found out that their spirits had been extinguished, their conversation might not have gone so smoothly.

He wondered if the Primordial Origin Sutra could deal with the Guman Tong as well…

I guess I managed to make it this far because of those mistakes, though.

Even though he tried to console himself in this fashion, Zu An was still rather sullen. “Why didn’t you remind me about this earlier?”

Mi Li smirked. “You were constantly relying on the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, so I thought you were intent on training yourself while being close to the brink of death. Besides, you seem to constantly want to fashion dangerous situations in order to steal the heart of that big-boobed sis. Either way, you got through all of this more scared than hurt, so why would I stop you?”

Zu An could not believe what he was hearing.

Do you think I’m that shameless? I would rely on my own charms if I ever wanted to steal a girl’s heart, okay?!

“Ah Zu, be careful!”

Pei Mianman’s cry brought him out of his reverie. General Ya Zhang’s spear was flying towards Zu An. The general was clearly upset by how his beloved cow had been deceived and bullied.

Zu An began to draw upon his Primordial Origin Sutra, applying the primordial ki to his Tai’e Sword. At the same time, he began to mutter to himself, “Return to dust, this is not your home, cease…”

Before he could finish his incantation, General Ya Zhang stopped, holding out a hand to forestall him. “Wait, we can talk this out! Let's make a deal!”

Even though his voice was cryptic and hard to understand, Zu An could just about make out what he was saying.

Zu An was surprised. This fellow was actually still intelligent! He was similar to that girl outside. “What kind of deal?”

General Ya Zhang wiped a hand across his forehead when he saw Zu An stop, as if he was wiping away his sweat. Then again, how could he sweat in his current condition? “I know that you might possess a way of harming me, so there is no need to continue fighting. I can bring you to the trial left behind by the Shang monarchs.”