The two of them poked their heads out to take a look, only to see a platoon of cavalrymen rapidly approaching in a furious charge. At the pace they were going, it would take them mere moments to arrive at their little trench.

From the ferocity of the cavalry charge, there was little doubt that the two of them would soon be turned into lifeless slabs of meat.

Zu An instinctively shone the flashlight toward the cavalrymen, but the cavalrymen quickly raised shields in front of themselves. He targeted their horses instead, only to be shocked once again to see that their horses’ eyes were covered in cloth.

He was utterly dumbfounded. What the hell? You’re terracotta soldiers, beings made out of mud! Where in the world did you get the cloth from?

In any case, he had to figure out a way to resolve the crisis confronting them.

An idea came to his mind. He activated Sunflower Phantasm and continuously executed the move ‘Pick’ from the Elementary Swordplay, digging out a small hole.

He was rather impressed by how simplistic the Elementary Swordplay of Brightmoon Academy really was. The idea of ‘pick’ was fully expressed in the movement, and his blade was tearing out chunks from the rock floor and throwing dirt aside with ease.

If the creator of the Elementary Swordplay were to learn that one of the inheritors of his technique was using it to dig a hole, he would probably be so mad that he would leap right out of his coffin.

Of course, that was none of Zu An’s concern right now. He was only glad that Poisonous Prick was incredibly sharp, which allowed him to dig these holes so efficiently.

Qiao Xueying was completely confused by Zu An’s actions. Is he intending on digging another hole to hide from this platoon of cavalrymen?

In the past, she would have shrugged off Zu An’s actions as those of a fool, but after everything they had gone through together, she decided to aid him as well. She gathered what little remained of her ki and placed her hand on the ground. Soon, vines shot out from the ground, creating circular holes.

As the cavalrymen drew ever closer, Zu An suddenly abandoned his work and pulled Qiao Xueying away with him, retreating from the area.

Qiao Xueying was perplexed. Isn’t it too late to run away right now? 

She was even more confused when Zu An stopped after barely running thirty meters.

He turned around to face the charging cavalrymen, dagger in hand, looking like a panther ready to pounce at any moment.

Qiao Xueying couldn’t make sense of anything at all. Is he really intending on facing these cavalrymen head-on? That’s suicide!

The next moment, however, her jaw fell to the floor in astonishment. The front row abruptly collapsed, the horses falling over in sudden alarm and crashing heavily into the ground. Since they were made of brittle ceramic material, they shattered into bits instantly.

The sudden collapse of the front rank created an unexpected obstacle for the cavalrymen behind them. In such a situation, the other cavalrymen should have drawn rein and tried to find another way around. Unfortunately, the momentum of their furious charge prevented them from coming to a halt. As a result, more and more tripped and fell over, decimating the ranks of the cavalry.

It was then that Zu An moved. He charged into the chaotic swarm of cavalrymen, ending the lives of those who had survived their falls, and assassinating those who were still on their steeds.

Ordinarily, the cavalrymen should still have held the advantage despite losing the momentum of their charge, since their position on horseback would make them harder to deal with. However, Zu An was equipped with the Magical Flashlight. He shone the light about, throwing the cavalrymen into a panic, and creating the best setting for Zu An’s Sunflower Phantasm to shine.

He weaved in and out of the ranks of cavalrymen with unpredictable movements, occasionally executing his Bixie Swordplay to lop off the heads of the terracotta soldiers.

After having fought with them for a while, he had already figured out where their weakness was—their heads!

In the time it took for an incense stick to burn through, over a hundred cavalrymen had been returned back to the dust. Half of them had died from stumbling over their own, and the other half had been dealt with by Zu An.

Is that fellow really a third rank cultivator?

As she watched Zu An flitting around the battlefield like an apparition, Qiao Xueying felt a chill run down her spine. Despite Zu An’s low cultivation rank, he looked more like an assassin than the most formidable assassin she had seen before. His attacks were simple and clean, devoid of any excess movement. Every strike was a lethal one.

Meanwhile, Zu An was gasping for air, having pushed himself up to his limit. He had managed to achieve a decent outcome, but it had taken almost everything out of him.

The remaining terracotta warriors finally regained their wits again. The archers in the back decided to resume their attack, even at the expense of shooting their own comrades. Another rain of arrows fell from the sky.

“Quick, hide in the trench!” Qiao Xueying pulled Zu An with her, afraid that he was too tired to move.

Unexpectedly, Zu An tossed a shield to her and said, “Why are you running? We’ve got shields now.”

Naturally, the best tool to deal with archers was shields. Zu An had only dug the shallow trench earlier out of desperation, but after defeating the cavalrymen, the battlefield was now littered with shields.

The two of them quickly set up a couple of shields in front of them to protect their bodies. The arrows rained down furiously around them, but they were totally unharmed.

Zu An made use of this opportunity to satisfy his curiosity. He asked Qiao Xueying, “We already acquired shields, but you still wanted to pull me into the trench. Be honest with me. Were you hoping that I would embrace you in there once more?”

“Embrace me? Go to hell!” Qiao Xueying kicked him, hard. Her face was completely red. It’s all this fellow’s fault! He always brings up the strangest things, throwing me off constantly. “Speaking of which, how did you make those cavalrymen fall over just by digging those round holes?”

Zu An waggled his finger and said, “That’s a secret too. Call me big brother, and I’ll tell you.”

Qiao Xueying gritted her teeth angrily. She took a look at the battlefield and counted several hundred terracotta soldiers. She was also severely injured right now. Given the current circumstances, it seemed unlikely that she would be able to live past this ordeal.

Not wanting to die ignorant, she succumbed to her curiosity and muttered almost inaudibly, “Big… bro… ther…”

Zu An almost fell over in shock.

He didn’t expect that Qiao Xueying would actually do as he said. Did the sun rise in the west today?

Seeing the look of utter shock that Zu An was directing toward her, Qiao Xueying’s face reddened. She glared back at him and said, “What are you looking at? I already did as you asked. Hurry up and tell me the answer!”

“What did you say? I didn’t hear it clearly,” said Zu An, a smile creeping across his lips.

“You’re toying with me?” Qiao Xueying flew into a state of rage.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for 398 Rage points!

“I really mean it!” Zu An said hurriedly. “I didn’t hear it clearly. Just do it once more, and I’ll give you the answer right away.”

Qiao Xueying bit her lip as her pride warred with her curiosity. In the end, she tilted her head sideways and murmured, “Big brother…”

“Ah, my good lil’ sister.” The gleeful smile on Zu An’s face enraged Qiao Xueying to no end. “All right, then. The theory is actually pretty simple. If you have ever lived on the plains before, you should be aware that grassland horses are afraid of rodent holes. They’re afraid of breaking their legs if they accidentally step into them. In order to avoid being affected by my flashlight, the terracotta soldiers covered the eyes of their horses, preventing them from seeing the holes on the ground. By doing so, however, they ended up courting their own death.

“As long as we could cause the first row to collapse, the remaining horses behind would suffer the same fate because of the speed of their charge, and the fact that the eyes of their horses were covered. As a result, they ended up tumbling over one another, falling like domino tiles.”

“You’ve lived on the plains before? How do you know these details?” Qiao Xueying was perplexed. Based on the intelligence she had received while undercover within the Chu clan, she was certain that Zu An couldn’t have been to the plains before.

Zu An shrugged arrogantly. “Don’t you know that your big brother is a knowledgeable man, well-versed in every field? Even without traveling out of the city, I still know what’s going on in the outside world!”

The internet in his previous life was filled with all sorts of weird trivia that one could never earn money off of. A true keyboard warrior would make sure to diligently absorb such trivia in order to utilize them in arguments, making them appear well-informed.

“Pui, shameless!” Qiao Xueying spat, a furious blush on her face. I must have been possessed to actually call this fellow big brother!

The rain of arrows quickly ceased after the terracotta soldiers saw that their hail of arrows were ineffective. The first row of foot soldiers began marching forward. They marched forward at a slow and steady pace, strictly keeping to their formation. The shields in their arms remained raised, in order to fend off the mysterious beam of light.

More trivia from online forums came to Zu An’s mind. Apparently, the best way to deal with foot soldiers was to strike at them from the sides or the rear, messing up their formations. Even cavalry would suffer heavy losses if they attacked a formation of foot soldiers head-on.

He looked at the steeds still lingering in the area. The cavalry charge had been decimated, but several horses were still milling about.

“We’ll ride the horses and circle around them.” 

Zu An quickly leaped on top of one of the horses before urging it forward. Even though these horses were made out of mud, they really felt no different from any other war horse. In fact, they looked even more valiant than the steeds that Zu An had seen in dramas.

“Hurry up!” he beckoned at Qiao Xueying, who was still standing around in a daze.

“Yes…” Qiao Xueying forced a smile. She struggled to walk over to a horse and mount it, but her body swayed unsteadily, and she fell to the ground.

Fortunately, Zu An had noticed that something was not right with her, and rushed over to catch her. “What’s wrong?”

To his astonishment, he felt a sticky wetness on his hand. He took a closer look, and realized that it was stained with blood. He quickly flipped her over and saw the shaft of an arrow protruding from her back. The wound had soaked her robe in blood.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you’re injured? You had the time to bicker with me, but you didn’t have the time to tell me something as important as this?” Zu An tore out a piece of cloth, applying a slight pressure on her wound to slow the bleeding.

Qiao Xueying opened her mouth to retort, but found that she was too weak to mutter a single word.

“Bear with it!” Zu An bellowed. He eyed the oncoming ranks of foot soldiers, still advancing steadily, and made a quick estimation of the time they had left. Then, he tore off the robe covering her back.

“W-what are you doing?!” alarmed by his sudden action, Qiao Xueying began to squirm.

“Stop moving! I’m helping you pull out the arrow, or else there’s no way we can stop the bleeding.” Zu An picked up a dagger from the ground and gently cut away a thin sliver of flesh around the arrow. Then, he pulled out the arrow lodged inside her.

“Ah!” Qiao Xueying’s convulsed as sweat poured out of her forehead.

Zu An quickly applied pressure on her wound with a piece of cloth and asked, “Where do you keep your medicine?”

He had used up his stock in the earlier battle, but he recalled that Qiao Xueying still had some on her.

“It’s inside my robe, but…” 

Before Qiao Xueying could finish, Zu An had already slipped his hand into her robe and was rummaging around for it.

“You!” Qiao Xueying raised her hand to slap him, but she was too frail to do anything.

“Stop grumbling! This is urgent! Besides, it’s not as if I’ve never touched you before,” said Zu An. 

He applied the medicine on the wound before quickly bandaging it up.

His words reminded Qiao Xueying of one of their first encounters in the Chu Estate, and her pale face slowly grew red. 

It’s a pity that this fellow is unable to…

As soon as this thought surfaced in her head, Qiao Xueying shuddered in horror. What in the world am I thinking about?!