As soon the evil spirits sensed the presence of the Tai’e Sword, all of them backed away in fright. It almost looked as though a bunch of ravenous people had run to the dining table, eager to tuck into their food, only to find a plate of shit under the metal lids that covered their meals… 

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 strengthened his courage. He immediately rushed forward and stabbed the Tai’e Sword into one of the slower evil spirits.

Although they were called ‘evil spirits’, they had corporeal bodies, and were equipped with armor as well. Their equipment seemed to be what they were wearing prior to their death, and this was why the formation of the terracotta soldiers had collapsed so quickly.

Despite this, their defenses seemed utterly useless when confronted with the Tai’e Sword. Zu An was able to slice through their armor and their bodies as easily as a burning iron brand slicing through an ice cube.

*Puchi!*

The evil spirit shrieked in horror as it was stabbed, and its body suddenly dissolved into specks of blue light. Part of it was absorbed into the Tai’e Sword, and the remaining part of it, which contained a sliver of primordial ki, was absorbed by Zu An, healing his wounds.

Zu An finally understood what Mi Li meant when she said that this wouldn’t take long. Most of these evil spirits were as strong as him, and those who held leadership positions were even more powerful. Yet, no matter how powerful these evil spirits were, Zu An was able to curb them all with a single slash.

It didn’t feel like a massacre. Instead, it felt more like the balloon-popping game he’d played once in his childhood. Any evil spirit that came into the slightest contact with his sword would immediately dissipate.

Chu Chuyan was planning to step in to lend a helping hand, but she realized that any help she offered would be excessive. It was as if Zu An was the true evil spirit haunting them!

At first, it seemed that more evil spirits were rushing to escape from the lake. When faced with Zu An’s frightening prowess, though, they ended up leaping back into the lake to seek refuge.

A large group of evil spirits lurked within the lake, not daring to leave it. However, they were clearly not willing to be sealed away again, leaving the two sides in a strange stalemate.

Zu An found himself in a dilemma. 

I’ve only killed a hundred evil spirits or so thus far. Do you all need to be so afraid of me? Aren’t you supposed to be vengeful spirits overflowing with malice, elites of the Qin Dynasty? Don’t you find it embarrassing, hiding away like cowards?

Zu An gestured towards them with his hands, taunting them. “Why don’t you come out, if you dare?”

The evil spirits paid no attention to his brash challenge. 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 water was clearly disadvantageous to him, especially since it would greatly slow the movements of the Tai’e Sword.

“What do we do now?” asked Zu An.

Mi Li replied with a snort. “Aren’t you good at provoking others? Why don’t you use that specialty of yours to lure them out?”

Zu An resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“I might be good at provoking others, but I don’t know if that skill works on ghosts. Those fellows know that they’ll die if they come up. No matter how dumb they are, there’s no way they would 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 nonchalantly Mi Li was treating all this, as though she was leisurely watching a soap opera. Irritated by this, he tossed the Tai’e Sword away then turned to address 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 grew rather agitated. Zu An’s attitude was simply too haughty, as though he was truly asking for a beating.

“Are you going to continue to hole up in there, even after 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 had drawn a reaction, Zu An decided to push a little harder. “No wonder the Qin Dynasty was brought down so easily. With soldiers like you, 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 points!

Although she had been sealed awa 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 taunting, but the evil spirits had had enough. With furious howls, they flowed out of the lake and pounced on him.

“Ah Zu!” cried Chu Chuyan in astonishment.

She immediately ran over to help him. After the previous session of recovery, she’d managed to repair her ki meridians and advance her cultivation by a rank, rising up to the pinnacle of the sixth rank.

Had her injuries not been so severe that a portion of the medicinal properties of the Evanescent Lotus had been devoted toward preserving her life, she would have already made a breakthrough to the seventh rank by now.

For someone below twenty to be nearing the seventh rank 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, and could only look on anxiously.

Chu Chuyan was lightning quick, and it took her mere moments to close the distance between her and Zu An. By then, however, he had already been overwhelmed by evil spirits.

The prowess displayed by the evil spirits would have been more than enough to kill Zu An several times over.

“Ah Zu!”

Although Chu Chuyan still wasn’t accustomed to their current relationship, she couldn’t remain calm when he was in such danger. She quickly froze all the evil spirits in her way and rushed to Zu An’s side.

A sudden explosion shook the area, swiftly dissipating all the evil spirits which were approaching Zu An.

Zu An emerged from the swarm of evil spirits, easily keeping them at bay with just his fists and feet.

Chu Chuyan was stunned. When did Zu An become so formidable?

She could tell that these evil spirits were mostly at the early stages of the third rank, but several of them were at the fourth and fifth ranks as well. Admittedly, they weren’t very strong compared to Zhang Han and Mi Li, but they held a huge numerical advantage. On top of that, they were well-versed in offensive group tactics, possibly because they were from the army in their previous life. 

Strangely, though, Zu An seemed to be defeating them rather easily.

Meanwhile, Zu An was exhilarated that he could dish out such a beating to the evil spirits. He felt like an adult marching into a kindergarten to terrorize a bunch of kids. These evil spirits were extremely vulnerable to purification from the primordial ki, so he wrapped his body in a layer of primordial ki to ensure that not a single evil spirit could get close to him.

The evil spirits seemed to prefer attacking the stronger Chu Chuyan, instead of lingering around Zu An.

“How dare you bully my wife!” bellowed Zu An as he rushed over.

Chu Chuyan’s face reddened. Even though these evil spirits possessed hardly any sentience at all, she still felt embarrassed being addressed in such a way in public.

The evil spirits were infuriated too. Are you done or not?

The commanders within the ranks of the evil spirits began to take charge, and the army of evil spirits swiftly changed strategies. Instead of fighting him in close-quarters combat, they used their weapons to attack him from afar.

This put Zu An in a great deal of trouble. His hands and feet had a limited reach, after all. While his attacks, which were infused with primordial ki, were able to smash through their weapons with ease, every evil spirit he dealt with was quickly replaced by another.

It took Zu An a while to realize that he was overexerting himself. It took far too much effort to kill an evil spirit, and any primordial ki he gained from defeating it was not enough to buffer against the drain on his stamina.

Left with no choice, Zu An could only raise his hand and cry out, “Come, my sword!”

This time, surprisingly, the Tai’e Sword immediately rushed into his hand.

“Big sis empress, you’re unexpectedly obedient,” remarked Zu An. He felt incredibly satisfied by how he was able to coolly summon his sword, just as it was portrayed in dramas and movies.

“Keep prattling on and I’ll sever your tongue. It will have no effect on me, as long as I keep you alive,” replied Mi Li sharply.

Zu An immediately shut up.

This woman’s temper is really horrible.

Zu An vented his anger on the evil spirits instead, popping them like balloons once again. It took only a few moments for him to slaughter all the evil spirits that had risen from the lake. Even those that had gone after Chu Chuyan ended up being destroyed as well.

The remaining spirits quickly darted back into the lake to hide.

“Why are you running away again? Let’s continue the fight!” said Zu An in displeasure.

You have successfully trolled the Evil Spirit Warriors for 6… 6… 6… 

Zu An noticed that their eyes were burning with anger as they eyed his Tai’e Sword intently, and let out a sheepish laugh. He threw the sword into the cliff face and said, “Ah, I got too engrossed in the fight. Don’t worry, I promise you that I won’t use my sword this time around.”

With the help of his glib tongue, he successfully lured the evil spirits out once more. Of course, these evil spirits swiftly fell to the Tai’e Sword without much resistance.

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 just can’t help my instincts. Don’t worry, I’ll throw my sword even further away 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, no matter how Zu An tried to cajole 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. It was a rare sight to see the three women on the same side of anything.

Zu An was not impressed by this.

“What should we do, then? Even if they were willing to come at me, it would take forever for me to purify them one by one,” said Zu An. 

Besides, I’ve already duped them twice. There’s no way they could possibly fall for it once more.

“Go and grab the helmet and spear over there,’ said Mi Li moving the Tai’e Sword to point in a specific direction.

Zu An quickly rushed over and picked up the fallen helmet and spear by the wall. It took him a while before realization finally struck. “These belonged to Zhang Han!”

He immediately realized what Mi Li was up to, and he brought those two items right up to the edge of the lake. 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. I’m sure some of you have seen me before.”

Chaos immediately broke out in the ranks of the evil spirits. While few of them had seen Mi Li in person, they were able to recognize the garments she wore—a black phoenix robe embroidered with the unique patterns of the imperial family.

However, even though they recognized her, not a single one of them knelt down to pay their respects to her. Instead, they directed confused and wary looks at her.