CHAPTER 169: CHAPTER 169 BATTLE OF THE BRONZE GUARD

At the entrance of the palace, the statue guardian on the right, as its head turned, emitted a heavy creaking sound, shaking off a layer of dust from its head.

Then, the feet clad in bronze battle boots suddenly stepped forward, brandishing a spear, thrusting straight at Han He.

Simultaneously, the statue on the left was also triggered, showing the same reaction, waving its spear and charging towards Qi Yuanming, the sharp spear aimed directly at Qi Yuanming’s chest.

Facing such a sudden attack, witnessing that the statues could indeed move, the expressions of Han He and the other person changed, involuntarily giving Xuu Yi a glance of newfound respect.

This kid’s insight is impressive, we underestimated him before.

The statues appeared wooden and sluggish, but when they moved, their speed was by no means inferior to a cultivator of the same tier, their techniques filled with murderous intent.

The two quickly reacted to defend themselves, using body techniques to dodge, not daring to be careless at all, narrowly avoiding the attack.

However, this attack was just a warm-up.

The two bronze guards, missing their strikes, did not move their feet. Instead, their upper bodies turned half a circle backwards in a highly exaggerated posture, appearing extremely agile.

Facing Han He and Qi Yuanming, they suddenly threw the spears in their hands, launching another deadly strike.

Bang!

This time, Han He was prepared, summoning a shield spiritual artifact, gathering magical power to block with the shield.

With a bang, although the shield spiritual artifact blocked the spear’s throw.

However, the shield spiritual artifact vibrated violently, its light dimmed, showing cracks as it was shattered by the spear’s strike!

The shield spiritual artifact was at the Tier One Middle Grade level, capable of withstanding attacks from ordinary Tier One Top-Grade artifacts several times.

"Tier Two Artifact?!"

At this moment, unable to withstand a spear strike, Han He’s expression instantly showed shock.

Things just got tricky!

With one carelessness, he lost a defensive artifact.

He should have listened to Xuu Yi earlier and prepared for the bronze guard.

On the other side, Qi Yuanming had no time to worry about Han He’s situation. He was barely managing on his own, summoning a spear to confront the incoming spear’s throw, locking into a stalemate.

This spear, the Cloud-Breaking Spear, had reached the Tier One Top-Grade level, extremely sturdy, made of Black Tortoise Essence Gold, barely able to withstand the spear’s attack and maintain its form for the time being.

This allowed Qi Yuanming to secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

The two spears, having failed to inflict damage, turned in mid-air, trailing a flow of spiritual power, accurately flying back to the hands of the two bronze guards.

Shwoosh!

As the spears returned, a snow-white flying sword suddenly sliced through the air, slashing towards one of the bronze guards.

This was Lin Qing’Er making her move.

She wielded the ’Ice Heart Jade Maiden Sword’, wielding sword techniques from the Ice Heart Jade Maiden Scripture.

Faced with an attack reaching a Tier One Middle Grade spiritual artifact, the bronze guard did not dodge.

It moved in place, adopting a half-squatting defensive posture, waving a bronze shield in front of itself, letting the flying sword strike.

Clang!

The sword struck the bronze shield, failing to break it, leaving only a faint trace, one among the countless battle scars on the shield, utterly inconspicuous.

Just like the spear, the bronze guard’s shield spiritual artifact was also at the Tier Two level; a Tier One artifact was simply unable to break it.

Though the sword hit the target, it couldn’t break the opponent’s defense, Lin Qing’Er’s expression changed, quickly recalling the flying sword while retreating a few steps to distance herself from the bronze guard.

Immediately, she bit her silver teeth, reached into her storage bag, and pulled out a Tier One Middle Grade Thunderstorm Talisman, tossing it towards the earlier bronze guard.

Rumble.

The thunderstorm talisman exploded with a deafening roar, unleashing a violent thunderbolt power, instantly engulfing the bronze guard.

Lin Qing’Er seemed weak and easily bullied at a glance, but once in action, she was decisive and even a bit fierce.

Such a thunderstorm talisman used against an unprepared mid-stage Qi Cultivation cultivator would blast them apart.

"It’s not that simple, your strength is ultimately a bit weak, perhaps enough to deal with one guardian statue, but dealing with two is difficult."

This time, Lu Ping sent a communication to Xuu Yi, speaking the truth, somewhat shaking Xuu Yi’s confidence.

In his view, Lin Qing’Er’s attack was merely scratching the opponent, without truly damaging them.

The two bronze guards working together, their combat power soared to the Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation, armed with Tier Two artifacts, were not something Xuu Yi and the others could handle.

"Ancestor, I’ll try my best."

Xuu Yi gave a bitter smile, but didn’t falter.

He began to inject magical power into the ’Wind Howling Sword’ in his hand, attempting an attack.

Now that things had reached this point, doing nothing wasn’t an option.

The palace had to be entered.

Lu Ping, hearing this, did not respond, merely stood by watching quietly.

Letting Xuu Yi gain some experience, a warm-up wouldn’t hurt; if it became too challenging, he would lend a hand.

As the thunderbolt power from the thunderstorm talisman dissipated.

The bronze guard re-emerged in front of everyone.

The four focused their eyes, seeing that after a thunderstorm talisman hit, the bronze guard remained unscathed.

This strike at most cleaned the dust off it, leaving its armor gleaming bright.

The result was just as Lu Ping had anticipated.

"This..."

A Tier One talisman couldn’t penetrate the opponent’s defense. Even as calm as Lin Qing’Er was, she was momentarily stunned, feeling a blow to her heart.

Qi Yuanming and Han He, witnessing this, both furrowed their brows, realizing they had really kicked an iron plate this time; it was rather tricky.

They hadn’t even entered the door yet, was this where they would be stopped?

No time to think further, the two bronze guards launched their attack again, opting for close combat, brandishing spears in a fierce assault.

"Let’s stop holding back, let’s deal with these two statues first!"

"Or we’ll all end up here!"

Han He and Qi Yuanming both shouted, once more forced to battle.

Lin Qing’Er’s expression turned cold; after exchanging a glance with Xuu Yi, indicating they should continue to fight, she once again wielded the Ice Heart Jade Maiden Sword, rejoining the battle.

Xuu Yi also had no intention of standing idly by, urging the Wind Howling Sword to meet the enemy, emitting a wailing sound of wind, slicing towards a bronze guard.

The bronze guards had strong defenses, their movements very agile, relying solely on their shields they successively blocked the attacks of two flying swords.

Two shallow sword marks were left on the shield.

A spear arrived, its movements like a dragon, entangling with one bronze guard and temporarily providing some restraint.

Seeing this, Han He and Lin Qing’Er instinctively assisted Qi Yuanming, focusing their efforts on one bronze guard.

In the moment, they inadvertently overlooked Xuu Yi.

Qi Yuanming and the others joined forces, fiercely battling one bronze guard, deploying flying swords, spears, and spirit talismans, holding nothing back.

Now was not the time to hold back; they couldn’t afford to be lenient.

Yet even after exchanging a dozen moves, they still felt somewhat strained, unable to quickly overcome the opponent.

As for Xuu Yi at this moment, he was indeed finding it challenging, having to face one bronze guard by himself.