The First Lackey Under The Empress

"Of course, if you really don't dare to accept the challenge in front of so many colleagues, this general will also..."

After tossing down the challenge, Tang Zhao muttered to herself, but her voice abruptly stopped after hearing a single "Okay!"

She was stunned, looking at the owner of Pear Blossom Hall with suspicion, and for a moment, she had the urge to clean her ears:

"You... agreed?"

Zhao Du'an twirled the waist tag between his fingers, flicked his wrist, and tossed it back, the corners of his mouth curving upwards:

"What else?"

Tang Zhao, who was secretly known as the "Frontier Rouge Horse" in the border army, was momentarily speechless, the sternness in her sharp eyes also losing its aggressive edge.

This was slightly different from what she had imagined. This guy agreed too readily...

She had originally anticipated that Zhao Du'an would try to avoid fighting her, even if it was to maintain his authority in front of his subordinates, but this guy nodded so quickly, as if he was somewhat impatient.

"General Tang, this place is too cramped to fight. How about accompanying this official to the plaza in the yamen?"

Zhao Du'an extended his arm, making a "please" gesture.

"That would be best." Tang Zhao raised her chin and picked up the horse lance from the table.

She thought to herself that this person was overestimating himself, probably thinking that she was a woman and underestimating her.

Very well, she would publicly embarrass him later to help her younger brother regain his face.

The two of them, one in front and one behind, left the hall under the escort of the Embroidered Uniform Guards of Pear Blossom Hall and headed to a small plaza in the Zhao yamen. By the time they arrived, the people from the other halls had also heard the news and rushed over to watch the excitement.

When they learned that Zhao Du'an was going to compete with Tang Zhao, the second daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo and the female general of the frontier, they were all shocked.

"Zhao Jisi is too impulsive. Tang Zhao is a genuine martial general of the Divine Seal realm. How long has it been since he broke through?"

Zhang Han, the 'curling king' who had rushed over after hearing the news, frowned as he stood in the crowd of onlookers.

Hai Tang, the master of the Water Lily Hall, walked over with her long legs, a look of suspicion appearing on her face with tear mole:

"I don't think so. When have you ever seen that slippery Zhao suffer a loss?"

Hai Tang had once gone to the Lake Pavilion with Zhao Du'an. Although she had never seen him fight, she knew that Zhao Du'an had already entered the middle-grade realm.

"This..." The Embroidered Uniform Guards, including Zhang Han, looked at each other, unable to refute, and all turned their gazes to the center of the plaza.

Someone muttered in a low voice:

"Zhao Jisi probably has a trump card up his sleeve? Like a powerful feng shui item? But martial arts competitions in the army forbid the use of those external objects. If he relies on feng shui items to win, it won't be honorable even if he wins."

On the field.

At this moment, the two of them had already stood still, and the surroundings were tacitly silent.

Tang Zhao, filled with anger, was not in the mood for nonsense. She held a thick, dark horse lance in both hands, her body lunged forward with bent knees, her eyes locked onto the fair-faced man holding the Frostwind Sword in one hand, a circle of dust suddenly rippling from the edges of her boots.

Her whole body sprinted forward, the tip of the horse lance glinting with a cold light, aimed straight at Zhao Du'an's throat!

"Whoosh—"

The lance broke through the cold wind, and a deep burst of sound erupted in the air.

At this moment, Zhao Du'an vaguely saw that the person opposite him was not a woman wielding a lance on foot, but a female general charging into battle on a fierce horse!

"So fast!"

Zhao Du'an's heart tightened. The transformation from extreme stillness to extreme motion, which ordinary Divine Seal realm cultivators needed at least two breaths to complete, only took Tang Zhao a blink of an eye.

Without the slightest hesitation, at this moment, Zhao Du'an didn't even think.

The experience of being abused to death countless times by Pei Niannu in the "Six Chapters Sutra" over the past few months had already imprinted many on-the-spot response tactics into his instinct.

He rotated his wrist, and the Frostwind Sword was unsheathed. The snow-bright sword body covered with cold mist collided with the horse lance at an imperceptible speed, creating afterimages.

"Clang clang clang..."

Each time, the blade avoided the tip of the horse lance, instead cutting and削削 from the side, neutralizing the force while disrupting the horse lance's stabbing trajectory. Zhao Du'an's body leaned back, his boots scraping faint marks on the ground as he retreated violently!

An inch longer, an inch stronger. Even for martial arts cultivators, the inherent difference in weapons could not be compensated for in an instant.

When the fifty-third sword strike was made, the overwhelming momentum of the horse lance finally waned. Zhao Du'an twisted his body and stepped sideways, the blade of his sword pressed against the black shaft of the horse lance, scraping forward with a "hissing" sound.

Tang Zhao's expression turned cold. Her arms shook fiercely, and the entire lance shaft vibrated violently. The tip and tail of the lance rotated in a circle, and a majestic aura was infused, causing illusory flames to suddenly surge from the surface of the lance shaft.

She stood still, using her waist as the "main axis", her body rotating like a thousand-ton millstone, sweeping across the army. A great force smashed the Frostwind Sword into a shocking arc!

"Bang—"

Zhao Du'an held the hilt of the sword, sending the suddenly rebounding sword body flying several feet to the side. He didn't resist head-on, but was swept by the horse lance like a fallen leaf to the edge of the small plaza.

There was originally a water tank placed here, abandoned and unused during the severe winter months, the water in the tank frozen into ice, the surface covered with a light layer of snow.

Zhao Du'an landed lightly next to the water tank, his sleeves fluttering with "pitter-patter" sounds, the long sword in his hand drawing an arc, using the side of the sword to strike the tank.

"Buzz!"

A trembling sound came from everyone's ears, and then they witnessed the half-person-high water tank being sent flying by Zhao Du'an like a spinning top, spinning like a cannonball towards Tang Zhao, who was charging forward again with her lance.

"What's the point of just dodging? As expected, you're just a pretty face, a silver spearhead with a pewter core."

Tang Zhao sneered, not dodging or evading. The horse lance stabbed out, and the heavy water tank shattered into pieces with a "boom", the broken tiles flying towards the surrounding crowd like shrapnel, and the frozen ice inside was also shattered, reduced to countless ice fragments.

After the outer shell was broken, the unfrozen water inside also scattered all over the sky.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Du'an had a moment of wanting to use the "Mystic Turtle Seal".

As long as he wanted, he could turn the flying ice water into bullets, turning Tang Zhao, who was enveloped within, into a sieve.

But the thought only flashed for a moment before he forcibly suppressed it. There was no need to expose trump cards like the Mystic Turtle Seal, which outsiders couldn't know about.

But that didn't mean giving up the opportunity.

"Clang!"

A streak of dark gold suddenly slid out of Zhao Du'an's sleeve holding the sword with tremendous force, the Golden Crow Flying Knife following the blade of the Frostwind Sword, like a missile sliding into the launch rail groove, whistling out.

"A sneak attack?"

Tang Zhao raised her eyebrows, facing the rain of ice, the tip of her horse lance shook, and with a "ding" sound, she knocked the flying knife away!

Zhao Du'an took the opportunity to suddenly close the distance, approaching with his sword, while two clusters of pale flames suddenly appeared in the depths of his pupils!

Art: Spirit Flame!

"Hmph!"

The spirited Tang Zhao was caught off guard, only feeling as if her heart was grasped by an invisible hand, a strong pain arising from the inside out.

Her face instantly turned into a "mask of pain", and her perfectly coordinated movements were also forced to stop.

The horse lance in her hand was unstable, and Zhao Du'an used several consecutive sword strikes to knock the horse lance away, his person already close.

Once a long weapon was approached, it became a burden instead. The pain of the Spirit Flame only lasted for a moment before Tang Zhao resisted it with her cultivation. She decisively discarded her weapon, both fists covered with a thick qi like flowing flames.

"Clang clang clang..."

Fists and swords collided, but this time, even with a thicker qi far exceeding Zhao Du'an's, Tang Zhao fell into a disadvantage against the latter, who had mastered the advantage of weapons. After several collisions, several layers of qi on the surface of her body were forcibly削削ed off.

"Looks like you're not as strong as you showed." Zhao Du'an opened his mic and taunted.

Tang Zhao was expressionless. Suddenly, from the position of her collar, blood-colored纹络窜ed up on her slender neck, spreading to half of her face in the blink of an eye.

"煞气!"

In the crowd, Hai Tang had sharp eyes. "Is this the Duke of Zhenguo's family's inherited martial art, the secret technique of hiding blood煞气 in the body in the army formation?"

Zhao Du'an couldn't hear the discussions of his colleagues around him, but he clearly witnessed the faint red qi columns rising from Tang Zhao's body, which was empty-handed, like wolf smoke, rising several zhang into the air.

At the same time, he suddenly felt a strong fear, as if he was walking in a deep mountain and being stared at by a bloodthirsty beast.

Behind Tang Zhao, the strands of faint red煞气 actually vaguely condensed into a phantom lion and tiger, with a leopard's head and ringed eyes, coldly overlooking him, its limbs prostrate on the ground, ready to pounce.

"What a strange thing..." Zhao Du'an decisively retreated violently, his figure drawing afterimages, retreating three zhang.

Then, before everyone could react, they saw his empty left hand suddenly forming a hand seal in front of his chest, posing a "flower-picking" hand seal.

In the sea of consciousness, the green lotus swayed gently.

"Demon Sealing Curse!"

A Buddhist text character with a faint halo silently析出 from the air.

He pointed forward with his hand seal, exhaling and opening his voice: "Seal!"

The Buddhist text character swelled to the height of a person in the blink of an eye. In the astonished gazes of the people, the strokes of the Buddhist text character seemed to be alive, actually蠕动ing, breaking free from the original textual structure.

It dispersed into several chains of Buddhist light, covering Tang Zhao, who had a dazed expression, from head to toe!

……

……

Outside the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

Young Duke Tang Ping rode his horse, walking towards the mansion gate with a slightly excited mood.

Logically speaking, today the Duke returned, he should have gone to welcome him, or waited at home.

But Tang Ping's stubborn temper did not allow him to exercise this kind of privilege and leave the military camp without authorization.

Instead, he stubbornly completed his daily duty in the camp. Only then, under the almost crying and laughing urging of Commander Shi Meng, did he submit his leave slip and ride his horse home.

"Young Master! You're finally back! The master has already entered the mansion." The servant guarding the door hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.

Tang Ping smiled slightly, dismounted: "How are father and second sister? Where are they at home?"

The servant said: "The master is in the east wing, the second young lady has not returned to the mansion yet."

Tang Ping was stunned: "Second sister didn't return to Beijing?"

The servant explained: "She came back, but the second young lady went to the Zhao yamen, saying she had some things to do, and then she would come back."

Zhao yamen... doing things... Young Duke was stunned for a moment, then his expression suddenly changed drastically: "Not good!"

Then, in the servant's dazed gaze, he flipped over and mounted his horse, turned his horse's head, and galloped towards the direction of the Zhao yamen.

But he happened to bump into a group of officials riding horses to visit the Duke's mansion. Tang Ping's eyes lit up, he hurriedly sprinted over, and quickly said:

"Supervisor Ma, where is Lord Zhao?"

Ma Yan was stunned, a bad premonition arose:

"He went back to the yamen. We are about to enter the mansion to visit the Duke, Young Duke, what is this..."

Tang Ping's face twitched, and he quickly described the situation. When they learned that the Tang family's second young lady had gone to the Zhao yamen, all the officials' hearts jumped, and they vaguely had a bad guess.

"...It's over." Ma Yan's breathing tightened. Not having time to think too much, he immediately switched his mount and galloped towards the yamen with Tang Ping:

"I hope that kid doesn't act impulsively..."

Leaving only a group of officials looking at each other: "Hey, no..."

The next chapter will be updated at zero o'clock