The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 542 - 408, things are not going well

"Of course, if you really don't dare to accept a challenge in front of so many colleagues, I too..."

After Tang Zhao dropped the gauntlet, she muttered to herself, but her voice suddenly stopped when she heard the word "good."

She was stunned and looked at the master of Lihua Hall with doubt and suspicion, almost feeling the impulse to clear her ears:

"You... agreed?"

Zhao Douan held the waist card between his fingers, twisting his wrist to toss it back, corners of his mouth curving upward:

"What else?"

Tang Zhao, known privately among the border army as the 'Rouge Horse of the Frontier,' was momentarily at a loss for words, and her piercing eyes lost their aggressive edge.

This differed slightly from what she had imagined; the fellow had accepted too readily...

She had assumed that Zhao Douan would try to avoid a confrontation to maintain authority in front of his subordinates, but his nod came with such speed that he seemed almost too eager.

"General Tang, this place is not suitable for a fight; how about we go to the square inside the government office?" Zhao Douan extended his arm, gesturing for her to follow.

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

She privately scorned him for overestimating his own ability, presuming he had taken her lightly because she was a woman.

It would be good to embarrass him in public later and gain some face back for her little brother.

The pair, with one leading and the other following, left the hall under the escort of the Jinyi of Lihua Hall and headed towards a small square in the Imperial Court. By the time they arrived, the rest of the people from the hall entrances had also heard the news and came to watch the excitement.

They were all shocked to learn that Zhao Douan was going to compete in martial arts with Tang Zhao, the second daughter of Duke Zhen Guo and the female general of the border army.

"Master Zhao is too impulsive; Tang Zhao is a genuine military general who has commanded divine chapters in the army. How long has it been since his breakthrough?"

Upon hearing the news and standing in the crowd of onlookers, Zhang Han frowned.

Beside him, Haitang, the Daffodil Hall Master, strode over with her long legs, skepticism crossing her face marked by a tear mole:

"I'm not so sure. When have you ever seen Zhao with such slickness ever come to a loss?"

Haitang had been to Lower Lake Pavilion with Zhao Douan before, and although she had never seen him make a move, she knew that Zhao Douan had already stepped into the Middle Grade Realm.

"This..." Upon hearing this, Zhang Han and the fellow Jinyi looked at each other, unable to refute, and turned their gaze to the center of the square.

Someone muttered quietly:

"Does Master Zhao have a trump card on him? Such as a powerful Suppressing Object? But in military duels, the use of such external items is forbidden. If he wins by relying on a Suppressing Object, it would be dishonorable even if he wins."

In the arena.

At this moment, the two had taken their positions, and the surroundings had also tacitly quieted down.

Tang Zhao, fueled by anger and not in the mood for idle talk, held a large and dark horse lance in both hands, assumed a bow stance with sunk knees, and locked her eyes on the youth holding the Cold Frost Sword with one hand, kicking up a ring of dust at the edge of her boots.

She charged forward at great speed, the lance tip flashing coldly as it thrust straight at Zhao Douan's throat!

"Whoosh—"

As the lance split the cold wind, a low rumbling erupted in the air.

At that moment, Zhao Douan seemed to see, not just a woman with a lance ready to fight on foot, but a female general charging at the front lines on a ferocious steed!

"So fast!"

Zhao Douan's heart chilled, shifting from stillness to sudden movement. Ordinary divine chapters took at least two breaths to complete, but Tang Zhao had done it in the blink of an eye.

Without any hesitation, at that moment, Zhao Douan didn't even have time to think. The countless times he had been killed and tortured in the "Six Chapters Scripture" by Pei Niannu over the past few months had ingrained many combat reflexes into his instincts.

His wrist rotated, the Cold Frost Sword unsheathed, and its snow-bright frost-covered blade moved at an imperceptibly fast speed, clashing with the lance and drawing afterimages.

"Ding ding ding..."

With each strike, the sword blade avoided the lance tip, slicing from the side to unload its force and disrupt the trajectory of the lance thrusts. Zhao Douan leaned back, his boots scraping faint marks on the ground as he retreated explosively!

The longer the weapon, the stronger it is. Even for a cultivator, the inherent disadvantage in weaponry couldn't be compensated for in an instant.

By the fifty-third sword strike, when the overwhelming momentum of the lance finally plummeted, Zhao Douan twisted his body and side-stepped, pressing his sword blade against the black shaft of the lance, "hisssing" forward and shaving it off.

Tang Zhao's expression chilled, and with a violent shake of her arms the entire long lance vibrated intensely. The spearhead and tail spun in a circle, the might of her aura now bolstering the shaft, which abruptly spewed out flares of illusory fierce flame.

She stood her ground, using her waist as the "main axis," her body spinning like a thousand-tonne mill, sweeping across enemy ranks and sending a tremendous force that smashed the Cold Frost Sword into a heart-stopping arc!

"Bang—"

Zhao Douan held onto the sword hilt as the sword body suddenly rebounded, flinging out several meters to the side. He didn't endure the force stubbornly but, like a leaf, was swept away by the lance towards the edge of the small square.

A water tank had originally been placed there, abandoned during the bitter winter, with water inside frozen into a solid mass and topped with a thin layer of snow.

Zhao Douan lightly landed beside the water tank, his sleeves rattling. His long sword traced an arc, striking the tank sideways.

"Hum!"

A vibration sounded in everyone's ears, and then they saw the half-man-size water tank spin like a top, pulled by Zhao Douan's strike off the ground and whirling like a cannonball towards Tang Zhao, who was charging again with her lance.

"You only know how to dodge, what's the point? Just a pillow with embroidery, a pewter spearhead all shine and no substance."

Tang Zhao scoffed coldly, not dodging or avoiding, her lance thrust out, and the heavy water tank shattered with a "boom," its broken tiles scattering like shrapnel toward the crowd in all directions, the frozen ice inside also shattered into countless chunks.

As the exterior cracked open, the unfrozen clear water inside also floated and danced in the air.

Seeing this, Zhao Douan felt an impulse to use the "Mystic Turtle Seal."

As long as he wished, he could turn the dancing ice water into bullets and riddle Tang Zhao within the swarm into a sieve.

But the thought only flickered for an instant before he firmly suppressed it. There was no need to expose the Mystic Turtle Seal, an ace up his sleeve unknown to outsiders.

However, this did not mean he was giving up the opportunity.

"Clang!"

A line of dark gold thread, carrying immense force, suddenly slid out from the sleeve of Zhao Douan's sword hand. The Golden Crow Flying Dagger, following the length of the Cold Frost Sword, shot out like a missile gliding into a launch track.

"A sneak attack?"

Tang Zhao's eyebrows raised as she faced the sky full of ice rain. With a flick of her horse lance's tip, she deflected the flying dagger with a ting!

Seizing the moment, Zhao Douan rapidly closed the distance, pressing forward with his sword while two pale flames suddenly surged in the depths of his pupils.

Magic: Spirit Flame!

"Hmph!"

The vibrant Tang Zhao was caught off guard, feeling as though her heart was being crushed by an invisible hand, causing intense pain both inside and out.

Her face swiftly turned into a "mask of pain," and her fluid movements came to an abrupt halt.

The grip on her horse lance faltered as Zhao Douan struck several consecutive blows, sweeping her lance aside and closing in.

Once close-ranged, long weapons became a burden. The pain from Spirit Flame lasted only a moment before Tang Zhao, using her cultivation, resisted it. She decisively let go of her weapon, her fists covered in a thick Gang Qi resembling flowing flames.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

Fist met sword, but this time, even though Tang Zhao's Qi was much stronger than Zhao Douan's, she fell into disadvantage against the latter, who had the benefit of wielding a weapon. After several clashes, several layers of her Gang Qi were forcefully stripped away.

"It seems you're not as strong as you appeared," Zhao Douan mockingly jeered.

Expressionless, Tang Zhao suddenly revealed blood-red veins snaking up from the base of her slender neck, sprawling across half her face in the blink of an eye.

"Sha Qi!"

Among the crowd, Haitang with her sharp eyes exclaimed, "Isn't this the Duke's family's martial arts, the secret skill of concealing blood Sha Qi within the body during military formation?"

Zhao Douan, unable to hear the surrounding discussions, clearly witnessed the bare-handed Tang Zhao surrounded by a pillar of pale-red smoke, rising up like beacon smoke and stretching about ten feet tall.

At the same time, he suddenly felt an intense fear as if being targeted by a bloodthirsty beast in the deep mountains.

Behind Tang Zhao, faint red Sha Qi coalesced into a ghostly lion-tiger, with a leopard's head and ringed eyes, coldly gazing down at him. It crouched, ready to pounce.

"What kind of monstrosity..."

Zhao Douan immediately retreated, creating afterimages as he pulled back by thirty feet.

Then, before anyone could react, his free left hand formed a mudra in front of his chest, shaped like a "flower-picking" hand sign.

Within his sea of consciousness, a lotus gently swayed.

"Sealing Demon Spell!"

A "卍" character of Buddhist scripture, surrounded by a faint halo, silently emerged from the air.

With a pointing gesture of his left hand and exhaling sharply, he shouted, "Seal!"

The "卍" character expanded in a breath to a human's height and, under the astonished gaze of the crowd, began to undulate and writhe out of its original script form.

Transforming into several chains condensed from Buddha Light, they fell upon the dazed Tang Zhao!

...

...

Outside the Duke Zhen Guo Mansion.

Young Master Tang Ping rode his horse, heading towards the mansion's gate with a slightly excited heart.

By convention, today he should have gone to welcome the Duke's return or waited at home.

However, Tang Ping's stubbornness wouldn't allow him to take such entitlements for granted, so he had forcibly completed his daily shift in the military camp before, amidst near despairing urges from Commander Shi Meng, he handed in his leave request and rode home.

"Young Master! You've returned! The Lord has already entered the mansion," the house servant, standing by the gate, hurried forward to greet him.

Tang Ping dismounted with a slight smile, "How are father and my second sister? Where are they at home?"

"The Lord is in the east wing. The Second Miss has not returned yet," the house servant informed.

Tang Ping was taken aback, "Second sister hasn't returned to the capital?"

The servant explained, "She has returned, but the Second Miss went to the Imperial Court, saying she had to take care of some matters before coming back."

The Imperial Court... to take care of matters... Young Master blanked for a moment before his expression dramatically changed, "This is bad!"

He then, under the bewildered gaze of the servant, mounted his horse again, turned around, and galloped toward the direction of the Imperial Court.

But just then, he collided with a group of officials en route to the Duke Mansion for a visit. Tang Ping's eyes brightened as he urgently dashed over and asked rapidly:

"Lord Ma, where is Mr. Zhao?"

Ma Yan was startled and got a bad feeling,

"He's gone back to the government office. We were about to enter the mansion to pay respects to the Duke. Young Master, what is..."

Tang Ping's face twitched as he quickly explained the situation. Learning that the duke's second daughter had headed for the Imperial Court, the officials also felt their hearts skip a beat with a foreboding guess.

"...Damn it," Ma Yan breathed tightly, without a second thought, he immediately switched horses and sped off with Tang Ping toward the government office.

"Let's hope that kid doesn't do anything rash..."

Leaving behind a group of officials who looked at each other in confusion: "Hey, isn't that..."