Chapter 161: 154 Setting Off and Dividing the Gold

With this, the entire combat strength of Jiming Mountain, including the stronghold master and the evil guests, all went up to the sky. This battle, ignited by the Manor Head's impulsive whim, drew to a close. Only the aftermath remained to be dealt with.

Tang Zhao buried the Sword Guest on the spot, collected the broken Sword, and first returned to the old site of the stronghold to take a look.

Heh, it really is flat!

On that unremarkable hilltop, one could not see any trace that a stronghold had ever existed.

It couldn't be called unremarkable, either; one could only say that not a blade of grass grew there.

One must know that a hundred Rune Sword chains had struck the hilltop, causing a massive explosion; a portion of the entire hilltop had been blown away, and a portion had been scorched.

Whoever came to inspect it would likely not find any traces, not even the fact that the stronghold had once been cast into a Jin Ding of gold. Because once Ai Xin died, all that solidified gold dissipated. The corpse within the golden statue had already been freed, only to be blown into the sky again.

If someone knew there had originally been a stronghold here, facing this scene, they would likely only guess that a passing Sword Guest or even a Sword Hero had taken action, using Sword Technique to level the stronghold.

That's right, the Thunder Light ignited by over a hundred Rune Sword chains had a destructive power that surpassed Sword Art; it was at the level of Sword Technique. It was just that when a Sword Hero used Sword Technique, it was naturally effortless and came at a whim, unlike them, who had to prepare for a long time, plot an ambush, and only then could they unleash it. Moreover, the greatest strength of Sword Technique was not in piling up destructive power, but in all sorts of profound ability effects. For instance, the Jar Storage—that was not something that could be achieved through mere quantitative change.

But regardless, judging from the result, they had all broken through the limits of their own power.

With Jiming Mountain destroyed, the matter was settled. Tang Zhao and his group followed the original plan, bid farewell to Wushu Bao, and upon leaving, specifically instructed that no flaws should be revealed regarding the Hu Zhuang affair. In any case, those who knew about Hu Zhuang were either dead or gone; the only people involved left were the Sang siblings, so they could be handled however they saw fit.

Then, the group finally set off again.

They had arrived quietly and left without a sound. Only a great battle had taken place in between; they brushed off their clothes and left, deeply hidden... it was somewhat like slipping away.

It wasn't that they were afraid of Baixiong Mountain pursuing them, but if they didn't leave quickly, the Sword Smith that Ai Xin had originally made an appointment with would arrive. They were peers after all; having intercepted a huge deal for no reason, it was better to make a fortune in silence.

Three days later, a small sedan chair carried by four people arrived at the foot of the mountain.

The small sedan chair had thick felt curtains hanging on all four sides and was unremarkable, but the four chair-bearers were all dressed in white, tall and well-proportioned, handsome, and possessed an extraordinary bearing. Such figures would draw gazes if they walked on the street, yet here they were mere sedan-bearers. And the young attendant walking beside the chair also had delicate features, light footsteps, and possessed martial arts.

The small sedan chair landed, and the young attendant waited at the foot of the mountain, took out a bamboo tube, blew it with a shrill sound, and the noise traveled all the way up the mountain.

A long time passed, and no sound came back.

The young attendant frowned, turned to the front of the chair, and said softly, "Young Master, there is no answer from the mountain."

Inside the chair, a calm voice asked, "What time is it now?"

The young attendant said, "The first quarter of the Hour of the Snake."

The voice said, "Wait until the middle of the Hour of the Snake. Blow the whistle every quarter of an hour."

The young attendant agreed.

After blowing the whistle several times, there was no news, and after a quarter of an hour, the time had arrived.

The voice said, "Go."

The small sedan chair was lifted, and after walking a few steps, the rear curtain of the chair was suddenly lifted.

In the back half of the chair, a strange tube stood upright.

Suddenly, the tube lit up, emitting a cyan-white light; the light crackled, and suddenly emitted a hundred-foot-long beam of brilliance!

The light pierced diagonally upward, cut through the mountain forest, and reached the hilltop; in an instant, it was like a plane, pushing a bare trench into the mountain body.

In a moment, the light extinguished, and the mountain ridge was left with a permanent scar.

The young attendant looked back and sneered slightly, "A small punishment as a warning; this is the price for fooling Yuanji Palace."

The sedan curtain fell, and as if nothing had happened, they continued forward.

Suddenly, the sound of wind rose in the mountain forest, and a Sword Light struck out, heading straight for the small sedan chair—

The sedan-bearer in front suddenly had his eyes light up, his sleeves shook, and a short Sword left its sheath, rising without wind, intersecting with the Sword Light; with a 'dang' sound, it was like gold and iron clashing.

Sword Art against Sword Art! Neither side gave way!

The sedan-bearer was actually also a powerhouse capable of controlling a Sword, at least a Heavy Swordsman.

From the forest, a burly man walked out, shirtless, revealing knotted muscles, with a Sword that looked like a fire poker hanging at his waist.

This was not a Heavy Swordsman, but a Sword Guest!

The burly man's eyes widened, and he shouted, "It really is you! I've found you! What kind of background do you have, and why did you injure my hilltop and destroy my stronghold? Have you never heard of the prestige of Baixiong Mountain?"

The person in the chair did not answer; the young attendant stepped forward and said loudly, "What Baixiong Mountain? Never heard of it. Anyone who does not keep their word deserves to die. You dare to be rude to the Young Master, you deserve to die even more!"

Before the words had finished, the sedan curtains on all four sides were lifted simultaneously, revealing various strange devices set up inside. For a moment, crackling sounds arose, and surging energy flowed within them.

The burly man's eyes showed realization, but he was not very surprised, clearly having expected it, "So you are Sword Smiths, acting so sneakily and putting on such airs! But you are just relying on the power of external objects; that fool Ai Xin actually believed you and was bitten back by you, how ridiculous!"

"Sword Technique—Human Bear Strength!"

"Wow, Sun Essence Gold!"

In a mountain cave hundreds of miles away, four young Talisman Sword Masters were checking their unexpected harvest.

In order to avoid their peers, the group left Jiming Mountain and did not look for trouble again. In this land of Lingzhou, whenever one encountered people, something might happen. Therefore, they could only stay far away from human habitation, traveling all the way into a deep mountain before finding such a quiet place.

Lingzhou had many mountain bandits; Lingzhou's mountains had many bandits.

But mountains also differ; in true deep mountains and old forests, where one had to cross mountains and ridges for days and nights without finding a household, mountain bandits could not stay either. They were not immortals and could not drink the northwest wind. Tang Zhao and his group easily found a suitable place to divide the spoils.

It happened to be raining outside that day, the sky was dim, and the deep mountains were desolate, with only the sparse sound of rain, most suitable for dividing the spoils.

"Sun Essence Gold, it is the true gold condensed from the brightest part of the sunlight; it is the highest grade among gold!"

"Seven-colored gold... the color is so beautiful; it is stained with a layer of iridescence from every angle. This must be the five-colored, variegated gold."

"Wish-fulfilling Gold Thread! This is precious; it can be stretched a hundred times, pulled as thin as a hair, and can still withstand a thousand pounds of force!"

"This is... the legendary Invincible Gold, right? Smearing it on the body is like having protective Qi, capable of resisting blades and Swords..."

Good heavens, good heavens, there really are a lot of good things!

Tang Zhao and the others could be considered to have come from prestigious backgrounds and had seen many good materials in their time, but after looking at the materials in this box, they also felt pleasantly surprised.

Robbing money really is fast!

Thinking that this was the material collected by a desperate bandit living from day to day, who had spent his entire fortune to give to the Sword Smith in order to survive, it was naturally incomparably precious.

"This is gold, that is gold. It seems that even if he no longer truly liked gold, he still instinctively wanted to collect gold materials..." Tang Zhao, while organizing the materials, suddenly stopped his movements—

This one seems to be...

Inside a crystal vessel, there was a little bit of gold sand; the gold sand was translucent, as if profound Qi was flowing within it.

Jiang Shenyi said softly, "It is Time-Inch Gold."

Time-Inch Gold is likely the most precious among all exotic treasures with the character "Gold" in their names. It is said that if you hold it in your hand, you can master time before it irreversibly slips through your fingers.

This tiny bit of Time-Inch Gold might leak away in an instant if held in your hand, but that instant is time that belongs entirely to you. The world stops and makes way for you.

For this instant, the breathing of several people stopped, and then, each resumed—

Calm down, calm down; although this is a treasure worth ten thousand gold, if you think about it carefully, it is only particularly wondrous, not particularly practical. It is useless when making a Talisman, and one cannot bear to use it when Sword Casting. Perhaps it has great use in battle, but in reality, as a Talisman Sword Master, they do not often fight very arduous battles.

Except for Tang Zhao.

Along this journey, Tang Zhao has fought one-on-one several times.

After sorting all the materials clearly, Wusun Tong said, "Big Brother, you distribute them." Che Sha also nodded.

Although they felt some desire, the two knew that in terms of merit, whether as the Great Village Master or as a Sword Guest, they had not exerted much effort; in terms of strength, those two opposite them were worlds apart from them. Rather than asking for something, it was better to wait for the other party to distribute some to them; perhaps they would even gain more.

Jiang Shenyi also said, "Your merit is the greatest, you decide."

Tang Zhao gathered them together; there were five types of materials in total, two of which could not be subdivided, and the remaining three could be divided into two, making eight items in total.

"Let's divide this into two rounds, we take turns picking, one item per round..."

Jiang Shenyi rubbed his cheeks and said, "Cut it out, if we do that, you'll be the only one with face, and we'll all be shameless. You take one share of all the materials, and for the three that can be repeated, the three of us will each take one share. How about that?"

Wusun Tong and Che Sha both nodded, then added, "That wouldn't be fair to Jiang Shixiong."

Jiang Shenyi said, "I didn't exert much effort either. If you leave the Sun Essence Gold for me, it will be fair." He winked at Tang Zhao.

Tang Zhao understood his meaning; Jiang Shenyi did not have any material he particularly wanted, but he knew Tang Zhao wanted Sun Essence Gold for Sword Casting. If the two of them combined to take all the Sun Essence Gold, Tang Zhao could then trade materials with his Shixiong later.

At once, none of the few had any objections; Wusun Tong took the Undefeated Gold, and Che Sha took the Rainbow Gold.

The remaining gold materials all went to Tang Zhao. It just so happened that Tang Zhao was going to cast an Ancient Sword, and what he needed most were earth-type materials. And gold and Sunlight are inherently related; it is one of the most suitable materials. It can be said that Tang Zhao has already gathered more than half of the materials for his Sword Casting in this one haul.

Having finished distributing all the materials, everyone felt very relaxed. They were in no hurry to get back on the road, so they sat in the mountain cave listening to the sound of the rain.

Tang Zhao could not help but sigh softly. Jiang Shenyi turned his head to look at him, wanting to see if he was having deep thoughts in the rain again.

Tang Zhao waved his hand and said, "I was thinking, gold has so many branches, and coupled with the Sword Intent of joy, the Sword Art could have been developed in many diverse ways. As a result, in that person's hands, there was only one form of transformation; it really is a waste of a heavenly treasure."

Squandering things like this caused his Sword Manual to only gain one mediocre sword, which he would likely rarely use in the future; it was simply a waste of a page in the Sword Manual.

Jiang Shenyi said, "You are being wise after the fact. If he were truly capable and developed a magnificent and varied Sword Art, firstly, he would not have run into trouble and would not have needed a Sword Smith, and secondly, even if we encountered him, we wouldn't be able to beat him." He paused and said, "However, his sword was terrible from the start. Actually, I have been thinking, since the Sword Intent is joy, what exactly is the Sword Image that can last for a long time?"