Chapter 175: 168 Jumping into the Water

After a bout of chaos, Tianshu was cornered before the deep pool of Longyuan, with the bottomless pool water behind him; the Dragon Tooth Sword flickered with cold light above the pool. Behind the Tianshu Hall Master were another Hall Master and several young Disciples, all of them disheveled and covered in wounds from the fighting, while a giant turtle, one zhang in diameter, followed silently.

At this moment, the young Disciples were all isolated; the only onlookers were those of the rank of Hall Master or higher in Longyuan. Aside from the remaining four Hall Masters, there was the Beichen Hall Master in black robes with white stars, his expression solemn, as if he were an emperor.

Everyone on both sides was gritting their teeth and glaring, except for the Yaoguang Hall Master, whom Tang Zhao could not see.

Tang Zhao was only bewildered—to repeat the question, was this something one could see just by spending a little money?

In the chaos just now, a lot of blood had been shed.

Longyuan had no external enemies at all; rather, its own people had turned on each other, and even the Yaoguang Hall Master, who had just come out of the Sword Furnace, could not be spared. Tang Zhao was still unable to control his body, following Yaoguang through the running and killing, only figuring out what was going on at the very end.

Three Hall Masters had rebelled; they disagreed with Beichen's policy and joined forces with the Yuangui Clan, who held significant weight in Longyuan, to force the leadership to abdicate. A great battle broke out between the two sides, ending in the defeat of the rebels; one Hall Master lost his life, one Hall Master on Beichen's side was severely wounded, and the remaining traitors were forced to the edge of Longyuan.

This Yaoguang, whom Tang Zhao was possessing, had claimed to be neutral, but in the end, he had drawn his sword and joined the defensive side, which counted as having taken a firm stand.

"Tianshu—" Beichen stepped forward and shouted sternly, "Why must you rebel?"

Tianshu sneered: "Rebel? Who is the one rebelling? Hall Master Li, do you still remember the ancient covenant? Do you remember the mission of Longyuan for the past thousand years? Do you remember the oath of loyalty you swore to the Great Wei when you became Hall Master?"

Beichen said calmly: "How can there be an unbreakable covenant in this world? How can there be loyalty that ignores everything? Times change, and the so-called covenant is no longer appropriate. Is something ancient necessarily correct?"

Tianshu laughed and said: "You have your inappropriateness, and I have my unwavering loyalty! I still say the same thing: the Great Wei may have a thousand faults, but the Sword Guests who are causing chaos now are the source of the world's destruction! If they are allowed to take the stage, this world will perish!"

Beichen frowned and said: "What do you mean by perish? A regime like Wei, which acts against the natural order, suppresses Sword Guests, suppresses new forces, makes enemies of the world, and instead appeases the Heavenly Demons, leading to everyone rising up to attack it—this is called bringing about one's own destruction. You, as Sword Smiths, treat Sword Guests as enemies instead; this is the path to death."

Tianshu shouted sternly: "Others may not know, but don't you?! Sword Guests are the source of chaos! The harm of one Sword Guest is greater than that of ten or a hundred Heavenly Demons! Using Sword Guests to fight Heavenly Demons is like drinking poison to quench thirst! The more Sword Guests there are, the more hopeless the world becomes! Have you all forgotten the lessons of a thousand years ago?"

Beichen shook his head and said: "You truly act as if the world would be fine without Sword Guests. Let me tell you, the world has always been this chaotic; Sword Guests will not make the world more chaotic, but people who think they are always right will. Just like you—your rebellion today makes the world one bit more chaotic! Do it!"

The Hall Masters behind him formed hand seals together, and several streaks of Sword Light appeared—the swords of these Hall Masters split from one into a hundred, and from a hundred into ten thousand; instantly, the sky above Longyuan was filled with Sword Light!

Tianshu suddenly turned his back and cried: "If I have sinned, Longyuan will judge me. If I am not wrong, Dragon Tooth will protect me. Let the distinction between right and wrong be clear here!" Suddenly, he leaped and jumped toward Longyuan.

With his jump, the remaining Hall Masters jumped down together, and the Disciples who followed him rushed forward one after another, throwing themselves off the cliff, including that turtle!

Beichen shouted: "Don't even think about it!"

He pointed a finger, like a whistling arrow, and thousands of streaks of Sword Light shot toward the people in mid-air simultaneously!

Hum—

A dragon's roar emanated from the bottom of the abyss.

Ripples wrinkled the surface of the water, and thousands of dragon scales manifested, as if a true dragon were rising; immediately after, countless waves of water surged into the sky, and hundreds of fountains intertwined into a white curtain of water, blocking the Sword Light.

How could Sword Light fear water? Instantly, the brilliance flared, and they plunged into the water one after another, stirring up countless ripples.

Yet, besides the dragon's roar, there was also dragon might!

Even as a bystander in the dream, Tang Zhao felt a majesty pressing down overwhelmingly on his heart, heavy and suffocating; the illusion of the dream was crushed by this real terror!

The people on the shore instantly turned pale; even Beichen could not remain unaffected and retreated two steps.

The Sword Light was forced to turn ninety degrees in mid-air, falling all the way down like countless withered branches and leaves, splashing into the water with a crash. As for the people who fell into the water, they were swept under the dragon scales; the pool was deep, and they could never be found again.

A silence like suffocation persisted.

After a long while, Beichen waved his hand and said: "The traitors have been executed. In the dispute between Wei and Jin, Longyuan is unable to participate. From today on, our sect will close its gates for a hundred years, ignore worldly affairs, and will no longer be the Imperial Court's Zhuijianjian!"

The Hall Masters answered in unison. Someone asked: "What about the Yuangui Clan? Their Turtle King ran off with the traitors. The rest of the turtle clan also stood by and watched, which is suspected of betraying the covenant."

Beichen pondered: "The fault of one turtle should not implicate too many. Just let the current and next generations of Yuangui not serve; banish them all to the bottom of the abyss. Take all the turtle eggs, hatch them, and hand them over to the Disciples of the Seven Halls to raise; we will start from scratch."

Everyone bowed and said: "The Hall Master is benevolent."

The Hall Master left, and the group followed one after another.

The Yaoguang that Tang Zhao was possessing followed along, but he himself did not leave; instead, his body felt light and detached, pulling upward as if to wake up. It was time to leave.

Seeing the light and shadow around him twist, the water and the sky merging into one, everything became blurred.

In the chaos, he heard someone shouting: "Don't forget a thousand years ago, how the Sword Guests destroyed..."

It stopped abruptly.

Tang Zhao opened his eyes in a daze and sat up abruptly.

Four white walls, a couch below, a pillow under his head—he had returned to the Mengguan of Jiu Yuan.

This is...

Did he wake up from the dream?

Tang Zhao held his forehead, still finding it unbelievable.

Wasn't it supposed to be an experience of Sword Casting? What were those things he just experienced in the dream?

The history of Longyuan?

And a dark history at that?!

In the final outcome, although the current Longyuan side won, that theoretical dispute did not reach a conclusion; the dragon's roar that soared into the sky and the majestic dragon might that descended afterward hinted that the righteous side had been harmed by villains. And the unfinished words at the end hid a past that gave one pause for thought...

Was all of this something Longyuan voluntarily released for people to see?

What were they after?

If it wasn't Longyuan, then who was...

Tang Zhao sat on the bed, carefully recalling, but felt he had almost forgotten the process of Sword Casting, leaving only that scene before Longyuan vivid in his mind, truly having a bone-deep quality.

His lapel moved, and a turtle crawled out slowly from the corner of his clothes, staring at Tang Zhao.

The two stared at each other, but neither spoke for a moment.

After a long while, Tang Zhao suddenly said: "Which branch are you from?"

Those banished to the bottom of the abyss, or the turtle eggs left in Longyuan?

The turtle yawned and said: "I don't understand what you're saying."

Tang Zhao said: "Since you don't want to say, why did you show me these things? Fine, I'll go ask other people from Longyuan if the turtles they send out are reliable."

He pushed open the door and went up the stairs; there was no one in the Jiu Yuan History Museum, only those exquisite murals remaining still. The turtles in the paintings were lifelike, and looking at them now, they had a meaningful air.

He walked quietly from the tail to the head, looked at the murals again, and then repeated: "However, what does this have to do with me?"

Speaking of this, Tang Zhao was a bit puzzled—I came to attend the Talisman Assembly in good faith, at most wanting to win some glory for the mountain villa and get some souvenirs for myself, but before the assembly even started, what kind of mess had he encountered?

At this moment, the tortoise caught up and clawed at his hem to climb up. Tang Zhao paused his steps, paying it no mind.

Emerging from the Shiguan, he heard someone say outside: "This is the Dragon Tooth Sword; when the Dragon Tooth Sword emerges, the Jiu Yuan transforms into a dragon..."

Such familiar words; is Jiu Yuan welcoming new grievances... or tourists again?

Looking closely, he saw that Disciple of Long Yuan was pointing out the scenery to a youth. This youth was also an acquaintance—it was none other than Wang Fei.

"Brother Tang!" Wang Fei spotted Tang Zhao at a glance, immediately broke into a smile, and greeted him.

Tang Zhao laughed: "Brother Wang, you've come too? Did you also get the full package?"

Wang Fei said: "Yes, yes, this fellow is very kind to us ordinary Talisman Sword Masters and gave me a fifty percent discount."

Does this fellow have some obsession with the word "ordinary"? Even at a ninety percent discount, ordinary Talisman Sword Masters would still find it expensive, wouldn't they? Tang Zhao had entered with a ninety percent discount and his heart still ached from the cost.

The main thing was that he had forgotten the memories he paid for, remembering only a pile of free, chaotic nonsense.

But since he also got the full package...

Tang Zhao stepped forward and said: "I also got the full package and just experienced it. I feel that the Dream-Entering Sword Casting was the best. The rest aren't particularly novel. You can focus your experience on that."

Wang Fei said happily: "Is that so? Then I must experience it. But I plan to go rafting first."

Tang Zhao hadn't expected him to enjoy this sort of thing; he hadn't experienced it before, so he was interested in watching.

After listening to the introduction, Wang Fei excitedly took a raft that looked like a dugout canoe, starting from the white sand beach at the dragon's tail, and drifted toward the dragon's head and Dragon Tooth.

Tang Zhao watched from the shore and saw Wang Fei sitting on the raft, swaying and drifting with the current, even splashing the water with his hand, looking quite interested. Suddenly remembering something, he said to the Disciple of Long Yuan: "There won't be any danger when the dragon roars in a while, will there?"

The Disciple of Long Yuan laughed: "It's fine, there's still over an hour until the dragon roar. Besides, this modified dragon roar is just for show; the water surface won't fluctuate much, and there is absolutely no danger..."

"Roar—"

A dragon roar arrived, and Tang Zhao shuddered.

This wasn't right; this wasn't the perfunctory version of the dragon roar he had heard the first time, but rather, it was more like the one from his dream—

In an instant, white waves surged!

At the same time, a soul-stirring dragon might descended.

On the Jiu Yuan, a massive storm raged, and a giant whirlpool erupted beneath the raft, dragging it down into the depths of the water.

Wang Fei was, after all, a Sword Student; even though the white waves were fierce, he wouldn't just wait for death on the raft. However, the descent of that dragon might caused one's spirit to lose its guard, and caught off guard, Wang Fei's entire body stiffened.

Because of that moment of stiffness, Wang Fei's movements were a beat slow, and he instantly disappeared into the white waves along with the raft.

"Hey—hurry and save him!" Tang Zhao shouted loudly.

The Disciple of Long Yuan turned pale and said: "Save... I..." It was clear he had never imagined something would go wrong; he was at a loss, with absolutely no contingency plan for rescue.

Tang Zhao glared at him and leaped down.

In mid-air, he flipped his body, brought out the Fire-Moving Carriage, and pressed the mechanism; the flames on the wheels extinguished as the water surged. At the same time, he reached back and hooked a golden thread onto the Dragon Tooth beneath the dragon's head.

Six Dragon Carriage, enter the water!