Chapter 189: 182 The Second Stage of the House Melee

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled!

Lightning was conducted in from the outside, filling the house with silver threads; each one was an excellent conductor, instantly causing ten thousand rays of thunder light to detonate within the Paper House!

What is the most conductive metal in the world?

It is silver!

Choosing to use silver for the house showed that from the very beginning, the intent was to conduct electricity.

Among the six houses laying siege, the Silver House had always lagged a beat behind the others and hadn't attacked much; unknowingly, it had fallen directly behind the Paper House, then suddenly struck, piercing silver threads into the Paper House to conduct electricity at the end.

The effect was outstanding!

On the street, two clusters of thunder light lit up simultaneously.

One was the Silver House ambushing the Paper House, and the other was Tang Zhao making his move.

Just a moment ago, the Bone House had rammed into the iron-clad house and was struggling to turn back, its rear gate wide open. Tang Zhao did not hesitate to trigger his second-layer most powerful Rune Formula: Chain Lightning!

This was, of course, the inspiration he had gained from the lightning-transmission game, which he then vigorously developed into a chain-detonation lightning strike. When fishing in White City, he could only link three, but after several days of focused research, he could now link five. Five different thunder talismans bloomed instantly, detonating each other—what astonishing power!

It was also lightning, but while the opponent needed silver as a conductor, he only needed to keep saying "Explode!"

This lightning strike exploded the rear half of the Bone Beast; if the Bai Gu Lou really were a beast, this move would count as a "Thousand Years of Death."

However, the bone beast was merely a deformation of the Bai Gu Lou, and the back door could not be considered a vital point; it was just a deformation of the first floor of the house, with no living person inside. Tang Zhao chose to strike here, aside from convenience, mainly because—he didn't want to cause any deaths.

Although it couldn't compare to the large-scale chain lightning he had created at Jiming Mountain Stronghold, there was a tenfold bonus from the Scroll here, and its power was not at all inferior to that massive explosion that had nearly taken out a Sword Guest back then. Even though the bones had been reinforced, they could not withstand such a massive explosion.

In an instant, the bones of the rear half of the Gu Wu turned into bone slag in the explosion and were submerged in the thunder light.

The thunder light instantly invaded the second floor. Tang Zhao was startled and almost moved to save someone, but he saw the lamp on the roof extinguish instantly; it was the opponent, in a panic, having the Spirit Envoy teleport away.

Quite decisive, too.

With the Spirit Envoy gone, the Gu Wu lost its reinforcement, and the upper half also shattered into powder. There was no trace of the house left at all.

When he turned his head, the Paper House, under the weaving of silver threads, had been completely submerged in thunder light. The air was filled with a burnt smell—not just of lightning, but of paper being ignited. Paper is always flammable; after the thunder light, it was likely to turn into a fireball.

Tang Zhao blinked and saw a Paper Crane fly out of the house. The rear half of the Paper Crane was still trailing thunder light, like a phoenix with a tail, carrying a person on its back and dragging the Scroll as it fled in a panic toward the high sky.

This one was not bad; to be able to protect oneself in such a situation, abandoning the house to escape, at least preserved the answers they already had.

However, she had also lost the qualification to continue copying answers; she might be the earliest among everyone present to prepare to rush toward the Jianzhou teleportation array.

No... there was an even earlier one. The iron-clad house that had been collapsed by his first golden-thread sword strike—the door had long since opened quietly, and the Talisman Sword Master didn't know where they had run off to. Tang Zhao had been focused on the battlefield and hadn't watched them; he didn't even know if they were tall, short, fat, or thin.

The likewise collapsed Rock House... it neither struggled to get up nor fled; he didn't know what it was doing. Could it be that it had just laid flat on the spot?

Thus, two transmissions, two escapes, one in an unknown state, and the remaining Silver House...

Tang Zhao pushed the window open slightly and greeted, "Good day, Shixiong."

Behind the Silver House, the faint, flickering phantom—what else could it be but two wings? Upon seeing the pair of wings, how could Tang Zhao not know who had come?

Wind Thunder Wings; choosing the Silver House was truly appropriate.

A battle that was one-versus-six on the surface and two-versus-five in secret began quickly and ended quickly. The scene was unexpectedly one-sided, and it was the few bullying the many.

Although the surface of Tang Zhao's Wooden House had suffered some friction, its structure was intact, and the seven-colored light on the roof shone incessantly.

The six enemies who had first stuck their heads out were all wiped out. There were still over ten houses watching the battle nearby, and in the distance, there were those hidden even deeper who had not yet shown themselves.

For a moment, the scene was silent. The dozen or so surrounding houses stood silently outside, as if they were just a pile of unremarkable houses.

The atmosphere at this moment remained stagnant, yet it was no longer so tense; instead, it was filled with hesitation and doubt—the bird that stuck its head out had already broken its wings, and the Wooden House was highly intimidating. The remaining second-tier houses were all wavering between advancing and retreating, lacking someone to take the lead. Perhaps if one person shouted, everyone would charge together, or if one person turned and ran, everyone would scatter in a swarm.

Should he... guide them a little? Let Jiang Shixiong take the lead?

To hell with that, how could he let you all run away?!

It's as if only you know how to attack!

Rune Formula—Golden Rain!

In the sky, rain of gold began to drift, and immediately after, it poured down in torrents!

Countless gold came from who knows which dark cloud; in an instant, the rain poured like a waterfall, and countless golden fragments fell with a pitter-patter.

That was real gold—real gold that feared no fire and was incomparably sharp. Back then, when Ai Xin was on the verge of death, he could still trigger the Golden Rain that feared no Qi and could cut wood and shatter stone. Today, with Tang Zhao triggering it with a Rune Formula and a tenfold bonus, the golden rain was as dark as a storm, covering the sky and earth, not inferior to the magnificent scene back then.

This gold swirled and flew wildly, its momentum like a torrent, like a floodgate opening; it was pervasive and indestructible, raining down over half of Maze City. It was fiercer and sharper than the previous flock of Paper Cranes, falling on trees to fell them, falling on the ground to drill into the soil, and falling on the houses like scrapers scraping bone and flesh; every piece that brushed past would take away some material. Even the copper and iron houses were no exception, instantly becoming mottled as if they had aged several hundred years. Only those that had been specially thickened and reinforced on their walls were spared.

Siege, I'll show you siege; as if no one else knows group-attack techniques.

Although this Rune Formula was learned temporarily on the road, it was very useful. Sword Arts like the Yanggu Sword also had group attacks, but this one was the most enduring. A single Golden Rain, burning enough Qi, could rain for at least half an hour.

"Shidi... do you know that your Shixiong is also suffering because of you?" Jiang Shenyi sat in the Silver House, grinding his teeth, realizing that the window in front of him had been shredded by the gold, and specks of gold were flying into the house; if it rained a bit more, he wouldn't have a place to stand.

"Rather than sit and wait for death, it is better to take the initiative to attack. Shidi has made a good start; I will add some ingredients for you!" Jiang Shenyi hardened his heart and pushed the Rune Formula he had crafted most meticulously.

"Hundred Thousand—Falling Thunder!"

Thunder light rose from the Silver House, following the Golden Rain as a conductor, traveling all the way to the clouds, turning into ten thousand rays of thunder light falling down. The golden pieces, wrapped in electric arcs, added even more power!

Gold, after all, conducts electricity too.

The thunder light raging in all directions became the last straw that broke the camel's back. As if someone had let out a silent roar, the houses turned and ran; they ran with all their might, and just as they had come with dull thuds, they left with dull thuds.

Just as they ran out of the range of the golden thunder rain, someone unknown took the lead, and one house suddenly rammed into another, knocking it over and pressing down on top of it.

They started, they started!

Immediately after, everyone began to move, braving the small thunder rain on the periphery to attack the opponents around them. The scene was suddenly very intense, with each house showing off its own tricks, having the momentum of "If I can't get a perfect score, I can at least beat you."

Once the rhythm of the chaotic battle started, it could no longer be stopped.

Tang Zhao was in the center of the rain shower and gradually retreated to the surroundings, because he couldn't stand it anymore either.

A Sword Guest themselves can be immune to their own Sword Art because the Sword Art is essentially an extension of the sword's power. But a Talisman Sword Master is not. One cannot be immune to one's own Rune Formula; when unleashing a big move, one must be extra careful not to kill oneself. Tang Zhao had originally relied on his own house being sturdy and thick, and that the gold couldn't break his defense, so he dared to stand in the center of the Golden Rain, but when the thunder came down, he hesitated.

It was fortunate that wood is an insulator, so he wasn't affected at first, but there was more and more gold; sooner or later, it would coat him in a layer of metal, and at that point, the Wooden House would conduct electricity for him.

So he quietly retreated to the edge, far from the center of the struggle, just watching house after house fighting intensely, becoming a landscape of Maze City.

After watching for a while, he felt it wasn't that interesting. He had originally thought that everyone came from different factions and must have all kinds of trump-card methods, and that the Rune Formulas would surely be like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, full of variety.

But in fact, there were only nine Rune Formula slots in total; sturdiness and defense took up half, and there were also reconnaissance, movement, and some even added concealment, leaving little room for offense. At most, everyone only had one or two powerful means. Moreover, without being under siege, group-attack means were meaningless, and once a single-target attack was at close enough range, it also lost a lot of room for release. Because no matter how a house is manipulated, it is still too clumsy; it is difficult to maneuver and dodge, and it cannot be compared to a human body at all.

Eventually, everyone came to understand that in one-on-one duels, simply crashing into each other to see who was harder was the most effective method, supplemented by a few wind, fire, thunder, and lightning techniques, which was basically enough.

In the end, the battlefield Tang Zhao saw consisted of clusters of multicolored halos where two houses would grapple together; the more agile ones would throw punches and kicks, while the clumsier ones would butt heads, knocking their roofs against each other.

After Tang Zhao ran out, there were houses that tried to ambush him, but a single house was nothing; even when it came to hardness, Tang Zhao, with his maximum enhancements, was in the lead, and basically, with one crash and one shove, the opponent would undoubtedly be floored. If they still didn't fall, he would follow up with a Golden Silk Sword strike, which would put them down regardless.

Although he exited the fray so smoothly, Tang Zhao's heart was not completely at ease.

His greatest enemy had not yet appeared!

That person adjusted his Lamp to seven colors, and then what? Was he so certain that his scheme of borrowing a knife to kill would succeed that he just stopped there?

Or was he hiding in the shadows, waiting to deliver a fatal blow?

He moved cautiously toward the periphery, intending to reach a quiet place to lure out the hidden hunter.

But as he kept retreating, even though he reached the edge of Maze City, he still hadn't been attacked. He only watched one conflict after another; Maze City was filled with battles everywhere, and as time went on, the fighting became even more heated, with the streets littered with building ruins, and there were even many Talisman Sword Masters who had escaped from old houses and immediately switched to new ones to continue the fight.

In their haste, the new houses could not be as fully equipped as the old ones, so everyone naturally focused on sturdy defense, and those they challenged were also new houses similar to their own; both sides relied on the hardness of their materials to crash into each other, and their moves were even cruder and unbearable to watch.

I fear that in the end, when everyone has no houses left to crash, they will only be able to take to the streets for a real brawl.

Could it be that it was ending just like this?

Unknowingly, the sky began to turn a fish-belly white.

The appointed time had arrived!

Suddenly, a ray of light pierced through the clouds, striking straight into the center of Maze City, where it twisted and bloomed like fireworks.

A sound never heard before rang in his ears.

The Sword Province Road was about to open!