Chapter 191: 184 Making Landfall

What?

When the giant net entangled the house, Tang Zhao was stunned for a moment.

Immediately after, he saw tentacle-like ropes crawling up the windows, tightly wrapping around the outer walls. Then, the torrent beneath the Wooden House sprayed incessantly, the recoil causing the house to spin, yet it relied on the ropes to hold it, barely maintaining stability.

In an instant, Tang Zhao thought of Wang Fei, who had been plunged into the abyss, thought of the water weeds that had entangled him, thought of that massive black shadow beneath the deep water, and also thought of his desperate, struggling figure under the water.

However, this was different. That patch of water weeds back then had obvious black Qi, clearly a Fierce Trace, whereas these ropes trapping his house were the most orthodox Art Tools, only they were extremely powerful, high-level Art Tools.

This was not a Yin Calamity; it was someone harming others.

Beneath those ropes, there was clearly an even more powerful force dragging them downward.

In his urgency, Tang Zhao manipulated the Rune Formula to first stabilize the Wooden House, then turned the house's direction, angling the water jets downward.

Full power—propulsion!

The rapid, high-pressure water flow sprayed wildly, pushing the Wooden House upward with all its might. But those net ropes were also extremely tough, coiling around the walls in strands, dragging the Wooden House so it could neither rise nor sink, the two sides deadlocked in mid-air.

At this time, houses that were originally a step slower than his passed by one after another. It was not that no one saw this situation; in the waterless seabed, such fishing nets and entangled houses were indeed strange, but there were many strange things in the Maze City, so the crowd was not very surprised, only assuming this house had been sabotaged by some opponent, and that it was someone else's business. Some even recognized the seven-colored light on top of the Wooden House as belonging to the first-place winner who had just been slaughtering in all directions, and now that he was being held back, they could not help but secretly gloat.

After all, people didn't die in the Maze City, everyone was a competitor, and they wished for your failure; how could anyone offer a helping hand? The only person who might have helped, Jiang Shenyi, was not in this direction; he had likely already entered Jianzhou from the opposite side.

In this standoff, Tang Zhao, the vanguard, had actually become the rearguard, watching as the houses beside him passed one by one, submerged into the light of the Lighthouse, and disappeared one by one.

In the blink of an eye, there was no one else around, only the Lighthouse flickering incessantly.

Looking at the silently scanning light, Tang Zhao's heart grew increasingly tense; not to mention the danger of being dragged down, just dragging on like this was also bad. At this time, the battle of the Maze City was nearing its end; he did not know when the light would extinguish and the Sword Province Road would close, and all his hard work of so many days would be in vain. He gritted his teeth and said, "Sister Yun, keep watch for me inside the house; I'm going to cut the ropes."

Yun Xiyan raised her eyebrows and said, "How could this require you, little brother? Since I am riding in your vehicle, how could I not contribute? Cutting ropes is nothing; leave it to me." Having said that, she held her sword horizontally and pushed open the window.

Tang Zhao said, "Wait a moment, let me clear the surroundings for you." Having said that, he released another Rune Formula.

Rune Formula—Golden Rain!

Countless gold bloomed once again!

This time, the Golden Rain did not descend from the sky, but exploded with the house as the center, the fragments of real gold turning into blades, rushing toward the surroundings like a vortex, cutting everything they encountered.

Vortex clashing with vortex, in an instant, the ropes were cut with traces by the gold. A single gold fragment was not enough to cut a rope, but there was so much gold, exploding in a narrow space, layer upon layer, the wounds stacking up time and again, until finally, it collapsed. Only the sound of "snap, snap" was heard, several ropes snapped in succession, and under the recoil of the water flow, the Wooden House was on the verge of breaking free.

Yun Xiyan pushed open the window and arrived in the air, her sword pointing from afar at the thickest rope at the very bottom, gauging its strength, and slightly gathering her momentum.

Seeing her exit the window, Tang Zhao reached out, scooped up the turtle, and with his other hand picked up the Lihuo Sword, saying, "Gui Ye, come over here; we are preparing to retreat."

The turtle asked curiously, "Are you going out to cut the ropes too?"

Tang Zhao shook his head and said, "No, Sister Yun is enough to cut the ropes, but we must be prepared to abandon the ship. I have an ominous premonition..." Speaking of this, he suddenly thought: This journey has been very unsmooth; is it because I didn't cast a Sword Technique to add luck to myself? I must remember to add it to myself often in the future.

At this moment, Yun Xiyan had finished gathering her momentum, exerted force with her feet, her internal energy surging, and her long sword left its sheath—

Crack!

A streak of Sword Light illuminated the dim seabed, as if it were another Lighthouse.

That giant tentacle was severed by the sword, and the Wooden House surged forward under the recoil of the water flow.

Just at this moment, a vortex stirred beneath the water, and a bloody, gaping maw suddenly appeared!

The big mouth had long been lying in ambush beneath the ground, rising with the momentum to bite through the water flow!

Countless white, ghastly teeth interlocked, biting together!

A ferocious, ugly head, a long and flat mouth, densely packed teeth—this was a crocodile!

After Yun Xiyan's sword strike, her figure involuntarily stalled, and suddenly everything went black before her eyes; a black shadow had already shrouded the surroundings, and a beastly, fishy stench rushed toward her face, wrapping her up entirely.

At the critical moment, someone grabbed her by the waist, his body flashed, and he had already flown backward several yards, as a light comparable to the sun exploded before their eyes.

Sword Image—Rising Sun!

On the seabed at dawn, a sun was actually rising, yet the next moment, the sunlight was blocked again.

The giant mouth clamped shut, catching this sun right in its jaws.

Immediately after, the bright light leaked out through the thick skin.

"Run—" Tang Zhao grabbed Yun Xiyan, holding the Yanggu Sword in its simulated state with one hand, and flew by sword!

The target: the Lighthouse!

A stone's throw away, they arrived in an instant; Tang Zhao could not spare a glance back, and the two people and one turtle submerged into the brightness of the Lighthouse.

Boom!

The moment he dove into the Lighthouse, sunlight and heat waves erupted within the Maze City! The Lighthouse bore the brunt, swallowed by the sunlight, and countless houses of various colors left behind in the city were blown into the sky along with the heat waves. A small half of the city was reduced to a mess.

Mixed within this were the charred, withered bones of the crocodile.

At the most critical moment, Tang Zhao simulated the Yanggu Sword, without using any Sword Art or Sword Technique, directly using the Sword Image and stuffing it into the crocodile's mouth; that was the sun that had burned the Flood Dragon Heavenly Demon into a skeleton, how could a mere crocodile endure it?

It was fortunate that the various Talisman Sword Masters had already teleported away a step earlier, leaving only empty houses, so they were not implicated. It was just that this costly Maze City had once again become ruins, which would require Longyuan to clean up the aftermath.

As for whether there were other people beside the crocodile, or whether that beast-tamer who hurt others had escaped the disaster, that was not something Tang Zhao cared about.

Through the light, Tang Zhao felt a sense of weightlessness.

This was the inevitable feeling of teleportation; in an instant, he had returned to normal.

In this instant, he did not know how much distance had been crossed.

The sky was slightly bright; coming out, it was dawn once again.

Rushing toward his face was the sound of waves and a sea breeze mixed with seawater. When he opened his eyes, it was a vast blue.

They had truly arrived on the surface of the sea!

The endless seawater and the slightly whitened sky met in the distance, a line between sea and sky.

On the horizon, there was faintly the outline of an island, and lights were flickering on the island; that was another Lighthouse.

Tang Zhao appeared out of thin air on the sea surface, and immediately after, the test paper in his hand grew without wind, turning into a small paper boat that landed on the sea; Tang Zhao sat down, and the small boat immediately sailed toward the island.

On the other side, Yun Xiyan also obtained her own boat. There were quite a few paper boats scattered around, all teleported from the Maze City. They had arrived much earlier than Tang Zhao and were already on the way to the drifting island, visible only as flickering white dots. At this time, the teleportation light had already extinguished; Tang Zhao and his group were the last batch to arrive just in time.

The Sword Province Road closed here.

Tang Zhao's heart finally relaxed; the danger of the critical moment just now gradually blurred in his mind, and the hardships of the journey also seemed like a distant memory; he just stared blankly at the sea surface and the little white boats.

In a trance, he seemed to see the silhouette of his senior brother on a white boat in the distance, though he could not distinguish whether it truly was him or not.

"The sea, it really is the sea..."

Yun Xiyan was full of wonder, extending a finger to dip it into the seawater; he clearly felt the quality of the water, which was not the fake sea of Maze City, and after tasting a droplet, it was bitter and salty, with a gritty sensation left on his finger, so he asked in surprise, "How did we end up in the sea? Have we already left Kungang?"

The far west of Kungang is full of thousands of mountains and peaks, so naturally, there is no sea, and Tang Zhao shook his head, saying, "I suspect not. I didn't feel like we traveled that far just now. We should still be in Kungang." If the teleportation were too far, the Space Fluctuation would be very uncomfortable, and as Tang Zhao has mastered the Art of Dispatch, he naturally has experience with this.

"This might be a miracle of the sword."

It is said that the swords of Jianzhou are best at altering the environment; every time Jianzhou opens, the environment is different, capable of raising mountains from flat land and building cities in an instant. Could it be that this time, a sea was opened up on a high mountain?

Kungang originally had no sea; the sword came, and so there was a sea.

The sword truly is a miracle of the world.

Following the sea current toward the small island, by the light of the early dawn, one could see the island covered in clusters of flowers, as if prepared to welcome a grand occasion.

This must be the location of the Talisman Assembly.

Approaching the island, the paper boats diverged, flowing toward three different piers. These must correspond to the Heaven, Earth, and Human Districts. By now, everyone's test papers were filled out and they knew roughly how many questions they had answered; the paper boats sensed the approximate scores on the papers and automatically sorted them to the piers.

Among the three districts, the Heaven District had the fewest people, but there were still over a dozen boats. Longyuan was quite generous, granting many spots to the Heaven District.

When Tang Zhao's boat approached, there were still seven or eight boats in line.

However, as his boat drew near, the paper boats in front suddenly moved aside from the pier automatically, and his small boat bypassed everyone, heading straight to the very front. There was a slight commotion on the sea surface; clearly, the paper boats had moved on their own, and the passengers on board were quite dissatisfied.

Tang Zhao was stunned for a moment and hurriedly wanted to explain to the others that he did not intend to cut in line, when he heard a Disciple of Longyuan at the pier say, "So a perfect score has arrived. Everyone, please, by the rules, let them go ashore first."

Ah? So it was something he deserved?

Then it was fine.

Tang Zhao was usually modest, but he naturally would not decline this small priority earned by his own ability. He let the boat drift to the pier first, stood up, and bowed slightly to the people behind him as a gesture of greeting.

This action appeared humble but actually carried a sense of showing off. The onlookers cast various gazes, not lacking those filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred. Someone even muttered, "What is there to be proud of now? If you have the ability, wait until the scores are truly released and it is confirmed to be a perfect score before you get cocky."

Tang Zhao acted as if he did not Listen, and after going ashore, a Disciple greeted him, smiling, "Honored guest, please go and rest first. Hand the test paper to me, and the Spirit Envoy will come with me as well. The list of scores will be posted tomorrow to arrange the seating, and the Talisman Assembly will officially begin the day after tomorrow. Honored guest..."

Seeing that Tang Zhao's expression had suddenly become dazed after going ashore, the Disciple found it a bit strange and decided to Ask.

Tang Zhao came back to his senses, nodded in agreement, and struggled to shift his attention away from his Glasses.

"Sword: Kun Sword. This sword was once recorded on the ninth page of the Sword Manual. Would you like to view it?"