Chapter 289: 298 In the Same Boat

Amidst a sea of fire and chaos, someone in the ranks discovered that the Commandant, who should have been the core of the unit, had vanished.

The situation was truly chaotic, and it was not easy to find one person, yet this Commandant was a pillar of support, always charging at the front, never delaying in issuing orders, and was the backbone of the group; the kind of person whose figure one needed to see to feel at ease when encountering difficulties—how could they suddenly disappear?

Because of the leader's disappearance, the Turtle Bandit unit lost its order, and the scene became increasingly chaotic.

From all directions, there was not only the sound of fire burning, but also the roars of Fierce Beasts and the shrill, ghost-like wailing of Phantoms; these sounds gathered together, becoming a huge torture to human ears.

As the sounds rose and fell, more and more people discovered that something was wrong.

Setting aside Shi Chunqing, who had been missing for a long time, the sounds of these Fierce Beasts and Phantoms should not have been this piercing to begin with.

One must know that they were releasing these sources of disaster on the wide lake surface; without specific directions, they should have been scurrying about, or following their instincts to go in the direction where there were the most people—which was the direction of the Reception Hall.

However, those sounds never moved away; they seemed to be drifting around them the whole time, and the shadows of those Fierce Beasts were faintly visible even through the pitch-black night.

Not only did they not move away, they were... getting closer and closer?!

The disasters that had just scattered, instead of wreaking havoc on others, were gathering around them instead?

No, it was not just that the Fierce Beasts were getting closer; it seemed the sky was also getting darker?

Clearly, although it was dark before, there was still a faint Micro Light reflected on the water surface; how was it that now the light seemed to have been swallowed by a monster, leaving only the pitch-black night and the scarlet pupils of the Fierce Beasts in the distance?

The space was also becoming increasingly cramped...

Unknowingly, everyone felt invisible walls closing in on them from all sides, all experiencing the suffocating feeling of being locked in a deep cage; immediately after, the Fierce Beasts and Phantoms that had hit the southern wall had already counterattacked, rushing toward them to tear and bite, mixed with the scorching sensation of flames, as if they were in purgatory.

At this moment, besides the sounds of the Fierce Beasts and Phantoms, there was another kind of sound—

That was the sound of screaming!

"Ah—"

A thin, elderly man brought the Time Jar in his hand closer to his ear and faintly heard a few screams, but the sound was too small, to the point of being blurry and unclear.

There was no help for it; such a large space was placed inside the jar, and the people were as small as ants; how could one hear what sounds ants made?

He listened for a few moments, felt it was boring, shrunk the jar and put it aside, stood alone on a small boat on the water, turned his head to look at the other person on the same boat, and said: "Thanks to you, it has become quiet so quickly tonight."

Sitting on the boat beside him, a young person stood on the gunwale, a cloak gently fluttering in the night wind, revealing the tight-fitting clothes inside that had already been dried by Internal Energy; this was the leader of the Turtle Bandits who had come by swimming tonight, the Commandant whom they had been unable to find at the last moment. At this time, they lacked the dignity of a leader whose orders were strictly followed, just standing quietly, looking like a girl of eighteen or nineteen, so calm as to be wooden.

"This is nothing; it is what I agreed upon with Tang Zhao."

The thin old man nodded and said: "I heard. If it weren't for your fortuitous encounter, occupying an important position among the Turtle Bandits, and delivering precious information to him, even with his immense ability, he would have had no way to calmly arrange things and move the battlefield outside of Zhuoyu Villa. That kid Tang Zhao is very lucky; despite not having much experience, he can actually make so many good friends, and in times of crisis, everyone is willing to help him. Do you know? Three, maybe four years ago, I saw you."

The girl, who had been indifferent, was slightly startled and said: "Is that so? When?"

The thin old man said: "It was that time you met Tang Zhao, when you fought side-by-side against that Sword Guest with white hair; I was there too."

The girl recalled carefully, but was still blank, and said: "Was I?"

The thin old man said: "You were. I still remember your appearance; it was eighty percent similar to how you look now, just more grown-up and more outstanding. It's just that I was hiding in the jar at that time, so I recognize you, but you don't recognize me. Even if you had seen me then, you probably wouldn't have recognized me. Of course, I was quite fat, but I'm much thinner now. This is all because of toil. It was stifling in the jar at the time, but now I want to go back to those leisurely days, yet I can't."

The girl realized, though she still didn't remember any jar, but the old man spoke with certainty and made sense, so it was likely not false, and she asked: "Since you were there at the time, why didn't you come out to deal with that white-haired devil? You are so powerful, dealing with him should have been easy, right?"

The old man laughed and said: "I was training that kid Tang Zhao at the time, so I deliberately didn't intervene. If I hadn't given him the opportunity, how could he have had the chance to fight a Sword Guest at that age? That time, not only him, but you also benefited a lot, right?"

The girl tilted her head slightly and said: "That was indeed an unforgettable experience. If I hadn't been thrown hundreds of miles away this time, how would I have gotten lost heading north and eventually been pulled into the Turtle Bandits by the East Pillar of State?" She paused and said: "Will you send me out?"

The old man asked curiously: "Now?"

The girl said: "Yes. Only you can send people out from here, right?"

The old man said: "Sending you out is no problem. But are you sure you want to leave now? If you stay here for the night, you can go directly to participate in the Sword Casting Conference tomorrow. Won't you be able to reunite with Tang Zhao when he breaks through the barrier and comes out? Don't you want to see him?"

The girl sighed and said: "I want to, but tomorrow is not good. The East Pillar of State will likely take action personally tomorrow. I don't want to face him. I don't like the Turtle Bandits and don't want to be a traitor, but the East Pillar of State has treated me well."

The old man realized and said: "Alright, this is a dilemma—but you said there will be a big battle tomorrow? I thought everything would be over tonight."

The girl said: "Yes, there definitely will be. Remind Tang Zhao for me; they value this operation very much, and we are only the vanguard. If we can succeed, that would be best, but if we don't, the East Pillar of State will definitely take action personally. He is very strong; he is a powerful Sword Hero. But you are also very strong. I suppose you should be able to contend with him."

The old man laughed heartily and said: "The little girl has a good eye, seeing at a glance that I am strong. However, although I am this strong, I won't easily take action; that would be too beneath my status. I will sit here and hold the fort. No matter what strong enemy comes, there will be others to deal with them; I am not as active as some people. It was agreed at the time that I would just be invited to serve as the host of the Reception Hall for Tang Zhao's kid for a few days and hold the line for them. Tomorrow, my duty will be finished. Let's go, I'll send you out."

Following his laughter, the small boat swayed gently on the water.

"Mentioning the Sword Casting Conference, I think of, I think of... a traitor!" a voice shouted as if they had discovered a new continent.

"Eh, this has already been written."

"What the hell? The Sword Casting Conference and a traitor have such a distant relationship, and it's already been written?"

"That's right, at this point, everything that even remotely touches upon it has been written once. Besides, are a traitor and the Sword Casting Conference far apart? Anyone in Jichun City with a brain can think of it. You thought for a long time and only came up with this; it seems your brain is very average, brother."

"Damn it, you wait... let me think again."

The crowd below was in a mess, with people slapping their thighs from time to time to pop out a word, perhaps hoping to successfully write it on the white paper at the very top, but more often than not, they discovered that a predecessor had already done so, and could only sit down in disappointment, racking their brains to think again.

This word-association game had been played for over half an hour. At first, everyone only tried to speak because of the reward, but they didn't expect this game to be quite addictive. Especially since it was competitive, required using one's brain, but not too much, it was very suitable for these martial arts heroes who had little culture; one word after another, they scrambled to play, and actually couldn't stop. At this time, everyone not only forgot about the reward, but even almost forgot that this was originally just a warm-up game for an auction.

At this time, the white paper was already densely filled with vocabulary, roughly counting over a hundred, with no room left to write more. Fortunately, the imaginations of the martial arts men below were limited, and they hadn't been able to squeeze out any new words for a long time.

Finally, the Ba Mian Ren, who had been sitting on the side with great interest, stood up, and the tall woman sitting next to him, who was almost irritable, also suddenly stood up with him.

"Alright, I think that's enough; let's end the game here." The Ba Mian Ren said to everyone with a smile, "Writing any more will be bad for your health."

The crowd's enthusiasm was interrupted, and they were all a bit unsatisfied; hearing his words, they couldn't help but be stunned: what did he mean by bad for their health?

All the Knights-Errant were martial arts experts who weren't afraid of fighting for days and nights; how could sitting here playing a game for a while be harmful? Even if they racked their brains, that was just a figure of speech, wasn't it? Could it really hurt their brains?

However, it was over, so it was over. Some things were addictive while playing, but once you stopped and calmed down for a while, you would realize it was just like that. Even thinking about it carefully, the scene that was just heated and lively was quite ridiculous. Everyone felt a bit of regret in their hearts, feeling that they had added to their dark history for no reason; if there weren't so many people here, they should have killed everyone to silence them.

That being said, the game was over, so it was time to announce the rankings and give the rewards, right? Wasn't that what everyone came for in the first place? That was the Heaven-grade intelligence that could make ghosts grind flour, worth at least a thousand gold; for people like them, the value of one piece of information might even exceed the harvest of a trip to Zhuoyu Villa, after all, the risk was much smaller.

The Ba Mian Ren did not announce the rankings, but looked at the white paper and shook his head, saying: "I didn't expect everyone's imagination to be so rich. It's truly unexpected. The words most associated with the Sword Casting Conference are actually wealth, opportunity, rising to fame... what is all this? Can a supreme treasure of the level of a sword be described by mere wealth? Your horizons are shallow enough, and I don't know who you were deceived by. No wonder a grand event that originally only concerned Sword Smiths and Sword Guests has attracted so many riff-raff. Although there are people with ulterior motives spreading rumors, it is also because you are too stupid and easily fooled..."

The more he spoke, the more presumptuous he became; the crowd heard that something was wrong, and their anger could not help but rise, and someone jumped up to vent right then and there.

At this time, the Ba Mian Ren took a sword from his sleeve; the sword was about a foot long, nearly transparent, with only a faint, elusive reflection flowing on it.

The crowd's eyes involuntarily focused on it, and they saw the Ba Mian Ren raise his hand and drop the sword, stabbing it into the white paper.

"Sword Technique—Disappearance."

As the sword fell, the minds of the crowd went blank, and their expressions became dazed.