Chapter 319: 328 Hanging Upside Down

As the summer heat rose, the trees grew increasingly fast. It was as if they had been fully wound up like clockwork; branch after branch shot out sideways, expanding recklessly in all directions like a dance of wild, coiling dragons.

Such scorching temperatures drove the trees to grow frantically, made people exceptionally irritable, and evaporated the moisture in the air.

In the surrounding environment, there was not a shred of moisture left; even the bark of the giant trees formed by the Sword Technique had turned a scorched brown.

This damned climate... wouldn't it be a pity not to set a fire?

Chi Deputy Envoy glanced at Tang Zhao and raised his wine gourd to take a few gulps; the slight leakage of wine vapor carried the danger of dry tinder meeting a raging fire.

"Pfft—"

A mouthful of wine vapor was sprayed out, already carrying sparks, and it splashed all over the giant tree.

At the same time, Tang Zhao drew his Sword and swung it, a stream of light instantly shooting into the sky.

The light slanted upward from below, piercing into the lush leaves.

The moment he struck, Tang Zhao wanted to test if he could use Sunlight like a blade to pierce directly into the bark and damage the foundation of this Sword Technique. Compared to a slow burn from a large fire, striking the heart directly was more efficient.

However, facts proved that he had overthought it. Even though he condensed the light to the extreme and his Sword Essence was consumed as rapidly as if burning, he could not damage the bark in the slightest.

Sword Art and Sword Technique are indeed worlds apart. Although the power of Sword Art will gradually increase through constant practice and the accumulation of Sword Essence, a Sword Technique is a Sword Technique; it cannot be easily broken by Sword Art.

But when the Sunlight was condensed to a single point, although the damage might not have been enough, it brought high heat.

And strong liquor is flammable!

Wine, trees, Sunlight, and summer heat, all gathered together, ignited almost instantly.

Whoosh—

Clusters of flames burned up on the giant tree. In the blink of an eye, one cluster here and another there covered the surface of the tree, as if large and small flame bumps had grown on the bark.

Yet, although the flames burned fiercely, they only stayed on the surface. Tang Zhao saw clearly that rather than the bark burning, it was the wine soaked into the surface of the bark that was burning. After the flash fire, the bark coated by the wine liquid burned dry, the flames naturally extinguished, and the fire could not spread to the clean bark nearby at all.

As for the two Sword Heroes struggling in the clouds, neither looked down even once. It seemed they did not know what small tricks the two Sword Guests beneath their feet were up to. Perhaps Sword Heroes never needed to pay attention to Sword Guests.

On the other hand, the surrounding forest of arrays, because it was too dry and hot, ignited at the touch of the flying sparks. Several large fires had already broken out, the flames roaring and adding even more heat to the air.

Just a moment ago, Chi Deputy Envoy had cursed Zhou Chengzhi for setting the mountain on fire; now it was the turn of the two from the Land Inspection Division to set the mountain ablaze.

"It seems this giant tree is non-flammable," Chi Deputy Envoy had never been optimistic about Tang Zhao interfering in the Sword Hero battle. "Although trees can catch fire, this tree formed by a Sword Technique may not even be called a tree; it might even be a Sword Image. It seems our method of setting fires is not working."

This East Pillar of State is known as the East Pillar of State of Xia. When the summer heat arrived just now, both Tang Zhao and Chi Deputy Envoy thought it was a Sword Image, just as Chi Deputy Envoy's Sword Image is wine vapor. But now it seems his Sword Intent might be "Growth," so a Sword Image of trees is also quite fitting.

If it is a Sword Image, then this giant tree likely transcends its own physical properties and can basically do as it pleases.

Tang Zhao shook his head and said, "Perhaps the fire just wasn't good enough?"

That was just igniting a fire using high heat and wine vapor—that is, Mortal fire. Perhaps he should use a better flame.

Tang Zhao reached out and took out a Sword; the blade was over a foot long, and it seemed as if flames were burning on the edge.

"Ah... isn't this?" Chi Deputy Envoy was astonished and reached out to touch his evidence bag.

Tang Zhao said, "Yes, it is the Lihuo Sword. It is the Dharma Artifact of that sword."

It is a coincidence that Tang Zhao has had this handy Dharma Artifact for so many years, yet he never thought that the real sword of this blade still had a Sword Guest, and a Turtle Bandit at that.

When he saw that Vermilion Bird pressing toward the ground from afar, Tang Zhao felt it looked familiar, thinking of how he had once released a small version of his will in the small Taoist temple on the mountain. He guessed that the red-haired man was holding the sword he had once longed for. Finally, after taking down Zhou Chengzhi and looking, it really was the Lihuo Sword.

The real Lihuo Sword is twice as long as the Dharma Artifact, close to the length of an ordinary sword, but the fire energy it contains is exactly the same as the Lihuo Dharma Artifact. The Turtle Bandits' handiwork is not small; they actually equipped this young East Pillar of State with an Ancient Sword.

Chi Deputy Envoy touched the bag; the sword of that red-haired East Pillar of State was now lying quietly in the evidence bag. Because its Sword Guest was still alive, it had not dimmed, and one could still see the flame-like patterns on it. He said, "It's a pity you already have a sword. Otherwise, this sword would be very suitable for you."

Tang Zhao smiled. He had long since ceased to covet it. Not to mention that he already had the most suitable sword, even though this precious Lihuo Sword Dharma Artifact had been in his hands for many years, he rarely had the chance to let it appear in its true form, as he was always using it to simulate the Yanggu Sword. The sun is a star, eternal and everlasting; how could a mere flame compare to it?

However, today he made an exception; the Lihuo Sword reappeared with Lihuo.

"Sword Technique—Vermilion Bird Fire!"

The Vermilion Bird reappeared!

The vermilion divine bird dragged a long tail of flames, let out a melodious phoenix cry, and slammed into the towering tree, almost instantly wrapping the giant tree in flames.

Whoosh—

Golden-red flames shot into the sky, instantly wrapping around a large section of the trunk. Countless leaves turned charred and curled in the flames, then withered and fell.

It worked!

In the clouds and mist, the two Sword Heroes finally felt something and looked down at the same time.

Looking from the sky, the flames still spread upward like a fire chimney. Not only was the giant tree swallowed, but the iron chains attached to it also felt the scorching heat. Both were startled at the same time—they actually felt a trace of a threat outside of their opponent.

"Damn little thief—" The East Pillar of State's sword was about to swing downward when he heard a "Heh" from across, only to see the young Sword Hero who had been confronting him for a long time looking at him.

Both were now in a state of high-tension confrontation. Although they did not cover themselves with Qi like Loose Practitioners, their Sword Essence was flowing at high speed, supporting their Sword Techniques and defending themselves; any slight mistake would allow the other to take advantage of the void. Therefore, since Xing Ji made it clear he would warn the other party if he attacked, the old East Pillar of State did not dare to move rashly.

But while his body did not move, he could still move his Sword Technique.

He saw that from the top of the giant tree, the bark began to shed downward like a snake shedding its skin; the bark split, as if countless petals were hanging upside down.

The petal-like bark peeled off rapidly downward, and the bark being scorched by the flames did the same. The bark that had detached from the trunk seemed to wrap and roll up, completely enclosing the flames inside, airtight. In the blink of an eye, that seemingly arrogant Lihuo was rolled up and thrown aside.

Not a bit remained.

To tell the truth, Tang Zhao was a bit dumbfounded.

His Lihuo could not be called anything but powerful. In order to cause damage to the Sword Hero, he had also struck with all his might; the Vermilion Bird was even stronger than the first time he released it, and it had the advantage of attribute suppression. He did not expect the other party to dispose of it easily without even blinking.

This is the difference between a Sword Hero using a Sword Technique and a Sword Technique within a Dharma Artifact.

No matter how powerful a Dharma Artifact is, it is still a tool for preserving a Sword Technique; it can only reproduce the Sword Technique in a rigid manner and is difficult to change at will. It looks more powerful and flexible than an Art Tool and can even simply obey commands, but it is still a dead object.

If the Art on an Art Tool is a trace or a photograph of a Sword Art, then the Law on a Dharma Artifact is a video of a Sword Technique. The person in the video looks alive, but it is merely a repetition and not truly alive.

This is also why, even with abundant Yuan Power, Mortals holding a wide variety of Art Tools still find it difficult to contend with Sword Guests. And Sword Guests holding Dharma Artifacts also find it difficult to truly contend with Sword Heroes.

Only after Tang Zhao became a Sword Guest did he realize that his previous way of using simulation was very rigid, too much like a Mortal fighting with a Dharma Artifact, which could be called a waste of heaven's gifts. It was only by relying on the fact that the swords in the Sword Manual were too powerful, crushing the realm, and using the swords of Sword Immortals and Sword Saints to forcibly suppress Sword Guests, that he could luckily win. If he combined his insights as a Sword Guest, he would ponder overturning his own combat mode. If he were to simulate the Yanggu Sword or the Kun Sword now, he should be able to easily kill his former self in seconds.

Now he is even more certain that even with the mindset of a Sword Guest, using the Sword Techniques of those famous swords is too crude. To truly reach the realm of one sword being like a hundred swords through "simulation," and to let the former Immortal Swords and Saint Swords descend upon the world again, there is still a long way to go.

The only thing more convenient now is that after becoming a Sword Guest, his body underwent a transformation, and he can already touch upon Sword Momentum when simulating.

Is it feasible to use Sword Momentum to suppress a Sword Hero, just as he once used Sword Technique to suppress a Sword Guest?

Seeing several rolls of bark wrapped in flames fall to the ground, Tang Zhao and Chi Deputy Envoy immediately moved away quickly. These Lihuo flames had not yet extinguished; who knew if the bark rolls would be like canned goods, able to preserve the flames for a long time until they were smashed onto their heads again as weapons. In fact, the best method was to use great strength to kick these tree rolls into the forest fires in the surroundings and simply burn them clean. However, the risk of this contact action was too high, and Tang Zhao and Chi Deputy Envoy did not dare to act rashly, so they had to escape themselves.

But immediately after, Tang Zhao realized something was wrong.

Hum-hum—

Was there some sound vibrating?

The vibration emitted a humming sound; although it was very faint, the frequency was extremely high, piercing the ears and heart, making one's ears go numb.

That sound seemed very close, yet also very far, as if separated by a thick barrier...

It was... underground!

A numbness spread through the bottom of Tang Zhao's heart, and he nearly jumped up instantly, almost somersaulting into the forest fire.

Hum—

A huge, ugly insect burrowed out from the soil and slammed fiercely toward Tang Zhao.

In the blink of an eye, Tang Zhao turned in mid-air, narrowly brushing past the insect's body. The insect was even larger than Tang Zhao's body.

What the hell is that?

In a single glance, Tang Zhao saw that there was one on Chi Deputy Envoy's side as well, just as ugly as the one on his side; both had withered yellow bodies, appearing like larvae, yet far uglier than ordinary grubs. They brushed past the two men without turning back and hung directly on the trees, forming pupae.

It wasn't just the two of them; many, many more insects crawled out from the soil and climbed onto the branches of the giant trees that had just shed their bark.

In the blink of an eye, the giant trees were covered in pupae the size of human bodies.

"That is—" Tang Zhao felt his scalp tingle, "Is it a Heavenly Demon? No, it doesn't look like one; instead, it's something like the trees..."

Suddenly, a soft cracking sound.

A black slit opened simultaneously on the backs of those pupae.

Countless ugly heads with compound eyes stretched out from the pupae, staring at Tang Zhao and the others from all directions.

Following that were Luse bodies and wrinkled wings.

"In the soil... summer... it's a cicada!"