Chapter 428: 403 Another Encounter

A white shadow was crouching under a tree, a tiny, fluffy ball of fur with a large, bushy tail, its pair of eyes darting around.

It was a white fox!

And an old acquaintance at that!

Under the shine of the light, Tang Zhao's gaze pierced through his own Sword Image and recognized it instantly; wasn't this the very white fox that had been in the arms of the little girl he met at Dajing Hutong during the day?

Back when it was in the girl's arms, Tang Zhao had assumed it was a dog, but seeing it now in the deep night, he recognized it immediately—it was clearly a white fox, a white fox that looked slightly like a dog.

The light saw the white fox, and the white fox saw the light; its eyes widened, it opened its mouth, and bared its canines—

Whoosh!

The white fox lunged at the light.

Tang Zhao was quite surprised. Perhaps because the white fox looked pleasant and had a certain cleverness like a dog, appearing harmless hidden under the leaves, he had not expected the creature to be so fierce, attacking right from the start.

Hostility fully exposed; in that case, the earlier attack by the Fierce Beast was indeed instigated by the white fox, wasn't it?

Tang Zhao's true body was not there, so the Sword Image transformed directly into incandescent light, sweeping horizontally toward the white fox like Sword Light.

The white fox leaped up and bit toward the light.

A beast, actually biting the light?

It had to be said, the white fox's movements were incredibly fast, moving like a streak of white light, yet its opponent was light itself!

How could the speed of anything else compare to the speed of light? It immediately turned into a spiral, wrapping around the white fox in the blink of an eye, winding around it like a bandage until it was rolled into a white fox dumpling in an instant.

Although Tang Zhao had taken action, he did not harm the white fox. Even though he suspected the white fox of manipulating the Fierce Beast to hurt him, he was in no rush to attack; after all, the fox tracking him here was very suspicious and worth digging into further, and besides, its appearance was truly cute.

The white fox, bound and unable to move, suddenly twisted its neck to an incredible angle, opened its mouth, and bit toward the light band it could reach.

It was still trying to bite the light!

Crack!

As its teeth descended, the light band developed a gap.

It could actually bite it!

When those teeth clamped onto the Sword Image, Tang Zhao immediately felt a wave of exhaustion and weakness; it was the erosion of his Sword Essence, his Sword Image's energy was being consumed!

Because the light was very thin and carried little Sword Essence, this single bite nearly bit through the light!

What the hell?

Why could teeth make contact with light?

Tang Zhao could command the Sword Image, but in truth, his connection to it was not that tight. To make the Sword Image reach the level of an external avatar, one must be at the Sword Immortal level, where man and sword are one. Even to transmit complete senses like sight, hearing, smell, and touch through the Sword Image requires the "heart-to-heart connection" of a Sword Hero.

An ordinary Sword Guest's Sword Image is like a kite flown by the guest; at most, one can vaguely get a feeling through the string, and even basic vision is just a rough outline, unable to even distinguish colors.

Tang Zhao was the same at first, but through daily practice with his Sword Image, he gradually honed visual sharing, allowing him to see into the distance through the image, and recently he even gained hearing, but touch and more acute senses were still absent. Thus, when bitten, he could only feel the consumption of Sword Essence without knowing what the sensation was.

But he knew that anything capable of biting Sword Essence was definitely not ordinary.

Could the white fox also be a Sword Image?

Tang Zhao was somewhat suspicious. Since there are cats as Sword Images in this world, a fox Sword Image would naturally not be strange. But when he was at the door, he hadn't sensed it at all.

Back when he was just an ordinary child, he could vaguely sense that the big orange cat of the Li Hua Sword was strange. Over these years, his Inspiration had only increased, so how could he have sensed nothing about this fox?

At this moment, the white fox bit again, and Tang Zhao's heart stirred, causing the Sword Image to aggregate.

The energy density of light can be increased indefinitely. Tang Zhao made the light condense, and in an instant, the light turned blindingly white, with a high temperature like the scorching sun. It was clearly visible from a great distance in the dense forest.

The white fox's eyes squinted from the glare, but its teeth remained clamped tightly onto the light.

A silent contest unfolded between the teeth and the light.

Tang Zhao felt his Sword Essence still being consumed; although there was no longer the feeling of being on the verge of collapse as before, the Sword Essence was still steadily decreasing.

In other words, perhaps a draw, perhaps a loss, but he certainly wasn't winning!

Disperse—

The strand of light held in its mouth dissipated, and Tang Zhao manipulated the light to bind the white fox from under its armpits in a safer posture. Logically, it shouldn't be able to bite now, but soon, he noticed the light was still being consumed, though this time he didn't even notice how.

This wouldn't do; his true body was a bit too far away, the Sword Image's perception was reduced while the consumption increased. Relying solely on long-distance manipulation of the Sword Image, he feared he couldn't win.

He looked back at Black Widow, wanting to tell her to wait here, but he dismissed the thought before the words left his mouth. He must not take risks; he could not assume that just walking away for a moment and coming right back would be fine. The worst things always happen if they can, a lesson found in many stories.

But taking Black Widow to find the white fox wouldn't work either; that would undoubtedly increase his weaknesses. And leaving the white fox alone was even worse; it kept provoking Fierce Beasts to attack, so wouldn't waiting here mean being a passive target?

After a moment of contemplation, Tang Zhao said, "Sister Yin, I must wrong you for a moment." Having said that, he took out a Time Jar.

Black Widow let out a "Huh?", Tang Zhao gently lifted her, and she slipped into the jar. It was fortunate that this jar had been upgraded and could now store people, otherwise it would have been truly difficult to bring her along.

Having settled Black Widow, Tang Zhao stood up directly and transformed into a streak of Sword Light to chase the white fox.

Tang Zhao landed directly on the white fox's back. Upon arrival, the Sword Image's brilliance flared, its intensity more than ten times brighter.

Although the brilliance was greater, Tang Zhao did not attack with full force immediately; instead, he stood his ground and said politely, "Which fellow traveler is this? We have no enmity, why must you..."

The white fox suddenly rolled on the ground, turned around, and looked toward him.

Those fox eyes shone brightly in the night; although they were a pale green like a beast's, the green was not sinister, but rather a beautiful, emerald green like a gemstone.

Tang Zhao was startled and immediately closed his eyes.

Zzz...

A sound came, and invisible ripples spread before Tang Zhao.

His defense had been triggered!

To cultivate his Sword Heart, Tang Zhao continuously maintained his Sword Image, always keeping an invisible wall of light in front of him. In the past, this light was only hard to see during the day and always blindingly bright at night; he was like a walking lampshade patrolling the streets at night. But as his practice time grew, he could now maintain an extremely thin, dim curtain of light at night, almost the same color as the darkness, allowing him to protect himself without attracting attention.

Of course, because the energy was pressed so thin, this defense couldn't be relied upon for much. Its greatest use was to serve as a warning when triggered and to block some special attacks.

Such as mental attacks.

Just as the fox raised its eyes, Tang Zhao immediately realized it might be a mental illusion attack; it was simply because foxes themselves give people that impression. If it hadn't been competing with the light with its teeth just now, only showing its biting ability, Tang Zhao should have been even more guarded.

But fortunately, he had defended against it. A single curtain of light blocked the most direct attack, though he still felt a wave of dizziness. He immediately circulated his Sword Essence to dispel the discomfort, barely avoiding falling into an illusion.

That was close!

Tang Zhao felt lingering fear followed by great annoyance, thinking: I was speaking to you properly, you are so rude! You want to play this game with me? You are an illusion, and I am an illusion, let's see—

With a shift of his mind, the surrounding light brightened like a peacock spreading its tail. In an instant, it circled all around him.

Only when the radiance enveloped his entire body did he open his eyes.

A screen of light appeared before his eyes.

That was not the light from his side, nor the light released by the white fox, but a screen of light that was very familiar yet now somewhat strange—

It was actually the Sword Manual.

Seeing the Sword Manual again, Tang Zhao's eyes welled up with tears for a moment; he reached out to touch his Glasses, but touched nothing, and most of his excitement dissipated.

The Glasses were still in his bosom, the Fragment had not been restored, only the Sword Manual had appeared.

Perhaps the Sword Manual had nothing to do with the integrity of the Glasses; it had always been there, just waiting to encounter a sword from the manual, and it would open naturally.

Thinking this, Tang Zhao felt slightly relieved—the Sword Manual had not left him, nor had the Glasses, perhaps nothing had ever left, just temporarily slumbered.

Then, the sword that awakened the Sword Manual was...

"Sword: Suisui Sword."

Tang Zhao's heart stirred; this actually matched up.

However, below it was not the familiar long list, but only a single line of small text.

"Suisui Sword, affiliated with Ruyi Sword. Ruyi Sword, sub-page three."

What does that mean?

This was the first time Tang Zhao had seen such a label.

Ordinary swords, whether Saint Sword, Immortal Sword, or even Heroic Swords like the Jar Sword, were all listed on single pages, arranged from page one, two, three, four, five, and he had never heard of "sub-pages."

In other words, there were more than just those dozens of swords in the Sword Manual? There were powerful swords that had their own sub-pages?

What kind of sword could possess a sub-page?

Is an Immortal Sword enough?

What kind of sword is the Ruyi Sword?

Is it very strong?

Listening to the name, the original meaning seems quite powerful, but the word "Ruyi" is used too much, so it sounds a bit more down-to-earth.

"Ruyi Sword..."

Seeing this, he whispered it softly, almost without sound.

However, when these three words left his mouth, the fox suddenly stood up, its eyes staring gloomily at Tang Zhao.

Whoosh—

The white fox turned into a streak of white light and charged toward Tang Zhao.

The radiance around Tang Zhao was brilliant, sealing off almost every direction.

The white fox charged into the light, not looking back, passing straight through a corner of the light and out the other side. The radiance could not even hinder it for a moment before it tore through, as if it were truly just a patch of empty light.

Tang Zhao's expression changed as he sensed something abnormal; his Sword Essence had suffered a loss again!

And the loss was immense! Unprecedentedly large!

He saw that after the white fox charged through, it turned its head slightly, its teeth clamped onto a large chunk of light, which had been torn right off Tang Zhao's Sword Art.

Tang Zhao broke into a light sweat, knowing he had underestimated this fox. His own light was like flesh and blood to it!

After turning its head, the fox did not charge again, but ran in another direction, its speed neither fast nor slow, not like the behavior of a beast fleeing.

Tang Zhao was slightly stunned; because he did not know the reality of the situation, he stopped and did not pursue.

Who would have thought that after running a few yards, the white fox stopped again, turned its head once more, and nodded at him.

What does that mean?

Is it telling me to follow it?