Chapter 437: 412 Rise and Fall

The Sword Light Cannon, a war weapon for defending cities, was an old partner of Tang Zhao.

Over a year ago, in that battle at Xun City, he had once used a Sword Light Cannon to fight against the skeleton sea of the Turtle Bandits, with a single shot devastating dozens of miles.

When the Sword Light Cannon was pulled out, Tang Zhao was still a bit surprised, even feeling it was inappropriate.

The Sword Light Cannon's lethality was indeed very strong, but it was not meant for dealing with a Wind-type Demon Cave, because the essence of sword light was a power on the same level as Qi; it could barely manage against Fire-type, but no matter how strong the power was, it was futile if it could not touch a Wind-type illusion.

But immediately after, he saw the Rune Formula board beneath the Sword Light Cannon; although he could not see the specific Rune Formulas, he was, after all, a Talisman Sword Master who had personally modified Sword Light Cannons, and he keenly sensed the difference from a Standard Sword Light Cannon—it seemed this was not a traditional Sword Light Cannon, but one that had been modified.

He truly had never seen this model of weapon before; could it be a new version?

Developed specifically for the recent major events?

That Captain, seeing the cannon was installed properly, said: "Everyone spread out a bit, the distance isn't enough, retreat to the blind spot. You don't know the power of this thing; this new-style weapon is strong, but it is always very unstable. The sword light it fires is very erratic and doesn't necessarily travel in a straight line, so don't think you're safe just by hiding to the side; hide behind it. If you get hit by one shot, you'll be dissolved into nothing but smoke on the spot."

Except for the two gunners, the rest of the crowd lined up several yards behind the Sword Light Cannon. Only Huo Chaoqun stood on the high platform and did not come down; according to the height of the platform, he could also be considered to be several yards away in a roundabout way.

That Captain shouted: "Test fire, test fire first! Little Huo, you point out a direction, let's fire a shot first!"

This didn't matter; Huo Chaoqun pointed casually, aiming toward an oblique angle that had just been swept.

That Captain waved his hand, and the muzzle of the Sword Light Cannon flashed, with brilliant light flying out—

How quiet!

There was almost no sound, only a whiteness before the eyes, and the whole world turned white.

The brilliant light was too bright; no one could look directly at it. Tang Zhao only looked for an instant and immediately closed his eyes, yet it felt as if white spots were still popping up before his eyes.

While dazzled, Tang Zhao could not help but be surprised: this cannon actually fired sunlight!

He had originally thought it was an upgrade to the Sword Light Cannon, using energy raised to the Wind level to be able to erase the Demon Cave by clashing hard at the same dimension; he hadn't expected it to be using high-purity, high-energy sunlight to dispel the Yin energy—to draw the firewood from under the cauldron?

Is it useful?

Ordinary Yin energy naturally cannot withstand sunlight; no matter how thick the Yin energy is, it will dissolve under direct sunlight. Fierce Beasts dare not run around openly in the daytime, and Phantoms must also hide and cover themselves, but a fully formed Demon Prison is not afraid; they have regional protection that acts like a barrier, and at most, they cannot release Yin energy outward like they do at night, but existing on their own is no problem at all.

Not to mention anything else, weren't those white flowers just now swaying and basking in the sun?

But that ray of sunlight just now was indeed very pure; Tang Zhao's own Sword Image was sunlight, so how could he misidentify it?

It was just that the light was too intense, far beyond the soft sunlight one could bask in the Human World, becoming increasingly close to the light of the sun itself. Tang Zhao reckoned that even if he mobilized his Sword Image to the limit, he might not be able to compare to such sunlight.

Rather, it was similar to the Sword Law power he could mobilize when he simulated holding the Yanggu Sword.

This must also be the Sword Law of some sword, right? Which sword's sunlight is it?

First of all, it is definitely not Yanggu. He is very familiar with the Sword Law of the Yanggu Sword; this is not that sword's Sword Law.

Is it the Sword Law of another Sun Sword?

Fusang?

Six Dragons?

In any case, first exclude the Jinwu Sword.

After all, the Jinwu Sword does not have a Sword Guest yet.

Just as Tang Zhao was thinking, that dazzling sunlight had already dissipated; for a time, the world was still rendered with a bit of white, and the surface of all things still had a scent of sunlight.

That fragrance of clothes freshly dried in the sun was soothing and pleasant, making Tang Zhao think of his own Sword Art "One Day's Plan Lies in the Morning," which was also a Sword Art that made one completely relax and recover their state.

This, indeed, was pure sunlight; bathing in it from afar was very comfortable. All things grow by the sun; as long as they get a bit of the sun's luster from ten thousand miles away, they can grow sturdily.

But once one gets too close, it is very dangerous!

Tang Zhao looked into the flower field and immediately exclaimed in admiration: a crack had appeared out of thin air in the flower sea that had been like a starry sky. That thick trail penetrated the flower sea, dividing it into two.

On the two or three-yard-wide path in the middle, there was no longer any trace of flowers. And most surprisingly, the path did not seem to have damaged the land much; it was not like a general attack that had a "plowing" effect. The original soil and stones remained on the ground just fine, and tiny blades of grass were even faintly visible in the crevices of the stones.

Targeted clearance, effective!

The Captain waited for a while and found that the plowed path had no intention of recovering, and the surrounding Yin energy avoided it; this piece of the Demon Prison had permanently disappeared from the ground. He could not help but be greatly pleased, clapping his hands and saying: "Good, good stuff! It is worthy of being the latest model weapon issued from above. With this good stuff, all Demon Caves can be thoroughly cleared in the future. Yunzhou will also truly become a Pure Land!"

He waved his hand in high spirits and said: "Fire, fire it for me with all your might!"

Tang Zhao felt the thin thread in his hand move.

When that brilliance just broke through the flower sea, the thread in his hand had not moved at all, which meant that the direction just now was still a distance away from Meng Huazhou. Meng Huazhou had not personally suffered harm and could still remain calm, but when it came to sweeping the entire flower sea, the thread moved once, and then kept shaking.

Meng Huazhou should be unable to sit still and is about to start acting, right?

What will he do?

The Captain was still enthusiastically directing everyone to turn the muzzle; perhaps out of interest, the muzzle shifted by half this time, forming a "person" shaped angle with the previous one.

Although Tang Zhao did not know exactly where Meng Huazhou was, when the muzzle turned, the thread in his hand suddenly went taut.

He panicked!

This shot, poised and ready—

"Fire for me—"

The light suddenly shone bright.

It was not the cannon's light! It was the direction of the flower sea!

The light of the Sword Light Cannon just now was brilliant, magnificent, and concentrated, while the light that shone from the flower sea was soft, faint, and continuous.

Countless light spots like snowflakes rose from the flower sea.

Starry and dim, hazy and indistinct.

For a time, it seemed as if snowflakes were drifting in the sky.

Only, the snowflakes of the Human World drift down from the sky, while the snowflakes here rose from the ground toward the sky.

"Dandelions?"

Seeing such a strange sight, the first thought that rose in Tang Zhao's mind was: this is like a spring breeze blowing across a large dandelion field, blowing up countless little white umbrellas.

That is a scene often found in fairy tales.

I wonder if there is such a spectacular dandelion sea in the world?

Focusing his eyes, Tang Zhao saw clearly: what rose from the ground were not dandelions, but little white flowers.

The tiny flowers on the ground were constantly detaching from the earth, rising upward one by one. After they rose, a small hole appeared in the illusion on the ground, revealing the real earth, as if a hole had been punched into a large sheet of drawing paper.

These small holes grew more numerous, gradually connecting into one, and this sheet of paper was torn into a large gap, finally shredded into pieces, leaving only a mess on the ground, no longer resembling the original image.

They were saving themselves in this way, and also dissolving the Demon Cave.

So there was this trick as well.

Is this still the method of hiding wood in a forest, hiding oneself among the floating flowers to escape?

The line of thought is correct, but...

"How did he manage to do that? By what right can he command the Demon Cave?"

"What is that?!"

Compared to Tang Zhao's questions about the details of Meng Huazhou, the soldiers present were fundamentally left dumbfounded, staring blankly at the sky.

At this moment, it was the Captain who was the most experienced, the first to react, shouting loudly: "The Demon Cave is mutating! A conspiracy, this is the Heavenly Demon's conspiracy. Soldiers, form up—"

The soldiers followed his command to form up, one after another raising their long Standard Art-Tool Longswords.

"Fire, fire at the sky for me, strafe it! Shoot down every single flower."

The soldier operating the Sword Light Cannon acknowledged, turned the muzzle, and pointed it upward.

Although there were many flowers in the air, they were still live targets under the muzzle; no matter what kind of ghost thing they were, it was never wrong to strafe them first.

Just at this moment...

The wind rose!

A gust of wind blew past, and those phantom-like flowers were immediately blown into disarray.

The wind... was it natural, or man-made?

Tang Zhao hesitated only slightly before immediately receiving the answer.

Could this be a natural wind?

Where is there a natural wind that blows from all four directions at once?

A wind that felt like a crossroads blew past, and the flower cluster split into several directions, drifting away in all directions.

In this way, the difficulty of tracking was greatly increased. Not to mention the clueless soldiers, even Shangguan Jianke, who was observing from the side, must have lost his footing, right?

However, this did not include Tang Zhao.

As the flowers left the ground, the silk thread in Tang Zhao's hand jerked violently; the ball of thread, which had been coiled into a lump, spun like a wheel, and the length of the thread decreased rapidly.

And the direction of the other end of the thread was the sky!

In other words, the thread in his hand had now become a real kite string.

The end of a kite string is much easier to find than a rolling ground line; without needing the fox to lead the way, Tang Zhao saw the direction of that special white flower with his own eyes.

It would have been one thing not to see the direction clearly, but having seen it, Tang Zhao was instead greatly alarmed:

"Not good!"

Of everyone present, when it came to the best field of vision, it had to be Huo Chaoqun.

He was already standing on a high platform; climbing high allowed one to look far, and the vast sea of flowers was entirely in his view.

Those flowers floated upward, but their speed was not fast; most were drifting no higher than the flower platform, and he could even look down at the movement of those flowers drifting upward.

It must be said that this feeling was very wonderful; there was a pleasure in reaching the top of a mountain with clouds beneath one's feet, and one could even directly appreciate the dreamlike beauty from a unique perspective.

So much so that Huo Chaoqun did not react like the Captain to any Heavenly Demon evil energy or the like, but simply appreciated this unprecedented spectacle.

At this time, the wind rose suddenly.

The wind at high altitude was greater than on the ground; he only felt a strong wind hit his face and instinctively closed his eyes for a moment.

After all, he was a proper Martial Artist; he only closed them for a moment before opening them again, only to see countless white starlight rushing toward his face.

What?

It was those flowers.

The beautiful broken flowers flew directly at his face, as if to stick to his mouth and nose; he instinctively reached out to catch them.

Suddenly, the sound of wind rose sharply!

The high platform under Huo Chaoqun's feet suddenly collapsed!

He had no time to react; his body fell off the platform, plummeting downward.

And his raised hand had already touched a few small flowers.

A streak of black light flashed, and Huo Chaoqun felt a chill in his heart—

Danger!

I'm going to die!

However, the fatal danger was already imminent, and he could no longer react.

Another light flashed from behind him, and a hand grabbed him, dragging him away!