Chapter 438: 413 The String

In an instant, from life to death.

Huo Chaoqun experienced a cycle of reincarnation, brushing shoulders with the Grim Reaper; from his mind to his body, everything froze.

After a moment, he slowly regained his senses, only to discover he was half-floating in the air, slowly sinking.

This was a state absolutely beyond reason; he himself could never have achieved it.

He was dazed, vaguely remembering that in that instant just now, someone had given him a lift, undoubtedly saving his life. At present, there was no one by his side, only a mass of Sunlight-like Qi supporting his body.

Qi?

This Qi was not his own; how could it exist independently after leaving its Master?

Subconsciously, he looked up at the sky.

However, he froze once again.

Above his head, there was a strange sight he had never seen before, and he did not know if anyone else from ancient times to the present had ever seen it.

In the sky, a string of people hung like a wind chime from a single thread, drifting toward the heavens.

And the one in charge of leading at the very top, he could not see clearly what it was; it seemed to be just a small, white, inconspicuous little thing.

The one hanging highest was a person with graying hair, who was clutching tightly to a short segment of thread below the small white thing.

Below him, a long silk thread extended, as if a tail trailing down in the air, with three people hanging in sequence from that thin line below.

Among these three people, the one at the top was a young man with his head tilted back, looking as if he were very determined to climb upward.

Further below was a woman in white; her features could not be seen, but the contrast between her jet-black hair and white clothes was soul-stirring, making one feel she must be a peerless beauty.

And the one at the very bottom, the lowest figure, also appeared to be a young man, also with his head tilted back toward the woman in white; from his angle, his features were likewise unclear.

But looking at his build, he was somewhat familiar.

Because the direction they were flying faced the sun, everyone seemed to be shrouded in a layer of light. Huo Chaoqun took a few extra looks, only to feel spots dancing before his eyes, forcing him to lower his head. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck, and he softly said, "Instructor Tang?"

As soon as the three words left his lips, Huo Chaoqun's hair stood on end; the sense of life-and-death oppression from just before descended once again.

Only, while it was the same crisis, there was a difference. Before, he had heard the sound of wind and knew someone was attacking him with a sword, but at this moment, his whole body felt prickly; he felt the crisis was right before his eyes, yet he could see nothing and hear nothing.

It seemed as if an invisible giant mouth was about to bite through his throat, to seal his life with blood.

"Quiet!"

The person at the top shouted, and the crisis disappeared once again.

Huo Chaoqun suddenly looked up—

This time he was certain; it was Instructor Tang's voice.

Overhead, Tang Zhao, wrapped in light with his features invisible, stretched out his hand and made a "shh" gesture.

That silhouette, it meant "be quiet," right?

Was the Instructor telling him not to speak?

Understood.

Huo Chaoqun was also a smart man, and having been in the army for a long time, he knew well that discipline was paramount. He immediately thought of many reasons—most likely the Instructor was carrying out some secret mission. By rights, he could have sat by and watched his teammate live or die; taking action to save him at the last minute was already a bit of a breach of protocol. How could he call him out and put him in a difficult position?

He raised his head and secretly made a cupped-hand gesture of obedience; it was not conspicuous, but it was enough for Tang Zhao to know his meaning.

He would keep the secret for the Instructor.

At the same time, Huo Chaoqun's feet sank; that mass of Qi dissipated, and he finally landed on the ground.

Landing safely.

"You certainly are protective of him."

Tang Zhao said, "That goes without saying. If I weren't protecting him, there would have been no need to go out of my way to save him."

At the time, when Tang Zhao saw Huo Chaoqun go to grab those falling flower petals, his heart had truly skipped a beat, because among the flowers Huo Chaoqun grabbed was the one belonging to Meng Huazhou.

That was truly a hornet's nest; whoever touched it would face Meng Huazhou, who would kill anyone blocking his path, in front, and the Sword Guest Shangguan clearing obstacles behind. It could be called being attacked from both sides, yet Huo Chaoqun knew nothing of this.

Tang Zhao made a prompt decision, reached out to grab Yue Lai, threw him upward, and said, "Grab the thread!" Then he threw the Black Widow.

The reason he threw Yue Lai first was naturally because Tang Zhao had a selfish motive; he wanted Yue Lai to be higher up, closer to an enemy like Meng Huazhou, to leave space for the Black Widow. But on the other hand, it was also because he recognized Yue Lai's ability and judgment, believing that he was calm in the face of change and could quickly understand his meaning when there was no time for detailed explanation.

Sure enough, Yue Lai was grabbed cleanly and efficiently by Tang Zhao and was greatly startled. Then, being thrown into the air, he thought Tang Zhao was going to attack from below, but he heard Tang Zhao shout, "Grab the thread."

Startled, he immediately thought of the thread Tang Zhao had been gathering along the way. He instantly understood Tang Zhao's meaning, concentrated his energy to search for that anomaly under the Sunlight, and suddenly reached out to grab at the air. Sure enough, he caught the connecting silk thread, and his body was already hanging in the air.

With him as an example, the Black Widow also grabbed the thread about a yard below him and was hoisted up.

Tang Zhao threw the two of them out without looking at the result and directly lunged out with a beam of light. He saw a white flower dip in the air, only to be pulled by the weight of the two people behind it, changing its direction.

This pull served two purposes: first, the target was exposed; second, it slowed itself down and moved further away from Huo Chaoqun, causing Meng Huazhou to lose his intent to attack.

But the Sword Guest Shangguan behind Huo Chaoqun had already drawn his sword!

That was not some strike gathering Momentum, nor was it a premeditated assassination; it was just that the Sword Guest Shangguan had also found Meng Huazhou's hiding place in that instant and wanted to rush out to seize him. At that moment, Huo Chaoqun was in the path of his sword and was very much in the way, so he gave him a sword strike while he was at it.

This was a casual sword strike, but it was also the sword strike of a Sword Guest!

Huo Chaoqun was suddenly attacked and had already lost the time to react; furthermore, it was such a powerful sword strike—how could he possibly defend against it?

Fortunately, Tang Zhao had already arrived.

Tang Zhao descended in the light, his hand covered in Qi; on one hand, he pulled him, and on the other, he used his free-willed Qi to block this sword strike for him.

The reason he used Qi was that, within the limits of his ability, Tang Zhao was still following his current identity setting, and his solidly cultivated Qi could indeed contend with a Sword Guest for a short time.

The Sword Guest Shangguan was blocked by one strike; he lowered his eyes slightly to see Tang Zhao, then paid him no more mind, focusing entirely on grabbing toward the sky. In his heart, naturally, Meng Huazhou was the priority.

He lunged in time and indeed grabbed the flower with one hand, but he did not grasp the flower bud exactly; he only caught a bit of thread below the calyx, and the white flower still struggled to rise upward.

Here, Tang Zhao had blocked the sword strike and completed all his tasks. He left behind a mass of free-willed Qi that could still hold its shape after leaving his body to support Huo Chaoqun, while he himself grabbed the end of the thread, becoming the final link in the "candied hawthorn" string of people along with the white fox, and rose slowly into the air.

Originally, this matter was considered a success, and everyone had boarded this ride. Although the soldiers below were dumbfounded, they assumed that since they prioritized caution, they might not dare to fire cannons directly at the sky. But for some reason, Huo Chaoqun actually recognized Tang Zhao in the chaos and backlighting.

After he recognized him, he did not shout out loud, but only softly called Tang Zhao's name. The voice was very low, and even Tang Zhao did not notice.

But as it happened, there was a particularly sensitive white fox here.

It was unknown how it discovered that Huo Chaoqun was talking to himself; it might not even have known what "Instructor Tang" represented, but it just sensed that Huo Chaoqun's words would bring unpredictable danger. Therefore, it made a prompt decision to jump down, rushed down along the thread, and pounced directly at Huo Chaoqun.

Tang Zhao hurriedly stopped him, and at the same time signaled for Huo Chaoqun to keep quiet.

Huo Chaoqun immediately understood the meaning and gave his assurance. Only then did the White Fox return to Tang Zhao's side, looking not entirely satisfied. The two of them rode the wind, holding onto the thread, and gradually drifted away.

The White Fox said, "So I was just meddling in other people's business?"

Tang Zhao said, "No, it is good that you are sharp. But if you encounter an accident next time, it is best to tell me first; I can handle it." At this moment, Black Widow was above him, but there was a distance between the two, and the White Fox's senses were absolutely sharp, so he only needed to speak in an extremely low voice to converse normally.

The White Fox said, "I'm too lazy to keep watching for you. Is your real name Tang Jiaoyu?"

Tang Zhao let out a laugh and only replied, "No, it's just that he calls me that."

Having said that, he raised his head to look at the battlefield above.

Yue Lai and Black Widow were merely being dragged along by the money; the true battlefield was naturally at the very top between Shangguan Jianke and Meng Huazhou.

However, when Tang Zhao looked, he found it strange.

He had originally assumed the scene would be Shangguan Jianke brandishing his sword and bombarding that flower, with Meng Huazhou cowering inside, but from the angle he was looking up, Shangguan Jianke was actually holding the flower very quietly. His body seemed to be twisting, and his sword was hovering around him, but he was not launching a frantic attack; it was almost excessively calm.

"What is going on here?"

The White Fox was also very curious; it stepped on Tang Zhao's shoulder, leaned its body out, and observed carefully for a while before suddenly realizing, "He seems to be entangled by the thread."

Tang Zhao observed carefully and asked in confusion, "Entangled? He can still move."

The White Fox said, "It seems to be his finger."

It became interested, simply ran up along the thread, relying on the fact that no one could see it to observe at close range, and then ran back, saying, "I saw it. When that Sword Guest went to grab it, his right thumb touched the Sword Intent and got entangled by the sword silk."

Tang Zhao suddenly understood. The thumb is different; it is the foundation of gripping. Once there is a loss, it is a serious injury. Even for a Sword Guest, it is inconvenient to use sword moves without a thumb, and even if one reaches the level of a Sword Hero, one cannot regrow limbs unless one has specifically developed a Sword Technique for it.

Therefore, both sides must have reached a stalemate.

The sword silk had entangled Shangguan Jianke, and Meng Huazhou was already able to threaten Shangguan Jianke, but a thumb is, after all, just a thumb, not a vital point of life. Shangguan Jianke's strength was greater; if he were to risk it all and discard this finger, he could still use his Sword Art at full power and seize the initiative. And since Meng Huazhou had grabbed a handle, he had no intention of pushing his luck.

Now both sides had misgivings, so they reached a stalemate. This resulted in a string of people hanging aimlessly on the silk thread, drifting with the wind.

One can only say it is fortunate that Xishan is vast and sparsely populated; if this string of people were to fly over a city, it would quickly become a spectacle of "thousands of households looking up."

"In that case, how will this end?"

Will one side turn the situation around and launch a sudden attack, or will they be able to maintain this until nightfall, and everyone will just hang together and fly to Xiancheng?

Tang Zhao did not object to such a situation occurring. His goal was to reach Xiancheng; although Meng Huazhou was an enemy, reaching the destination was the top priority right now. Fighting below beforehand would not only risk losing, but even winning would delay things.

As for once they reached Xiancheng, he could then let go and settle their grudges.

The only thing was that there was still some time before dark, and it was just a bit comical to think of everyone hanging onto the silk thread, cruising through the air.

In the silence where dark currents surged, time passed bit by bit.

Night was about to fall.