Chapter 449: 424 Ruyi Thread

Tang Zhao looked suspiciously at the bundle of silk threads before him and said, "These Cloud Silks, you're giving them to me?"

Was he supposed to weave a boat or something to play with?

But he didn't know how to weave! Last time he tried to weave a fishing net, he nearly tangled it into a ball...

The white fox explained, "These are not Cloud Silks; these are Original Threads. That is to say, threads directly produced by the Ruyi Sword. Do you think these threads are spun from Cloud Silk? Quite the contrary, the Cloud Silk used to compose the Xiancheng is silk thread we have stripped from the Original Threads."

Tang Zhao let out an "Oh." Although he didn't quite understand, it sounded very impressive. He picked up a section of the silk thread and held it in his hand, feeling as if he were holding a handful of water—smooth as if nothing were there, with almost no tactile sensation. It was even lighter than water, resting weightlessly in his palm, yet it remained perfectly still, as if unaffected by gravity.

Almost the moment he grasped the bundle of thread, a book opened in the Void.

"Sword: Ruyi Sword.

Sword Dao:

Sword Intent: Follow one's heart, molding, weaving..."

It appeared!

It was the Sword Manual!

The Sword Manual for the Ruyi Sword had finally appeared.

Tang Zhao was overcome with excitement; he had finally waited for this moment when the Sword Manual opened.

Originally, according to his expectations, the Sword Manual should have unfolded automatically the moment he stepped into the Xiancheng's territory. Just as it had activated the moment he stepped into the Time Jar. Back then, he had to go through a whole process to record a new sword into the Sword Manual, and it wasn't until he was out of the jar that he saw the full page; whereas for an old sword already in the manual like the Rukun Sword, there had been a reaction the moment he stepped onto Jianzhou.

Yet, it hadn't.

He had been in the Shadow for a long time, had already found a pavilion, seen an entire Xian Tower, and even touched the Cloud Silk and done manual labor with it, but the Sword Manual was as if it didn't exist.

If it weren't for the fact that the Sword Manual had reacted to the Suisui Sword earlier, Tang Zhao would have truly thought the Sword Manual had become ineffective along with the shattering of the Glasses.

Tang Zhao had always guessed that the Sword Manual didn't appear because the Shadow isolated its senses, and that only by expelling all the shadows could one glimpse the true Ruyi Sword, but now it seemed that wasn't the case. It was very likely he had thought wrong—the relationship between the Xiancheng and the Ruyi Sword wasn't that deep, so the Sword Manual couldn't trace the Ruyi Sword from that pile of silk threads in the Xiancheng.

Only the Original Threads were the true extension of the Ruyi Sword's... Sword Momentum?

While Tang Zhao involuntarily looked up at the Sword Manual and read the information on the Ruyi Sword at a glance, he asked the white fox, "Besides thickness, what is the difference between Original Threads and Cloud Silk threads?"

The white fox said, "Ruyi, Ruyi, according to one's heart... do you think it's called the Ruyi Sword because these threads are soft and fine enough to be easily woven into all things?"

Tang Zhao almost added "manifest quickly," but hurriedly pulled back his thoughts and said, "You mean... the Ruyi Sword is also subjective?"

The white fox didn't understand what "subjective" meant, but hearing the word "heart," it knew he had at least guessed in the right direction, and said, "Exactly! Because the Ruyi Thread can indeed obey a person's heart. As long as the intent is there, anything can be done. It is especially adept at changing shapes, simulating properties, and shifting infinitely; if you want it to be a mountain, it is a mountain; if you want it to be water, it is water."

It pointed to those Original Threads and said, "Original Threads are also called Ruyi Threads; only they deserve to be called Ruyi Threads, as they can change with just a single thought. Naturally, they first obey the Princess, but if there is no command from the Princess, whoever infuses them with their own will, they will obey that person's command. Any Original Thread that has been infused with someone else's will can be formally called a Ruyi Thread. When we spin the thread, we wash away the 'Ruyi' property from the Original Thread, turning it into a pure tool, so that it can be used to weave objects."

Tang Zhao suddenly understood. That explained it; he had heard the white fox say they needed to weave objects, and he had thought that while a bowl or a basket might be easy to weave, a massive Xiancheng—with towers, cities, and all those flowers and plants—would take forever to weave with Cloud Silk. Did all those celestial maidens do nothing but weave from morning till night? That would make the Xiancheng not romantic at all, but rather a "Labor City."

Sure enough, there was another clever method involved; how would an outsider know the truth?

He asked somewhat happily, "You're giving me the Original Threads... do these all belong to me to command?"

The white fox nodded, hesitated for a moment, and added, "Since the Xiancheng still exists, and you are the only one here who can restrain the Shadow, then if I want to save the Xiancheng, I can only rely on you; how could I not support you? These are all the remaining Original Threads in Moyun Tower; they all belong to you now. After you infuse these Original Threads with your will and create your own Ruyi Threads, you can then connect the other spun threads that make up the physical objects to the Ruyi Threads. Those spun threads can also be controlled by you; as long as you spend the time, you can connect the entire Xiancheng. Unless someone with a higher rank in the Xiancheng than you issues a command, otherwise..."

Otherwise, at this very moment, everything in the Xiancheng theoretically listens to you.

In fact, as long as they were original members of the Xiancheng, no one had a lower rank than Tang Zhao, but since they were all absent, theoretically, Tang Zhao's commands were the highest priority.

Moreover, even for original members of the Xiancheng, unless they were the Master of Baiyujing, they would have to compete with Tang Zhao over the Cloud Silk threads controlled by the Ruyi Threads. With the same amount of thread, the one with the higher rank would win in a contest. But threads already controlled by Tang Zhao would listen to Tang Zhao; there was no such thing as someone else giving a look and the threads in Tang Zhao's hand suddenly rebelling.

It was just that this obedience wasn't so easy to use. After the properties were washed away, the Cloud Silk threads had very low initiative and could not follow one's heart or manifest the law through speech; instead, one had to use the Original Threads to drive the spun threads, much like a rider controlling a horse. Theoretically, the horse listens to the rider, but how it runs and at what speed depends on the rider's horsemanship.

Even so, that was an astonishing power. Even with the Shadow shrouding everything and the Xiancheng sinking, the authority of the Xiancheng being quietly transferred to a mere Sword Guest was a benefit one could only dream of.

Seeing that Tang Zhao's methods were outstanding and his character relatively reliable, the white fox acted on impulse and granted such vast authority to this temporary partner whom it had only known for a few days. It felt a bit anxious, fearing it had made a wrong decision that would doom the entire Xiancheng. Just as it was about to drop its guard and remind him again that its own authority was above his and that it could strip him of his authority if he acted recklessly, it heard Tang Zhao say thoughtfully, "Do you think Meng Huazhou obtained a portion of the Original Threads, which allowed him to control that flower and fly all the way here?"

The white fox let out an "Ah?" and realized that Tang Zhao hadn't taken the power of owning the entire Xiancheng to heart, but was still thinking about those other things. It felt quite displeased, but was soon shocked by Tang Zhao's speculation and immediately said, "How is that possible? Original Threads aren't something you can just pick up on the road; how could he have obtained..."

At this point, the white fox suddenly remembered something and whispered, "It's not impossible. There is one other person who might have Original Threads in their hands..."

Tang Zhao guessed it after a moment's thought and continued for it, "Xu Congsheng."

The white fox nodded and gritted its teeth, saying, "That's the scoundrel! He shouldn't have had any in his hands. But before the final battle, I entered Moyun Tower with him. To make him weave baskets quickly, I taught him how to use the Original Threads. Logically, I should have taken the Original Threads back after he finished weaving, but who knows if he hid some..."

The more it thought about it, the more it felt it was possible. Now, its impression of Xu Congsheng was extremely poor, and it was convinced that this person was a lowlife, so hiding the Original Threads would naturally be normal for him. Moreover, he had ulterior motives and was a great scourge; who knew if he hadn't thought of today long ago and painstakingly hidden a piece of Original Thread just to make a Juan Tu Chong Lai after many years?

Furthermore, both Xu Congsheng and Tang Zhao had no official position or rank; in terms of seniority, the Original Threads left behind by Xu Congsheng had a higher rank than Tang Zhao's.

As soon as it thought that the highest command of the Xiancheng at this very moment was in the hands of such a person as Xu Congsheng, it felt full of discomfort and could no longer worry about guarding against Tang Zhao. It hurriedly said, "So that brat is the successor of the one surnamed Xu; I wondered why he looked so shifty-eyed—it really is true that one's appearance reflects one's heart! Damn it, the one surnamed Xu and the one surnamed Meng deserve to die and have no descendants! Hurry up and connect to the Original Threads; I will help you surpass him in rank!"

Teaching Tang Zhao to integrate into the Original Threads was simple; the key lay in the integration of will—one had to treat the Original Thread as an extension of one's own Spirit.

For others, the step of separating one's will alone would take a great deal of effort, but Tang Zhao had long ago learned the Free-Roaming Qi and had been practicing it for over a year. Now that he had achieved some success, it was equivalent to having already passed the most difficult hurdle, and he easily obtained his own section of Ruyi Thread.

However, the Ruyi Thread's consumption of Spirit was also astonishing. Tang Zhao used all his strength to infuse only about two zhang in length before feeling dizzy and weak; to maintain basic combat capability, he had to stop.

Although the white fox said with a complex expression, "That's already quite good," Tang Zhao himself was not satisfied. The Ruyi Thread and the spun threads were like a lever; the more and longer the Ruyi Thread, the easier it was to control a large number of spun threads. Moreover, these Original Threads were important resources; leaving them there carried the risk of being taken by others, and at critical moments, occupying a little more was very important.

With the Ruyi Thread in hand, Tang Zhao tried it out first. The Ruyi Thread could indeed move according to his heart. It was certainly not as flexible as his own body, nor could it be compared to a sword weapon that followed his heart, but it was much more agile than a weapon held in the hand. Such a long piece of Original Thread could be danced into a hundred different rings; even if one practiced the soft whip for ten years, one could not have such attainments.

Come to think of it, the Ruyi Thread was still very similar to the Free-Roaming Qi. Especially after infusing it with his will, it didn't need palm contact and could be placed at a distance; a single thought could still make the Ruyi Thread move, which indeed felt like the Free-Roaming Qi. And since he had experience in controlling the Free-Roaming Qi, he could also operate these Ruyi Threads with ease.

It was evident that the principles of the world always lead to the same destination; the more one learns of these skills, the better, as one never knows when they might come in handy.

He was self-taught and manipulated the several sections of Ruyi Thread with ease, soon making them dance freely before his eyes, which made the white fox, who was about to instruct him, hesitate to speak several times.

Next, Tang Zhao used the Ruyi Thread to connect a section of spun thread, and with a thought, the spun thread turned on its own, transforming into a lantern.

The Cloud Silk was indeed incredibly fine; this large lantern, like a Kongming lantern, didn't even use a single blade of grass's worth of Cloud Silk.

He placed an Origin Talisman made from an Origin Stone inside the lantern, and a daylight Kongming lantern, larger and brighter than a Hand Lamp, was instantly formed.

A point of light lit up, and there was one more small natural enemy to the Shadow in this place.

"Go—"

Following Tang Zhao's command, the lantern floated up and drifted toward the darkness, carrying light with it.