Chapter 459: 434 Among the Pines

"We still need to go up another level?"

Ling Baoyu was momentarily dazed, then retorted, "Even if there really is a level above, how do you plan to go up?"

There was no path ahead, was there?

All around were nothing but celestial sphere charts.

Tang Zhao was unhurried and retorted in turn, "How would I know how to go upstairs when I just arrived here? Miss Aqin, how do you say we should go up?"

Seeing Aqin's face full of confusion, he continued to explain, "Perhaps you haven't been up there either. But you are the most familiar with this place; you can think about it—if it is possible to go up, where would one likely pass through?"

Faced with his question, Aqin could not help but ponder deeply. Ling Baoyu asked, "Is it really necessary to go up and see? Even if there is a terrace, so what? Will the view be better? Or do you think there is some treasure hidden above that can turn the tide at this juncture? If there were, we would have used it back then; why wait until today? Does Her Highness not know what is in her own tower?"

Tang Zhao said, "It's not that I'm counting on some secret treasure above, but there may indeed be useful items. Things that are very important today were not necessarily important back then, and things useless back then might be the key to victory today. I am also slightly versed in Rune Formulas and have a compass that can measure meteorological changes. If my deduction is correct..."

He pointed upward: "There is a Space Fluctuation above. 'Transportation hub' is no empty claim."

Ling Baoyu was truly astonished. What secret floor, what transportation hub—she had never even heard of them. Logically, she was a person of note in Baiyujing and shouldn't have such a large blind spot, but who told her to arrive late?

For her, Baiyujing really did have quite a few secrets.

Not to mention anything else, that experience Her Highness had with the Eldest Sister and Second Sister in the Sword Domain back then was rarely mentioned to them later on.

The situation in the Sword Domain was far more complex than here. At that time, who knew how many mysterious places and devices were built? It was very likely that they had never been activated again after returning to the Human World, and since they weren't dismantled, they were naturally left aside and became secrets.

If Ling Baoyu didn't ask about these things, the sisters wouldn't tell her. Yet, since she didn't know the specific situation, how would she ask?

Aqin suddenly said, "Ah, I thought of it. You all wait." After saying this, she turned and left, walking down the staircase they had just come up.

She went off on her own and told Tang Zhao and the others to wait, so Tang Zhao did not follow her down and continued to look at the celestial sphere chart above.

"This here is Sancong City, the very center of Baiyujing."

Since they were waiting anyway, Ling Baoyu pointed out the map for Tang Zhao.

Actually, she had already transmitted a map to Tang Zhao before, but that map was a projection of her memory and was a flat map, mainly for marking locations; the depiction of specific buildings was very abstract, and one could only say it had outlines. The image seen on this celestial sphere chart was three-dimensional. Even though it was separated by layers of shadows and one could only see a rough outline, it was still better than looking at a map.

In the sky is Baiyujing, with twelve towers and five cities.

Among them, the twelve towers were merely twelve buildings of various styles—some for living, some for viewing, and some with special functions—but most were not important, merely scenery. The ones that could truly be called the hubs were the "five cities" among them.

Among the five cities, Lingxiao City and Haiqiao City were two border cities, located on either side of Baiyujing, shaped like mountains and seas. The three cities in the middle were the most important and were also called Sancong City.

Namely Zhugong, Yutang, and Zibeique.

"This is Zibeique, the main gate of Gongcheng. Usually, to see Her Highness, one must pass through here. This is also where the Eldest Sister and Second Sister used to live. Behind it, Yutang is where Her Highness lived. The hub we speak of is also there. If there is a place that can control the entire Baiyujing, that is it. However, there is no universal control console that can hold every blade of grass and tree of Baiyujing in one's palm. The reason we say it can be controlled there is mostly because Her Highness is there. Wherever Her Highness is, that is naturally the center of Baiyujing."

"However, looking at the bright side, in Her Highness's bedchamber, there might still be Ruyi Threads left by Her Highness, or treasures woven from Ruyi Threads. They are imbued with Her Highness's will and have the highest level of command over all Cloud Silk. It wouldn't be wrong to say that if one obtains them, one can control Baiyujing."

Tang Zhao said, "In that case, we must guard against Meng Huazhou going to seize Yutang?"

Ling Baoyu said, "Him? Absolutely impossible. Before Her Highness left, she had already closed Yutang, and the Eldest Sister also locked Zibeique. Under double closure, even I cannot enter; by what right could he enter? Moreover, when he was fighting us for control earlier, he forcibly turned, and it wasn't in the direction of Yutang. That is why I say, rather than guarding Yutang, we should keep an eye on Songjian Tower."

She zoomed in on another part of the celestial sphere chart and pointed at a cluster of trees. There, dimly visible, was a pavilion.

"This was once the place where that bastard Xu Congsheng lived. It is very close to both Lingxiao City and Zibeique. Because it is where the atmosphere of the Human World is thickest and most suitable for ordinary people to live, Her Highness assigned it to the one surnamed Xu."

Tang Zhao realized, "Her Highness treated Xu Congsheng well, a detached house in such a good location."

Ling Baoyu said, "Naturally, my Her Highness has the kindest heart and looked after him very well. Who knew that one can know a person's face but not their heart; this person turned out to be an ingrate. I am not worried about that Meng fellow going to Songjian Tower to pay respects to the life relics of his wild ancestors; I am worried that he might have hidden some messy things inside, perhaps allowing him to secretly seize some power."

Tang Zhao said, "We must guard against it. We can see his movements in real-time here; Songjian Tower is still very calm, it seems he hasn't arrived yet."

Ling Baoyu gave a hum and said, "Actually, the place where we separated is about the same distance from Songjian Tower and Qianqiu Tower. We have been here for so long, they should have arrived by now."

Tang Zhao said, "We didn't delay, but their hearts are not united, and they might not know the way clearly, so they were delayed? Perhaps they even crashed halfway?"

That is what is said, but one must prepare for the worst; one cannot truly count on them perishing halfway. What if they have another destination? Or perhaps they are hiding somewhere and have already achieved some goal?

Ling Baoyu clearly thought the same. She took Songjian Tower as the center and continuously zoomed in on the celestial sphere chart, getting closer and closer, until the Songjian Tower in the shadows almost overwhelmed the three-hundred-sixty-degree perspective.

Then she rotated the perspective and carefully checked the surroundings of Songjian Tower.

There was indeed no one.

"What is that?"

They saw an object lying among the pine trees outside the tower. It was unclear in the shadows, only vaguely feeling like it did not belong to the pine forest itself.

She moved it a few times, almost zooming to the maximum, and finally saw clearly:

"Ah, it's a Cloud Silk Lamp!"

It was a Cloud Silk Lamp, but it no longer had light. Although the lamp frame was not broken, it was almost falling apart, miserably embedded between pine needles. One look and it was clear it had fallen from above.

Ling Baoyu sighed, feeling some regret. There was nothing to be done about a lamp crashing. Although using Cloud Silk for the lamp shade and a Prime Talisman for the wick was a match made in heaven that could resist the encroachment of shadows, Tang Zhao had after all put out too many lamps. It was common for one or two to be unlucky, destroyed by monsters in the shadows, or encounter some accident.

Fortunately, weren't there still so many lamps flying in the sky? One or two didn't matter.

Tang Zhao stared at the lamp and said in a deep voice, "Can you zoom in more?"

Ling Baoyu adjusted it a few times and said, "This is already the maximum. Do you want it even bigger?"

At this angle, it was indeed already several times larger than the Cloud Silk Lamp itself. By comparison, they looked a bit like they had the perspective of dwarves here.

Tang Zhao pondered, "Then adjust the angle and see if there are any wounds?"

Ling Baoyu nodded and indeed adjusted the angle, rotating all around the Cloud Silk Lamp.

There was a wound!

On the lower part of the Cloud Silk Lamp, there was a circular wound that had broken the outer wall, but the lamp wall on the opposite side of the wound was not correspondingly shattered. It was like a stone projectile had pierced the outer lamp shade but had exhausted its force and failed to pierce through, so the projectile remained inside the lamp shade.

Ling Baoyu's heart sank; this was no small matter. The shadows of the Wangliang could not create such a wound; this was caused by a strike, and shadows could almost never perform physical attacks, let alone pierce through Cloud Silk.

How was this damaged?

Could it be that there were monsters hidden in the shadows that they hadn't noticed yet?

Tang Zhao suddenly said, "This is the lamp I gave to Yue Lai."

Ling Baoyu was shocked and said, "Is that so? Are you sure?"

Tang Zhao said, "Of course, I remember every lamp I made with my own hands."

Ling Baoyu nodded. She saw all Cloud Silk Lamps as the same "standard goods," but Tang Zhao was the maker after all, so it was not strange that he could distinguish them. She felt relieved in her heart and said, "So it was them. Then this means they had an internal conflict in the air, leading to the Cloud Silk Lamp falling?"

If it were a few Martial Artists and Sword Guests, it was not impossible for them to strike such a wound, and Meng Huazhou even had Cloud Silk Shears; perhaps he also had some trump card that could pierce a Cloud Silk lamp shade.

But... where are they?

Even the Cloud Silk Lamp was broken, which shows the infighting was intense. Without the protection of the Cloud Silk Lamp, they cannot escape the erosion of the Shadow. Even if Meng Huazhou has a trump card, it won't work; Xu Congsheng is just a Mortal, and even if something was left for him, it was all obtained here in Xiancheng. If Xiancheng had treasures to resist the Wangliang, would it have fallen to this state?

So, could it be that they were just swallowed by the Wangliang like this?

Ling Baoyu only felt disgust or indifference toward those few; if all three were gone, she would be happy to see it happen, but she always felt it wasn't that easy.

Just then, Tang Zhao also said, "There is no sign of them in the wilderness. Perhaps they have already entered the building. Didn't you say the Celestial Sphere Map can see through things? Shall we look for them inside?"

This was exactly a case of great minds thinking alike; Ling Baoyu immediately shifted the perspective toward Songjian Tower.

Seeing that they were getting closer and closer to Songjian Tower and the black fog was thinning, the Celestial Sphere Map suddenly cracked, and the scenery on both sides was instantly torn apart.

A head poked in, completely destroying the mysterious atmosphere of the Celestial Sphere Map, especially since her skin was deathly pale and her black hair stood on end, adding to the eeriness:

"It's okay, just come up from here!"