Chapter 461: 436 Remember

"Teleportation... is that what I think it means? Can we use this teleportation to go to other places? You said it matches the Celestial Sphere Map; does that mean we can go anywhere we want, to any place shown on the Celestial Sphere Map?"

Ling Baoyu asked.

"Hmm..."

Tang Zhao observed the Rune Formula while walking a few steps toward the center of the room, then stretched his arm out—

And touched the ceiling.

The ceiling of this floor was quite low. Tang Zhao was now nearly seventeen and had not yet fully grown; his height and arm length were above average, but when he raised his arm straight up, he could already touch the ceiling.

Or rather, it was designed that way from the start to make it easy to touch.

Tang Zhao felt around with his fingers, pressing down slightly somewhere.

The room remained motionless, but the floor beneath his feet—silently became transparent.

"The Celestial Sphere Map."

Beneath his feet was still the Celestial Sphere Map. It was still that omnidirectional, flawless image where one could see everything above and below; the perspective was comprehensive and profound, as if it contained the infinite mysteries of the universe.

The difference was that before, the Celestial Sphere Map had been overhead, requiring one to look up, while now, the Celestial Sphere Map was stepped upon underfoot.

It was somewhat less mysterious.

Moreover, it looked a bit dangerous. Because the floor beneath his feet had suddenly become transparent, the Celestial Sphere Map seemed bottomless; standing on it felt like standing at a great height, as if the floor would shatter and he would fall through.

In reality, the floor's material hadn't changed at all, but seeing what was underneath made it feel different. It was like how walking on a glass walkway requires some courage, but laying a carpet over the glass immediately makes one unafraid.

Aqin, however, was very happy. Perhaps she was used to floating in the sky; she wasn't afraid of heights at all. As if she had found a fresh toy, she trotted back and forth on top of the Celestial Sphere Map with her intangible feet.

As Tang Zhao moved his fingers, the radiance of the Rune Formula above gradually condensed, forming a Light Beam.

The Light Beam scanned back and forth across the Celestial Sphere Map; wherever it scanned, a spot of light appeared.

Ling Baoyu understood and said, "Does that mean wherever we scan, we can teleport there?"

Tang Zhao nodded and said, "Since we are going to find the Ruyi Thread that controls Baiyujing and seize control, we naturally have to go to Yutang..."

Ling Baoyu said, "Wait—let's go to Songjian Tower first. I'm very concerned about that broken lantern, and that bastard Meng Huazhou... I don't think he's dead; he's likely hiding in Songjian Tower. He is a huge hidden danger. If I kill him first, our time will be much more flexible. Otherwise, I won't feel at ease, as if I'm constantly being urged to my death by a rope around my neck."

Tang Zhao shook his head and said, "What you say makes sense. As the saying goes, one must settle internal affairs before dealing with external ones. I also think it's important to eliminate Meng Huazhou first. But the Origin Stone energy here is limited; it can only be activated once."

Art Tools require energy; Ling Baoyu knew this, but she was still somewhat surprised and said, "It shouldn't be that bad, right? Even if teleportation consumes energy, can't we supplement it with Origin Stones? I remember you have quite a few Origin Stones—you top it up first, consider it a loan from me, and I'll pay you back double later."

Tang Zhao said, "It's not that easy. Not to mention that I just spent many Origin Stones making the Cloud Silk Lamp, even if my savings were full, it might not be enough to supplement the consumption of this teleportation."

Ling Baoyu was skeptical. Teleportation certainly consumes a lot, but she had had similar teleportation Dharma Artifacts before and didn't feel the consumption was so overwhelming.

Tang Zhao explained, "First of all, this uses spatial displacement to transfer, and it is both precise and long-distance. It also links with the Celestial Sphere Map and has the ability to ignore restrictions and barriers; even deep underground can be reached directly. This is a very profound Array. Moreover, this is actually a group teleportation. Theoretically, anyone who has come up to this floor can be taken along. For a floor this large, teleporting a few hundred people is no problem."

This was astonishing. One must know that even the Qianxian did not have such a large-scale and precise teleportation array; otherwise, why would they need Fire Seed Carriages? If every Qianjin City were equipped with a Celestial Sphere Map and a teleportation array, real-time monitoring combined with instant teleportation would allow for total control over a region. At the very least, there would be no place for Heavenly Demons to stand within the sphere of influence of a Qianjin City.

Ling Baoyu said, "But there are only three of us?"

Tang Zhao said, "It consumes all the energy to activate it once, regardless."

It could only be said that it was fortunate the Rune Formula's energy was full when they came up, a free one-time trial voucher; otherwise, the three of them wouldn't have been able to leave even once.

Did this also mean that this teleportation array was not activated during the most critical time back then?

After all, there were Shadows everywhere outside, and the Rune Formula must have lost the opportunity to replenish its Origin energy from the world, so it had maintained the state it was in 120 years ago.

"So, Yutang or Songjian Tower, we can only choose one."

Ling Baoyu sighed and said, "Then... Yutang."

She was still a bit unwilling and said, "If we can come back after going to Yutang, I will definitely use the Celestial Sphere Map to find the location of that man surnamed Meng. If your savings are enough to replenish the energy, then lend it to me first, and I will pay you back with interest. We will go and kill that man surnamed Meng together. Then I'll take you to a good place. We'll go to Zizai Tower first to help you improve your Sword Heart, then go to..."

Tang Zhao didn't wait for her to continue painting a rosy picture and said, "Fine, then we'll go to Yutang."

As he spoke, he scanned the teleportation array on the wall, using all his mental capacity to memorize this high-level Rune Formula, the likes of which he had only seen once in his life.

This was not just for study and research, but also for the practical use of this teleportation array.

Compared to the teleportation array, the Rune Formula Array on this wall was even more powerful and profound, to the point that after Tang Zhao learned the purpose of this Rune Formula Array from the inscription, he felt it was a trouble—not something he wanted or should be responsible for—and he really wanted to pack it up and send it to the Gaoyuan Marquis.

Sending it to the Gaoyuan Marquis, sending it to Qianjin City—that would be the professional thing to do.

Although if one looked into it closely, this could also be considered a teleportation array.

And one that involved the lifeblood of his hometown.

It was just that trying to memorize such a complex Rune Formula while completely ignorant was very difficult for Tang Zhao. At this moment, he missed his Glasses immensely. If the Glasses were still fine, he would only need one scan to memorize it himself; why would he need to rack his brains?

In the end, he had to switch to another shortcut.

That was to let the Sword Image Sunlight trace the cat and draw the tiger, copying it against the Rune Formula on the wall. Since it was all light, it wasn't difficult to replicate, and even the state of flow could be simulated. Then he would permanently store this string of Sunlight Rune Formulas in the Time Jar and take them out when needed.

Actually, tracing with light wasn't easy either, because there were elements involving the flow of the Rune Formula itself, like a "fourth dimension," which required the Sunlight to be flowing at every moment. This was different from the illusions Tang Zhao usually created; it was more delicate and complex.

But Tang Zhao didn't have enough time to study it bit by bit, so he simply let the Sunlight draw a rough shape, then got close enough to the Rune Formula on the wall so that the two lights almost merged, feeling the rhythm within as if he were substituting himself into it.

In order to master the flow within as quickly as possible, Tang Zhao poured a large amount of Mental Power into the Sword Image.

Although he had poured in Mental Power before, he had never poured it in so fiercely at once. Fortunately, because Tang Zhao had been constantly separating his will and adding it to the Original Thread to facilitate the creation of Ruyi Silk, he was in a state of being familiar with the process. Without realizing it, he had already added his will to every inch of the Sword Image, even to the point of overflowing.

For a moment, his will was completely replacing the Sword Image in its work; the Sword Image truly became an extension of his will.

At this time, his state was a bit wonderful, completely different from the relaxed and easy way he played with the Sword Image before. The two sides had an opportunity for further communication, but they were stuck at a critical point and ultimately did not break through.

At this moment, his mind was entirely focused on the Rune Formula Array, and he did not notice this point.

Finally, he managed to hard-copy the Rune Formula, his mind relaxed, and he immediately recovered from that wonderful state.

Tang Zhao didn't realize what he had experienced; he only felt drenched in sweat and his whole body was comfortable, just like taking a hot bath after being tired. He let out a breath and said, "Alright, we can set off."

Ling Baoyu beckoned, and Aqin ran over, holding Ling Baoyu in her arms.

Tang Zhao adjusted the Light Beam, and following Ling Baoyu's guidance, focused the Light Beam through the black mist onto Yutang.

The Celestial Sphere Map could have its scale adjusted at will when below, but it lost many functions when above; it was just a particularly detailed map with a 360-degree all-around perspective. This was also to facilitate focusing; otherwise, changing the perspective at will would make activating the teleportation array ten times harder.

After aligning the light pillar, Tang Zhao said, "We're setting off—"

Ling Baoyu just nodded, and Aqin said, "Is it really okay? This teleportation array has been here for at least a hundred years, right? Can it still run properly now?"

Ling Baoyu looked at Tang Zhao, and Tang Zhao replied, "I just checked it, and there's no problem. The Rune Formula is carved very completely, and the energy is also sufficient. Of course, I can't guarantee it's foolproof, but even if there's a problem, at most the direction will be slightly off during teleportation, which is inconsequential."

For a Rune Formula of this level, Tang Zhao had at least eighty or ninety percent certainty; even though it was his first time seeing this Fu Formula Array and there were a few parts he could not fully comprehend, it was mostly correct.

At a time like this, with eighty percent certainty, it was time to act.

Aqin let out an "oh" and glanced at the Celestial Sphere Map, thinking that if she hadn't misunderstood, with a map at such a small scale, wouldn't being off by a little bit on the Celestial Sphere Map result in a huge difference in the destination?

But before she could say it, Tang Zhao had already activated the teleportation array.

The Celestial Sphere Map and the Fu Formula Array lit up simultaneously, almost swallowing the entire top floor room.

Amidst the light, Tang Zhao suddenly thought: had he... forgotten something?

But there was no time for him to think it over; the light extinguished, and the top floor was already empty.

The radiance of the Talismans on the ceiling vanished completely, leaving only those incomparably profound Talismans on the walls still shimmering.

On the fifth floor of Qianqiu Tower, Black Widow looked up toward the highest point, feeling puzzled: had it just lit up overhead a moment ago?

But she took another look and discovered that the top floor was not only not lit, but even darker than the floor below.

Had she seen it wrong just now?

Forget it, exploration was more important; it would be troublesome if the light in the sky went out in a while.

Thinking this, she went up another floor.