Chapter 462: 437 Nixia

"This floor is also warm, how wonderful."

Black Widow stepped onto a new floor and felt a warmth all over her body; it was a sensation she was already familiar with, and she immediately became happy.

She had already explored several floors and had gained quite a bit of understanding regarding this Qianqiu Tower.

Because of a lack of information, she did not know that this warmth was the lingering benefit left behind by special lamps, but she could already sensitively perceive that this warmth was very beneficial, and could even dispel the Shadow without relying on light. In places where the warmth gathered, the entire floor was clean without any blind spots, and there were absolutely no shadows in places without light, whereas rooms without warmth could not achieve this.

Black Widow had rich experience in the pugilistic world and was also bold; after the thought occurred to her, she actually extinguished her Cloud Silk Lamp by a window to test if this warmth had the effect of directly repelling the Wangliang, and the result was naturally a great success.

She completely set her mind at ease, and on floors with warmth, she simply extinguished the Cloud Silk Lamp to save Yuan power, relying only on the light and warmth from outside, which was sufficient to explore the entire floor.

By now, Black Widow already knew that every floor had a different theme, uniformly called "The So-and-So Between," and the name would be written on a wooden plaque and hung on the side of the floor's entrance.

Most of the time, there was no need to see the name to guess what the theme here was.

"This place might be the Between of Fabrics... no..."

When Black Widow first came up, she thought this was the Between of Fabrics, because horizontal bars were set up on the ceiling of the floor, and things like large bolts of silk were hanging down from them, either red or purple, magnificently unusual and dazzling to the eyes.

These fabrics emitted a faint light, creating trails of flowing, brilliant colors in the dim floor, making one think of the clouds and rosy dawn at the edge of the sky.

No—these were the clouds and rosy dawn!

If they were not clouds and rosy dawn, they could not have such splendor and magnificence; if they were not clouds and rosy dawn, they could not have such lightness and elegance. They could be seen but not touched, appearing to have form yet being formless, elusive and unpredictable; as soon as one reached out to touch them, they dissipated from the fingertips.

"What a grand display, to actually hang the Nixia of the heavens on one's own floor. This truly is clouds for clothes and Nixia for garments; the bearing of an Immortal is nothing more than this."

Black Widow felt extreme fondness in her heart; she had always liked these beautiful things. When she was the master of the powerful Five Poisons Society faction in Black Spider Villa, in order to establish authority and make the masses submit, she suppressed her own preferences, making the entire villa pitch-black, and often used spiders and poisonous insects to intimidate everyone, making everyone afraid to look directly at her.

But in her heart, she actually had a young girl's heart that loved beauty.

If not for this, she would not have used the excuse of mourning as a widow to wear only white, nor would she have been constantly thinking of that dreamlike Cloud Immortal City, single-mindedly wanting the Ruyi Sword while secretly disliking the Jingzhe Sword passed down by the Five Poisons Society.

At this moment, seeing the room full of Nixia garments, Black Widow could not help but feel extreme fondness, very much wanting to be like a little girl and pull down a piece of Nixia to drape over her body, spinning around as if it were a cloak.

However, she still suppressed her impulse and did not do anything unnecessary. Although the Nixia were beautiful, they were of no use at this time. Could she take these Nixia back? Even if she could take them back, what use would they be?

Black Widow searched floor by floor, not to collect beautiful clothes, beautiful tools, or precious playthings, but to find things that were useful now or in the future. If she could find a sword or a Sword Seed, that would of course be best; finding clues about the Ruyi Sword would also be very good; at the very least, she had to find precious and useful materials, for only by having the value to exchange for materials suitable for herself would it not be considered returning empty-handed.

In the floors she had just passed through, there were also many magnificent things, and there was even no lack of treasures in the worldly sense, but she did not take a single one, only to clear space in her precious Cunshu Art Tool to continue searching for the slim hope of useful items.

Walking past rows of Nixia, the colors of the Nixia changed from purple to red, and from red to yellow, the colors becoming lighter and lighter, just as if the sky were becoming brighter. With Black Widow's aesthetic, she most liked bright and pure colors, especially liking bright white light, so she naturally felt that the further back it went, the more beautiful it was; but if these were real Nixia hanging in the sky, the purple and red colors of the sunset would instead be more brilliant and eye-catching.

When she had passed more than half, Black Widow finally saw the plaque hanging on the wall:

"Nixia Zhi Jian."

"It really is the Nixia Zhi Jian. Eh?"

Black Widow suddenly realized something was wrong—this plaque shouldn't be hung here, right?

In other rooms, the plaques were all hung not far from the main entrance, so that people entering the door could see them at a glance; the plaque here was hung too inconspicuously, and it had almost been covered by a piece of white Nixia.

However, this was also a small matter; perhaps someone had hung it here casually when they came in? Or perhaps it was designed this way specifically. Black Widow knew nothing about the affairs of the Xiancheng, so she could not say this was an abnormal phenomenon because of this.

After glancing at the plaque, her gaze turned to the side, and she saw a large piece of white Nixia.

Nixia and Xia were different; the light of Xia had brilliant colors and the texture of colored ink, while Nixia was more like faint, bright lights. If one were to discuss beauty, Xia was superior, but Black Widow liked white Nixia.

She circled around that group of white Nixia twice, and it took a great deal of effort to suppress the thought of stealing one to take back; just as she was about to go elsewhere, she was suddenly stunned:

On the ground, a piece of white Nixia had actually fallen.

"Did it not hang on? Does this horizontal bar really have a supporting function?"

Black Widow had always not easily moved anything in the Qianqiu Tower; she knew that some things looked harmless, but a slight touch could lead to great disaster, but among the Nixia fluttering throughout the room, only this one lay withered on the ground, fallen into the dust, which truly made it hard for her to endure.

In the end, she still leaned forward, covered her hand with Gang Qi, and bent down to pick up that Nixia...

Hmm?

When she got close, Black Widow discovered an abnormality.

The texture of that piece of white Nixia was too solid, too much like silk, and there were faint shadows on it... it seemed there were words!

All the Nixia were in their most natural state, not stained with a single bit of human aura, but only this one that had fallen to the ground actually had handwriting, as if it had been rubbed by someone like worldly paper.

From this point of view, it being the only one to fall into the dust was actually reasonable.

Black Widow suddenly thought: what if this white Nixia was deliberately thrown down by someone?

She immediately looked upward; the nearest window was open, and if someone acted from the outside, it would not be difficult to flick down a piece of Nixia from outside the window from a distance.

She became curious and cautiously picked up the white Nixia; this action went very smoothly, and she obtained it at once; the white Nixia flowed slowly in her hand like honey.

There were indeed words on it.

Lifting the white Nixia, another object was actually revealed underneath, which was exactly what had been covered by the white Nixia before.

"This, this is—"

Black Widow was dumbfounded.

In the darkness, Tang Zhao blinked his eyes, forcibly suppressing the nausea in his chest...

"Ugh—"

He didn't really suppress it much.

The experience of teleportation was generally not very good. It wasn't that Tang Zhao hadn't experienced it; Sword Art exile was actually a standard teleportation sword art, and one suffered every time one was teleported. However, that was limited; being exiled three hundred miles at most just made one dizzy; he hadn't tried being exiled three thousand miles, but it wouldn't kill an ordinary person, so it wouldn't make the current Tang Zhao too uncomfortable.

But this teleportation array really made him uncomfortable; his body felt as if it had undergone high-intensity rotation for a short time, spinning him until he saw stars, and his internal organs, flesh, and blood vessels had also undergone a contest of vibration, pulling, and compression, making his whole body full of discomfort.

"It seems that high-level doesn't necessarily mean good goods. In our shop... products that don't pay attention to customer experience like this would all be eliminated."

After a long while, he finally calmed down and went to touch the Cloud Silk Lamp beside him.

As soon as he touched the Cloud Silk Lamp, Tang Zhao was stunned.

When he brought people over by teleportation before, he was actually carrying a lamp, and it was a lit Cloud Silk Lamp. This was precisely because he was afraid that the Wangliang would be rampant in the current Yutang, and they would fall into danger the moment they teleported over. Lighting a lamp to support a halo of light around himself could prevent unexpected accidents.

Just in case, Tang Zhao and the white fox each had a lamp, and Aqin even took a Palace Lamp with gold powder, just for fear that one lamp would not be able to cover everyone if they were separated.

However, now, there was not a single lamp beside him, and not a single bit of light.

The area around Tang Zhao was pitch black; he had been feeling uncomfortable in his heart just now and hadn't paid attention, but at this moment, he was suddenly shocked—

Where is the lamp?

The Cloud Silk Lamp was not at hand, and he could not even touch it.

He had just been dizzy from the spinning, and he did not know at what moment his lamp had slipped from his grasp; now, his hands were empty.

It could only be said that it was fortunate that although this place was dark, it merely lacked light and had no Shadow-wraiths. Otherwise, if Tang Zhao's lamp flame had been extinguished and he had plunged headlong into the belly of a Shadow-wraith, even a Sword Guest would not be able to withstand the countless shadows pouncing upon him...

Wait...

Where is my sword?

Tang Zhao reached toward his waist, suddenly horrified, and cold sweat broke out instantly.

In the past, he appeared not to carry a sword because he was always covered by a layer of light-curtain illusion, looking like a scholar without a weapon, but in truth, the sword was always properly worn at his waist, no different from other Sword Guests. Ever since becoming a Sword Guest, he had never been separated from his sword.

To have the sword is to have the person; this is the duty of a Sword Guest.

Also, because his Sword Image was always in a manifested state, requiring only a thought to utilize, Tang Zhao almost never drew his sword in battle, so the sword itself had little presence, and he did not have the habit of touching it at all times; but now that the sword was gone, he felt a sense of unease in his heart and immediately went to search for it, but it was already gone.

To have the sword is to have the person... what if the sword is not there?

At this moment, Tang Zhao's heart beat like a drum; on one hand, he was panicked and his breathing was rapid, while on the other, his mind was unexpectedly extremely clear.

Or rather, he was so panicked that he had to think of something to counteract the physical stiffness.

He did not stand up straight, but instead crouched down, shrinking his body to maintain a state where he could explode into an attack at any moment, and then searched his body with both hands.

Clothes—intact and complete.

Belt—also fine.

The pouch at his waist, gone.

The medicinal salves, handkerchief, and other useful items in his bosom had vanished into thin air.

The Time Jar hanging around his neck had not been spared either.

In a word, except for the clothes on his back, every carried item was gone; it was cleaner than having been searched ten times over.

In the end, he felt one item in his bosom, which was the Glasses with completely shattered lenses, lying quietly beside him.

Tang Zhao gave a bitter smile and said, "At least you are still here."

No matter what, the Glasses would not leave him, even if they were broken; others could not take them away even if they wanted to.

Now that things had come to this, Tang Zhao was instead even calmer. He already knew that since so many things were lost, they certainly could not have been accidentally dropped by him during the spatial transfer; the most likely scenario was that some Sword Art or Sword Technique had been triggered during the teleportation or landing, and the items had been stripped away.

He had been disarmed and trapped in a completely unfamiliar place.