Chapter 477: 452 Bird

The sky was full of firelight, like a vast sea of stars.

The last time she saw such a sky full of light was when Tang Zhao released countless Cloud Silk Lamps.

She still remembered how the sky, which had felt like an eternal night, suddenly lit up with stars and fire; she remembered the surge of her emotions and the mix of sorrow and joy. At that moment, it felt as if she had returned to the time when she watched the stars with her sisters.

Even if those lamps were of no help to the situation, light was hope.

At this moment, looking up and seeing the sky full of lights again, her first reaction was still:

Tang Zhao is here!

But immediately after, she recalled the empty joy she felt when chasing the Sword Light just now, and secretly reminded herself: Have I become possessed? Why do I think of him in everything? Tang Zhao is not here, why bother thinking so much?

Then she thought again:

Could it be that the lamps released earlier have finally drifted over?

Yutang was ultimately too far from the place where the lamps were released; the lamps flew slowly, and their direction was difficult to control. When she looked up at the sky in front of the main hall earlier, there wasn't a single lamp, which made her feel very insecure. Seeing a large amount of light approaching now, she assumed the main force of those Cloud Silk Lamps had finally arrived.

But she immediately realized it was not.

The speed at which those lights were moving was simply too fast!

Although Cloud Silk Lamps are said to fly, it is more accurate to say they drift, because there is no strong wind in the Wangliang, and their speed is maddeningly slow; otherwise, they wouldn't be considered unchanging stars. But these lights were visibly "flying"—not only did they have flight speed, but their direction was also more flexible; some lights could clearly turn in the night sky.

Of course, to say they were Sword Light, they weren't that fast either. Compared to lamps or Sword Light, they were more like a flock of...

Birds?

A flock of glowing birds flew into the Giant Forest with a rustle.

In an instant, the forest was in chaos.

Those giants originally only had one goal; a group of people besieging one or two people, all exerting force in one direction, was a true "gang beating." But those light birds entered the fray in a disorderly fashion, instantly changing the giants' targets from one or two to a hundred, two hundred, or even countless.

Almost all the giants fell into chaos. They turned one after another following the flock of birds; some turned left, some turned right, and some turned around and around, as if spinning in place. It was fortunate that these giants were only shadow bodies and did not have real, heavy mass, and their movements were quite flexible; otherwise, just spinning like this would have caused several to collapse, and once collapsed, it would be extremely difficult to stand up.

Moreover, their arms began to swing wildly, grabbing left and right. If they couldn't grab one, they would immediately go to grab the next. Their arms danced like windmills, further increasing the chaos, and the collisions between them became increasingly intense.

And the swarm-like movements of these giants further increased this chaos, almost forming a vicious cycle.

Like them, when they sense each other and act in unison, they naturally work together with one heart and one mind, seamless; but once multiple targets appear at the same time and they cannot distinguish which is more important, they become as flustered and overwhelmed as they were now, unable to attend to everything.

If they were truly intelligent beings capable of judging priority, they might have been able to remain calm at this time, either ignoring the minor interference and heading straight for the target, or coordinating with each other to divide the work of capturing. But it just so happened that they seemed to only follow some kind of "program," knowing only to attack what was nearby, which doubled the chaos at this moment.

"Like a bunch of idiots. It doesn't look like there's a mastermind behind this." Ling Baoyu lay on the window observing carefully and drew a conclusion, "Even if there is a main operator, their ability is poor. They can't even control a few monsters? It looks like a group of puppets."

Aqin asked: "Aunt, what should we do?"

A light suddenly went off in Ling Baoyu's heart, and she said: "That's right, the opportunity has come!"

Just now she was in a dilemma because these giants seemed to be a symbiotic entity, where pulling one hair would affect the whole body, making it impossible to divide and conquer. But now that their whole bodies were moving, wasn't that the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation?

She immediately commanded: "Aqin, go back into the Mirror, we're leaving!"

Aqin was a bit surprised, but immediately followed Ling Baoyu's order and returned to the Mirror. Ling Baoyu tied the Mirror to her back according to the previous method and jumped out of the window with Lightness.

She had already observed the distribution of these giants and found a giant on the edge as her target.

This giant was the least disturbed by the light birds; although it was also in chaos, it was not yet twitching, and it was possible to attract it. The giants around it were all being harassed by the light birds and should be unable to look after themselves, unable to lend it a hand. She had a chance to lure this one monster alone.

In the dark night, a white shadow jumped out of the window, sprinted to the outside of the giant crowd, and then slowed down, cautiously approaching a giant that was still moving in place.

"Hmm?"

Just as Ling Baoyu was about to test the edge of the giant's sensing circle, she suddenly felt something and looked up—

A light bird was wobbling toward her.

At first, Ling Baoyu thought it was a coincidence and even thought about dodging this mysterious creature. But immediately after, the bird flew lower and lower, almost heading straight for her. Ling Baoyu immediately raised her vigilance, looked up, and revealed her fox-like canine teeth.

Then she froze.

Because as it got closer and closer, Ling Baoyu saw that "bird" clearly.

How should she describe this bird?

It was definitely not any known bird, nor did it look like any known animal, but it certainly didn't look like a man-made object or a puppet either; it was some kind of creature.

This creature, how should she put it... it was like a sunflower that had grown wings.

To call them wings wasn't quite right; it should be that two petals of the sunflower itself had grown longer, expanding long to both sides, flapping the air as if they were wings, and that was how it flew. On the sunflower disk were two pearls in positions that looked like Eye Beads, shining brightly, the brilliance like pure Sunlight, making one dare not look directly at it.

This thing, without a doubt, is a monster, right?

This was not a Fierce Beast. Fierce Beasts are polluted by Yin energy and will also deform, sometimes becoming strange and beyond human cognition, but the style of change is always fierce, dark, and eerie. The change of this sunflower was also very strange, but it didn't look terrifying; instead, it became... a bit cute?

Ling Baoyu blurted out: "Tang Zhao?"

She had never known that Baiyujing had such an outrageous sunflower, but she saw the Sunlight, and seeing the Sunlight naturally made her think of Tang Zhao, so she blurted it out.

She had already forgotten how many times she had mentioned Tang Zhao; she felt she had become possessed.

However, this time was different.

Following her words, the sunflower hovered quietly in front of her, the Sunlight in the pearls flickered, and the petal wings quietly flapped in the air where the Shadow had just receded.

Ling Baoyu was overjoyed. She took the flickering just now as Tang Zhao greeting her, and continued: "Tang Zhao, are you okay? Is this your Sword Image? Where are you?"

The sunflower bird hovered quietly, obviously unable to answer her question.

Ling Baoyu calmed down and said sternly: "Business first. I have a plan to lure a giant to Mingzhu Bay. I hope you can help me..."

She quickly and detailedly told the sunflower bird her plan. Aqin, in the Mirror on her back, could not see the front due to the angle, but could see the strange appearance of the sunflower bird, thinking: Why is Aunt so sure it's Brother Tang? Is it by telepathy? And she wouldn't tell me the details of her plan, but she's telling so much to this strange creature that she doesn't even know is Brother Tang; isn't this discriminatory treatment?

Distracted by this, she didn't listen in detail, only hearing Ling Baoyu say: "Can you understand what I mean? If you understand, flash the light three times."

Aqin watched from the Mirror, also very expectant.

After what felt like a very long moment, the pearls on the sunflower bird's head flashed three times: "Blink, blink, blink."

At this moment, not only Ling Baoyu, but even Aqin couldn't help but want to cheer.

It really was Tang Zhao! He really was still here!

Ling Baoyu confirmed the plan with Tang Zhao, her heart suddenly settled. She paused slightly to calculate the time, then headed straight toward her target.

She didn't even discuss with Tang Zhao what signal was needed to start, but she believed that Tang Zhao, overlooking the world with the vision of a bird, would definitely be able to see her movements and would cooperate with her very well.

Having run only two steps, she saw that the few giants closest to her target were suddenly flailing even more violently, clearly entangled by more strange birds, and had unknowingly walked a few steps toward the center, while the target giant was being maneuvered by the birds into spinning in place, unknowingly drifting further toward the edge.

A good opportunity!

Ling Baoyu hesitated no longer and suddenly stepped into the giant's alert range.

The moment she stepped in, all the Sun Birds surrounding the target giant suddenly turned in unison and left the giant, instantly freeing it from all interference.

And Ling Baoyu's intrusion was immediately as dazzling as a firefly in the dark night.

The giant turned abruptly and reached out to grab at Ling Baoyu.

Ling Baoyu had been prepared; how could she let it catch her? Almost the instant it turned, she had already accelerated and dashed outward.

But she did not run too far; she darted out a few steps and stopped precisely at the edge of being sensed.

With one grab failing, the giant immediately sensed its target in front, reached out again, and took a large step forward, leaving a footprint as dark as ink on the ground.

Grab after grab, step after step, Ling Baoyu led the giant forward. In the darkness, one could see a colossal creature chasing a tiny white shadow, hopping away from the central palace complex. The two figures—one huge, one tiny; one pitch-black, one snow-white—presented such a stark contrast in strength, yet it was the small, delicate shadow that held the initiative.

Ling Baoyu was truly walking a tightrope at this moment; she could neither be too fast nor too slow, dragging the giant along step by step, yet she had to be extremely careful of the lightning-fast attacks from behind.

She devoted her entire body and mind to walking this tightrope over a bottomless abyss, with no time to even care about what was happening behind her. She vaguely heard Aqin shout, "Those two Sword Lights have run off!" but she did not turn back to look; she did not care what was happening behind her.

She did not care, but she was at ease.

Ling Baoyu could now safely entrust her back to another reliable teammate; although they had not even met yet, she believed her partner would protect her rear, preventing other giants from swarming in and plunging her into crisis. She only needed to do what she had to do.

After advancing for a long time in such a perilous manner, she vaguely saw shimmering light in the shadows.

That was Mingzhu Bay!

The largest lake in Baiyujing; even the Wangliang could not completely hide its water's gleam.

Arrived!

The white fox's eyes lit up, glowing with a faint green light, and it muttered something under its breath.

Sword Art preparation—

Having reached this place, a shortcoming in its Sword Art could finally be mended!