Chapter 482: The 456 Plan

Tang Zhao was startled, his gaze following its leaves downward, only to see the sky full of Sun Birds, the ground full of giants, and Yue Lai and Meng Huazhou, who were somehow still clinging to life among the giants.

"Hmm..."

After watching for a moment, Tang Zhao figured it out himself and said, "Could the center of this 'Momentum' of Wangliang be the center of Yutang?"

Xiangyangzi shook its flower disk and said, "Indeed. If Sword Momentum is an army formation, those demons and ghosts outside are just foot soldiers—at most some suicide squads, assault teams, or archers. But the true Personal Guard, the most elite armored soldiers, must protect the commander's tent, which is right here. If this place weren't so important, why would they concentrate the strongest Shadow warriors here? And why make these big idiots kill every intruder?"

Tang Zhao nodded; that was exactly the logic. The shadows and ghosts in the fog outside were not worth mentioning, but Yutang was crowded with giants and heavily guarded. Could this arrangement be to protect the sleeping palace of the Ruyi Sword from back then?

There must be something fishy about it.

However, while the most dangerous place is indeed the most important place, the logic is sound, but... it is dangerous.

Not to mention anything else, these shadow giants currently entrenched here are very difficult to deal with. Using Sword Art to absorb Origin Crystal or arranging a killing blow to collapse the great Momentum would both be interfered with by them; I fear they must be cleared out first.

They are the fierce creatures that forced Ling Baoyu into a dead end, leaving her no choice but to risk entering a trap. Although Tang Zhao grasped the flaw of their swarm intelligence and used the Sun Birds to make them spin in circles, he truly had no confidence in wiping them all out.

So he asked again, "Are there any other flaws besides this one?"

Xiangyangzi said, "This is the most critical one. What, do you find it tricky? Think about it: I understand Sword Momentum, and Wangliang does too. If other places were critical, wouldn't they also be protected by heavy troops?"

It thought for a moment and said, "There is one smaller flaw. It is not an innate defect, but a scar formed by the shifting of Origin Crystal over time, in the west." It pointed to the west, "I remember there is a very large lake there."

Tang Zhao had the map of Baiyujing gifted by Ling Baoyu in his mind; he remembered that place seemed to be... Mingzhu Bay?

Xiangyangzi said, "The Origin Crystal there is chaotic, which makes it easy to extract. But it is not suitable for dismantling the great Momentum. The flaw is too small, and the lake water is an interference. Your killing moves are all light, and light must bend when passing through water, reducing its power. What will you do if the power cannot break through then? This place is still the best."

Tang Zhao pondered, "How about a two-pronged approach? My partner is over there; perhaps I can ask her to wait for an opportunity to act, and wouldn't it be better if we exert force together?"

He asked again, "Specifically? What should we do on our side? Use extraction or collapse?"

Xiangyangzi said, "Of course, we do both. First, extract a portion of the Origin Crystal. Origin Crystal flows; normally it is as calm as a water surface. If it becomes thin in one place, other places will flow over to replenish it. At that moment, the Origin Crystal of the entire great Momentum will move. Once it moves, it becomes chaotic, and once it is chaotic, there is an opportunity to exploit. Then use a powerful 'Black Tiger Steals the Heart' move, and naturally, you will get twice the result with half the effort."

Tang Zhao nodded and said, "If it's a collapse, should I just use the most powerful Sword Art to smash its weak point? How should I go about the extraction?"

Xiangyangzi moved its leaves, performed a stretching motion, and said, "That requires a special Sword Technique; I will do it. I didn't want to come, but you insisted, and now that I'm here, I can't just watch. My old flower stalk has been hidden underground for so many years that no one even knows Xiangyangzi is a Sword Deity."

The two then formulated an action plan: Tang Zhao would first drive away or eliminate those giants, Xiangyangzi would begin to absorb the Origin Crystal of Wangliang, and once the Origin Crystal became unbalanced and a collapse appeared, Tang Zhao would use powerful force to crush Wangliang.

If it cannot be crushed in one go, at least the great Momentum of Wangliang must be struck to create a flaw, then the Origin Crystal will become even more turbulent, Xiangyangzi will increase the intensity of the extraction, and Tang Zhao will use Sword Art again...

This cycle will repeat until Wangliang is completely expelled.

And if a flaw appears above Mingzhu Bay while the Origin Crystal is being extracted, Ling Baoyu can also seize the opportunity to attack, with operations similar to Tang Zhao's.

Don't look at the plan as crude; it is clean, efficient, and easy to operate.

The core is: extract, extract, extract, and blow it up for me!

If there were no subjective consciousness interference from Wangliang, this plan would succeed. But if one considers the small probability that Wangliang might monitor and interfere remotely, the plan must be completed as quickly as possible so that Wangliang, far away at Wangliang Mountain, cannot provide timely support. This is what they call "great force creates miracles" and "a sharp blade cuts through tangled hemp"—as long as the speed is fast and the power is strong, once the shadows are scattered, they are scattered, and Wangliang will be powerless to mend the sky.

However...

When truly standing on top of the Zhugong looking at the shadows that one could not see through, any plan feels unsettling.

Xiangyangzi also needed to sink its roots deep into the ground to extract the Origin Crystal, so it went downstairs to prepare. As it went down, it didn't forget to urge: "The extermination of these warriors must be clean and swift. It doesn't matter if the movements are a bit large; don't worry about the jars and pots. What's valuable in Baiyujing is the Cloud Silk; if Yutang is damaged, so be it. As for the Zhugong... when I start absorbing the Origin Crystal and a loophole appears in Wangliang, I will let the little flower send you a signal. You can observe the Origin Crystal loophole yourself and have a sense of it, but don't be too anxious; wait until I confirm it with you before you strike."

Tang Zhao nodded; Xiangyangzi felt that Tang Zhao could not judge the Origin Crystal loophole and feared he might make a mistake, strike randomly, and miss the opportunity.

Tang Zhao would not act tough; he was just a Sword Guest. A Sword Guest only needs to cultivate the Sword Heart and accumulate Sword Essence; he does not need to sense the Origin Crystal between heaven and earth, as he lacks this experience.

Even if his Inspiration was strong and his Mental Power was also strong, allowing him to vaguely sense the flow of the Origin Crystal, he dared not use this to make precise judgments; it was safer to combine it with Xiangyangzi's judgment.

At this moment, Tang Zhao couldn't help but miss Glasses. If Glasses were here, he wouldn't have to go to any trouble at all; he could find the flaw just by following the prompts, and Xiangyangzi would not be more accurate than Glasses.

Here, Xiangyangzi said finally, "Don't get hung up on which Sword Art is the strongest. Those Pearls are the purest Sun Essence Crystal; think of a way to detonate them, and it will be stronger than any Sword Art or Sword Technique. Don't worry that detonating them will destroy the entire Baiyujing; Ruyi Sword was one of those Sword Immortals, a person with vision. If she is still alive, Baiyujing can naturally be rebuilt. If she is already dead, her spirit in heaven will thank you."

Tang Zhao asked, "It would be best to detonate the Origin Crystal, but how do I detonate it?"

Xiangyangzi said, "This... this is the Origin Crystal of the Jinwu Sword. You inherited the Jinwu Sword, so naturally, you should try to detonate it?"

It dropped this remark, swayed as it went down the Zhugong, and drove its roots into the soil at the corner of the hall.

Tang Zhao stood alone on the top of the Zhugong, pondering the two remaining problems.

Quickly and efficiently exterminate these shadow giants, and use the strongest Sword Art to attack the loopholes in the great Momentum of Wangliang.

The strategy was clear and explicit, but the tactics were a fog.

When Tang Zhao heard that he had to use the strongest means, for some reason, he suddenly remembered the final scene of his first great battle in the Demon Cave. He released the Sword Image of the Yanggu Sword—the Rising Sun—and then let the sun fall, taking the Heavenly Demon with it.

That scene of the setting sun had lingered in his mind; that kind of shock, as if the sun had truly fallen and heaven and earth were about to be destroyed.

So, whenever the strongest Sword Art was mentioned, the first thing he thought of was to simulate the Yanggu Sword and reproduce that Sword Art.

But fortunately, he was a mature Sword Guest; after a little thought, he knew it was wrong—

Where was that Sword Art actually strong?

That falling sun back then did not even completely eliminate the exhausted Heavenly Demon. If it had, he wouldn't have had to die once.

And that Heavenly Demon was only at the Sword Guest level.

Moreover, such a large sun fell into the valley, but it only burned some plants; not even a mountain peak was shaved off, and many of the Pei Clan inside escaped. Is this what you call destructive power?

It was grand in momentum, but in reality, it was nothing more than a silver-plated pewter spear.

As his strength improved, his vision naturally became higher and higher. The scene that seemed like a miracle back then now seemed like nothing. Even when he carefully examined his previous simulations, including wielding the Saint Sword, he discovered that he had disgraced the famous swords he simulated.

Whether it was Sword Art or Sword Technique, if the original Sword Immortal experts came to fight, it would certainly be more than this.

Even if he were to simulate the same sword now, the power of the Sword Art would certainly be several times stronger than before, but the current him still could not compare to a single finger of a Sword Immortal.

His own upper limit determined the upper limit of the simulation. Facing the ruins of the great Momentum left by Wangliang, if he wanted a one-hit kill, the simulation could not be relied upon as his trump card.

Then, should he still detonate the Origin Crystal?

Xiangyangzi was right; the Origin Crystal is a dense energy body, an energy thousands or tens of thousands of times greater than Sword Essence. If it could all be detonated, let alone having a flaw, even if there were no flaw, it should blow a hole in Baiyujing.

The key is, how to detonate it?

The Sword Intent gave him no hints; it was just a plain and unremarkable Growth Sword Intent. He was not the legitimate successor of the Jinwu Sword, and the Origin Crystal was the legitimate Origin Crystal of the Jinwu Sword.

Tang Zhao's train of thought could only go to his past knowledge base.

He pondered:

The principle of the sword... the principle of Sword Art... the principle of Sword Technique...

The principle of detonation?

Hmm?

Detonation, increasing the temperature.

High temperature and high pressure?

How about using the sun to detonate it?

Tang Zhao suddenly remembered a certain unnamed weapon of mass destruction mentioned by Chen Zong; the largest kind is detonated by a smaller version of the same weapon.

However, it seems that a weapon of mass destruction requires a fixed configuration to be manufactured...

I can do it too; I once created a Chain Lightning Talisman, which was a weapon of mass destruction that blew up a bandit stronghold and nearly killed a Sword Guest. Judging by the results, it was no worse than that falling sun.

Why wouldn't it count?

It just so happens that the Thunder Method is composed of Origin Talismans; now I can use Origin Crystals instead. The nodes remain the same, the energy expands, and the power will naturally soar.

In order to have a larger radius of effect, this Thunder Symbol can be expanded, expanded to a sufficient range, but it must be detonated all at once—

I can use the setting sun, because although that has no power, its Momentum is massive. Massive Momentum means a wide range of effect and a large burning area; I only need to...

The more he thought, the more correct it seemed, and a plan born from wild imagination gradually perfected itself.

This shows the benefit of learning from Chen Zong. Chen Zong did not teach him to be a staunch materialist, but gave him all sorts of messy concepts and lines of thought, allowing him to be idealistic with reason and evidence.

Tang Zhao figured out the most difficult problem and suddenly felt full of confidence. Just as he was about to turn his head to think about how to deal with the Shadow giant, which seemed less difficult, he suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Someone is actually coming!