Chapter 490: 464 After the Disaster

The sun rose from the east as usual; the first rays of sunlight shone upon the earth, and also upon the clouds.

For some places, today's sunlight was no different from yesterday's or the day before, and no different from countless mornings in the past.

But for other places, it was a reunion with the sunlight once again after a long, dark night.

Ten thousand rays of morning glow shone upon the Yunhai, illuminating every fine detail.

At an altitude of ten thousand zhang, this Yunhai was unimaginably vast.

At the very center of the Yunhai was an unusually wide and flat expanse of white ground, similar to the millions of white clouds floating in the sky, only it was excessively flat, with almost no undulations. It seemed as if someone had taken a scraper and shaved a layer of floating clouds off a large cloud mass, leaving the remainder like a cloud board.

This unnatural "baldness" extended for several miles before one could see a large depression in the Yunhai, which appeared to be a deep pit. The pit was vast in area and sank very deep; looking closely, a layer of water had accumulated at the bottom. It was like a large lake that had been mostly evaporated by a great drought, leaving only a bit of water at the bottom, nearly revealing the silt of the lakebed.

Extending several miles outward from the center, broken walls and ruined pillars appeared intermittently on the clouds. In the places closest to the center, there were only ruins that could barely be called "ruins," no more than a few feet high, and it was long impossible to tell if they had once been cities or houses. The further out one went, the more complete the remaining buildings were, but the vast majority were still broken, showing that they had all suffered a catastrophe.

Right up to the very edge of the Yunhai, there stood an intact city on both the east and west sides.

These two cities had different styles, one like mountain scenery, the other facing water ripples. Their fronts seemed to have some scorch marks, as if they had just been burned, but in the end, the tall and wide city walls stood firm. Behind the cities, many sheltered flowers, plants, and trees remained. Although it was early spring, the flowers bloomed like the beauty of April, and the trees were as green as the scorching midsummer, full of vitality, adding other colors to the snow-white cloud tops.

Viewed in this way, this was a Secret Realm above the clouds that had suffered a catastrophe, a lost dreamlike Xiancheng, bathed in the morning sunlight. The clouds were shrouded in a golden halo, making them look like jade-carved and porcelain-piled works of art, and a brilliant rainbow was slanted across the shallow lake water.

Splash, splash...

The water surface at the bottom of the pit rippled, and a Time Jar floated up.

The jar was gray and dusty, no different from the jars commonly used for holding water in a home, yet it floated up from the bottom of the water like a fish poking its head out, and then sat as steadily as a small boat on the surface, no longer sinking or bobbing.

At this moment, a fox head poked out from the mouth of the jar. Its snow-white fur was also golden when illuminated by the sunlight, and its emerald-green eyes squinted involuntarily, and it actually spoke in human language: "The sun is out?"

After asking itself this, the white fox suddenly realized, overjoyed, and shouted loudly: "The sun is out! Aqin, Aqin, come quickly and look, the sun is out!"

Beside the fox head, a young girl's head stretched out, filling the mouth of the jar completely. She opened her eyes wide and shouted: "Wow, it's the sun, it's the sun!"

Her body sprang out from the jar, landing flat on the water surface, yet she was as steady as if stepping on the ground, not even causing a single ripple.

The sunlight shone on her, making her look vivid, only her outline was somewhat blurry.

"Eh? This isn't right? Aunt, did we teleport out again? This place isn't Baiyujing."

The white fox crawled out of the jar. Aqin pointed at the surroundings and said repeatedly: "Look at this bank, it's so high, how could this be Mingzhu Bay? This is a pit. And the shore is all bare; there isn't a single reflection of a tree on the water surface. Our Mingzhu Bay shore is full of willow trees. Did Tang Zhao transfer us out?"

The fox looked around and sighed: "This... should be Baiyujing. Except for the water, everything around is Cloud Silk." Seeing Aqin's disbelief, she said helplessly: "Perhaps Mingzhu Bay has changed. Let's go, go ashore and take a look."

After a pause, she turned to Aqin and said: "You don't go; stay here and keep watch. If the situation isn't right, take everyone back into the jar and sink down to take refuge."

She emphasized the word "everyone." Aqin had originally wanted to go with her, but hearing "everyone," she had to settle her heart, nodded and said: "Alright, I'll keep watch here. Aunt must be careful."

There was no need for her to say it; right now, Ling Baoyu was in a state of heightened doubt, and she would be ten times more careful about everything.

She first carefully climbed up along the high bank slope, climbed to the shore, and poked her head out to take a look.

What met her eyes was a vast expanse of snow-white, flat as a plain. It was like ten thousand acres of plains covered in white snow.

This...

Even though Ling Baoyu confirmed that these were all Cloud Silk, she couldn't help but be stunned on the spot.

This is Baiyujing?

Where did my huge Baiyujing go?!

How did it become a real, empty white expanse?

After being dazed for a long time, she hopped onto the shore and began to run across the white ground.

Because there were no landmarks at all, she could only rely on her memory to find the direction. Fortunately, there was the sun at this time, and she could rely on the position of the sun to find the direction. After all, she was a person who had lived under the sun for so many years; coming under the Shadow for only one night, she didn't feel how precious the sun was, just thinking she had slept a long sleep, and was only surprised for a moment when she saw the bright sky, then took it for granted.

But as she ran, her mood became very bad. What she saw was not a scene of devastation, but a scene of emptiness. The pavilions and towers that she could have seen after running a few steps had all disappeared, not to mention the various exquisite rare flowers, plants, and scenic decorations. If an outsider came now, they would never guess that this was the legendary Baiyujing.

Good news, the Wangliang are gone.

Bad news, Baiyujing is also gone.

Ling Baoyu felt extremely sad in her heart, but didn't know what to do. If someone had said they wanted to destroy Baiyujing before, she would definitely have fought that person to the death; if someone had asked her last night whether she wanted the Wangliang and Baiyujing to perish together, she would definitely not have been willing. However, now that it had become a fact, what could she do?

Wail and howl?

Could she cry Baiyujing back?

Blame Tang Zhao?

However, Tang Zhao had only made a choice that wasn't wrong. If not for his earth-shattering ultimate move, Baiyujing would have had no hope either.

At least half of the clouds remain now...

No, at least the shelter for everyone remains in the jar, and there might still be living companions inside.

Are people more important, or is the city more important?

It was hard for her to answer, but the fact was: whatever is left, let it be.

She kept trying to comfort herself, but her mood was still very depressed, and her head couldn't help but droop as she walked.

As she walked, she suddenly saw a touch of Luse in the white clouds all over the ground. Her heart stirred, and she hurriedly ran over, pushed aside the clouds on the ground, and discovered it was a piece of plant root. It didn't seem to be Cloud Silk fabric, but clearly a living organism, so she bit it and pulled it out—

Pulling out a sunflower with its large head facing downward.

"Eh?" Ling Baoyu said strangely: "How is there a flower here? And it's not broken?"

The flower disk moved, rolling out two eyes like black Pearls, staring at Ling Baoyu, and split open a mouth to say: "Of course I'm fine. A mere small scene, how could it do anything to me?"

Ling Baoyu was startled and shouted: "Ah! The flower can talk!"

The sunflower said unhappily: "You are a fox that can talk, what's strange about me, a flower, being able to talk?"

Ling Baoyu explained: "I am not a fox, I am a Sword Image—oh, you are also a Sword Image? Are you Tang Zhao's Sword Image?" She hadn't confirmed Tang Zhao's Sword Image; it might be Sunlight, but it might not be, just his Sword Art. If Tang Zhao's Sword Art was all Sunlight, then it made sense for the Sword Image to be a sunflower.

The sunflower spat: "I am not! Who is that brat's Sword Image! Where is he worthy? That little bastard is really hateful. I said I didn't need him to protect me, and he really didn't protect me at all? Good fellow, this chain explosion, if I, an old man, weren't immune to sunlight damage and rooted deep, he would have blasted me to the sky! He doesn't know how to respect the old and cherish the young at all!"

Ling Baoyu really wanted to say: "You already said you didn't need protection, isn't it normal that he didn't protect you? Are you saying one thing and meaning another?" But she didn't say it out loud. First, out of politeness, not tearing down someone's stage to their face, and second... this flower actually survived that kind of sunset catastrophe? Its strength couldn't be wrong, could it?

She said very cautiously: "Senior, are you Tang Zhao's partner? Where is he now?"

The sunflower snorted: "Before he pitted me, I suppose so. How would I know where he is? He must have hidden somewhere too, right? That Origin Crystal explosion doesn't recognize people; if he didn't hide, he would definitely not even have ashes left."

Ling Baoyu couldn't help but worry after hearing this. Tang Zhao told her to hide and indeed gave her the jar; she thought he must have hidden in a jar himself? But she was able to survive the catastrophe safely, relying more on the lake water of Mingzhu Bay to block most of the storm. Seeing that a pool of lake water had evaporated by more than half, she knew the power of that move. How could he block it just by relying on a jar?

Or was he teleported away directly?

Indeed, if it could be transmitted several hundred miles away, that would be the safest thing. But will he still come?

Ling Baoyu was worrying when he heard the sound of wind above his head.

A fox and a flower looked up at the same time, and saw a black shadow falling from the sky.

Pfft—

A small Time Jar plunged headfirst into a pile of clouds, rolled a few times, and stopped.

Ling Baoyu and the Sunflower stared at the mouth of the jar simultaneously and said in unison, "Tang Zhao?"

Then they heard a familiar voice say, "Eh, both of you are here? That's great, everyone is safe and sound."

A handsome youth crawled out of the jar, his smile like Sunlight.

At least in this instant, Ling Baoyu let go of all sorts of negative emotions and smiled from the bottom of his heart.

Although the Sunflower was also happy, it still glared with its small round eyes, its two leaves pressed against its flower stem as if it were akimbo, and shouted, "Did you actually worry about me? I thought you had racked your brains to blow me up along with Baiyujing!"

Tang Zhao laughed, "Of course I worried about you, Senior. I originally wanted to give you a Time Jar, but I remembered that you had repeatedly refused to leave and were full of confidence, and I was afraid that forcing it on you would make it seem like I looked down on you. As expected, your strength is solid, Senior; to be so close to the center and yet completely unscathed, you are far superior to Wang Liang."

The Sunflower snorted, "Do you think flattery will let you off? I stayed here without moving, but you, on the other hand, hid yourself up in the sky?"

Tang Zhao said, "Yes, I first used my Sword Art to launch myself ten thousand feet into the sky, and then I crawled into the Time Jar to maintain my float; it counts as having escaped a disaster. I had already sent Manor Master Yin and Yue Laifa into Exile earlier, so they must be fine. The ones I was most worried about were the two of you. Now that everyone is safe, it is perfect."

Ling Baoyu let out a sigh of relief and said helplessly, "We are indeed fine, it's just that our home is gone."

Tang Zhao said, "It can't be considered completely gone, right? Although it was certainly damaged, I still moved away some of the pavilions; they are here."

Having said that, he flicked his sleeve and once again produced a pile of Time Jars.