Chapter 491: 465 Possibility

Tang Zhao considered himself a person with a sense of responsibility. Although he had decided to sacrifice a portion of Baiyujing from the moment he agreed to the "two-pronged" plan, he had not yet reached the point of being so reckless as to say "let come what may."

There were very important existences within Baiyujing, the first of which were the people.

Black Widow and Yue Lai were both in Baiyujing at the time; he couldn't just let them be swept away along with everything else.

Black Widow was an important companion, originally from Qianqiu Tower. Fortunately, Tang Zhao had already left a ray of light by Black Widow's side as a safeguard. Thanks to Meng Huazhou, another ray of light had been sent over to him—and it was a Sword Image he had already absorbed Sword Intent from, making it even more like an extension of his own arm. The two rays of light combined were enough to send Black Widow away.

Tang Zhao used his signature Sword Art, "Light Speed," to strike a ray of light from the sky to the ground, bringing Black Widow directly down from the high altitude and depositing her straight into the West Mountain of Yunzhou, which was the place they had come from.

Thinking about it, with Black Widow's current strength as a Sword Student, she should be safe enough to protect herself.

As for Yue Lai, there was nothing to say; he was nearby, so it was easy for Tang Zhao to find him and give him a short-distance "exile"—he could go wherever he pleased.

Besides people, there were buildings, but there were too many of those; he certainly couldn't save them all.

The most urgent ones, the ones he had an impression of, were definitely the priority.

For example, Zhugong; he had accepted a task from Xiangyangzi to clear the surrounding environment of Zhugong, so he couldn't just clear it and then have Zhugong disappear as well.

There were also Yutang Dadian, Zibeique, Qianqiu Tower...

As for the other buildings, he couldn't take too many. It depended on the conditions at the time.

Originally, apart from Zhugong which he could control, he couldn't move any other buildings, not even with Ruyi Silk; after all, Ruyi Silk still had the issue of docking.

But who told him to accept the Congjun Order from Ling Baoyu?

The will of the Congjun Order was the will of the Ruyi Sword, which was the will of the Master of Baiyujing.

Therefore, he used the Ruyi Silk dismantled from the Congjun Order as a baton; without needing to dock, he could command the buildings of Baiyujing at will out of thin air, causing one building after another to rise rapidly and be packed into the Time Jars.

Unfortunately, Tang Zhao's Time Jars were limited. After all, the jar was not his sword; it was just that he could use the Can Cang Sword Technique when he was simulating holding the Sumeru Sword. This sword technique was truly easy to use, so he would create one whenever he had nothing to do, and now he just had some in storage.

There were hundreds or thousands of buildings in Baiyujing; how could he have that many jars?

Since everything was too unfamiliar and he didn't know how to choose what to keep and what to discard, he decided to leave it to luck.

Besides the few important buildings before his eyes, Tang Zhao let a few Sun Birds carry the jars and Ruyi Silk to fly outward. Whenever they encountered a building large enough, they would pack it in; they would take as much as they could. When he saw the sun set, he let the birds hide in the jars together, thus also preserving those few living creatures he had created himself.

Operating this way, Tang Zhao didn't even know how many buildings were left outside; he only knew that everything that remained was in the jars.

Ling Baoyu was overjoyed. She had thought Baiyujing was completely destroyed; that these could still be saved was already an unexpected delight.

It is said that as long as your expectations are low enough, even a small gain is a pleasant surprise.

She touched those jars and wanted to restore them to their original appearance right here, but then she immediately thought of her companions in those "coffins" in the water. If they were still alive, wouldn't it be better to let them out first and then have everyone work together to restore Baiyujing with their own hands?

If they were still alive...

Thinking of this, Ling Baoyu suddenly asked anxiously, "Have you seen Her Highness? Have you seen Her Highness?"

Tang Zhao hesitated for a moment and said, "How does one count as having seen her? I was looking down at Baiyujing from the sky, and naturally, there wasn't a single person. If you're talking about anything strange... there doesn't seem to be anything. Where was your Highness originally slumbering?"

Ling Baoyu was stunned for a moment, then shook her head and said, "I don't know either."

She only had half an impression of that day's events; later, she sank into the lake and knew nothing more. At that time, Her Highness was still perfectly fine.

Had Her Highness also fallen into a slumber? If so, where was she slumbering?

Wait, if she was sleeping in some great hall, would she not have been directly... in that recent catastrophe?

Xiangyangzi didn't know if he had seen through her worry, but he suddenly said, "Rest assured, the Ruyi Sword is a Sword Immortal after all; how could she be hurt so easily? Look, I'm fine; if she were here, she would definitely be fine too."

This argument was persuasive. Ling Baoyu's expression eased slightly, and Tang Zhao continued, "Yes, if the Ruyi Sword had fallen, the Ruyi Silk should have immediately become ineffective, and the entire Baiyujing would have fallen to the ground. Since everything is safe and sound, it means the Ruyi Sword is still in the world."

Being in the world was merely a question of where.

Before, Ling Baoyu had been single-mindedly focused on returning to Baiyujing; in fact, she hadn't thought deeply about where the Ruyi Sword was.

Baiyujing and the Ruyi Sword were the deepest attachments in her heart, her refuge in despair. Since she was helpless against the disaster anyway, as long as she could return and die in Baiyujing, she could sleep peacefully with her most beautiful memories; nothing else mattered.

Later, after entering Baiyujing and receiving Tang Zhao's help, Ling Baoyu began to plan how to expel the Wangliang. However, at that time, her heart was full of how to retreat from the disaster and eliminate the demons; she didn't even think about what she could gain if this could disperse the Wangliang. She just felt that as long as the shadows dispersed and she saw the sunlight again, everything would get better.

Until now, the shadows had dispersed, Baiyujing was empty, and the coffins had been fished out of the water, but the Ruyi Sword was nowhere to be seen. She finally had to think about this matter.

Where is the Ruyi Sword?

At best, she is slumbering in some corner of Baiyujing; no matter if it's in the sky or in the water, digging three feet into the ground would eventually find her. As long as she is found, they could try to wake her up; even if they couldn't succeed, they could settle her properly and wait for her to wake up on her own.

The second-best scenario is that the Ruyi Sword has already left Baiyujing and is hiding in the Human World or even some corner of the Suiyu, either sleeping or silently licking her wounds. If that were the case, it would take a lot of effort for others to find her, and they might even have to rely on luck. Perhaps they could only wait for her to appear on her own.

The worst possibility...

Is that she is at Wangliang Mountain.

Everyone thought of this possibility, but no one said it out loud. Ling Baoyu, in particular, felt like she was going to explode the moment she thought of this possibility.

After a pause, Tang Zhao said, "Let's do this... let's go look for her first, don't panic. First, look for the places that were shaved down; everything here is flat as a plain, so any anomaly would be clear at a glance. Search once, and there are also those two cities—" he pointed to the two cities in the East and West that had not been affected, "go into the cities and look; you can dig three feet into the ground."

"If we can't find her, I will release those buildings and look for her one by one. Look for people, look for clues, look for traces."

"If we still can't find her..."

He didn't continue. Ling Baoyu looked up and said, "Let's search first."

The order Tang Zhao just mentioned was not wrong, but for her, there could be one more procedure: opening the coffins one by one to see if Her Highness was among them. But she herself knew clearly that if it came to that step, the hope would be very slim.

Ling Baoyu finally said, "Let's... let's go release the people first."

Even if Baiyujing had suffered a catastrophe, the place was not small. Relying on Tang Zhao, Ling Baoyu, Aqin, and Xiangyangzi, they couldn't search it all. Besides, why would Xiangyangzi help with such tedious work? Tang Zhao was only an outside helper; it was impossible for him to spend a large amount of time accompanying them to search Baiyujing inch by inch, so to do anything, they definitely had to increase their manpower first.

Moreover, those companions who had been sleeping at the bottom of the lake for many years were very pitiful; if they could see the light of day a moment earlier, it would be better.

Tang Zhao didn't know about the pile of coffins at the bottom of the lake, but since Ling Baoyu said so, he naturally agreed.

Just as Ling Baoyu thought, Tang Zhao couldn't delay in Baiyujing for long, especially after seeing Bai Ni's message in Zhugong; he felt a chill down his spine and couldn't wait to return to Yunzhou immediately.

At the time he saw the message, he really felt that if he didn't return immediately to inform the Gaoyuan Marquis, Yunzhou would inevitably collapse. But after calming down for a bit, he realized that the situation was not as urgent as a fire on his eyebrows—that message had been left in Zhugong for a hundred years; how could it suddenly become a matter of life and death just because he went in once?

If that were the case, it would make him seem like a jinx—oh, nothing happens if you don't discover it, but as soon as you discover it, something happens; is the trouble caused by you?

Of course, Tang Zhao couldn't delay for too long either. He had found what he wanted in Baiyujing, and his companions had also been found; this trip could be considered complete, and it was right to contribute a little extra effort for Baiyujing, but he at least had to return to Yunzhou very soon.

The two of them and the flower arrived at the pond together. When Aqin saw they were all there, it slid over quickly and cheered loudly.

After briefly talking about what had happened, Aqin poured out all the Shelters, lining them up in several rows on the white ground.

Tang Zhao counted them; there were about sixty. That is to say, at most, only about sixty people remained after Baiyujing had crossed a hundred years of disaster.

In truth, it is unlikely to be full. As for how much remains, one can estimate it by opening a small half.

Ling Baoyu stood before these coffins, both nervous and expectant, his heart in his throat, and said, "Then let it start with me."

At the very least, the first one is Ling Baoyu, who is definitely still alive; this is what is called a "lucky start."

Tang Zhao was taking various supplies out of the Time Jar, from drinking water and food to various medicines and even clean water for washing, all prepared one by one; hearing Ling Baoyu make his decision, he hurriedly said, "Wait."

He came before those coffins and drew his sword from its sheath:

"Sword Art—A Year's Plan Starts with the Morning!"

A vibrant ray of Sunlight lit up, its radiance spilling over the coffins scattered across the ground.

Ling Baoyu, standing to the side, felt warm and completely comfortable, even the exhaustion from the repeated shocks he had suffered earlier was replenished, and he almost squinted his eyes to fall asleep. Aqin, standing nearby, also felt the benefits and stretched.

She glanced at Tang Zhao, thinking: This Sword Art is truly remarkable, and it has an obvious effect on a Sword Hero as well—he has indeed become stronger.

She understood Tang Zhao's intention: to adjust the state of everyone still alive, as if also replenishing some life energy. This way, the series of actions such as opening the coffins, rising, and the joys and sorrows of reunion could be sustained; if there were anyone already in a near-death state among them, it could also hang onto their life and support them until they could be treated.

But if they were dead, there was no way. No amount of vitality could bring the dead back to life or put flesh on Bone.

Having made all thorough preparations, Ling Baoyu let out a long breath and said, "Open—"