Chapter 497: 471 A Bright and Beautiful World

"So this is... the Zizai Realm."

Tang Zhao opened his eyes again and, sure enough, had arrived in another world.

The entire process was extremely smooth, without even the dizzying, world-spinning sensation experienced when viewing the Sword Heart. It was as if his gaze had simply moved from one window to another.

He carefully examined the Zizai Realm.

How to put it...

It was a bit abstract.

This was undoubtedly a bright and beautiful world, with fresh flowers and grass, blue skies and white clouds; in the distance, there were small houses with red roofs and white walls, and smoke was still rising from the chimneys.

It was even more colorful, lively, and cute than the Waijie, but it was clearly not the real world.

Everything here was composed of simple geometric patterns: the sun was a round sphere, trees were triangles stacked on rectangles, and grass was clusters of three lines growing together...

The colors of the scenery were also unusually vivid; red was bright red, Luse was emerald green, and the sky was a clear, bright blue. These colors were all uniform and in solid patches, as if dyed with pigment.

The Zizai Realm was like a picture drawn by a child, or like the world of a fairy tale book.

And the kind of fairy tale book for very young children at that; Tang Zhao stopped listening to Chen Zong tell such childish fairy tales when he was six, and stopped drawing such stick-figure pictures when he was ten.

But although this world was childish, for some reason, he was quite happy.

He seemed to possess a body in this world, the kind of little stick-figure body that matched the art style here. He jumped a few times on the spot, easily jumping onto a tree, then onto a house, and with one final jump, he jumped as high as the bright red sun, and with a reach of his hand, he could grab the white clouds nearby.

What a magical experience.

This was a dream-like world, so anything could be done.

Every dream could be realized, as long as he had a single thought.

Just as a child could master their own drawing, with a wave of a big brush, the sky and earth could be flipped, the sun could rise from the west, and a world could be born or destroyed.

"I am here, so where is my sword?"

Following his call, a sword appeared out of thin air, its art style consistent with this world: a long stick with a short horizontal bar in the middle, like an elongated cross.

Tang Zhao grabbed it in his hand, his heart stirring.

This was a sword, but it was not his sword.

This was just a sword drawn by the fairy tale world, without any Sword Intent, without light, without vitality, and without power.

It seemed his sword had not been brought in.

This was not strange; this world should be purely of the Spirit, while a sword was ultimately material and should not be able to be brought in. He could probably meticulously sketch an identical sword, but that would be a hassle.

There were limitations on the material, but the Spirit should be able to do as one pleases, right?

Then—come out, my Sword Heart!

This time there was movement!

His stick-figure body suddenly folded into two, and a heart jumped out from within.

It was the shape of a heart, bright red, like a love heart.

Although it was also just a pattern, it excelled in imagery; one could tell at a glance what it meant.

If this were in the Waijie, having his body split open and a heart jump out would be such a terrifying scene, but here it was quite normal...?

Tang Zhao did not feel it was terrifying, only magical.

Because the moment that heart jumped out, he felt a part of his Spirit jump out of his consciousness and condense before his eyes.

This was not his Spirit splitting; this part of his consciousness still belonged to him and had never separated. At most, it was like someone picking up his hand and placing it to the side; if he reached out, he would naturally pull his hand back.

In other words, what had been separated was truly his Sword Heart. The Sword Heart he could not find, could not separate, and could not command in himself, jumped out in this world with a single thought.

How to put it, it was just magical!

Holding this Sword Heart, Tang Zhao said softly, "Decompose for me."

He only spoke a simple command, but in his thoughts, he had actually made very detailed requirements—to dismantle the Sword Heart as much as possible, breaking it down into the most basic units of Spirit.

It was only in this world that dismantling and merging were reversible; in the Waijie, that most precious Sword Heart was something one wouldn't dare to touch rashly, even with ninety-nine percent certainty. Even having the thought of dismantling the Sword Heart would be madness.

Following his thought, the bright red Sword Heart decomposed in an instant.

It did not decompose like building blocks or turn into powder, but rather peeled off layer by layer from the outside like peeling a bamboo shoot, forming the shape of an inverted lotus flower.

An even more magical thing happened: every "bamboo shoot husk" that was peeled away looked exactly the same, and no matter how he looked, he couldn't tell the difference, yet he was somehow aware of what was being peeled away.

It was his conviction, his self-confidence, his preferences, his joy...

Every time a piece was peeled away, he seemed to hear a "click" sound, as if his heart were wavering.

Or perhaps this sound was just the "sound effect" provided by this fairy tale world. After all, he clearly felt that those parts of the Sword Heart that had been peeled away still belonged to him and had not been damaged, let alone deprived; that should just be this world helping him with the Manifestation.

In the end, as piece after piece of the outer husk fell away, he finally saw the "bamboo shoot heart" of his Sword Heart, which was the anchor of his Sword Heart.

Before the final layer was peeled away, he had already sensed what it was.

The moment he sensed it, it was like a person with a stuffy nose suddenly smelling a scent; a secret accumulated for many years was revealed in an instant, and his body and mind suddenly felt clear, so relaxed he felt as if he were about to fly.

The anchor was his ideal.

It was not some great ideal; it was not world peace, not the people living and working in peace, and not even eliminating demons and defending the Dao, but a strange ideal.

—To want to be like his own name, to want to transform into Sunlight and become the sun.

—If he could not become the sun, at least he would walk on the path toward the sun.

This was also the reason why he used his own selfish motives to misinterpret and name his sword "Jingxing."

"High mountains I look up to, the bright path I follow; though I cannot reach it, my heart yearns for it."

In an instant, he suddenly understood a term:

"Thoughts are unobstructed."

My Sword Heart is like this.

It should be like this, and indeed it is like this!

What made him happiest was not that his Sword Heart was so much to his liking, but that he already knew that the beginning of the Sword Heart was the choice made by the sword itself. It was the first response the sword gave him upon stepping into the "Heart-to-Heart" realm.

Because of his own ideals, he named his sword "Jingxing," and the sword immediately chose the ideal of "Jingxing" as the anchor for his Sword Heart.

Isn't such tacit understanding exactly what "a meeting of minds" is?

It is truly the Sword Seed taken from his own body, forged by his own hands, the one and only sword in heaven and earth most suited to him! How could it not be a match made in heaven?

Tang Zhao felt truly refreshed, and the Sword Heart within the Zizai Realm leaped along with his joy, its color becoming even more vivid. Although the appearances of this world were too abstract to see what changes had occurred to his Sword Heart, he knew himself that his Sword Heart's cultivation had suddenly grown by a large margin!

This did not come from the direct help of the Zizai Realm, but from his own enlightenment.

At this moment, he didn't even need to obtain any additional help; he only needed to exit the Zizai Realm, return to his own body, and grasp his sword, and he would naturally comprehend the Sword Technique he desired and become a Sword Hero—everything would fall into place.

He was just about to go out to complete this step when he suddenly had a thought and mused:

Since I'm already here, why not follow the method that ordinary Sword Guests use to cultivate when they come in and temper myself once more?

One must know that the method he just used—letting the Sword Heart decompose and then confirming the anchor—was an attempt based on his own experience of sensing the Sword Heart, and it was inherently special. Ordinary people wouldn't do this when entering the Zizai Realm, and even if a Sword Hero came in, they wouldn't think to dismantle their own Sword Heart to seek answers. They would use another, more mature method of tempering.

Tan Jianxia had pointed out this method to him, saying it was very effective.

Tang Zhao decided to give it a try and called out, "I need to temper my Sword Heart."

The air stirred, and a hammer appeared.

Tempering, tempering—it just requires a hammer.

The shape and color of the hammer were indeed exactly as Tan Jianxia had described. Tang Zhao felt settled in his heart and said again, "I want to refine my Sword Heart."

A furnace appeared in the air.

Refining means using fire to smelt; it requires flames.

Tang Zhao laughed out loud. This world of color is all about getting what you wish for; there are no metaphors, no exaggerations, everything is presented exactly as it is.

Don't look at this hammer and furnace as if they appeared like a joke; this is truly the correct way to use them. Both of these tools are treasures passed down by word of mouth in the Zizai Realm.

The order is...

Tang Zhao picked up his Sword Heart, hesitated for a moment, then gave it a light toss, throwing it into the furnace.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

It was as if the furnace had been stuffed with wet firewood, emitting gray smoke.

Those were the impurities of the Sword Heart. This furnace can refine away the impurities, making the Sword Heart more pure.

You just need to throw the Sword Heart in, and there's no need to worry about anything else. It's practically a foolproof operation.

From this, it can be seen that the Sword Guests who come in all follow the beaten path, knowing the result but not the reason, merely following mature tools and operations to obtain a good outcome.

Getting a result is good enough; as long as the Sword Heart is clear, why bother with how it works? Knowing too much might just end up confusing yourself.

Tang Zhao wanted to know more of the principles, partly because he was a Talisman Sword Master who was used to doing research, and it was just an occupational habit.

Actually, he had been curious just a moment ago: what were the impurities inside the Sword Heart?

At this moment, he didn't have time to think deeply before he felt a scorching heat in his head. It wasn't that his matchstick-man self in the Zizai Realm felt the heat, but that his Spirit outside was being refined. Strands of distracting thoughts and hesitation were being burned away as if by fire.

It works!

The furnace in the Zizai Realm is just a symbol; the true tempering acts directly upon the Sword Heart.

This calcination lasted for nearly an hour, until no more smoke came out of the furnace. Tang Zhao moved his mind, and a vivid red heart jumped out of the furnace, looking like a peeled roasted sweet potato.

At this moment, he felt incomparably refreshed. Although it seemed he hadn't directly advanced the progress of his Sword Heart, he knew he had already gained a great deal. From now on, the efficiency of his sword comprehension would be greatly improved! Even the Sword Technique that was already on the verge of being realized would likely take less time to comprehend once he went out, and its quality would be higher.

It is worthy of being a treasure passed down by the Zizai Realm!

Simple to operate and magical in effect—no wonder Zizai Tower became a legend!

Tang Zhao rested for a while and then looked at the hammer; this was the other treasure, said to be able to enhance the resilience of the Sword Heart.

No need to say more, let's begin!