Chapter 50: 49 The Sword Manual is as Deep as the Sea

49 The Sword Manual is as Deep as the Sea

Peeking his head out from the Time Jar, Tang Zhao cautiously observed his surroundings—

Quite good, no one.

Outside the window, the night was thick, and the candle on the table was still burning. Because no one had trimmed the wick, the light was no longer bright, occasionally popping with a "crack" as the wick sputtered, and a small ring of candle tears had accumulated on the candlestick.

Tang Zhao felt a moment of trance.

Had he only been gone for a short while?

A day in the cave, and in the world...

How long had it been?

He still remembered Ping Jiangqiu opening the jar with a "pfft" sound, as if he had passed gas, and saying triumphantly to the air: "Now we have six extra hours."

Tang Zhao stared blankly at the jar, eyes wide; that single lens of the Glasses only knew how to flash "Asking Sword," and it was useless at critical moments.

What could Tang Zhao do? Naturally, he didn't believe it.

But there was no helping it; Ping Jiangqiu, that old man, grabbed him and insisted he stay for six more hours to experience it.

Tang Zhao was naturally unwilling; if those six hours were real, it was fine, but if they were fake, it would be dawn when he went out, and he would have been gone for another night.

Last time, he had caught up with the great chaos at the Black Spider Villa, and no one had investigated where he had gone, which was the only reason he could cover up the time spent in the dungeon. This time, disappearing into thin air from his room, how was he to explain it?

But just as he opened his mouth to say half a "no," Ping Jiangqiu slid from his chair to the floor, his mouth pouting all the way to the sky.

Tang Zhao's head grew heavy, and he had no choice but to pick him up and stuff him back into the chair.

Let's chat for a while.

If he were to threaten him with harsh words, Tang Zhao certainly wouldn't fall for it, but with such a great Sword Hero (allegedly) crying and wailing, Tang Zhao was truly helpless.

These six hours were neither long nor short; it was mainly Ping Jiangqiu incessantly asking Tang Zhao about the situation outside. He was a curious baby, asking about everything from the Imperial Court to the martial arts world, from folk customs to the Yin Calamity. How could Tang Zhao know so much? He merely picked what he had heard and seen to tell him. Occasionally, he would ask back, and Ping Jiangqiu, that old man, would tell some anecdotes, but Tang Zhao always felt they weren't vivid enough, as if they weren't things he had experienced himself, but stories he had read in books.

Later, when he grew tired of talking, Ping Jiangqiu pulled two more jars down from the sky, both filled with all kinds of delicacies—chicken, duck, fish, and meat were all there, and every kind of salty or sweet snack was available.

Tang Zhao felt his energy consumption was immense and needed replenishment, so he didn't stand on ceremony and began to eat and drink heartily. The things here were much better than stewed Fierce Beast meat. While he ate happily, Ping Jiangqiu was listless, just sucking on sugar on the side. To him, even delicacies were as tasteless as chewing wax, and the nectar and jade liquid were not as satisfying as the little stories Tang Zhao made up on the fly.

Just like that, eating, drinking, and talking, time passed quite quickly. Finally, Tang Zhao couldn't eat another bite and had nothing left to talk about, almost resorting to using Chen Zong's shocking theories to bluff him, before the old man Ping was satisfied, let him go, and made an appointment for him to come again tomorrow.

Before leaving, Ping Jiangqiu no longer acted shamelessly to make him promise to return, but instead said triumphantly: "You'll know the power of my place once you go out and see. I'll wait for you here every night. Let's see if you want to come or not."

After Tang Zhao came out, he understood what he meant.

The six hours in the jar were like a dream; they seemed to exist, yet they truly did not exist.

Outside, a cup of tea had not completely cooled, while inside, the banquet had already gone through round after round.

He immediately thought of an allusion: Warming wine to behead... ah, no, the Yellow Millet Dream.

A man had a dream, going from a commoner to wealth, then to falling into poverty and dying, living a whole life, only to wake up before the bowl of yellow millet rice was cooked. The encounter in this jar was just the same.

It was just that compared to the ethereal Yellow Millet Dream, the situation in this jar seemed explainable?

That must be the magic of the sword.

He steadied himself, and the Glasses lit up.

"Sword Asking complete."

"Verify?"

Is this still working?

After finishing the Asking, and finishing the Verification, how many steps are enough?

Tang Zhao blurted out: "No more verification, is this okay as is?"

"Recording Sword Manual:"

Golden light shone, and a thick book appeared in the lens, its cover ancient and simple, its texture neither bamboo nor paper, with two large characters written on it:

"Sword Manual"!

The Sword Manual opened automatically, flipping to a middle page, slowly unfolding, and a string of golden characters was listed in the lens one by one:

"Sword: Sumero/Jar

Sword Dao: -

Sword Intent: Storage

Sword Guest: Ping Jiangqiu (Sword Hero)

Sword Image: Sumero Jar (Manifestation)

Sword Heart: Heart-to-Heart Connection

Sword Realm: Dharma Realm

Sword Momentum: --

Sword Technique: Jar Storage

Sword Art: Storage, Absorption, Exclusion, Return Storage...

Imperial Sword Art: Body Protection, Restraint...

Recorded in Sword Manual: Page 78.

Manual Note: --"

How should he put it?

It was quite spectacular!

A golden sheet of data scrolled from top to bottom, and in that instant, Tang Zhao was shocked.

He had finally seen all the elements of a sword completely, just like catching a glimpse of a person's life.

So a sword contained so much content; without even looking at the Sumeru Sword, just looking at these item classifications was already an eye-opener.

Some of these items he already knew, while others could be analyzed a little from the names and the example of the Sumeru Sword.

There is no need to mention the names of the Sword and Sword Guest; Tang Zhao suspected these were "asked" out by his own "Ask Sword," and there were actually two options, "Jar Jar Sword" and "Sumeru Sword"—Ping Laotou would not be happy about that.

The Sword Dao column was empty; looking at these two characters, Tang Zhao felt they were extremely profound, especially the character "Dao," which had been unclear and indefinable since ancient times, being very mysterious. This column was also on the first level below the name, clearly a very high-end existence.

Below that was Sword Intent, which Ping Jiangqiu had explained was the will already present at the beginning of the sword's gestation; it was the sword's thought, similar to a Soul. The Sword Intent existed first, then it chose a Sword Guest, so this column was also ranked above the Sword Guest column.

The Sword Image was summoned by the Sword Guest; was it the sword's appearance? Ping Jiangqiu's Sword Image was a jar.

Oh, it was a Sumero Jar.

Since it only appeared after being summoned by the Sword Guest, was the Sword Image itself influenced by the Sword Guest? If the storage was Sword Intent, would the jar turn into a warehouse or a basket if someone else came along?

Sword Heart... "Hearts having a spiritual connection," it seemed to refer to the relationship between the sword and the Sword Guest, so it must be the closer, the better.

Sword Realm—

Seeing the character "Realm," Tang Zhao immediately associated it with cultivation realms.

Dharma Realm...

Looking down, the next three columns were Sword Momentum, Sword Technique, and Sword Art. Sword Momentum was empty, while Sword Technique and Sword Art were both complete. Tang Zhao guessed that these were the three realms of the sword: Potential Realm, Dharma Realm, and Art Realm?

Did that have a corresponding relationship with the realms of Sword Guest, Sword Hero, and Sword Immortal?

Dharma Realm was higher than Art Realm, and Sword Technique was higher than Sword Art; this was without question. Tang Zhao had only seen two Sword Techniques, Disappearance and Canning Time, both of which were very magical. Disappearance could make everyone forget a person's existence, and Canning Time could even perform Canning Time, which was far more magical than any Sword Art like "Lightness." It was evident that once one reached this level, it was almost a miracle; then how wondrous must Sword Momentum be?

Also, Sword Art had Art Tools, Sword Technique had Dharma Artifacts, what did Sword Momentum have? Momentum Tools?

That didn't sound majestic enough, did it?

And what about Sword Control Art?

This sounded slightly familiar; who had mentioned it?

It seemed to be someone from the Inspection Office who mentioned that if a Dharma Artifact was not compatible, one could only use Sword Control Art to activate it. In that case, Sword Control Art was a method to forcibly drive a Sword Art, having nothing to do with the sword; it was a means of the Sword Guest.

Finally, there was the Sword Manual Note; this line was empty. Tang Zhao's gaze shifted, and a prompt immediately appeared:

"Do you wish to write a Sword Manual Note?"

So it was just something to be written casually, similar to an annotation.

Having looked through it from beginning to end, Tang Zhao let out a long breath. The concept of the sword, from nothing to something, from virtual to real, from rough to detailed, finally had a complete impression.

Everything was ready; he only lacked a sword of his own.

Tsk—

Skipping over the disappointing thought, he focused his attention on the last item again.

Recorded on page seventy-eight of the Sword Manual... which meant that seventy-seven pages had already been recorded in the Sword Manual, seventy-seven swords?

And this was the most conservative estimate, assuming the Sword Manual was arranged in chronological order; if there was another order, would there be even more?!

Wasn't it said that swords were very precious? Just in this Sword Manual inside the Glasses, seventy-seven swords were collected?

Quick, let me see!

"Brother Glasses... Jing, can I take a look at the Sword Manual?"

Although the gender of the Glasses was unknown, it hid an unreliable fairy, so calling it Jing was correct, right?

The Sword Manual flickered and flipped forward from the page of the Sumeru Sword.

This page was very strenuous to flip. Halfway through, Tang Zhao already felt his head roaring. Pressing his temples, cold sweat flowed down in an instant.

The Spirit consumption was so great!

Tang Zhao had once performed training in the Divine Bird Bathing in Fire Art that burned his mind and drained his Spirit; he felt that flipping a page of the book was no less taxing than self-immolation in a dream—

"Stop."

Seeing that this page could not be flipped after all, Tang Zhao had to call a stop.

It seemed the Sword Manual was not yet something he could view. This was the first time he knew that these Glasses had consumption other than for exchanges.

Whether it was the Glasses displaying annotations in the past or the Knock Sword just now, it had never consumed his Spirit, or if there was consumption, it was so minimal that he had never noticed it. He had thought the greatest consumption was the damage to the Glasses when exchanging for cultivation techniques, which needed to be slowly replenished from the Waijie. He hadn't expected there to be such a hidden consumption.

It seemed it wasn't that there was no consumption, but that he hadn't touched the true foundation inside the Glasses at all.

It could even be said that the little fairy who was born only after listening to his story was also an extra.

"Jing, close the Sword Manual—open it again—"

This time he confirmed that opening the Sumeru Sword page did not consume Spirit; perhaps it was because he had added it himself.

Sweeping his gaze casually, Tang Zhao suddenly discovered something wrong. His memory was not bad; only a moment had passed, and he noticed something was wrong at the first glance, and immediately found the difference.

"Sword Art: Shape-Shifting, Storage, Absorption, Exclusion, Return Storage..."

There was one more?

Shape-Shifting...

Tang Zhao's heart stirred, and he turned his head to look at that jar.

A jar was placed on the ground; the jar was a jar, but it was no longer that large jar as tall as a person.

It was a white porcelain jar, the glaze was pure white, the shape was exquisite, only the size of a flowerpot; no, it should be said it looked just like a flowerpot.

Did it change in an instant?

Tang Zhao hadn't noticed how the jar changed; he hadn't heard any movement, and such a large jar had completely changed its appearance. However, the Sword Manual recorded this change in real-time.

This meant that the Sword Manual's Knock Sword did not knock out all Sword Arts; only the Sword Arts that were displayed and asked about would be recorded in the manual.

Then was the Sword Manual updated in real-time? Or could it only update what it could detect?

It shouldn't be that once it entered the Sword Manual, it would be tracked forever, right? That would be too much of a suppression on other swords.

Stepping forward to touch it, the jar was completely real; the shape, color, weight, and texture had all changed. It had nothing to do with the jar as tall as a person from before, as if someone had taken the previous jar away and put a new jar here.

This Sword Art was very practical; you could get whatever you wanted by buying a jar. If the house was missing a flowerpot or a water vat, wouldn't that be solved in an instant?

Tang Zhao thought this, and his gaze stayed on the two characters "Shape-Shifting" for a long time unconsciously.

There was a reaction...

His Spirit once again showed a perceptible depletion, though it stopped very quickly.

A line of annotations appeared.

This time, the annotation was not text, but a large number of runes.

Although extremely complex, they seemed familiar?

"Rune Formula"?