Chapter 506: 480 Great Calamity

Upon hearing these words, even though Ling Baoyu had already heard them once, he could not help but feel a jolt of terror, to say nothing of Gaoyuan Marquis and Zhang Rong, who were hearing them for the first time.

Even though both possessed the composure to remain unmoved even if Mount Tai were to collapse before them, they could not help but turn pale with fright at this moment—for what was about to collapse was not Mount Tai, but the ten thousand miles of Yunzhou land and the countless commoners upon it.

Gaoyuan Marquis leaned back slightly, as if to steady herself against the cabin door, but ultimately stood straight, maintaining the poise of a noble as she said word by word, "You... explain in detail." Suddenly, she turned and walked out.

Tang Zhao was stunned: Was she not going to ask for details? Why did she go out?

Zhang Rong explained, "The Marquis is likely having the boat slow down to give you more time. You may speak slowly; the more detailed, the better."

Sure enough, after a moment, Gaoyuan Marquis returned and closed the cabin door. Her expression had returned to calm as she said, "Tang Zhao, you must be more detailed. What exactly is going on? How do you know?"

Neither of them questioned whether Tang Zhao was spouting nonsense, because such a momentous and unheard-of matter would be difficult to fabricate.

The more bizarre a matter is, the more likely it is to be true.

Tang Zhao agreed. Since the Marquis needed to collect her thoughts, he was in no rush to be anxious either. He calmly took three chairs out of the Time Jar and said, "Marquis, Xiansheng, please take a seat. I will start from the beginning."

This action further eased the atmosphere. Gaoyuan Marquis, with a calm expression, said as relaxedly as possible, "Let us all sit. It is our poor hospitality that the cabin lacks chairs."

Tang Zhao then produced tea for Gaoyuan Marquis and Zhang Rong before saying, "The matter must start from when I went to Jingzhe Villa and, by a stroke of luck, entered Baiyujing."

He did not hide the martial arts grievances of Jingzhe Villa, but he glossed over them simply; the Meng Family father and son, Yue Lai, and the insect battles were not worth mentioning. Gaoyuan Marquis and Zhang Rong would not be interested in the entanglements of a black-market faction at the mere level of a Sword Guest under their jurisdiction. He then went straight to the point about Baiyujing, focusing on the discovery of Bai Ni's cenotaph.

Bai Ni's identity, Bai Ni's misunderstanding of the Ruyi Sword, the clues Bai Ni left behind, then shifting to Baiyujing, the invasion of the Wangliang, the fall of Baiyujing, the arrangements of the Ruyi Sword, the fall of Dongjun, the cenotaph in the Zhugong, the agreement between the Ruyi Sword and Dongjun, the final message left by the Ruyi Sword...

After recounting the events of the journey along with the important details, Tang Zhao began to explain the thoughts he had sorted out along the way, saying, "Whether it is the Ruyi Sword or Bai Ni, both clues point to Yunzhou, confirming without a doubt that the Jinwu Sword is in Yunzhou. Bai Ni even provided the direction for sensing it, explicitly stating that the Jinwu Sword is ten thousand miles beneath Yunzhou. Furthermore, she explained the state in which she sensed the Jinwu Sword back then; although it was much weaker than when Dongjun was at his peak, it still maintained a soul-crushing pressure, showing that its realm had not fallen and it still possessed the realm of a Sword Immortal. This is unreasonable."

"Ju Dongjun clearly passed away, so the Jinwu Sword should have dimmed itself. If one were to say that after more than a hundred years, the New Golden Crow Sword had become a Sword Immortal, that would be possible, but over a hundred years ago, only a few years after Dongjun passed away, the Jinwu Sword maintained its realm. It certainly was not because of a change in Sword Guest; the Jinwu Sword itself must have undergone a mutation."

Zhang Rong said, "Is that why you judged that the Jinwu Sword has transformed into a Sword Deity?"

Tang Zhao said, "That is one piece of corroborating evidence. There is another: the Array Bai Ni left on Qianqiu Tower."

He carefully took out a book; it was the high-level Fu Formula Array involving time that he had simulated using Sword Image. By now, he had advanced further; the Sword Image manifested, and without him needing to maintain it deliberately, the Fu Formula operated on its own, vivid and lifelike, no different from the Array on the wall back then.

Gaoyuan Marquis and Zhang Rong both watched carefully, but they were laymen in Fu Formulas and could see nothing, waiting only for Tang Zhao's explanation.

Tang Zhao said, "This should be a Teleportation Array, but it does not teleport to a specific location; rather, it targets a person, capable of teleporting directly to the side of the Jinwu Sword."

Gaoyuan Marquis exclaimed in surprise, "There is such a good thing? Isn't that straightforward?"

Tang Zhao said, "However, this teleportation is not one-sided. To activate it requires Dongjun's consent, so I think rather than calling it teleportation, it is more like a request and a summons. We request to rush to Dongjun's side, and then Dongjun agrees to trigger the teleportation, summoning us to his side. Like how Bai Ni requested a summons for several years, but was always rejected."

He repeated, "It was a rejection. The other side of the teleportation had a clear intent to refuse, not merely indifference. This shows that there is someone, or rather, a consciousness, on the other side."

Zhang Rong pondered, "Could it not be that the Eternal Night Court was rejecting her?"

Tang Zhao said, "Absolutely not. This Teleportation Array is closely linked to the Sword Intent and points directly to it; it would never be controlled by the Waijie. Moreover, this Array has always been in a state waiting to be triggered. It is more like a combination of a Momentum Array and a Fu Formula. You know that for all swords, once the Sword Guest falls, they must dim themselves. Regardless of whether they were Immortal Swords or Saint Swords, they all dissipate in a day. No Sword Momentum or Sword Technique counts for anything. Even if they leave a legacy, it is only a faint trace, unable to be as efficacious as when they were alive. If the Jinwu Sword were truly gone, this Teleportation Array itself would have collapsed. The fact that it hasn't collapsed proves the point."

Zhang Rong said, "It could also be that the Jinwu Sword..."

Tang Zhao said, "However, Ju Dongjun did indeed fall. Too many people can prove it; Xiangyangzi, who was by his side, can prove it, and those Sword Immortals who came to pay their respects are not fools. Caiyun Gui is still going mad in the Suiyu. As it stands, Ju Dongjun is certainly dead, yet the Jinwu Sword maintains its strength. There is only one possibility: it has transformed into a Sword Deity. And the transformation process was very rapid, perhaps different from the long-term self-generated spiritual transformation of ordinary Sword Deities. It underwent a more miraculous change, still retaining most of Dongjun's power. After so many years, it might even be stronger than the Dongjun of that time."

He pointed outside the cabin and said, "Just now, I stepped into the Tongyang River water and truly felt the power of the Jinwu Sword. That is Sun Power; I cannot have sensed it wrong. And the Tongyang River flows through the entire Yunzhou, remaining warm and unfrozen for a thousand miles."

"Neither the power of a Sword Guest nor a Sword Hero can erupt with the power to affect the water and soil of an entire province, let alone affect Yunzhou for over a hundred years. Only a Sword Deity that has inherited the Jinwu Sword could have this possibility. That Sword Deity is at least a middle-rank, which is to say, the level of a Sword Immortal."

In this Human World, there was likely no one more qualified than Tang Zhao to speak of Sun Power; Gaoyuan Marquis and Zhang Rong could not refute him.

Zhang Rong said softly, "Tongyang, Tongyang, so it really does lead to the sun."

Beneath the land of Yunzhou, a sun god was quietly lying in wait.

If it were in the past, let the sun god lie there; it had been lying there for so many years, so be it. At worst, everyone could find a way to contact it; if it were willing to come out, that would be best. If not, they could build it a temple, offer more sacrifices, and pray that it would just keep lying there and not cause trouble.

But now, the Turtle Bandits are stirring.

Tang Zhao asked, "May I ask, Marquis, are the Turtle Bandits colluding with the Eternal Night Court?"

Gaoyuan Marquis said, "Naturally. What rebels do not collude with the Eternal Night Court?"

The Eternal Night Court is a force in the Suiyu; even Zhang Rong was not familiar with them, but Gaoyuan Marquis was very familiar. She said, "The Eternal Night Court is a union of all the rebels of the Human World. They believe the Human World is already a mass of filth, unable to provide blood to the Qianxian and only dragging it down, and thus no longer deserves to exist. What they want is to sweep away all forces in the Human World, leaving only the ant-people for them to rule, burying their heads in production and paying heavy taxes to support the Qianxian and draft new strength."

She smiled and said, "That was the banner they flew at the beginning, but the Eternal Night Court later widely absorbed rebels of the Human World. As long as they were against the Imperial Court, they could join. Even scum who committed heinous crimes, murder, and arson were accepted as long as they claimed to be against the Human World government. Nowadays, they basically don't mention any slogans; it is just a gathering place for those against the Imperial Court. How could the Turtle Bandits not collude with them? If by any chance these people succeeded, they would inevitably split into fragments, fighting each other like cocks, but for now, they are all in the same boat."

She sighed again, "Even such a place of chaos is perhaps better than Buer Yue. Buer Yue is single-mindedly dedicated to offering the Suiyu and the Human World to the Heavenly Demons, becoming running dogs for the Heavenly Demons themselves."

Understood. The philosophy of the Eternal Night Court is that the Human World should be ruled by them; the philosophy of Buer Yue is that the Human World should be ruled by the Heavenly Demons. Traitors to humanity are, of course, far more detestable than rebels.

Tang Zhao said, "Since the Turtle Bandits are colluding with the Eternal Night Court, they are very likely to determine the location of the Jinwu Sword and then, through a Great Array, draw out the power of the Jinwu Sword. Although I do not know if their goal is to take the Jinwu Sword or to awaken the Sword Deity, or even if they want this eruption itself, in any case, if they succeed, Yunzhou will inevitably suffer from collapsing mountains and cracked earth, with people plunged into misery and suffering."

After finishing, he stopped, and a silence immediately fell in the cabin.

After a while, Gaoyuan Marquis said, "Whether the Jinwu Sword is beneath Yunzhou, let me take a look."

Tang Zhao nodded. Gaoyuan Marquis's eyesight was unmatched; she was a true "thousand-mile eye." How could mere land and river water block her? She hadn't noticed before because she hadn't thought in that direction; now that she had, she only needed to observe to reach a conclusion.

The only concern was that she was, after all, only a Sword Hero; rashly spying on an existence no weaker than a Sword Immortal might provoke the other party and invite disaster. However, Gaoyuan Marquis acted with caution, so she would surely know how to handle it according to the situation.

"If it is true..." Gaoyuan Marquis's tone was very steady, perhaps too steady, sounding very flat, "Zhang Xiansheng, how should we deal with this?"

Zhang Rong's expression was very grave. Dealing with such an existence exceeded the limits of his knowledge. Although he had great talent, he was ultimately only a Sword Guest, and unlike Tang Zhao, who encountered miracles at every turn, he had never even seen an existence like a Sword Immortal. What profound insight could he have?

But as a strategist, it was his duty to share the worries of his lord. At this moment, he could not shirk it and could only say, "The urgent matter at hand is naturally to comprehensively contain the Turtle Bandits. The Eternal Night Court cannot enter the Human World on a large scale and can only borrow the hands of the Turtle Bandits. Therefore, if we can uproot the Turtle Bandits' forces in Yunzhou, we can at least solve the immediate crisis. This is also what we have been doing. But in the long run, we still need to cut off the fuel from under the cauldron."

This was basically nonsense. The work of suppressing the Turtle Bandits had been ongoing; the key was knowing there was a weapon of mass destruction under their feet that could be detonated at any time—how to resolve the hidden danger?

Gaoyuan Marquis also knew that their strength was limited and that being anxious was useless. Just as she was about to speak, she saw that Tang Zhao seemed to have something to say, so she hurriedly turned her attention to him.

Tang Zhao said, "Marquis, Xiansheng, should we try to communicate with the Sword Deity?"