Chapter 508: Arrangements

The Tongyang River winds around Zhongtian Prefecture, serving as the natural moat for this century-old city.

From most of the city walls and the tall buildings within, one can gaze out at the vast river. At dusk, the setting sun shines upon the water, creating a brilliant golden glow as if endless gold were flowing by—a truly spectacular sight. "Tongyang Evening Glow" is also one of the eight famous scenic spots of Zhongtian Prefecture.

The headquarters of the Land Inspection Division features a tall building called "Zhao Jian Tower," which can exhaust the view for a thousand miles, looking out toward the Tongyang River in the west.

Gaoyuan Marquis has been standing alone on the top floor for a long time.

There is no one beside her. Tang Zhao, who is closest to her, stands at the stairwell of the pavilion, separated from her by a railing; he can only vaguely see her head of white hair through the gaps in the balustrade.

She is watching the river.

What else does she see?

Because she is Gaoyuan Marquis, she possesses eyes that can see through the depths of the water, so it is possible for her to see anything.

Tang Zhao knows her gaze has already pierced through the mighty river and looked beneath the land of Yunzhou, searching for that crucial Jinwu Sword. Although Tang Zhao brought this news, if Gaoyuan Marquis were to scan the thousand miles of thick earth and see no Jinwu Sword at all, he would be very happy in his heart, even if it meant he had gone through all the trouble for nothing.

Unfortunately, luck did not descend.

Suddenly, he heard Gaoyuan Marquis say, "Tang Zhao, come in."

Tang Zhao turned past the lattice, and saw Gaoyuan Marquis standing by the railing, her eyes slightly narrowed, the corners of her eyes appearing somewhat red, as if she had been reading for a long time in dim light and her eyes were dry to the point of tearing.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Tang Zhao felt that this still-elegant old lady had aged just a little bit more.

Before Tang Zhao could salute, Gaoyuan Marquis spoke first: "Azhao, you must study that Transmission Rune Array well. I will have your master come over to study it with you. If you need help from anyone else, I will write the letters, or you can contact them yourself. I will provide whatever official or private documents you need, but adding even a sliver of certainty is good."

Tang Zhao's heart sank; he knew Gaoyuan Marquis had already confirmed the location of the Jinwu Sword. He acknowledged this and said, "This should not be a problem of the Rune Formula; I think Master would not be able to help. As for asking outsiders, I fear a leak. I will go to Longyuan to borrow some classics to study."

Gaoyuan Marquis nodded and said, "Indeed, it cannot be mentioned to outsiders. It is also not suitable to notify the Qianxian, to prevent leaking secrets and attracting irrelevant people. Now the pressure is solely on you. This research requires manpower, and also..."

She continued, "If the Array is ineffective, perhaps you really will need to go down yourself. Then, besides yourself, you will need helpers by your side. I will try my best to prepare some candidates for you; you can take them if you find them suitable. You don't need to worry too much; you can choose anyone. They are all Warriors who fear no hardship, just like you."

Tang Zhao felt a slight chill. He keenly sensed that after this inspection, Gaoyuan Marquis did not seem optimistic that the Teleportation Array could be activated. She had taken the initiative to mention Tang Zhao preparing to go underwater—could it be that she saw something underground? He said, "Yes. I will make two-handed preparations: researching the Array and preparing to dive. As for helpers... if there are suitable candidates, I can take them with me."

But he was not optimistic.

Approaching an unknown Sword God is not a matter of courage and resolve. Does having courage mean one can throw an egg against a rock? Or rather, does having courage mean one can throw a soap bubble against a rock?

If a body of flesh and blood wants to approach the sun, it must at least be immune to the damage of Sunlight, right? Can Yunzhou find a second such person?

Besides him, adding Xiangyangzi at most would be enough.

Gaoyuan Marquis gave a few more instructions, saying, "Do it as soon as possible. If we can root out these Turtle Bandits and make them interrupt their conspiracy, your time will be more abundant. But after all, they are a festering sore that must be resolved sooner or later. If we cannot strangle the Turtle Bandits, there really isn't much time left. Did Zhang Xiansheng go to find the classics?"

Tang Zhao said, "He went to collect information on Dongjun and the Jinwu Sword. I fear there might be omissions in such a major matter, so I still need the guidance of Xiansheng. Once he organizes the classics, I will first attempt to call out once."

Gaoyuan Marquis hummed, and Tang Zhao couldn't help but ask, "What state did you see the Jinwu Sword in?"

Gaoyuan Marquis sighed, "I don't know either. What I could see was intense light and powerful energy—that is power I could not imagine. It is laughable that I considered myself knowledgeable, but only after seeing such power with my own eyes did I realize my own vision was still too small."

She mused, "But it seems your judgment is correct. Apart from a Sword God, no Sword Immortal could release such energy for a long time. Even Sword Momentum cannot. But that light is too stable, just as stable as the sun in the sky. If it had consciousness, wouldn't it have fluctuations in state following the changes of its heart? Being this stable, even if it has consciousness, it is likely in a dormant state."

Although having autonomous consciousness would make a Sword God unpredictable, Gaoyuan Marquis still hoped it had wisdom, because then it could still be communicated with or even bargained with, potentially allowing for a peaceful resolution, letting the Jinwu Sword leave Yunzhou like a method. But if it didn't even have autonomous consciousness, then only a head-on collision remained. At that time, without equivalent power, she truly did not know how the Jinwu Sword could be suppressed.

Everything before them was unknown; one could only hope that "the boat will naturally straighten when it reaches the bridge."

Tang Zhao then changed into the new military official attire prepared by the Land Inspection Division and attended a mobilization meeting in the capacity of a personal guard to Gaoyuan Marquis.

The venue was set in the "Xuanjing Pavilion," the second-highest level of Zhao Jian Tower, which was also a high level with a view of the water. It was open on all sides, clear at a glance, and when the curtains were lowered, one could only see out from the inside, while the outside could not see in, making it suitable for secret meetings.

This meeting was very secret, and the attendees were all people Gaoyuan Marquis trusted.

After entering Xuanjing Pavilion, Tang Zhao realized that there were actually so many Sword Heroes in Yunzhou.

Gaoyuan Marquis had summoned a total of twelve Sword Heroes, including the Commander and Xing Ji. This was only the number of people she trusted and could summon in a short time, and behind every Sword Hero expert were several times as many Sword Guest subordinates and even more Sword Guest reserves, not to mention the batches of new blood who passed the selection every year. It was evident that the strength of the Yunzhou Hou Mansion was not to be underestimated.

Even though they were all people Gaoyuan Marquis had screened and could trust, she did not reveal the matter of the Jinwu Sword entirely. She only said that the Array had been studied and reliable news had been received that the Turtle Bandits intended to set up a terrifying Great Array in Yunzhou that could shatter the earth, trigger the eruption of underground magma, and turn Yunzhou into scorched earth.

This was not Alie; once "Clearing Clouds to See the Sun" occurred, the consequences would indeed be that severe. Compared to mountains collapsing and the earth splitting, and the people being plunged into misery, the appearance of the Jinwu Sword was not the most important thing for Yunzhou. The Sword Heroes were filled with righteous indignation upon hearing this, cursing the Turtle Bandits; they hated them so much they wanted to exterminate even the turtles in Yunzhou, let alone the bandits.

Gaoyuan Marquis immediately proceeded to deploy troops, ordering the military to blockade Yunzhou by county and prefecture, continuing to increase the pursuit of the Turtle Bandits' participating forces. The Land Inspection Division was to search inch by inch outward from each Array node as the center, not allowing any extra or temporary nodes to appear. The Jing'an Division was to mobilize all intelligence forces to dig deep into the Turtle Bandits' secret agents. In such extraordinary times, anyone suspicious was to be detained first and then screened—better to punish wrongly than to let one go. Even the power of the Prison Suppression Division was further drawn upon; all development plans in the Demon Prison were suspended, maintaining only the power to suppress Yin energy, while the remaining personnel were transferred out to set up checkpoints at various key passages, blocking them layer by layer.

In short, a net of heaven and earth, super-doubled!

Then, Gaoyuan Marquis introduced Tang Zhao.

Actually, Tang Zhao was already conspicuous when he came out. Most Sword Heroes did not know him; judging only by his appearance, his age was unusual, he was a Sword Hero, and his official rank was strangely high—no matter how one looked at it, he seemed eccentric. Gaoyuan Marquis stated clearly that Tang Zhao had made great contributions to cracking the Turtle Bandits' Array, and to commend his talent, he was first granted a rank of the third grade, and then specifically led a group to attack the Turtle Bandits' Array, destroy the Array's Momentum, and dismantle the Turtle Bandits' conspiracy from the source.

The Sword Heroes then suddenly realized... so it was another technical position. That made sense; they had previously promoted a Sword Smith to Commander in an exceptional manner, so it was not strange to have one more person studying Arrays. These days, working in technology was also very popular...

Wait, you say this ridiculously young Sword Hero also understands Arrays? And can hold his own in academics?

Big brothers and sisters, come out and see a god!

Amidst the various gazes of the Sword Heroes, Gaoyuan Marquis gave a list, which consisted of Sword Guests subordinate to various departments, who were to be transferred to follow Tang Zhao in conquering the Array and executing special missions.

The Sword Heroes were all a bit dazed when they looked at the list—the people on this list were indeed their respective subordinates, some even being registered, capable subordinates, but... did these kids know a damn thing about Arrays? Some were even notoriously slow-witted, unable to even do arithmetic within one hundred, and they were to be grabbed to study Arrays?

This stuff wasn't something you could just learn because you were in a hurry!

Because everyone had received their own lists separately, they did not notice that the Sword Images of all the transferred Sword Guests leaned toward light and fire.

Finally, Gaoyuan Marquis said, "Everyone, go back and do your work. Work hard for these few months; once the matter of the Turtle Bandits is concluded, everyone will be credited with a great contribution. During these two months, everyone needs to cooperate fully; do not lose the big picture over small things. Whatever requests Tang Zhao has, each department must prioritize satisfying them."

She specifically mentioned Tang Zhao, making the Sword Heroes feel even stranger, but since those present were all confidants of Gaoyuan Marquis, they naturally obeyed solemnly. Seeing that the meeting was about to disperse, a refined female Sword Hero stood up; she was the Commander of the Jing'an Division, and she reported, "Junhou, four Dongfeng Envoys have come from the Tongming Hall in the capital to investigate the matter of the Wangliang clones in Yunzhou. I do not know how to handle them?"

Tang Zhao was surprised. How could there be Wangliang clones in Yunzhou? Was Wangliang unable to hold back and wanting to counterattack the Human World?

Little did he know, if not for that explosion he caused in Baiyujing, there would have been no Wangliang clones in Yunzhou to begin with.

Gaoyuan Marquis said, "The Jing'an Division should follow them; do not alert them for now. If they only investigate the Wangliang, let it be; if there is any unusual movement, detain them and secretly send them to Zhongtian Prefecture for Zhang Xiansheng to handle. In such extraordinary times, one must distinguish between the light and the heavy, the urgent and the slow."

The Jing'an Division Commander acknowledged this and added, "According to intelligence, there is also a suspected case of someone smuggling in at the Qianxian..."

Gaoyuan Marquis looked at her—although according to current laws, Sword Heroes at the Qianxian were not allowed to return to the Human World privately, such things were always unavoidable and happened from time to time. Yunzhou also had a set of procedures for dealing with smugglers; why was there a need for a special report?

The Commander said softly, "It is suspected to be Caiyun Gui, there are two people..."

Gaoyuan Marquis raised an eyebrow—at this juncture of dealing with the Jinwu Sword, Caiyun Gui was a big trouble. She immediately said, "Detain them. You arrange to catch them, and also secretly imprison them in Zhongtian Prefecture. If you cannot find them, I will give you the location."

The Commander hurriedly said, "This subordinate will go do it." She dared not let Gaoyuan Marquis give the location; although Gaoyuan Marquis could see ten thousand miles, the consumption of searching heaven and earth was not small. She did not want to trouble the Junhou, and besides, they were the ones whose job was intelligence; if they let their lord search for people personally, what was the Jing'an Division for?

She was just a bit puzzled: Caiyun Gui was a famous big trouble, but they had little involvement with the Human World; shouldn't they usually turn a blind eye? Why take the initiative to detain people? It was easy to detain them for a moment, but getting involved with these mad dogs would lead to endless trouble.

But since Gaoyuan Marquis had given the order, she naturally obeyed and did not ask further.

After the meeting, everyone went about their business in an orderly fashion, and Tang Zhao went to assemble his first team in his life.