Chapter 510: 464 The Call

The process of the first communication was completely different from what Tang Zhao had imagined.

So much so that his so-called "foolproof preparations" were all of no use.

Starting the Array went smoothly at first; after all, this time he used the original version of the Array, and even the energy was what Bai Ni had left behind, enough to launch one complete transmission, so there was no way it would go wrong.

When the Array was fully lit, the surrounding space began to change, and an entrance surrounded by flowing radiance appeared; this was the communication window recorded by Bai Ni for calling upon Dongjun and requesting his consent for transmission.

Following his preparations, Tang Zhao cast in a portion of his Sword Image, which he considered to be his purest wisp of sunlight, and within that sunlight, he had wrapped a cluster of sound and a passage of text.

Both the sound and the text were meant to convey a message. These were the refined words that everyone had repeatedly scrutinized and polished over these past few days; the sound was recorded by Tang Zhao himself, and the handwriting was also Tang Zhao's, aiming for clarity, with content that was reasonable, forceful, and measured—the kind that would never provoke resentment. Moreover, it was simple and easy to understand, suitable for all levels of education, and would not cause any misunderstandings.

In Tang Zhao's mind, regardless of whether the other party heard the sound or saw the text, they would at least give some response, even if it were just to be angry and refuse?

Yet there was none; there was neither permission nor refusal, only a silence at the window as if a stone had sunk into the sea.

This was the most agonizing stretch of silence.

Tang Zhao waited for a long time, and seeing the Array's energy being consumed rapidly, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and send another beam of light over.

This beam of light was not as pure; instead, it carried a dense Growth Sword Intent. That was a Sword Intent separated entirely from the Jinwu Sword; surely the Sword Deity would find it familiar if it saw it, right?

Familiarity meant intimacy; perhaps it would give a little...

*Sss—*, the transmission Array went out.

Tang Zhao stared blankly at the light that had vanished before his eyes, feeling only a blank void in his mind.

Did it fail?

It had failed just like that!

Although he had prepared for failure, when the failure truly arrived, he was still immensely disappointed.

Tang Zhao was momentarily dazed; he could not think of a single one of his previous follow-up strategies.

At this moment, Xiangyangzi said loudly, "Ah, it cut off the connection."

Tang Zhao gave a start, as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw, and asked repeatedly, "Are you sure? Was it the other side that cut off the Array, and not the Array's energy running out and disconnecting automatically?"

Xiangyangzi said, "Of course it was cut off. I saw it clearly; there was still a portion of energy left that could have supported it for a while, but the other party forcibly cut it off."

Tang Zhao breathed a sigh of relief: at least the worst-case scenario had not happened.

The fact that the other party could freely cut off the connection showed that it could act on its own and was an entity that could be communicated with. This was much better than facing a wall with absolutely no reaction.

At most, this now meant that their preparations were wrong and they had failed to cater to the Sword Deity's preferences, so they had been rejected; they would just have to go back, study it further, and try again.

It was a pity that the other party's refusal was too silent, providing not a shred of extra information, making it impossible to analyze what it hated or what it liked.

Over there, Xiangyangzi chattered on, "You used Growth Sword Intent just now, didn't you? Are you stupid? You didn't even think about it—according to your own analysis, the other side is a Sword Deity, and it only formed after Dongjun passed away. That is to say, from the moment of its birth, it has never seen Growth Sword Intent, nor does it have any part of Growth Sword Intent within its body; why would it think Growth Sword Intent is one of its own? Furthermore, it also possesses Destruction Sword Intent; it should be doubly repulsed by you."

Tang Zhao was thoughtful; he had heard Xiangyangzi say before that the two remaining Sword Intents of the Jinwu Sword were: Shine and Destruction. However, upon closer reflection, Destruction and Growth were indeed mutually exclusive—when they were in the same sword, the two Sword Intents could be two sides of the same coin, coexisting and restraining each other like a yin-yang symbol, but once separated, wouldn't they just become enemies to each other?

He mused, "Is that the reason it hung up?"

Xiangyangzi said with conviction, "That's right. It must be! So you are useless; next time, let me do it. I am a subordinate personally promoted by Dongjun; I am much closer to it than that Bai Ni. Besides, I am a Sword Deity, and it is a Sword Deity; since we are both Sword Deities, we will have common topics. Perhaps by then, you won't even need to go; I will have handled it myself."

Tang Zhao nodded; Xiangyangzi's confidence brought a bit of renewed confidence to his own heart as well.

Thus, the entire base regrouped and once again infused the Array with energy. Everyone discussed some more information, adjusted the character profile of the Sword Deity, and devised a new communication strategy. Three days later, they opened the Array again.

The result...

Hmm...

After starting the Array, Xiangyangzi confidently sent its own power over, along with a long, confident message.

As a result, it was cut off in a second.

The very next moment after it sent its power over, the Array was cut off. The speed was so fast that Tang Zhao suspected the other party hadn't heard a single word of what it had said.

Being ignored like this, Xiangyangzi was first stunned into speechlessness, then flew into a rage, pulling its roots right out of the ground and hopping about on the floor.

It cursed angrily for a good while, then began to feel dejected, and then began to doubt its own existence.

One could only say that it was, after all, a simple Sword Deity, innocent and naive with no guile; having never been treated this way in its life, it couldn't help but stomp its feet. Once it thought about how it had confidently claimed that it would be easy for Sword Deities to talk to each other, it became even more ashamed and angry.

Tang Zhao had no time to soothe it; he himself was also very dejected.

Although he had only tried twice and could try a third, fourth, or even countless times in the future, the current signs were already very bad—

That Sword Deity refused to communicate.

Tang Zhao did not know if it had developed an aversion during the first communication, or if it simply did not want to communicate with any outsiders at all. If it were the latter, then it was hard to say which was worse compared to "this Sword Deity has no subjective consciousness at all."

Although, looking on the bright side, the Sword Deity might just be refusing any disturbance, in which case it wouldn't just be refusing to be disturbed by Tang Zhao and his group, but refusing all external disturbances; the Guikou's Array shouldn't work either, but who knew if that Array had some miraculous quality that could cause the Sword Deity to uncontrollably go berserk?

And with such a massive Sword Deity placed beneath Yunzhou, it would be fine if one didn't know, but now that they did, who could sleep soundly? If it were not thoroughly resolved, Yunzhou would be like sitting on a hornet's nest, in extreme danger and precarious.

For the moment, Tang Zhao did not blindly fill the Array with energy to conduct another round of communication; instead, he turned back to consult with Zhang Rong and adjusted the team's strategic direction.

On one hand, they would not give up on using the Array to communicate; at least these two attempts proved that the Array was effective, and the suspected Sword Deity on the other side also had consciousness and could be communicated with, it was just that it was temporarily refusing to communicate.

On the other hand, the focus would probably still have to be placed on the path of approaching the Sword Deity through action.

They had to go underwater!

They had to find it face-to-face!

Xiangyangzi was very confused by this point and said, "You use the Array to communicate and it ignores you, so if you go down to communicate face-to-face, it will pay attention to you? Wouldn't that still be useless? Or are you going to show some sincerity? But with your level of strength, how are you qualified to speak of 'sincerity'? It's safer with the Array in between; it can't hit you through the Array. If you go and disturb it face-to-face, it will think you are provoking it; what if it just crushes you? Are you in such a rush to find death?"

Tang Zhao said sternly, "Since it refuses to communicate, then my purpose in going down is no longer to communicate with it, but to gather intelligence. On the side of the Array, we only know we are being rejected; we are completely in the dark about the situation over there, and we don't even know where to begin with a follow-up plan. Only by going down there myself, seeing its appearance with my own eyes, observing its situation, trying to hear its voice, and attempting to exchange with it to get some feedback, can I collect some intelligence to bring back for everyone's reference so the plan can continue to advance. Regardless, since the Array is a dead end, someone must do something."

Xiangyangzi shook its flower disk and said, "Just for some intelligence? You might die!"

Tang Zhao laughed, "That's why I have to be the one to go down; among everyone, I have the lowest probability of dying." He saw Xiangyangzi's small round eyes staring and laughed, "Don't worry, I won't ask you to go down. You can just wait for me up here with the others!"

Xiangyangzi said angrily, "Is that the point?"

Regardless of how dissatisfied Xiangyangzi was, and regardless of how the Gaoyuan Marquis felt after receiving Tang Zhao's report, the decision Tang Zhao made was sound. When this path was blocked, one could not just sit and wait for death; even if the other path were full of thorns, it had to be braved.

Therefore, the entire base quickly shifted, preparing for the other path.

Although Tang Zhao's decision was sound and the preparation of various supplies was also under his command, there was one thing on which Tang Zhao and the others always held different opinions.

That was the teammates who would go down with him.

Or rather, he did not want any teammates.

He had always maintained this attitude—if he could truly be accepted by the Sword Deity and transported over smoothly, bringing a few teammates along would be fine; even if they couldn't help, lining up with gifts to show Tang Zhao's importance and the sincerity of Yunzhou, and boosting the momentum, would be good.

But now, seeing that it had reached the step of going to the lower river, Tang Zhao could clearly state that, apart from himself, anyone else following would just be throwing their lives away; why let these young people with bright futures be buried beneath the river water?

In fact, even for himself, Tang Zhao could by no means say he was confident of returning unscathed, but he could not show even a shred of lack of confidence, and he even had to make everyone, including himself, believe from the bottom of their hearts that his approach to the sun would surely succeed, because he was a ray of Sunlight.

If Yunzhou could not find a second ray of Sunlight, then do not let anyone else approach the sun. The sun might not necessarily harm people out of malice; it was just that everything that approached it was silently vaporized.

Tang Zhao's attitude was firm, and he was an authority in the field of Sunlight, so the Gaoyuan Marquis could not ignore his opinion. But the two had different ways of thinking; Tang Zhao was used to acting alone and accustomed to handling matters himself, while the Gaoyuan Marquis had long been in a high position, commanding thousands of troops with talented people gathered under his command, so he thought that "many hands make light work," and thus still wanted to try finding a second wisp of sunlight in Yunzhou.

It just so happened that others thought the same; young people from various counties in Yunzhou whose Sword Image approached the sun were still continuously entering the Training Camp, and they were all young, promising, firm in will, the elite among the elite, and all had the resolve to go through fire and water for Yunzhou. Even Tang Zhao, seeing those faces full of ambition, found it difficult to refuse them outright.

Therefore, he set up a First Layer test within the base.