Chapter 515: 469 Debating the Sun

That tiny point of light was smaller than any formed spherical object; one could not even find a shape or outline, for it was truly a singularity. Yet, this very point condensed incomparable energy, the center of space, to the point that looking at it was heart-stopping.

Zheng Yun was certain that the light and heat released from this point could not harm him, yet he still felt a terror between life and death. He blurted out that this sun was different from the Jinwu Sword. Tang Zhao said casually, "Of course it's different. The sun of every sword is different."

Not to mention him, the four pillars of the Sun Domain—Jinwu, Six Dragons, Yanggu, and Fusang—all four swords were called Sun Swords, and even their Sword Images were related to the sun. Could they possibly be the same? One could certainly distinguish them at a glance.

But he immediately asked curiously, "What is the Jinwu Sword's sun like?"

Zheng Yun opened his mouth and said first, "Put your sun away!"

Tang Zhao looked at him and found that he showed no signs of being roasted or scorched, yet his expression was full of terror, as if facing some danger. From Tang Zhao's perspective, he did not find Zheng Yun's situation critical, so he merely pulled the point of light back a little and said, "Can you not get close to the gathering point?"

Zheng Yun couldn't help but shout, "I... I don't want to get close, but it's sucking me in! Don't come over—no, don't go over..."

He shouted all the way while retreating. His retreating movement was very strange, as if a rope were pulling him and preventing him from backing away, yet he struggled desperately to retreat; the tug-of-war was extremely wretched.

Tang Zhao's heart stirred, and the point of light dispersed. Although it still erupted with high heat, the power that drew upon space vanished, and Zheng Yun's expression eased instantly. Clearly, the intense light and high heat still posed no threat to him.

Tang Zhao beckoned, dissipating the intense light, and said, "That will do. Congratulations on passing the test."

He roughly knew Zheng Yun's advantage: he should be completely immune to light and heat, but he had no special antibodies against other types of power damage, and his overall strength did not seem powerful. Fortunately, dealing with the Jinwu Sword probably did not require these.

Zheng Yun, his nerves still shaken, said, "You... you are truly not the Jinwu Sword. Even though it is also a Sun Sword Image, why is it so different? I have seen the aura of the Six Dragons Sword and the Yanggu Sword; although their Sword Images are different, they always have similarities. But your Sword Image is completely different; it is simply another world."

Tang Zhao said, "My Sword Image is not yet a sun; I just hope it can become a sun in the future. Could it be that I am weaker than them?"

Zheng Yun calmed down, thought about this question seriously, and said, "It is not a question of strength. The difference is truly hard to describe. Your sunlight lacks a bit of... spirituality? Or divinity? It is that kind of awe, or even worship, that one feels from the heart when facing it. One can also feel a suppression of levels, a feeling from the depths of the soul that one cannot resist. Your sunlight does not give people that sense of awe as if facing a deity; it is very cold and lacks spiritual nature. But it has another kind of terrifying feeling. It is like... the fear of a massive object beyond one's imagination. It is also a fear from the bottom of one's heart."

Tang Zhao mused, "Lacking some spirituality, huh. Does the sun need spirituality..."

Zhang Rong suddenly interjected, "This depends on how you view the sun. A Sword Image is the manifestation of a Sword Guest's consciousness. If the Sword Guest believes that a three-legged Jinwu dwells in the center of the sun, then the sun has the spirituality of the Jinwu. If one believes the Jinwu is the Sun God, then the sun has the divinity of the Sun God. To you, what is the sun?"

Tang Zhao was thoughtful and said, "The sun, it is a Tiantai."

It is one of countless stars in the universe.

In the universe, it is unremarkable, yet it is vital to the Human World.

The sun itself emits light and heat, illuminating the Human World, warming the earth, and enabling the Growth of all things, but this is not because it wants to warm the ground; it is just in endless nuclear fusion.

Thinking of this, he was also very surprised:

His dream was to transform into the sun. That sun, of course, did not refer to the objective existence of a "Tiantai star," but to the imagery of warmth, beauty, and light. He was willing to emit light and heat and become a light source.

But he clearly loved the sun of his imagination, yet the Sword Image that approached was the material sun of his cognition. Was this because the worldview brought by Chen Zong influenced him too deeply?

Even this sun was not necessarily the real sun of his world; it was just the sun of Chen Zong's hometown.

Zheng Yun said, "What is a Tiantai? What exactly are you thinking? Why would the sun suck people in?"

Tang Zhao said, "Of course it is because of gravity. Don't look at how small it is; the sun has extremely high mass and extremely high density, so of course it will produce powerful gravity..."

Zheng Yun shook his head repeatedly and said, "What kind of crooked logic is this? Isn't the sun in the sky tens of thousands of times larger than your sun? Why don't we see ourselves being sucked up?"

Tang Zhao said, "That is because we are held by the earth's gravity... forget it."

He did indeed learn a set of theories that could explain it, but this world might not operate according to his theories, so even if they were complete and reasonable, they might be "crooked logic" as Zheng Yun said. His cognition might not help him correctly understand the world, but it could determine his Sword Image.

Still the same saying: a sword is idealistic.

What is important now is not the "two children debating the sun," but the Jinwu Sword. After Tang Zhao and Zhang Rong confirmed, Zhang Rong said, "Young Lord Zheng, you have passed the test and have the qualifications to meet the Jinwu Sword. Do you want to try?"

Zheng Yun asked how to try, but Zhang Rong was inscrutable and only said, "You will know if you want to try; otherwise, why bother knowing?"

Zheng Yun hesitated for a long time and said, "Fine, I'll try. But you cannot let Du Xiaoyi know."

Zhang Rong nodded and said, "Of course we must keep it from Colorful Clouds Return."

Speaking of this, Zheng Yun, this Sun-Holding Envoy, was now in the trap. He continued, "Follow Tang Sword Hero and listen to his instructions, and you will naturally see the Jinwu Sword. As for that Sword Guest Du, she won't be able to take a single step out of the Training Camp. She won't even know where you have gone. Except for the three of us, no one knows you have approached the Jinwu Sword. But accordingly, you must also take an oath that you will not reveal a single word about seeing the Jinwu Sword to others. How about swearing to the Jinwu Spirit?"

Zheng Yun thought it over and felt that seizing the opportunity was more important. He immediately pointed at the Jinwu Spirit and took an oath, saying that if he revealed a single word, his Soul would naturally scatter.

After taking the oath, Zheng Yun sighed and said, "My oath is sincere, but once the people of Colorful Clouds Return know I have betrayed them, they will urge the Jinwu Spirit, and my Soul will still scatter. At that time, one side is an oath far in the future, and the other is a reality imminent; whether I can keep the oath is really not certain. I must let you know this ugly truth first."

Tang Zhao sighed even more inwardly; he was unexpectedly frank.

Zhang Rong said, "As long as you become the Jinwu Sword or defect to the real Jinwu Sword, you will naturally no longer be controlled by Colorful Clouds Return. Who the Jinwu Spirit listens to is not necessarily certain. We are playing for a time difference. Since that is the case, we are our own people. Tang Commander, you may let Brother Zheng come out."

This transparent wall was a special Sightseeing Device developed by Tang Zhao, which could be transparent or one-way transparent. He casually withdrew the sightseeing wall and walked into the wall with Zhang Rong.

Although there was no cover between the three, and Zheng Yun had the possibility of attacking, Tang Zhao as a Sword Hero and Zhang Rong as a Grandmaster Sword Guest actually had the upper hand over Zheng Yun, not to mention the strict guards outside. This was just a gesture of friendliness, and Zheng Yun was also sensible, making no attempt that would affect the friendship between the two sides.

Zhang Rong called the guards to bring wine and food inside to enjoy with Zheng Yun. Zheng Yun, however, said, "Since becoming a Sun-Holding Envoy, I haven't eaten or drunk much, nor will I feel hunger. But sometimes I get greedy, and if there is good food, I will eat some. I also love fine wine, but I won't get drunk. That must be a habit from before."

Tang Zhao heard this and could not help but feel compassionate.

He felt that Zheng Yun was not entirely unaware that he was no longer human, and it was not easy to live like this.

Zhang Rong still poured wine for all three and said, "A thousand cups of wine are too few when meeting a bosom friend. Today we have become friends; we wouldn't get drunk even after a thousand cups. Come, drink up!"

After drinking a few cups, Zhang Rong said, "Young Lord Zheng, now that you are one of us, we dare to tell the truth. Actually, although we know the whereabouts of the Jinwu Sword, we dare not go."

Zheng Yun said, "What is there to be afraid of? Is it that you are afraid the Jinwu Sword will hurt people? But the Jinwu Sword has lost its Sword Guest and has long been in a state of self-concealment. How is it different from the millions of new swords in the world? Even if a three-year-old child takes it, at most it won't match, so what harm is there?"

Zhang Rong shook his head and said, "Is it that simple? We found an Array that is said to be able to transfer directly to the Jinwu Sword, but we tried it before and were rejected by the other side, not allowing anyone to teleport over. It seems there is still a guard force on the Jinwu Sword's side. I wonder if it is the guards left by the previous Jinwu Sword? What kind of power was the Jinwu Sword back then? The power of the guards left behind at will is certainly not trivial. We dare not try again rashly, so we have to find a suitable candidate to communicate."

Strictly speaking, he did not tell Alie. They did try and were rejected. Saying that he guessed the ones who rejected them were guards was also correct. Anyway, it was a guess, not a matter of truth or falsehood. No one had seen what the situation was like over there with their own eyes, so why say Tang Zhao's guess about the Sword Deity was true, while his guess about the guards was false?

Zheng Yun said, "So that's it. There is such a magical Array? Wait... since it was rejected, how do you know it wasn't the new Jinwu Sword that rejected you?"

Zhang Rong said, "We guess not. Because that Array is connected to the Jinwu Sword; if a new person replaced it, the Jinwu Sword would likely no longer be the Jinwu Sword, and the Array would be useless. What is connected there must still be the original Jinwu Sword. We have the intention to contact it, but we fear that frequent contact will make the other side lose patience. Therefore, we want to find someone who will be recognized by the Jinwu Sword to communicate in person and see what the situation is on the other side. If we can take it back, that would be best; otherwise, we should also befriend the guards over there. If the person sent happens to catch the other side's eye, they might become the new Sword Guest on the spot."

Zheng Yun said, "Not bad, I..." He was about to say he was the most suitable, but then he saw Tang Zhao and changed his words: "The two of us will go and try. If we have no way, no one in the world will have a way."

Tang Zhao smiled and raised his glass to him. Zhang Rong said, "That is exactly the point. Young Lord Zheng is the most suitable candidate. Let us study together how to make this visit a success in one go."