Chapter 561: 514 The Theory of Worship

The little Sword Slave paused for a moment and said, "What?"

Tang Zhao said, "Right now, do you feel that kind of heart-rending pain?"

That kind of pain that comes from within the soul when a Sword Seed enters the body, the kind that is impossible to avoid and impossible to endure no matter what.

The Sword Slave said, "Hmm... that, I don't?"

He realized something, lowered his head, and suddenly discovered his feet were already off the ground.

Feet leaving the ground was a taboo that even Sword Slaves had to be mindful of when walking, because it would cause the pain temporarily deposited in the Wangliang to surge back. Yet, at this moment, he had not felt this pain; if not for Tang Zhao's reminder, he would not even have realized he had already violated the taboo.

He was shocked for a moment, then bewildered, as if he had realized something, yet found it difficult to ponder such a profound question.

Tang Zhao stopped asking him and looked again at the Sword Slaves scrambling to run up the sand dune, suddenly revealing a smile.

Xing Wu was walking in front, still concerned about Xing Qi taking the initiative to bring up the rear, so he had not been walking very fast. At this moment, he turned his head and happened to see Tang Zhao's smile, feeling somewhat annoyed, and said, "What are you smiling at? Hurry and keep up. The water is rising!"

Tang Zhao no longer hesitated, caught up in an instant, walked shoulder-to-shoulder with him, reached his side, and asked softly, "Old Wu, do you still remember what the Master promised you?"

Xing Wu hesitated for a moment, and seeing that no one around was listening, and that Xing Qi was clearly the Master's confidant, he whispered, "I remember. He said... he told me to break the cage, cast aside the pain, and embrace the world outside."

Tang Zhao smiled at him and said, "That's right! The cage will certainly be broken, and a new world will certainly arrive!"

Xing Wu was puzzled, not knowing why he had suddenly said such a thing.

Tang Zhao stopped speaking, and the two of them ran toward that sand dune together.

Upon reaching the front of the sand dune, they saw Xing Cang directing from the waist of the hill, with Xing Jiu following behind him like an attendant.

Just now at Sunset Manor, Xing Cang had been almost completely silent. In front of Tu Fei, Xing Cang also appeared like a haggard old man, letting Tang Zhao, the Deputy Grand Steward of Xing Qi, take the lead in everything, appearing weak. But in this moment of crisis, when only the people from Changfa Manor were present, he did not need to deliberately exert any intimidation or release any momentum; standing there, he naturally exuded the authority of "this is a notification, not a discussion."

Everyone who came out of Changfa Manor spontaneously gathered around him. Even though the top of the sand dune was actually very spacious and could completely hold more people, everyone still spontaneously centered themselves around him, stopping on the lower level, looking up at him, and automatically standing in formation. Just like a flock of geese, Xing Cang was the lead goose of the flock.

Tang Zhao and Xing Wu arrived on the sand dune, just in time to catch the last batch of Sword Slaves climbing the mountain.

Although that group of little Sword Slaves had received an unexpected "remission" during this storm, walking on the sand was already difficult, and climbing the sand dune was even harder. Their bodies were far from robust, and by the time they had run all the way here, they were at the end of their strength. Some were using both hands and feet in the sand, struggling to climb up, while others were trembling, wavering, seemingly unable to move anymore.

Xing Cang looked down from above and spoke, "Those who can walk and those who cannot, all follow the team and move forward. Do not stop! You will not die in the team, but those who fall behind will certainly die. Xing Jiu."

Xing Jiu, who had been following by Xing Cang's side, said, "Here."

Xing Cang said, "Whoever falls behind and hesitates, just kick them down for me. Make them fall into the You Water. The You Water leads directly to Yingyuan. Since they are going to die anyway, they might as well die quickly. Returning to Yingyuan early counts as being liberated early."

Xing Jiu agreed, and both the question and answer were very loud. The Sword Slaves on the sand dune were all struck with awe; regardless of whether they could walk or not, they all gritted their teeth and climbed upward. In an instant, everyone climbed up a large distance, at least reaching above the halfway point of the mountain.

Tang Zhao also approved of Xing Cang's approach. Now that the You Water had already spread to the foot of the sand dune, it was about to come up the mountain. If anyone really fell a step behind, let alone falling into the water, even touching a bit of You Water might lead to unexpected consequences. Being able to force them to stir up their last bit of strength could be considered a good thing.

At this time, Xing Cang saw Tang Zhao and Xing Wu and beckoned, signaling the two to come closer.

Tang Zhao then stepped forward to follow behind him, automatically joining the "goose formation."

Xing Cang gazed into the distance and said slowly, "You lads are seeing a Ghost Disaster for the first time, right?"

Tang Zhao said, "Yes. The Ghost Disaster is a legend to us. Could it be that you have seen it before?"

Xing Cang, just like when he was explaining Yinglang Bridge, revealed an expression of having it all under control and sighed, "Having lived a long time, I've seen a little bit of everything. It's not strange that you haven't seen it; you haven't even reached the Second Tier, so how could you have seen a Ghost Disaster? The Ghost Disaster is transmitted from the top down. For us at the Third Tier, it might not happen once in a hundred years, but at the Second Tier, it happens once every few years. As for the First Tier, it is said to happen every year."

Then someone said, "Every year, that's old news. Nowadays, it's practically every month."

Tang Zhao turned his head and saw a person climbing up from the other side of the sand dune.

It was actually Tu Fei.

Tang Zhao found it strange: Didn't Tu Fei's airship crash on the other side? Wasn't that still some distance from the sand dune? How did he run over here?

Immediately after, he realized: This place was the highest point in this stretch of sand; if you don't come here to avoid the water disaster, where would you go? Tu Fei certainly couldn't wait for the airship to fall before climbing out; he must have left in mid-air.

Wangliang Mountain prohibited flight; only specially approved airships could take off. After Tu Fei came down, he also had to land to avoid the disaster, and then moved over here after seeing it was suitable.

It was just that he looked disheveled at this moment, and there was not a single person by his side.

Could it be... that out of the whole boat, only he was left?

That shouldn't be; he had Sword Guest attendants on his boat, right? Could even the Sword Guests not escape?

What had happened on the boat?

Tu Fei stared at the rapidly rising black water, his brows furrowed, and said, "You few, did you bring any Coil Incense?"

At this time, Xing Cang had already returned to his position as leader, so naturally, he had to be the one to answer. He stepped up and said, "The Changyi Master jokes. We Third-tier Manors do not worship the Coil Shadow Envoy, so how would we have the qualifications to carry Coil Incense?"

Tang Zhao listened and silently recorded it in his heart. This was another blind spot in his knowledge, and if he had been asked to answer, he really wouldn't have been able to.

However, just from these few sentences of conversation, he had obtained a lot of information and could roughly guess what they were talking about.

Coil Incense... Coil Shadow, probably the Coil Shadow Snake, right?

Under Anxi Mountain, he had seen that giant gray snake, which he figured was an Abyss Envoy, similar to the badger he saw on Yinglang Bridge. And Coil Incense should be the incense offered to the Coil Shadow Snake; he didn't know if it was incense coiled like its name or ordinary incense sticks.

It is said that immortals enjoy the smoke and fire of the Human World, so do those beastly Abyss Envoys also eat incense?

But he hadn't seen any temples for Abyss Envoys?

With so few people on Wangliang Mountain, wouldn't so many Abyss Envoys starve to death eating incense?

Tu Fei sighed and said, "Although you Third-tier Manors generally aren't qualified to worship Abyss Envoys, today is different. Can't you make an effort and cozy up to an Abyss Envoy? With an Abyss Envoy backing you, it's easier to receive favor, and you wouldn't be inherently weaker than Sunset Manor. Nowadays is not like the old days; there are more and more Abyss Envoys, and some Abyss Envoys are willing to lower their status to accept worship from Third-tier Manors. Some manors have already done so. You are lagging behind."

That was what he said, but the reason he ran so far to find the people of Changfa Manor was that he wanted a glimmer of hope, to see if there was a chance to get Coil Incense to summon the Coil Shadow Abyss Envoy here and use its power to calm this Ghost Disaster.

Although the Ghost Disaster would always recede, if he waited here for a few days for nothing, not to mention the wasted time, his airship submerged in the water would truly be beyond saving. That ship was also of great value to him; if it were ruined by the You Water, it couldn't be repaired, and his losses would be significant—not even running ten errands for Changfa Manor would make up for these damages.

But there was no help for it now; if they didn't have it, they didn't have it, and they couldn't conjure it out of thin air. He could only sit and wait for the Ghost Disaster to recede, or for some passing Abyss Envoy who could handle it to come and deal with it.

Xing Cang actually really disliked him being here; this nominal First-tier Manor Head had too high a status and greatly squeezed his position. He asked, "Do you not have a sacrificial array that can contact Lord Coil Shadow?"

Just like Tu Fei, he didn't want to waste time. What was the fun in gathering so many people on this sand dune and spending a few days? Moreover, it also delayed the important business he was about to deal with.

Don't look at how calm and composed he was now; that was because he was in front of people. Encountering this kind of thing, he wanted to curse, thinking to himself: Have I offended some jinx recently? One accident after another, nothing is going smoothly? If some Abyss Envoy could get rid of the bad luck, it would be worth worshipping.

Tu Fei said helplessly, "The Ghost Disaster is the most special disaster on Wangliang Mountain. Once it occurs, all communication is unusable. Only the Coil Incense is special, and only I can pray; it can hear, but it cannot respond. Sigh, the Ghost Disaster is the most evil of disasters; Lord Coil Shadow has repeatedly warned us to be careful. Now it is happening more and more frequently. Never mind once a year; now at the First Tier, it happens once a month, sometimes twice. Lord Wangliang..."

He stopped abruptly when he said this.

Tang Zhao was hoping he would continue so he could hear more news, but Tu Fei also knew that trouble comes from the mouth. His gossipy, teacher-like nature had already leaked a lot of inside information, and he should be alert, so he remained silent.

The sand dune fell into silence.

Time gradually passed.

Everyone watched helplessly as the flooding of the You Water became uncontrollable, turning the vast desert before their eyes into a watery kingdom. Storms in the sky grew increasingly frequent, with streaks of black lightning snakes flickering in and out of existence against the pale dome, more numerous than the stars in the sky. It felt as if the firmament would be torn apart by countless cracks the very next moment, the sky would collapse completely, and the world would be destroyed.

The sky was pale white, the water was pitch black, and all the gray in between had been covered; heaven and earth were left with only two distinct, severed layers. People sitting on isolated sand dunes felt like a single grain of sand in the vast ocean, ready to be swallowed by heaven and earth at any moment, their hearts filled with unease and a growing sense of despair.

Tang Zhao watched in silence, thinking of the myth of "Pangu Opening Heaven and Earth"—when that egg-like world was split open by Pangu's giant axe, the clear Qi rose to become the sky, and the turbid Qi descended to become the earth. At that time, the world had nothing but heaven and earth; perhaps it looked just like the scene before him?

Or perhaps, like the Great Flood in foreign myths where all living things were destroyed and the world was restarted, did the survivors sitting on their rafts look out at the world and see it looking just like this?

Hearing from Tu Fei, the Ghost Disaster has become so frequent that it happens once a month; does Wangliang Mountain turn into this every time?

No wonder the manor on Wangliang Mountain had to be built in the Shadow of a sand dune; outside the Shadow, there was nothing but sand dunes. This world had to be restarted every few days, so anything built would be destroyed in an instant. Everyone was silently hiding within the Small World of the Shadow.

What a desperate world this is.

On the contrary, the Third Tier below is said to be safer and closer to the Human World.

Yet the people of the Third Tier are all restless, eager to climb upward.

While Tang Zhao lamented the world of Wangliang Mountain, he also thought rationally as a Talisman Sword Master:

Where is the source of this Ghost Disaster catastrophe?

Is it the You Water? Or the inexplicable storms?

Or is it some kind of existence above the firmament?

Could it... be actively triggered?