Chapter 566: 519 Recording Circle

"Yes, this is the backyard. Our garden here is divided into three parts: front, middle, and back. The front courtyard is planted with pines and cypresses. The back courtyard is planted with... pines and cypresses. This middle courtyard is also primarily pines and cypresses."

"Tsk tsk, pines and cypresses again? What is so good about this stuff?"

It was Tang Zhao's first time visiting Changfa Manor, and he was acting as a tour guide. He was bringing two overbearing Abyss Envoys to condescendingly tour this unremarkable Third-tier Manor.

One of these two Abyss Envoys was more ignorant but temperamental, and it was hard to tell if their speech was straightforward or sarcastic. The other was the exact opposite: quite sharp and erudite. They usually didn't speak, but once they did, it was incredibly incisive, pointing straight to the crux of the matter.

In short, these two masters were not easy to serve, especially since Tang Zhao's public identity was worlds apart from theirs; he had to be extremely careful with every single word.

But there was one benefit: it was safe enough.

Safety, that is, in regards to his act of touring Changfa Manor.

Tang Zhao had come to Changfa Manor to scout it out. He had originally intended to take certain risks, planning to see every nook and cranny of this vast manor. For this, he had come alone, not even bringing a Sword Guest companion, intending to rely on his own strength as a Sword Hero to traverse any risks Changfa Manor might pose. He hadn't expected such a heaven-sent opportunity to have someone taller to take the hit.

Now that he was bringing the two Abyss Envoys to Changfa Manor, although he couldn't explore as carefully as he could alone, the benefit was that it was absolutely safe. Even if Xing Cang were given two sets of guts, he wouldn't dare do anything to two Abyss Envoys who had descended from the heavens.

Furthermore, it couldn't be said that it wasn't thorough. Whenever there was a forbidden area that clearly wasn't meant for entry—which Tang Zhao would have had to be very careful about if he were alone—now he only needed to mention it casually, and the He would become interested and clamor to go in and take a look. With its instruction, he had to go in even if he didn't want to.

At this moment, the He pointed to the middle of the courtyard and asked, "What is that?"

They saw that in the middle of the courtyard stood the largest tree, but it was not a pine; it was a locust tree.

This old locust tree was truly massive, too wide for five or six people to wrap their arms around. It grew in a clawing, twisted fashion, like a flying dragon or a giant beast, appearing especially conspicuous amidst the courtyard full of pines and cypresses; it was hard not to notice it.

Tang Zhao said in a low voice, "This is the Recording Circle of Changfa Manor."

The Recording Circle is the core of a manor, the place where the sacrificial core is kept. Only the Manor Master can enter. It is not only the key location for every sacrifice to the Wangliang, but it also holds the lifeblood of everyone in the entire manor.

With the Recording Circle, the Manor Master is the true master, capable of dominating the fate of any slave. Even if that slave becomes a Sword Guest, their strength might not be inferior to the Manor Master, yet they must still submit to the Master's power.

The He asked in surprise, "Third-tier Manors have Recording Circles too?"

This question was too foolish and not easy to answer, so the Pipa suddenly spoke up: "After your old master died, has the new master not yet visited his own Recording Circle?"

Tang Zhao paused and answered truthfully, "No."

The Pipa said, "Since he hasn't come, he naturally cannot control the Recording Circle. Without being recognized by the Sacrifice, what kind of master is he? Doesn't that mean your Changfa Manor is currently masterless?"

This question was within Tang Zhao's prepared database, and he immediately said, "The old master named him as heir when the Young Master was young, and recorded his shadow within the circle. Now that the old master is gone, the heir's shadow has returned to the proper position, naturally making him the master. Once the sacrifice to Lord Wangliang is completed this time, it will be justified and official, and he will be recognized as the Master of the Manor; no further procedures are needed."

The He exclaimed, "So convenient? The Recording Circle has this function? One dies and another takes over? I'll go take a look."

Tang Zhao hurriedly said, "Lord Manying, it is not that I do not wish to invite you in, but truly, except for the Master, no one can enter."

The Pipa asked from the side, "Cannot enter? Or unable to enter?"

Tang Zhao said, "I do not know."

This answer was inexplicable. The He was dismissive, but the Pipa understood the subtext and said, "You haven't tried, so naturally you don't know. Go in and see."

The He nodded and walked in swaggeringly, not afraid of the danger within at all. The sword slave holding the Pipa was trembling, saying, "L... Lord... servants cannot enter."

The Pipa said, "In that case, hand me over to Xing Qi."

It was very meticulous; having only been at the manor for a short while, it called Tang Zhao by his current name immediately. The He, who had met him twice and claimed to like Xing Qi, hadn't even managed to call him by name. Tang Zhao took the Pipa and said in a dilemma, "Lord, I cannot enter either."

The Pipa said in a gentle voice, "Carry me inside, or I will slaughter all you slaves. Do you understand what I mean?"

Tang Zhao shuddered, looked back at Xing Cang, then lowered his head and said, "Yes."

Xing Cang's expression was very ugly, but with two lawless monsters in front of him, he couldn't say a word.

Tang Zhao had wanted to go in all along, but as Xing Qi, he shouldn't have been able to, and he needed a reason to be forced to enter. As it happened, the Pipa and he had a tacit understanding; it guessed he could enter but lacked an excuse, so it leisurely handed him the excuse. That final "Do you understand what I mean?" had the implication of "Stop pretending, get in there for me."

Of course, if Tang Zhao didn't know what was good for him and refused to enter, this excuse could also be put into practice. After all, for an Abyss Envoy to slaughter all the slaves of a Third-tier Manor was not a problem at all. It wasn't even worth mentioning; it could only be considered a small punishment. Since they hadn't killed the Master, did slaves even count as people? When the Master found out later, he would still have to thank the Abyss Envoy for cleaning up the house on the surface.

Tang Zhao took the Pipa and felt it was very smooth to the touch, seemingly made of wood with a layer of special lacquer. He placed his fingers on the neck of the Pipa and felt a character carved on the back:

"Man".

That was right, it was called "Manying", so it had carved the character 'Man' on its body.

Tang Zhao lowered his head and entered a hollow in the locust tree.

The space before his eyes darkened, and he heard the sound of wind rising, as if countless attacks were rushing toward him from all directions.

If Tang Zhao had drawn his sword, blocking these attacks would have been easy, but he only hugged the Pipa and rolled on the ground, rolling several feet away. He heard a *chi-chi-chi* sound; the place where he had been standing was riddled with holes by the incoming objects.

Before he could stand up, a second wave of wind followed like a shadow.

Tang Zhao was about to use the same trick and roll away again, when he heard a few "Zheng-zheng" plucking sounds by his ear, and the wind stopped instantly.

Immediately after, there were a few sounds of heavy objects hitting the ground.

By this time, Tang Zhao had slightly adjusted to the darkness. When he opened his eyes to look, he clearly saw several branch-like objects that had been severed by invisible attacks, lying on the ground.

Naturally, it was the Pipa that had acted just now. Once it acted, it had no scruples and did not fear destroying this place.

"Get up."

The Pipa's voice sounded. Tang Zhao rolled over and got up; he had just been pressing the Pipa against the ground. He hurriedly picked up the Pipa and ran his fingers over the strings, feeling that they were quite soft, with less hardness than the strings of a normal real pipa; they were almost like silk threads... could this really produce such a clanging sound?

Wait, this texture...

He didn't have time to think deeply, so he bowed and said, "I am sorry, Lord Manying, for my rudeness."

The Pipa only said, "Next time, just draw your sword, and you won't be so disheveled."

Tang Zhao secretly pondered its words and explained, "In this place, servants do not have the qualifications to draw their swords."

The Pipa said indifferently, "You still have the mood to think about this; it seems you are not yet at death's door."

At this time, he heard the He say, "Hey, are you in? I'm here, come over!"

Tang Zhao hugged the Pipa and walked a few quick steps, and suddenly the view opened up.

He saw that before him was a huge hollow. The hollow was so large that it was hard to imagine it was inside a large locust tree. The four walls showed the texture of raw wood; it was clearly still an ordinary tree hollow.

The tree hollow was very bright. Overhead, there was actually a lamp, not a candle flame, but a bright lamp like an Artifice Lamp. The lamp had a gorgeous design, resembling a blooming lotus flower. The light spilled down from the lotus petals, casting onto the ground and creating mottled light and shadows.

Those light and shadows formed an Array in circles.

A Sacrificial Array!

As expected of Wangliang Mountain, the Sacrificial Array was also formed by shadows.

Tang Zhao silently looked over the array once; although there were some parts he still didn't understand, the logic was clear at a glance.

It is an Array that conforms to the rules of the Rune Formula.

In other words, it is an Array that can be cracked.

Tang Zhao felt at ease; what he feared most was that Wangliang Mountain possessed its own system of knowledge, completely independent of the Rune Formula, for then it would be difficult to intervene.

But thinking about it carefully, it was reasonable: Wangliang was merely a Middle-rank Sword Deity, and it was not even certain if it had a brain, so by what right could it possess a completely independent system of knowledge?

It even copied its scenery from others!

Judging from this Array, Wangliang Mountain not only lacked a special system, but the level of its Array was also not high. Reverse-engineering it was not difficult. But that was precisely where the trouble lay.

The function of this Array was very simple; Tang Zhao analyzed it roughly and could view it as a "terminal," providing only an entrance to access the system, with little content in itself. What was important was not the terminal, but the system itself.

If Tang Zhao wanted to obtain more, he should "log in" from this terminal and enter the system to see what valuable things could be obtained.

Besides this, the most crucial part within this terminal should be that it retained many "proofs of identity," right?

It was stored in...

Tang Zhao looked up, gazing at the bright Lamp that was shining down.

The material of the bright Lamp was similar to a transparent substance like crystal, only there was an object looming in the middle, which seemed to be...

A jade wall?

That should be the legendary Image-Retaining Wall, an item belonging to the Manor Master and also the hub of the entire manor. On it were all the identity shadows existing in the manor: there were the Manor Master's shadow, the Sword Guests' shadows, the sword slaves' shadows...

That was something only the Changfazhuangyuanzhuren could look at; it was an item with an owner. Tang Zhao could not look at it, and even if the Golden Crow came, it still could not look at it. Only the original Jian Chenglong could take it down and look at it here.

This did not matter; Tang Zhao and his group had a teleportation array in hand and could teleport that YoungMaster over at any time to act as a tool to unlock it.

Tang Zhao already had a plan. He could start making arrangements upon returning.

The raccoon had originally come in out of curiosity, but at this moment, it could not help but feel disappointed. The Recording Circle of the Third-tier Manor was unremarkable; although it did not understand any Array knowledge, it had seen true Great Arrays and could not help but disdain this crude contraption, saying, "There is nothing interesting here, let's go out."

The pipa, however, was able to discern some information from the Array.

For instance, the jade wall was also layered: the very center was the Manor Master, the outer layer was the Sword Guests, whose shadows only had rough outlines, and the outermost layer was the sword slaves, whose shadows did not even look like human figures anymore.

The pipa glanced at it and said, "The manor only has four Sword Guests? That is quite pathetic for a Third-tier Manor. You lot actually want to challenge a Second-tier Manor? Although Sunset Manor has fallen on hard times, your courage is too great. Do you want the whole manor to die together?"

Tang Zhao said, "This... manpower is valued for quality, not quantity. Although we are few, we are willing to give it our all."

Amidst the pipa's skeptical sneer, Tang Zhao was also sneering in his heart:

Four Sword Guests?

The Xing Wu, Xing Qi, Xing Jiu, and Xing Shisan who were still alive in the manor were indeed four people.

Sure enough, there were people not under control.