Chapter 569: 522 Analysis

Tang Zhao suddenly blurted this out, and Jiang Shenyi froze, saying, "Lady Ling? Who is that?"

Tang Zhao glanced at Wei Zhangle.

Wei Zhangle shook his head and said, "Overusing Sole Awakening will cause Disappearance to collapse."

So Tang Zhao patted Jiang Shenyi and said, "I'll tell you in a moment."

He turned his head and smiled at Wei Zhangle, saying, "Congratulations, Zhangle."

Zhangle bowed slightly and said, "Thank you, Brother Zhao. If not for you, how could Zhangle have this day?"

Tang Zhao smiled and said, "If not for your own persistence, who in the world could fulfill you?"

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Tang Zhao felt deeply comforted; a clear, good thing had finally happened to Wei Zhangle—

He had become a Sword Guest.

At this time, the people in his team also slowly arrived.

Since the large-scale banquet had come to an end and there was no need for so many hands, and because Xing Cang had come up the mountain and no longer needed to be watched, everyone had gathered quite completely; those who could come had all come, even Feng Zhilie, who usually followed Chi Mingjing, had arrived.

After all, Chi Mingjing was no longer here now.

Finally, Jinwu returned and activated the Illumination Domain, and two attendants from the Yama Shop poured tea for everyone before they began to discuss matters.

Without waiting for Tang Zhao to report on this trip to Wangliang Mountain, Jinwu asked first, "Did you see Destruction?"

Tang Zhao was slightly surprised and asked, "Did you guess that, or did you sense the aura of Destruction?"

Jinwu said, "I sensed it for an instant yesterday, but it disappeared very quickly. I thought you had seen it, or rather, that it had appeared to see you."

Tang Zhao was astonished in his heart: the aura of Destruction had appeared on the Second Tier of Wangliang Mountain; could it really be sensed from so far away? He explained, "Destruction did indeed manifest for a moment yesterday, and I felt it too. I already roughly know where it is. However, I did not see Destruction. Although these past few days haven't been long, quite a few things happened. Let me start from the beginning."

So he began from Yinglang Bridge, how he accidentally met the Abyss Envoy Hao, how he negotiated and established a new competition format with Wu Shayu at Sunset Manor, how he encountered the Ghost Disaster and felt the aura of Destruction, how he went down to the Third Tier to return to the manor and confront Xing Cang, how he met Hao and Pipa who had come looking for him, and how he entered the Recording Circle to come into contact with the core of Changfa Manor...

Although there were no major battles in the experiences of these two days, quite a few things had truly happened, and it could be considered one wave after another.

After roughly finishing his account, Tang Zhao took a sip of water and summarized, "There were two lines to my trip up the mountain, involving two major events. First is the struggle with Sunset Manor, including the internal strife at Changfa Manor; this was my original purpose for coming up the mountain. Second is investigating the overall situation of Wangliang Mountain; this was an unexpected gain. I will speak of the important things first."

The important thing, without a doubt, was Wangliang.

Why did they come here?

Wangliang Mountain was the true target; everything else was merely a means.

"Let's talk about Wangliang first. Originally, I thought that entering Wangliang Mountain meant entering Wangliang's territory and that I had to be careful everywhere. With my status and strength, it would be very difficult to get close to Wangliang, and I probably wouldn't be able to find any useful intelligence. As it turned out, I was lucky and perceived the most important thing. Coupled with some later corroboration, I was finally able to break the deadlock even on the side quests."

After a few opening remarks, he stated his conclusion directly: "I discovered—although Wangliang is in Wangliang Mountain, it currently does not manage Wangliang Mountain, or rather, it cannot manage Wangliang Mountain."

"Disasters frequently occur within Wangliang Mountain, such as the Ghost Disaster. Once it emerges, everywhere suffers, and no manor is left unaffected. That is definitely not Wangliang's own will, but a manifestation of being out of control. When the disaster occurs, it cannot come forward itself, and its lackeys have no moves or means to curb the disaster; instead, they all rush to the Altar to find it and open the Altar to release it. It was at that moment that a trace of the aura of Destruction was revealed."

When Tang Zhao felt the aura of Destruction at the time, he had once thought those Abyss Envoys were using Destruction to suppress the Ghost Disaster. But later, when he arrived before the Altar, the Sword Manual sensed that Wangliang was right beneath the platform, so it was more logical that the Abyss Envoys were going to fetch Wangliang to come forward.

But when fetching Wangliang, the aura of Destruction was also very clear, so...

"According to my speculation, Wangliang is currently still being suppressed by Destruction. Even if it is not completely suppressed, it definitely has no way to break free. Wherever Wangliang is, Destruction is there. The Destruction Sword Intent not only affects its actions but must also cause damage to Wangliang Mountain, so Wangliang built an Altar itself and usually hides inside the Altar, which is equivalent to self-sealing. That is why we didn't sense the aura of Destruction at all. Only when the Altar is opened and it comes out can one perceive traces of Destruction."

Jinwu realized suddenly and said, "So you mean that to release Destruction, one needs to break the Altar?"

It thought for a moment and added, "Would it be easier on that day of Sacrifice?"

Tang Zhao said, "Fundamentally, it should be so, but no one knows what unexpected consequences directly breaking the Altar might cause. If we just go ahead and do it without knowing anything, we might trigger a disaster. In that case, we would be playing right into someone else's hands. For example, the Turtle Bandits."

Hearing the mention of the Turtle Bandits, everyone felt a slight chill: their primary purpose for coming here was for Jinwu Dianxia to recover the Sword Intent, and the second was to stop the conspiracy of the Turtle Bandits.

These days, one could not say there had been no progress regarding the whereabouts of the Turtle Bandits, but it had remained at the stage of speculation. Although analyzing intelligence from all sides brought them closer to the truth, nothing had been confirmed yet.

Since Tang Zhao had investigated the location of Wangliang, they could now use this to open a separate line to keep an eye on the Turtle Bandits: since the goal of the Turtle Bandits was the Destruction Sword Intent, no matter where they were lurking now or what means they had prepared, their ultimate goal must be to break the Sacrificial Array and collect Destruction.

And this process would certainly be easiest to carry out during the Great Sacrifice. Because at that time, sacrifices were truly being offered to Wangliang, and the Altar would certainly loosen or even open voluntarily. That was when defenses would be at their weakest; if they were well-prepared, they might be able to directly make the Altar unable to close ever again.

But to attempt to destroy the Altar in full view of everyone, especially before a crowd of Abyss Envoys, several Sword Heroes, and hundreds of Sword Guests, would certainly involve a bloody battle.

If someone made a move first at this time, they would undoubtedly be drawing fire for the others. For example, if Tang Zhao's side moved first, they would become a stepping stone for the Turtle Bandits, or conversely, if the Turtle Bandits moved first, they would become a stepping stone for Tang Zhao's side. It all depended on who could better strike only after the enemy had struck.

As it stands, the two sides have not yet clashed and are still hiding in the dark forest; it is not yet time for a final showdown.

Tang Zhao set this aside for now and continued his train of thought: "Not only is Wangliang suppressed and unable to come out, but its control over Wangliang Mountain is also definitely not strong; one could even say it is incapacitated. Wangliang Mountain is its Sword Momentum, but it does not control the daily operations, and its control over Wangliang Mountain is far inferior to other Sword Immortals. One could even say that for Wangliang Mountain, Wangliang is effectively dead. That Sword Momentum is a remnant of Wangliang, with an independent operating mechanism."

The situation of Wangliang Mountain is very similar to Jianzhou. Back then, the Kun Sword Sword Saint also left the Human World and left Jianzhou behind. Jianzhou manifests every four years, each time with a different form, having its own rules and containing the treasures of the Sword Saint from back then; it is almost like a living world. But it actually operates autonomously based on the rules set by the Sword Saint of that time; it does not adapt to changing circumstances, nor does it have preferences or emotions.

It is just like an AI program.

Wangliang Mountain is likely the same, and it operates even worse than Jianzhou. Jianzhou doesn't have this disaster or that calamity.

"If Wangliang established this self-operating system—I'll call it a system for now—since it founded the mountain, it has been running for over a hundred years. It is full of loopholes. For example, the endless disasters, such as the Ghost Disaster, were certainly not created by Wangliang itself to add atmosphere. I heard that disasters like the Ghost Disaster have occurred from time to time since its establishment, which shows that this system had bu... had loopholes from the very beginning. And now that disasters are becoming more frequent, it shows that after so many years, this system has become like an old ox pulling a broken cart, increasingly unusable. If we could study it further, we might even be able to directly dismantle Wangliang Mountain."

Jinwu said happily, "That's great! Can you do it?"

Tang Zhao coughed dryly and said, "Not yet. A system that covers Wangliang Mountain, even if it is full of loopholes, is not something I can solve in a short time."

Moreover, it was only called a system by Tang Zhao; it didn't really have any code, software, or hardware that could be broken by destroying a server. It was still a "Sword Momentum," just a relatively fragile one. If anyone could destroy it from the root, the first choice would be Jinwu.

At most, Tang Zhao could point out where the loopholes were.

After all, this system was not entirely Sword Momentum; it also had a part grafted with Rune Formulas, and this part was within Tang Zhao's range.

"I have studied the terminal... that is, the Recording Circle at Changfa Manor. The Recording Circle is the core of the Sacrificial Array and should be the endpoint of the entire operating system. Moreover, this endpoint is within the Rune Formula system and is integrated with Wangliang Mountain using Rune Formulas as the system. From this system, I discovered some keys."

Tang Zhao said slowly, "They have said before that whether it is a Sword Slave or a Sword Guest, they have long since sacrificed a part of themselves to Wangliang to receive Wangliang's protection and avoid pain. This sacrificed part can never return, and after death, their body, mind, and Soul will also be cast into the Yingyuan forever. I don't know yet if they really go to the true Yingyuan after they die, but I am certain that the part of their heart and Soul sacrificed to Wangliang is not in Wangliang's hands, nor is it in the Recording Circle; it is in the hands of the system that is currently operating."

The uploaded data is not in the terminal; it is in the cloud.

"So when the Ghost Disaster comes and the current system disconnects, after it can no longer connect to each Sword Slave, the Soul they deposited in Wangliang Mountain leaves, but the pain also leaves and does not return. In other words, as long as they are not under the influence of the system, those Sword Slaves can obtain the freedom to control their bodies for the time being."

Jiang Shenyi realized and said, "Is this the plan you came up with to save the Sword Slaves?"

Tang Zhao nodded and said, "This is the absolute bottom-line plan. If the Sword Slaves are willing to abandon the part they have already sacrificed and live out the rest of their lives with a remnant body, then I can let them obtain complete freedom right now. To put it broadly, I can create a great storm, mimic the Ghost Disaster, temporarily isolate Wangliang Mountain, and benefit everyone. On an individual level, only a simple Art Tool is needed to be enough to shield the system, allowing people to go completely offline and obtain long-term freedom."

Simply put, he can now temporarily save everyone, or save a certain person forever.

"Judging from the fact that the deposited pain can return at any time, these sacrificed parts are only stored and have not been digested. So as long as we can break the system in the future before Wangliang reacts, those sacrificed parts can return the way they came."

In that case, it would be possible to save everyone forever!