Chapter 590: 543 Heavy Encirclement

Looking up at the sky from the ground, all one could see were tigers, tigers, and more tigers!

Not every one of those tigers was complete from head to tail; rather, one could see the head but not the tail.

The sky was a dim yellow, closer to the color of dusk than the golden hue of high noon. A number of radiances flowed vaguely across the sky, like thick and thin overlapping brushstrokes on an oil canvas, or like the stripes on a tiger's body. And when the radiances twisted, they would occasionally form indistinct tiger heads and tails. Once one could identify the head and tail, those halos would naturally allow one to imagine the tiger's body. Because it relied on the imagination, the tigers naturally took on various forms. Some imagined tigers had short, stubby legs, while others had bodies longer than a dragon's.

Beyond the sky full of tigers and the dazzling halos, there were powerful sounds in one's ears resembling tiger roars, mountain collapses, and thunderous rumbles. All around was a scorching high temperature as if one were in purgatory, making one unable to help but wonder:

Which layer of hell is this? What crimes did the ghosts commit in their previous lives to deserve the punishment of being fed to tigers?

Below, the Golden Tiger, who was always leisurely and fond of playing the teacher, commented, "This move is decent; he has some insight into the power of the sun. If he were given destruction, this Sword Technique would be several times stronger. I wonder what insights he has regarding growth?"

Jiang Shenyi felt slightly puzzled. He was not a Sword Guest, so he was not quite sure of a Sword Guest's train of thought:

A Sword Technique with such a strange range of effect and presumably high consumption should be used in a great battle with many enemies, right? Now there is only one enemy, the attack target is fixed, isn't it a waste of Sword Essence to use this move? Are there no single-target kill moves for one-on-one?

In the sky, among the tiger pack.

Gui Rong was shuttling through the tiger pack...

Or rather, fleeing for his life.

If the people below were imagining hell, then Gui Rong was truly in the midst of it. The scorching torment had long since exceeded the temperature a human could endure, and also exceeded the temperature a Sword Hero's tempered body could withstand.

That was the temperature of being close to the sun.

The sun would not approach the Human World, but the Golden Tiger would.

Those golden tigers flowing within the radiance were like little suns, baking everything they approached like wax and evaporating it like water; that was the power to destroy heaven and extinguish the earth.

Besides Gui Rong, the closest things to those golden tigers were the ten Wangliang warriors.

The Wangliang warriors had originally stood tall like giant stone statues. But they were not stone statues, but warriors of the power of "Shadow," and they also possessed human-like mobility. Under the scorching heat of the golden tigers, the warriors seemed to show signs of shrinking.

Well, shrinking might be Tang Zhao's guess; without command, these Wangliang warriors were indeed not moving at all. However, the golden tigers caused tangible damage to the Wangliang warriors, visible to the naked eye.

A golden tiger descended from the sky and brushed slightly against a Wangliang warrior's head, and it scraped off a large chunk of its body like an iron brush. That was a large patch of shadow, which naturally dissipated in the light, and the remaining body melted like an ice cube.

However, those Wangliang warriors were actually repairing themselves while melting, and the speed of repair was extremely fast. Unless a golden tiger descended, the heat radiated from the sky was not as damaging as the speed of their repair.

When Tang Zhao looked down, he could see streams of shadows rising from the feet of the Wangliang warriors, filling in their missing bodies. The shadows came fast and fiercely, as if inexhaustible.

This was Wangliang Mountain; shadows were the source of power. As long as they did not leave the ground, the Wangliang warriors were invincible.

Tang Zhao saw clearly that attacking the Wangliang warriors was meaningless, so he stopped paying attention to them and focused on surrounding and annihilating Gui Rong.

Gui Rong was running wildly through the tiger pack. He was covered in a layer of Sword Essence that could temporarily insulate him from the heat, but it was clearly being consumed at a rapid speed. If he delayed for too long, the Sword Essence would naturally dry up, and his life would be forfeit. He urgently wanted to break out of the tiger pack.

However, this was also impossible. Gui Rong was surrounded by endless heat and radiance; no matter where he tried to break through, it was a vast, pathless road. Only by breaking through from the center and attacking Tang Zhao himself could he turn defeat into victory.

Tang Zhao himself was already floating in mid-air, having left the battlefield of the Wangliang warriors' bodies, almost merging with the light tigers; from the outside, his figure was almost invisible.

From a high vantage point, he overlooked the battlefield, watching his golden tigers use the ten Wangliang warriors as a battlefield to surround Gui Rong layer by layer, shrinking the encirclement smaller and smaller.

Seeing that the ten-sided ambush was about to be completed, Tang Zhao was not very happy, because until now, Gui Rong still had not moved.

Not moving did not mean his body was not moving, but that Gui Rong had not used any Sword Technique at this point, nor had he revealed a shred of Sword Intent. Tang Zhao did not think he had any injuries that prevented him from using Sword Art, so it must still be hunting. Just like a pitcher plant, emitting sweet bait and waiting for the prey to enter the trap; the moment the lid closed, the outcome would be decided.

Willing to be suppressed and endure the scorching heat just to wait for the best combat opportunity—is he really that cautious?

He really thinks highly of me.

Then—

I will grant your wish!

Tang Zhao had at least studied military books for a few days at the Training Camp. While not enough to go to the battlefield, it was sufficient to command ten light tigers to surround a Sword Hero who wasn't using Sword Art. The so-called "ten-fold encirclement" was applied; in the end, Gui Rong was driven by several light tigers and completely trapped on top of a Wangliang head.

It was a true ten-sided ambush, with no road to the sky and no gate to the earth.

The sky had long been occupied by the light tiger battle, a yellow, dizzying sky light that made one's eyes ache just to look at it. Below, Tang Zhao had already commanded the light tigers to climb onto the bodies of the Wangliang warriors. The bodies of the Wangliang warriors shrank smaller and smaller, collapsing downward. Only one head remained relatively intact. Gui Rong stood on the top, like a reef about to be swallowed by a rising tide.

Tang Zhao had not only submerged one warrior, but had also long since buried the two surrounding warriors with light tigers. Now there were no warriors on either side, only two pillars of light. Even if Gui Rong rushed out, he would have nowhere to stand.

The current Gui Rong had been forced into the corner of the corner, like a dog against a wall, with only one path left.

"Are you still not planning to make a move? Fight with Sword Art? Otherwise, you can only die in a muddled state." Tang Zhao, hidden in the light, asked slowly.

Although Gui Rong was trapped in a heavy encirclement, he was surprisingly calm. He stared at Tang Zhao and said, "You don't dare to kill me. I saw through you long ago. You are a spineless coward, not even as good as a woman. Even if you force me to this point, you still don't dare to strike. You are afraid that I will use your attack to counterattack you, afraid that you will die without a burial place in the blink of an eye. If you don't believe me, I'll just walk out like this; do you dare to touch a single hair on me?"

Tang Zhao sighed and said, "Playing this game now? A clumsy provocation; do you have no other means? We are both thousand-year-old foxes, is there any point in playing 'Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'?"

Gui Rong was startled and said, "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, what is that?" Then he gritted his teeth and said, "Damn pedant, still quoting books at a time like this. What the hell are you doing?"

Tang Zhao stared at him and finally said, "Fine. Since you want to trap yourself in a desperate situation, you must be planning to launch a powerful attack at the moment of life and death to turn defeat into victory. If I make you vanish into thin air in an instant, how will you handle that?"

Gui Rong sneered again: "You don't dare."

Further talk was useless. Tang Zhao asked, "Do you know how high the temperature of the celestial bodies in the universe is?"

Without waiting for his answer, Tang Zhao flipped his hand—

The golden tigers swarmed up and submerged Gui Rong.

Temperature, explosion!

In an instant, everything was ignited, burned, and incinerated!

The ten tall Wangliang warriors instantly turned into light torches, connecting into one piece and becoming a huge halo. Seen from afar, the halo circled the sky, and Sunset Manor was almost swallowed by the light!

Gui Rong, at the very center of the light and heat, almost immediately merged into the light. However, the moment the light swallowed him, one could see his body instantly turn into green smoke.

Absolute high temperature, coming from heaven and earth, it was the might of heaven!

Under the might of heaven, vanish into thin air!

At such a brilliant strike of heavenly might, several spectators below gasped. They were all blinded by the huge light energy; their vision was a blank slate, not to mention the scorching heat that baked them as if they were being burned by fire. Those with weaker strength or older age directly suffered heatstroke, had difficulty breathing, felt dizzy, and even fainted. A chorus of wailing and howling rose from the stands.

This was already the result of Tang Zhao deliberately controlling the range of the move. If he hadn't controlled it, even if the people in the stands were Sword Guests, few would have survived.

Although it wouldn't be a wrongful killing to wipe out everyone in the stands, Tang Zhao did not engage in such indiscriminate slaughter.

"Is it over?"

Because Jiang Shenyi was protected behind the Golden Tiger, he was not greatly affected, but he still could not look directly at the sky. He covered his eyes with his hand and asked, "That Gui Rong should be dead, right?"

The Golden Tiger looked up at the sky. It was naturally not disturbed by the light, and even Zheng Yun, whom it possessed, was not afraid of light. It said, "That kid should be dead, but to say it's over is not necessarily true. It might have just begun."

Jiang Shenyi couldn't help but say, "It's not over even after death? The battles of Sword Guests are too ridiculous. How else could it begin?"

At this moment, he heard someone call him: "Jiang, it's time to go."

Jiang Shenyi turned his head and saw the white fox signaling to him; he was stunned for a moment and said, "Leaving now?"

Beside the white fox, Wei Zhangle, Aqin, and Wei Se had all gathered; although most of them were worried, they were still prepared to set out according to the plan.

This was a matter decided long ago.

"Of course, don't forget the most important reason we came here today. As for the battle, just trust Tang Zhao."

At this time, the brilliance gradually extinguished, revealing a pale white sky.

The sky was a sheet of white, vast and empty, a completely pure world, almost devoid of any foreign objects.

Underfoot, the spectator stand had been scorched and cracked. A group of people with singed hair and beards were climbing up from beneath their seats.

The ground bulged and surged as ten enormous heads emerged from the Shadow—these were the Wangliang warriors; they had undoubtedly been scorched away just moments ago, with not even dregs left behind, but now that the light had just extinguished, they had actually crawled out again, for they were immortal and indestructible.

Tang Zhao floated in mid-air, and behind him were also ten enormous heads, which were ten tiger heads. The bodies of the Golden Tiger were nearing extinction, but their heads were still roaring behind him, as if ten suns had been added to the sky.

Everything seemed to have returned to tranquility.

Until...

A Sword Light rose from the Void, as if appearing out of thin air.

The moment it appeared, its light chilled the firmament!

"Sword Technique—Life and Death Reincarnation!"

The Sword Light swept across, sweeping past the Golden Tiger, sweeping past the Wangliang warriors, and sweeping past Tang Zhao!

Gui Rong's sword had finally been unsheathed!