Chapter 649: Watching the Furnace

The Dazai bypassed Zheng Yun, used a move of "the golden cicada shedding its shell" to shake off Destruction, and dashed rapidly toward the depths of the radiance.

This speed truly exceeded his usual pace; the reason for such a burst was both due to coercion and temptation.

The coercion was that Destruction was about to catch up from behind, and its speed was absolutely ridiculously fast; he still had means to maneuver outside, but in this light, it was simply someone else's territory, so it was better not to court disaster.

And as for the temptation...

After being blocked by Zheng Yun like this, he became even more excited, having a feeling that he was truly about to strike it rich.

The better the item, the more people snatch it and the more people guard it; this is only natural. There are even treasure-guarding boys risking their lives, so how could it be inferior goods?

He never expected that he could even steal the nest of the Golden Crow.

As he fled, suddenly, the Dazai felt a trace of strangeness.

This trace of strangeness was something only he could perceive; at a certain moment, the faces flowing on his body stopped.

This seemed to make him turn into a normal person for a moment, possessing a normal appearance, but to him, it was extremely abnormal.

Ever since he reached the peak of a Sword Hero and even glimpsed that threshold, the strange phenomena on his body had flowed day and night, never stopping. He himself had no way to shake them off, to the point that he covered his body with a black robe all day long.

Perhaps only by ascending to that realm himself could he change his state at will, break free from this "monster" form, and be a Sword Immortal who shows his face to the world.

But just in that moment ago, this flow had stopped.

An instant, it was truly just an instant. He had obtained a moment of normalcy.

The next moment, that change began again, and he started to deform once more, as if what had just happened was merely an illusion.

But he alone knew that this was no illusion.

There truly was a power capable of pausing his mutation, yet he had not felt himself being eroded by any other force.

Then why was that?

There was only one answer, and that was time.

Just a moment ago, or rather in that inch of space, time was in disarray. He had fallen into a momentary stillness, and all actions ceased to occur.

It was a rule involving time!

The Dazai truly wanted to laugh out loud: if he had been ninety-nine percent certain just a moment ago that his harvest this trip would be substantial, then his certainty now was one hundred percent!

Could there be any power more powerful or more mysterious than time?

Any resource that even slightly touches upon time cannot be described by a sky-high price.

Moreover, the fact that the stillness and somewhat rigid rule change just now indicated that what was involved in affecting time was not some Sword Immortal or Sword Hero, but more likely an external Dharma Artifact.

The value of this Dharma Artifact alone was immeasurable, not to mention that this Dharma Artifact was clearly an auxiliary, possibly protecting some kind of existence. Then what kind of treasure was being protected by the rules of time?

Something more precious than time!

Just thinking about it made his heart race.

No wonder... no wonder the Golden Crow had taken the initiative to appear at the very beginning, coming outside the light to meet everyone, not giving anyone a chance to step into the light; no wonder it spoke in a slow and measured way, not getting angry at all, and even chatting about boring topics to stall everyone—it turned out it was to protect the things inside.

Then let me see, what kind of treasure is it exactly?

Sure enough, he walked forward with a hopeful mood and soon saw a building.

In the light, there was actually a building; this must be the destination.

The building did not look like a crudely built temporary shed, but it was not a magnificent castle or palace either. If it resembled anything, it looked like it was pieced together from building blocks, with large, distributed modules. The final shape was like a...

Furnace?

Originally, he would not have easily associated it with a furnace, but smoke was actually puffing out of that furnace from time to time, looking just like the big chimney of a blacksmith shop.

What was being protected by both light and time was actually a furnace?

Something was still being forged inside the furnace...

Could it be...

Sword Casting?

The Dazai easily thought of the most important forging matter in the world, and immediately became lost in thought.

The sword still being cast at this time was certainly not just any ordinary new sword; the most likely candidate would be the Jinwu Sword, right?!

Legend had it that the Jinwu Sword was broken and split into three, and now only the wreckage remained; could it be that it wanted to be recast at this critical juncture?

With just one glance, the knowledgeable Dazai had already guessed the secret the Golden Crow wanted to protect.

For the sake of caution, he gave a light flick, and a faint shadow of a woman separated from his body, flying along the space toward that high furnace.

Although the high furnace was sealed, there were two small windows on its walls. That female shadow was even thinner than a Phantom and could not possibly attract any attention, just drifting to the window to take a look.

She saw someone casting a sword inside the room.

Seeing the person casting the sword, the Dazai was slightly surprised; it was an extremely young and extremely handsome young man, casting the sword with techniques so skilled they were an art, fully focused, without noticing a single anomaly.

And that sword was in the furnace fire of the sword-casting platform, surrounded by white-gold flames, and one could see a pure golden radiance.

Ordinary swords are dim before being drawn by someone, and only until a successfully matched Sword Guest resonates with it, producing a Sword Image and confirming the Sword Intent, do they have a reborn appearance.

This sword was already shining brilliantly while still in the furnace, which showed it was not a new sword, but a sword that had already been determined being recast.

Looking at this color and this texture, it was undoubtedly that sword.

The Jinwu Sword, ah, it seems...

It is not that precious?

Having obtained the definitive answer, the Dazai was somewhat disappointed for a moment; it was not that the Jinwu Sword was not precious, but that it was useless to him.

A powerful sword certainly has its benefits, but those benefits are not immediate, nor do they act upon himself. If he really obtained this sword, adding a powerhouse to the Great Wei in a few decades or centuries, while worth being happy about, what meaning did it have right before his eyes?

If there was any meaning, it was that even if I don't want it, you all are not allowed to have it.

If this sword could control the Golden Crow and Destruction, that would be somewhat interesting, but that would only be meaningful if he could safely survive this calamity of Yingyuan; it seemed now was not the time to be in a hurry to fall out with the Golden Crows.

Compared to an old sword, he valued the young man casting the sword even more. He was very young, and his demeanor showed he was truly young, yet he was so talented and dared to recast the Jinwu Sword, and the Golden Crow allowed him to cast the sword, which meant his skills were superb and he was trustworthy. It could be said his future was boundless. If such a figure could be pulled into his own camp, it would be very beneficial.

But when he saw the youth's face, he lost hope; for no other reason than that he was too handsome...

Having a good appearance is of course a good thing, and the Dazai was not jealous, but legend had it that the Golden Crow lineage were all handsome youths like Sunlight, and this was likely what they looked like. This was clearly the successor of the Golden Crow, inevitably with a firm stance and abundant resources; what kind of conditions would one have to offer to pull him over?

If one were to accept both the person and the sword, gaining both a powerful individual and a famous sword, that would be a good thing, but it is precisely the difficult part to handle.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly felt something, turned his head abruptly, and saw a golden bird shadow rushing over.

It is Destruction! It has caught up!

However, to say it is rushing over is not accurate, because it is coming...

Too slowly?!

To Dazai, that speed is no different from a snail crawling; it does not move for a long time, as if it is not in a hurry?

Immediately after, he realized what it was: time!

A time difference has formed at a certain node; the time inside and outside is different.

That is to say, despite Destruction coming quickly, it still has at least several hours of time to reach that dividing line and synchronize with him.

Being inside, he is equivalent to having stolen several hours of time.

This time belongs only to him, oh, and that young Sword Smith.

Then...

Previously, he had not realized this point, feeling it was almost impossible to abduct and control a young man right under the noses of Destruction and the Jinwu Sword, so he did not think much about it; naturally, he would not do things without a chance of success.

But, what if he were given several hours to do this?

Wouldn't it be highly likely... no, a sure thing?

He saw that young man just now; he is very young, so his strength cannot be high, and furthermore, he is a Sword Smith, so his strength must have an upper limit. Logically, the successor of Jinwu should not even be a Sword Guest.

Of course, one must be generous when estimating the enemy; what if he is not the successor?

This young man could also be an ally of Jinwu, or a Sword Smith specially brought in by it; to be broader, he could be a genius Sword Guest, or a peerless genius Sword Hero. But in any case, he cannot be a Sword Immortal. Dazai certainly possesses this level of observation. Moreover, logically and reasonably, he cannot be a Sword Immortal. If he were a Sword Immortal, he could help Jinwu more and should be outside, rather than here casting a sword alone.

As long as he is not a Sword Immortal, to Dazai, he is just an ant. There is a distinction between immortals and mortals; he himself is straddling the threshold, and he believes he is leaning more toward the inside, having an essential difference from ordinary Sword Heroes.

Therefore, regarding this young man, he has sufficient confidence; taking him down is not a problem, the problem is the timing.

Should he let the Jinwu Sword come out of the Sword Furnace?

What effect does a complete Jinwu Sword have on Jinwu and the others? Will it strengthen them?

Should he not let it come out, to restrict Jinwu's power?

Or should he let it come out, control it in his hands, and use it to hold Jinwu in check?

Several thoughts turned over in his mind, and Dazai immediately reached a conclusion: neither destroy it nor complete it; it would be best to let both states be possible, so that whether it succeeds or not depends on his own single thought.

Therefore, he must first control this junior.

Control is Dazai's specialty.

He stood in place, yet a person separated from his body.

There was only one person, an elderly man who was aged but still had a vigorous Spirit, with a straight back and a long, beautiful beard; he looked like a scholar and a successful person in a high position.

This was Dazai's original appearance.

This is his Spirit Image; as a superior second only to the Wei Emperor, Dazai is a true genius who originally transitioned from a Spirit Official to a Sword Guest, and he achieved success in both paths. The difficulty of this is unknown to outsiders, but clearly, there are very few successful people in the world, let alone one as successful as him.

Originally, his talent, ability, appearance, and loyalty were all impeccable.

However, nowadays, Dazai can only use his Spirit Image to reproduce his elegant appearance of the past.

Today, he specifically used this appearance, just to avoid scaring this talented young man.

Courtesy first, force later; the Guikou are very good at this.

After the Spirit Image left, Dazai separated several more human figures, each acting on their own. As for his main Spirit Image, he walked steadily to the Sword Furnace and knocked on the door.