Chapter 652

Dazai was submerged by light in an instant.

He was too close to the birth of the Jinwu Sword; he was reduced to ashes in almost a heartbeat.

Fortunately, this body was merely a Spirit Image he had separated; Dazai's true self was at a distance, leaving a buffer.

But the light came too fast, and the crisis arrived in a flash; he instinctively used the Spirit Image of the living people on his body to resist the damage.

But immediately after, he knew something was wrong—the consumption of the living people was too fast.

The sheer quantity wasted was not the problem, but the living people were being consumed quickly while the replenishment speed was slow, insufficient to isolate the damage. In the blink of an eye, that unimaginable energy of intense light was imminent.

No, he must withstand this wave!

Dazai understood Sword Casting, so he knew that the energy of a sword when it first leaves the furnace is extremely powerful, and it could even be said to be the strongest strike a Sword Guest can unleash before becoming a Sword Hero.

This refers to a new sword.

A sword without a Sword Guest, without Sword Intent, and without Sword Image can still erupt with such power, so what about a sword that is a leader even among Immortal Swords?

One must know that the Jinwu Sword was once one of the four great Pillars supporting the Sun Domain; although no one ranked these swords, almost everyone in their hearts ranked the Jinwu Sword first.

At least among Immortal Swords, no one dared to say who could be ranked ahead of Jinwu.

Even though the Jinwu Sword perished together with the enemy for the sake of Suiyu and was almost split into three, the Shining Jinwu and the Destroying Jinwu still possessed the power of a top-tier Sword Immortal.

Then, once this sword returned complete, how terrifying would the power released in one breath be?

Could ordinary means defend against it?

Dazai immediately shouted: "Heaven gives birth to ten thousand people!"

Ten thousand people give birth to me!

Countless shadows no longer emerged one by one, layer by layer, or pile by pile, but countless scattered together and condensed onto his body.

Countless living people, countless life forces, all in his one body!

He was the incarnation of the masses!

At this moment, he was already an immortal body, desperately pushing against the sunlight to rush outward.

No sooner said than done.

Almost in an instant, Dazai had rushed far away, charging forward all the way, his speed almost leaving the light behind.

He only knew to stay away from that Sword Furnace, rushing too fiercely, and being in the endless sea of light, to the point that he lost his direction; he only felt his life force first flowing away rapidly, consuming his years of accumulation layer by layer, but gradually the consumption slowed down, and finally, it even stopped.

It's almost over!

This wave has been withstood!

Although the intensity of this explosion was extraordinary, the eruption did not actually last that long, and there was no continuous follow-up.

Dazai breathed a sigh of relief and immediately came to a sudden stop.

It was not just that he didn't need to run; he couldn't run either.

He saw a shadow just inches away.

That was Destruction. It was rushing over.

Dazai had already moved far away from the Sword Furnace and had run to the Time Boundary.

If he ran a few more steps and exited the barrier of time, he would immediately run into the eyes of Destruction.

That would truly be throwing oneself into the jaws of hell.

Dazai turned his head, smiled somewhat self-deprecatingly, and then settled down again.

He could not run forward, and indeed, there was no need to run.

The explosion just now was indeed powerful, enough to allow one to catch a glimpse of the style of the Jinwu Sword in its prime, but it was only a fleeting glance.

A sword only has spontaneous power the moment it leaves the furnace; at all other times, it is controlled by the hands of the Sword Guest.

Now that the Jinwu Sword has returned, where is Dongjun?

Without Dongjun, what can the Jinwu Sword accomplish?

At least within the barrier, without the help of Jinwu and Destruction, if the Jinwu Sword falls into the hands of a child, isn't it just an oversized toy?

That youth is indeed not bad, but he is not the Sword Guest of the Jinwu Sword; why should he be as fearsome as a Sword Immortal?

Moreover, after Dazai rushed out and calmed down, he already understood a little why the Jinwu Sword had left the furnace early. It could only be said that the youth was very bold, having both courage and knowledge, but unfortunately, he still had nothing to do with real strength.

One can only say: "The future is promising."

Previously, he had thought about keeping the Jinwu Sword in a state of not having left the furnace, deciding the future himself and using it as a bargaining chip, but after being stirred up by the youth, the Jinwu Sword had already left the furnace; there was no other way, he could only use the finished Jinwu Sword as a bargaining chip.

That youth himself could also serve as a bonus. However, he did not know if he was worth anything to the Jinwu side.

Adapt to circumstances; who knows if this change is a blessing or a curse?

Thinking this, he swaggered back to actively look for that youth.

At this time, sure enough, that power had already calmed down, only that Sword Furnace was gone, having long been razed to the ground.

This was also normal; it made no sense for Dazai, this sub-immortal, to flee in a panic, while that mere brick house could be preserved, right?

Dazai walked halfway and happened to meet Tang Zhao.

Tang Zhao held the Jinwu Sword and was about to leave the barrier to do his proper business; one entering and one exiting, the two met on a narrow path halfway.

At the first sight of Tang Zhao holding that sword made of sunlight, walking out of the light and coming before him, Dazai was slightly dazed:

He thought he had seen Dongjun.

According to his age, when Dongjun fell, he already had a certain amount of strength and status. But that bit of status was worlds apart from Dongjun, so he had never met Ju Dongjun.

But he had heard too many legends of Dongjun; it could be said he heard them from childhood to adulthood.

In the legends, Dongjun was a celestial being descended to earth, perfect and flawless; not only was his strength powerful enough to rival the sun in the sky, but his appearance, temperament, and knowledge... all qualities were impeccable.

If it were now, Dazai would definitely laugh off such a figure, thinking it was either bragging to create a god or that he was hypocritical, appearing virtuous while being false; however, being young at the time, he had truly believed it.

If he said it out loud, Jinwu would not believe it, but back then, Dazai had worshipped the Jinwu Sword, and had even imagined the celestial qualities of Dongjun with a group of worshippers, and had even shed tears when he heard of Dongjun's fall.

Later, the Great Jin revered Dongjun and built countless Dongjun Temples; Dazai had even visited a few, including the one in the old capital that claimed to be the largest in the world and enshrined the relics of Dongjun, the "Dongjun Dao Palace." After seeing it, he sneered in his heart: a puppet dynasty is a puppet dynasty; the Dongjun they shaped was oily-faced and powdered, simply a pretty boy, with no divine charm to speak of.

Yet, the Dongjun he belittled, which had been shaped by the Jin Dynasty, made him wonder what Dongjun actually looked like, but he could not imagine it; he could not imagine it when he was young, and as his imagination declined in his old age, he could imagine it even less.

But the moment Tang Zhao walked out of the light with the Jinwu Sword just now, he truly thought he had seen Dongjun; the Dongjun of his imagination, if it were to descend, would probably look just like this.

In fact, Dazai did not know it himself, but he had seen Dongjun. The human form that Jinwu had taken outside earlier was Ju Dongjun; Destruction was quite unhappy that Jinwu had monopolized the image of Ju Dongjun, but Dazai did not recognize it and did not realize that it was the very Immortal he had worshipped.

Likewise, he had just seen Tang Zhao casting the sword in front of the Sword Furnace; at that time, he had praised Tang Zhao's appearance, but he had similarly not connected him to Dongjun.

Now, however, he was dazed.

Why?

Perhaps what was missing was that golden, radiant Jinwu Sword?

The appearance of the sun, supreme elegance, plus that Jinwu Sword... that was the legendary Dongjun; anything else was not.

However, after his daze, he also discovered a small flaw: Tang Zhao at this moment was still very weak and exhausted.

Although there was golden light to cover it, Dazai could still see that Tang Zhao was truly weak, his complexion somewhat pale, as if he had just recovered from a great illness.

He looked at Tang Zhao, and Tang Zhao looked at him; his expression no longer held the previous tension and guilt, but instead, his composure was filled with high spirits, and standing opposite with the sword, he did not lose a shred of Momentum.

Even with the Jinwu Sword in hand, he was actually a cut above.

Dazai's expression was somewhat complex as he said, "So that is it, it is time."

"My judgment was not wrong; the Jinwu Sword was originally an hour away from being finished, but you changed the time."

How exactly he changed it, and how he used those methods right before his eyes without a sound, Dazai certainly could not know entirely, but he knew that Tang Zhao possessed methods to manipulate time.

In fact, when he passed through the Time Barrier, he realized that the time on both sides was different and should have been wary of the opponent's methods in this regard, but he had let Tang Zhao pull the wool over his eyes. Perhaps it was because the Dao of time was too niche, and Dazai did not have this option in his subconscious, so he was negligent.

This was also an oversight born of his overconfidence.

Tang Zhao praised him, "Good eye."

Since Dazai had guessed correctly, he would not deny it, but he could not possibly explain his methods in detail to this enemy.

If Dazai did not understand how Tang Zhao changed time right under his nose, then let him remain confused.

One could hardly tell him clearly that Tang Zhao's method was very simple, and that he only needed to open the Time Jar, right?

Just when he opened the Time Jar to get tea leaves for that uninvited guest who came to ask for tea, Tang Zhao released his only remaining reserve of time.

Tang Zhao's sword itself did not involve time, at least not for now, so his method of using time was very crude; he only knew the action of releasing the reserve, and he did not even know how to retract it.

The only way to manipulate it was to adjust the range covered by the time, which Ping Jiangqiu had specifically taught him.

So, all Tang Zhao could do was let the extra hour shroud the sword, and bring Dazai to the table in the visual blind spot to drink tea, chatting about this and that to divert his attention so that he would not discover the clues.

The only problem was that during this critical period of the sword's formation, the Sword Essence could not be cut off.

But in order not to arouse suspicion, Tang Zhao could not stay inside the Time Barrier, so he had to input the Sword Essence from the Waijie. That is to say, he had to input the Sword Essence needed for an hour almost in an instant.

Even though Tang Zhao had obtained a large amount of Sword Essence these days thanks to Jinwu's intentional gifts, and had risen a level higher than before the sword casting, this instantaneous, stormy output was enough to hollow him out. So when Dazai saw him looking weak, it was truly weak, truly tired.

Such a desperate gamble finally succeeded, and the only regret was not taking Dazai out with the wave of the Jinwu Sword's emergence. Now Tang Zhao had to use his own strength.

Oh, it was not entirely his own strength either.

Although Dazai had not figured it all out, he had guessed a few things and sighed, "Truly, a hero emerges from the youth. I truly admire you. How about this: if you hand the Jinwu Sword to me, I can let you go, even if you do not serve the Great Wei, it does not matter. To leave unscathed, this is a gift I give you."

Tang Zhao laughed in spite of himself and said, "You want to let me go, but do you not know that I do not want to let you go yet? Stay, Turtle Bandit!"

Hearing the words "Turtle Bandit," Dazai's face sank, and he said, "You do not know what is good for you. Do you think I cannot see through your little tricks? You can release the Time Barrier, but you cannot retract it, can you?"

He had guessed right!

The old fellow had some tricks up his sleeve.

"So as long as I do not leave the barrier, time will not change. Although you have an extra sword, your situation has not improved, and the reinforcements outside cannot come in to help you. It is still just the two of us here; thanks to you, we saved an hour of sword-casting time. I still have two hours to play with you. Come, you deceived me once, you must pay the price."

Tang Zhao knew he was right; now he could not take back the time he had thrown out, and Jinwu could not return for a while, so it could only be a one-on-one between him and Dazai.

Dazai was strong, stronger than him. Tang Zhao had already sensed it.

However, he was not afraid and said, "Jinwu Dianxia said that after the Jinwu Sword is born, all the light here belongs to me. The situation is urgent, so I will not be polite. Light, come—"