Chapter 653

Following a gesture from Tang Zhao, countless rays of brilliance gathered toward his body!

He was like a man who had been thirsty for three days drinking water by a river; at first, he swallowed in large gulps, but later it was as if the giant Kuafu had drunk the great river dry, like a whale swallowing the sea. The intangible and formless light, like a stream of water, swirled and condensed upon his body and his sword.

A moment ago, Dazai had felt that it was likely impossible for there to be light as brilliant as the moment the Jinwu Sword was born, but at this time, the light before his eyes climbed step by step, its brightness gradually ascending once more toward that impossible peak.

It was like this again!

Dazai turned his head away, using flowing Qi to cover his eyes to avoid the light, and shook his head, even showing a hint of disdain.

All he knows is how to use light to dazzle people; is this not just a donkey at the end of its tether?

When he had been frightened by the momentum of the Jinwu Sword just moments ago, he certainly had not dared to feel such disdain.

The reason he was not facing a formidable enemy was that he had perceived that although Tang Zhao's gathering of light this time was bright and dazzling, and very intimidating, it was truly not powerful enough.

It was not to say there was no power; as the light condensed, vast amounts of Qi gathered toward Tang Zhao, and the stronger the brightness, the stronger the power. It soon exceeded the intensity that an ordinary Sword Hero should possess.

But this was only "powerful" measured by the standard of a Sword Hero, and compared to the might of the Jinwu Sword's birth—which truly resembled the sun rising from the flat earth—this power was too "Mortal."

It was merely a quantitative change within the realm of a Sword Hero; it could not break through that boundary.

Tang Zhao's momentum at this moment finally stabilized to a level not much different from Dazai's, surpassing an ordinary Sword Hero. Facing each other in a standoff, one could at least not tell the difference in strength for the time being.

This was the first time Tang Zhao had seen him in this state, which was so vastly different from that refined old man, and he could not help but let out a soft hiss.

But if the upper and lower rivers were not of the same width, it would be very strange.

"Sword Momentum—"

In fact, when it saw Tang Zhao from afar, its impression was the same as Dazai's—this must be the successor chosen by Jinwu.

Tang Zhao started with the momentum of a Sword Hero, and the Qi he gathered was also that of a Sword Hero.

A mere Sword Hero.

Dazai looked at him, suddenly raised his hands and clapped, applauding very sincerely: "Good, very good. Although it is external force, for a Sword Hero like you to master such vast power without losing control, you are already stronger than many veteran Sword Heroes. Compared to you, their years might as well have been lived in vain."

The reason an Immortal is an Immortal is that they are fundamentally different from Mortals. Dazai could, of course, disdain an ordinary Sword Hero.

But the one wielding the sword here was Tang Zhao, that was all.

Following his shout, the black cloak on his body moved without wind, drifting outward, revealing his shocking appearance.

It was a pity, however, that the Qi here was limited. Tang Zhao was extracting the Qi from within the Time Barrier, not involving the vast sea of light outside, which undoubtedly limited the power he could obtain. In the end, it was impossible to make the Jinwu Sword return to its prime—to truly recover, it would likely require both Jinwu and Destruction to be thrown in, and at least before the barrier dissipated, this was impossible.

In the end, the temperature was also a bit too high; the rise in temperature even exceeded the brightness. Previously, when Jinwu descended, there had been no such terrifying high temperature. The temperature gradually climbed to a point where even Dazai, despite being at a distance, could not bear it.

However, one still had to give some face to Shine.

The water level where the stream was higher than the ground turned into a trapezoid or an inverted triangle, yet it did not collapse and continued to flow as usual, which could be called horrifying.

Therefore, Dazai finally decided to make a move to end this dangerous accumulation.

That was the prototype of a Sword Pill.

But Tang Zhao had nothing of the sort here; it seemed as if there were truly an ocean inside his body, and thousands of rivers flowed into it without the water level rising in the slightest.

Furthermore, the rivers were not just superimposing one, but one pressing on another, one stacked on another, stacked until the water surface looked like a stack of crooked books, twisted and tangled; looking at it for a long time, one would simply doubt their own understanding of "water."

Dazai easily saw through the essence of Tang Zhao's condensed brilliance: it was merely gathering Qi. Although the Jinwu Sword had descended again, all the Sword Essence condensed back then had dissipated; it was an infant crying out to be fed, and despite its loud crying just now, it was actually extremely hungry and now had to eat the "eggshell" left behind by Jinwu to gain vitality.

If Jinwu were truly here, even if the Jinwu Sword only recovered one or two tenths, it would be a huge help, like a puzzle obtaining a complete, large piece, perhaps allowing it to leap up and suppress its peers.

However, there was a small disharmony in that scene which made Dazai feel confident, like a dark cloud floating in a clear sky.

"But, you don't think you can fight me with this, do you? You are truly too naive. Do you know what the biggest difference between a Sword Immortal and a Sword Hero is?"

If mountains stacking on mountains was just a combination of shapes, then water stacking on water was a great challenge to one's understanding. A river pressed on top of another river; originally, water could merge with water, and one could not tell if they were overlapping, at most feeling that the river's surface was higher than the ground, which was a bit strange.

But Zheng Yun could not bear to see Tang Zhao in danger and had to speak cautiously.

Seeing such a young Sword Hero, Dazai was a bit surprised, but at the same time, he felt relieved.

Just like Yingyuan, shadows that originally had no mass stacked until they gained mass. And by the time they stacked to the end, they were already on the verge of exploding; of course, it wouldn't go that far here, but there should have been a qualitative change point.

Tang Zhao looked at him quietly, knowing that his words were not an expression of appreciation, but that there was a "but."

Regarding this, it felt slightly displeased; after all, Shine had chosen a successor without consulting it, and it felt suppressed by Jinwu again, but it also harbored some expectations:

That was that the speed of gathering Qi was truly too fast, and it was getting faster and faster.

This connection of mountains was not the undulation of hills on a plane, but a vertical connection. The mountains were stacked together like an acrobat troupe; each mountain was very high, one peak stacked on another, as if strung together like candied haws, stacking all the way up to the blue sky.

However, those were not ordinary mountains and rivers, but mountains connected to mountains, and rivers following rivers.

Just at this moment, Tang Zhao's gathering of Qi stopped.

Zheng Yun, who was beside him, felt guilty because he had offended it earlier and was now under its protection. At this moment, he wanted to instinctively flatter it a few times, but he still couldn't help but say: "Your Highness, why don't you hurry and save Tang Zhao? Although he is not weak, he cannot compare to that old monster, right? If you are late, he will be in danger. And the Jinwu Sword will also be defiled by the enemy."

Could it be that it was deliberately refusing to save him? Zheng Yun felt that Jinwu could not do such a thing, but Destruction might not be above it.

Shine's discernment was not poor, and since it valued this child so much, he must have some extraordinary qualities, right?

If he had no extraordinary qualities, then wanting to be Jinwu's successor would be too overestimating his own capabilities.

He saw clearly that although the strange progress inside was fast and it would take time to rush over from the outside, Destruction was not rushing rapidly either, but had stopped in one place, clearly watching.

Moreover, having absorbed so much power, a huge energy core had not appeared around Tang Zhao.

Not to mention that at the current speed of gathering Qi, Tang Zhao could not collect enough power to approach Dazai, but even if he did collect it, and even exceeded Dazai in quantity, so what?

So it said to Zheng Yun: "Don't worry, I won't let him die. If he is truly powerless, I will naturally save him."

The green mountains were towering, the river water was surging, and the river flowed endlessly around the mountains.

"What is this? I thought he would pull out some great momentum like 'the world's common people' or 'ten thousand people one heart' to live up to his big talk, always opening his mouth about the common people and the masses, and it turns out to be this? This is... superposition, right? The rules are clear at a glance, but it really is crude. Just this level? I heard he is still very powerful in the Human World?"

At first, one could still see Tang Zhao using the Jinwu Sword as a guide, working hard to absorb power, but later, he was like an unfathomable Black Hole; wherever he was, there was a natural gravitational pull, and those rays of light acted as if they had grown legs and actively rushed toward that side.

Those were great mountains and great rivers.

The overlapping peaks became literal here.

Outside the Time Barrier, there was still a vast sea of light, but inside the barrier, it was an ordinary place, neither Yinglang nor void, just a very normal space.

Strictly speaking, he could be considered a Sword Hero, but he was different from ordinary Sword Heroes. He was already standing on the threshold of another realm, a realm that ninety-nine percent of Sword Heroes could not even see.

Destruction said: "No rush. I want to see what kind of means the child that Shine specifically asked me to look after actually has."

By the Dazai's estimation, recovering one or two percent would be remarkable.

Tang Zhao was one thing, but Hui Mie, who saw this scene from afar outside the barrier, managed to discern the trick; although the flow of time was different and the movements inside appeared as a blur of afterimages, the unfolding Momentum was static and its scale vast, allowing it to see some clues.

This counted as a small benefit for the Dazai; without those damned rays of light, his field of vision was greatly cleared, and he could finally use his sight normally.

Clearly, Tang Zhao had already collected his share of the power to the fullest extent. He could not collect any further outward, nor would he.

Energy also requires containment, and if the container is ignored, it will naturally overflow. Even if the capacity of the Jinwu Sword were infinite, the energy must still be collected, digested, and converted; at such a rate of devouring, it would be impossible for even the Jinwu Sword to digest it all, inevitably forming a temporary point of accumulation where the speed increases and energy piles up, even appearing as a distinct liquid or solid core.

Immediately following, a different scene suddenly appeared in the Void, surrounding them like a new world.

Merely a Sword Hero.

Yes. Inside the room, the Dazai had not been able to discern Tang Zhao's realm, even guessing that he was not yet a Sword Guest, but once he began to act, it could no longer be hidden.

The Dazai also did not know if he had reached his limit and was forced to stop, or if he still had an appetite—the surrounding light had been almost entirely drained.

Hmph, time, how could time ever contend with destruction?

At this moment, Tang Zhao finally saw the Momentum clearly; although he could not name the Sword Momentum in one breath like Hui Mie, he had an idea in his heart, and revealing a different side beyond that of a gentle, composed, and handsome youth, he smiled slightly: "Is this it? Is this all there is to this so-called Sword Momentum?"

"Passing off fish eyes as pearls? Who do you think hasn't seen a Sword Momentum before? This fake Sword Momentum of yours should touch a real Sword Momentum to reveal its true form."