Chapter 657: The Final Sword

What does ultimate brightness signify?

Getting to the root of it, perhaps even Tang Zhao does not know the answer, but the Dazai now feels he knows.

Ultimate brightness signifies, besides ultimate luminosity, ultimate energy, and ultimate scorching heat, also...

Ultimate desirability.

That place of brightness is a place that so many people yearn for!

The Dazai certainly does not yearn for it; in this world, apart from the Sword Immortal realm, there is actually nothing else that makes him yearn. Even the legendary great cause of restoring the nation is the same—it is merely something that is better to have, but no matter if it is missing.

But others yearn for it.

The heart of the Dazai and the hearts of the common people are, in the end, going in opposite directions.

He only feels the common people who have returned to him stirring restlessly, as if they want to actively escape and head toward the source of light above his head.

This simply violates the rules; how can the common people within him want to flee?

Should they not belong to him forever?

The hearts of the common people only need to change emotions for him to experience in ordinary times; they do not need to do anything actively!

This stirs up bad memories for the Dazai, making him recall the day the capital fell, the moment when trusted friends and subordinate commoners scrambled to scatter like birds and beasts.

At that time, he truly perceived that the great building was about to collapse, that he was powerless to save the situation, and his heart was filled with despair.

Although the Dazai does not feel he has reached a desperate situation yet, the intent of the living beings within him to escape and betray him makes him relive in an instant what it means to be deserted by all.

How has it come to this point again?

Originally possessing a million, yet losing them all within a day, leaving only a mere hundred; are these hundred also going to leave him?

How can one sit and wait for death?

The Dazai lets out a roar at this moment, and from beneath his black cloak, he draws a sword.

Only at this moment does he truly draw his sword.

At his realm, usually with a Sword Image at his side, even releasing Sword Momentum only requires a shift of his heart, and once the Sword Image emerges, enemies naturally crumble. He has not truly drawn his sword for a long time, but when faced with a desperate situation, he draws his sword once again, just like the moment he first became a Sword Guest.

When he draws his sword, his heart suddenly settles.

Without further circulating the hundred people within him, the Dazai's face truly fixes, turning into that of a normal person—his original appearance—and his sword also glimmers with cold light, like a segment of green rainbow; it is a normal sword.

"Superposition—

Bone, Blood, Qi, Spirit!"

He no longer superimposes others, but superimposes himself.

His Spirit, his Qi and blood, his courage, his boldness, his wisdom...

Exhausting all he has, he presses all the abilities and merits still remaining in him onto himself!

Then, he performs the superposition through the Sword Momentum that is suppressed by the Jinwu but still retained!

A hundredfold, a thousandfold, he presses it on!

At a certain moment, the Dazai seems to want to press the remaining one hundred people on as well, but this momentary thought is quickly extinguished—

This is his strongest sword strike, the first Sword Technique he realized when he became a Sword Hero; in this Sword Technique, he himself is the most perfect, with no room for others to be mixed in.

Superposition complete—

Sword out!

Within the domain of the Shine, suddenly a sword strike appears like a White Rainbow Piercing the Sun!

This thunderous sword strike rushes out of the encirclement, cutting an opening even in the light.

Suddenly, this sword strike, with unstoppable momentum, points directly at Tang Zhao, who stands in the light like Dongjun.

"It comes!"

Tang Zhao, in the light, has already seen this sword strike heading straight for him.

The comer is not friendly.

He is somewhat surprised, but not too surprised.

The Shine of the Jinwu is so powerful that it should not be broken through, but for a person like the Dazai, how could he sit and wait for death in a desperate situation? To break through a mortal trap with a desperate strike—how can that be called unreasonable?

Then... sword against sword!

Tang Zhao does not dodge; he also holds his sword and descends, the sword bringing forth a sheet of brightness, golden light emerging from the tip to the sides of the blade, like rapidly rubbed-off electric sparks.

The electric sparks grow larger and brighter, emitting a booming sound; that booming sound sounds like Chirping.

The Jinwu Chirping!

Following the sound of the Chirping, a phantom of the Jinwu appears behind the sword; that is not a Sword Image, merely a shadow condensed from the light of the Jinwu Sword. This is an anomaly born from this Sword Technique.

The giant Jinwu stretches its feathers, becoming increasingly solid, covering Tang Zhao's figure; at this moment, there is no user of the Jinwu Sword, only the Jinwu Sword!

Slash!

The Jinwu and the Dazai's figure intersect in the air; light and Qi meet on a narrow path at this moment!

The golden light of the falling stars meets the hundredfold superimposed power of a top-tier Sword Hero of the Human World; that moment is truly a meeting of equals!

Rip—

The light of the Jinwu is severed by the incoming sword strike, eventually dissipating into light, revealing Tang Zhao's focused and calm expression.

At the same time, the Dazai's figure also freezes.

His sword meets the blade of the Jinwu Sword, actually forming a momentary standoff.

The next moment, a shattering sound rings out.

The Dazai's sword cracks with a large opening, from which black liquid flows out, just like the color of his cloak.

The sword shatters...

A meeting of equals does not mean an even match.

In the end, there is a victor and a loser.

Immediately following this, the Dazai flew backward, spitting out a small mouthful of blood in mid-air.

It was only a small mouthful; Tang Zhao remained unmoved in place, the tip of his sword lit up, and a tiny Little Golden Crow flew out from the blade, chasing after the Dazai.

Press the advantage!

In the sword clash just now, the Jinwu Sword had still won.

Tang Zhao knew that it was not he who had won, but the Jinwu Sword. This was a true Immortal Sword, and it possessed power at the level of a Sword Immortal.

Even though two Sword Intents were still wandering outside and the Golden Crow had not yet reached its full prime, it was enough.

Although the power within this barrier had been hollowed out by Tang Zhao, the Jinwu Sword had other power to supplement it—the Little Golden Crow brought by Zheng Yun. That Golden Crow, brought out from Caiyun Gui, possessed pure Golden Crow power and was just right to be cast into the Jinwu Sword. Although this portion of power was not worth mentioning when the Jinwu Sword was in its prime, it was still the power of a Sword Immortal, and it was fundamentally different from the Sword Essence of a Sword Hero.

Without the Jinwu Sword, this portion of power would just be purely suppressing others with force, but with the Jinwu Sword here, this power was sufficient to support powerful Sword Momentum and Sword Technique, possessing a few traces of the demeanor of Ju Dongjun wielding the sword back in the day.

Tang Zhao was not surprised that he could win, but he was surprised that the Dazai had only lost by a small margin.

Of course it was a small loss; the sword cracked—even if the sword cracked, it was still a small loss, wasn't the person perfectly fine?

So what if he spat blood? Look, he was still running away as if nothing had happened!

Tang Zhao naturally would not play at "do not pursue a desperate foe"; because of his own body, he had received some counter-shock from the previous battle and had to slow down for a moment, but he still had the remaining strength to release a Golden Crow to pursue and kill. However, the Dazai's speed was truly not slow; it was not a bit inferior to the Golden Crow flying while carrying light.

In mid-air, the Dazai could still look back at Tang Zhao with hatred; at this moment, although he was disheveled, he had a fierce streak, his features were ferocious, and he did not look as aged as before. He shouted loudly, "It is my sword that is inferior to yours, not that I am inferior to you! It is not a crime of battle, little thief, do not be smug!"

Tang Zhao adjusted himself, then followed with his sword, saying, "You lost, didn't you?"

The Dazai was furious; just as he was turning his head to curse, he suddenly felt a familiar aura rushing toward his face. He hurriedly turned his head back and saw a dark golden giant bird already before his eyes.

It was Destruction!

That giant bird had crossed that barrier at some unknown time, arriving faster than expected!

Although the giant bird had no expression and no particular malice or killing intent could be seen, the Dazai had already smelled the scent of his own death.

Tang Zhao also saw it from behind and paused slightly.

Although it looked like a Golden Crow, Tang Zhao knew it was not a Golden Crow, and he quickly deduced the other party's identity—

Destruction!

After deducing this, Tang Zhao hesitated slightly and remained cautious.

After he arrived at Yingyuan, he had seen with his own eyes the entanglement between Destruction and Wangliang, seen Destruction being eroded by Yingyuan, and now he also saw the black marks on the giant bird that still maintained the appearance of a Golden Crow, just like smudged ink stains.

Destruction had indeed been polluted, and Tang Zhao knew nothing about what had happened in the Waijie; he could not confirm Destruction's temperament or even its stance, so he remained cautious and paused for a moment.

He wanted to see how Destruction would treat the Dazai who was crashing into it.

It couldn't be here to meet him, could it?

At this moment, he saw Destruction wave a wing, swatting at the Dazai like swatting a fly.

That kind of power was exactly the same as the Destruction Power in Myriad Phenomena Shining!

Boom!

He saw the Dazai explode out of thin air.

It was not an explosion of blood and severed limbs, but an explosion into a pile of human shadows.

One person was beaten into hundreds of people.

These were the last remaining hundreds of people; they were probably all here.

Most of these human shadows were shredded in the power of Destruction, not even leaving a residue, but there were still some who slipped through the net.

As these human shadows fled outward, shuttling through the bursting Golden Crow power, there were fewer and fewer people, and in the end, only one escaped.

No need to ask, that was the Dazai's true body.

Finally, only one person remained.

Destruction could not help but show satisfaction; it had also been disgusted by the Dazai's infinite resurrection for a long time, and said, "Now that you are going to die, you are truly dead, right? You can't even die when you want to, and there are more of you than cockroaches; it is truly disgusting."

The Dazai's final true body stood in the light, holding his broken sword, looking exceptionally disheveled, his gaze filled with anger and hatred.

However, Tang Zhao felt it was a bit strange; he seemed to be missing a bit of emotion.

As an emotion before death, it seemed insufficient.

Could it be that he still had...

The Dazai roared, "I will be back!"

Tang Zhao said at the same time, "He is going to run!"

However, it was already too late; a blue vortex suddenly appeared behind the Dazai, resembling the shape of a turtle shell; that was exactly the large-scale teleportation gate used by the Turtle Bandits.

Almost the moment the teleportation gate appeared, the Dazai made no extra movements, leaned back, and fell into the teleportation gate in a posture of toppling over. The next instant, the teleportation gate had already closed; those with poor eyesight could only see a flash of blue light, and the Dazai had disappeared into thin air.

"Tch—"

Seeing this scene, Tang Zhao could only sneer in annoyance, but he did not find it strange—the Turtle Bandits were like this; if nothing else, they were very good at running away. Although ordinary people had to rely on long-prepared teleportation arrays, this old man had a high status and certainly had a life-saving method unique to him.

However, the Dazai's sword was cracked, all his lives had been exhausted, ninety-nine percent of his strength was gone, and the Wangliang Mountain plan he was presiding over had also failed miserably; fleeing back to his lair all alone, it was unknown if this Dazai could still hold his position securely.

Destruction only hummed when it saw him flee for his life, quickly shifted its attention, turned to look at Tang Zhao, waved the wing that had just scattered the Dazai, and said, "You child, come over here and let me look at you."