Chapter 667: Fragments

Until the explosion occurred, Tang Zhao actually did not understand what had happened.

The eruption of the Shadow looked terrifying, but upon realizing it was a self-detonation, Tang Zhao felt somewhat pleased.

That's right, pleased: the move of self-detonation is only used when one is at the end of their rope. If it were not a Death Struggle, who would use such a tragic method to harm an enemy?

This showed that under the suppression of the Jinwu Sword, the Wangliang had already suffered a mental collapse and reached a dead end.

Originally, if it could have adjusted its mindset in time and fought with a humble posture, it might not have been impossible to find an opportunity to turn the situation around, but self-detonation...

That is not a specialty of the Wangliang.

At this moment, the dust of the Ten Thousand Images had already covered the entire surface of the Wangliang's explosion. It was enough to smother this world-destroying explosion in its cradle.

Perhaps these swords did not have the power to contend with the Wangliang when the Sword Guests were alive, but once the swords left those not-strong-enough Sword Guests and fell into the hands of the Wangliang, they instead unleashed unprecedented power.

When this power fell into the hands of the Jinwu, and through the blessing of the Jinwu's wings, it was fused with the Destruction Power, becoming even more powerful. It was enough to launch a counterattack, acting as a vanguard to block the Wangliang's explosion, already solving more than half the problem.

Tang Zhao even felt that he should recall the Jinwu.

The Jinwu is a Sword Image, and Sword Images also suffer wear and tear; with other swords' free power available, why waste his own power?

Just at the moment he issued the order, he heard a cry of a crow.

A flash before his eyes, and a golden, brilliant shadow blocked his front.

It was the Jinwu!

The Jinwu had flown back on its own!

Tang Zhao had not expected at all that the Jinwu could make its own decisions; he was suddenly pleasantly surprised, yet immediately after, he saw the Jinwu spread its wings, turning into golden light filling the sky to block in front of him.

Is it... shielding me?

There is danger!

Tang Zhao still did not know where the danger came from, but the Jinwu's clear shielding posture let him know that he was likely in mortal danger.

Immediately after, he was surrounded by a sheet of light; brilliant light was everywhere, just like when Jinwu Dianxia had picked him up at the Yingyuan.

If there was any difference, it was that this light was very unstable.

Clearly, the shockwave of the Shadow was far from being able to reach the light, but the light seemed to be under immense pressure, fluctuating incessantly. It was even clearly pierced through more than once, and the Jinwu form, which had remained intact at the beginning, gradually could not be maintained, becoming riddled with holes.

Previously, when the Jinwu was crazily attacked by the shadows of the Yingyuan, it had also been this tattered, but that was because the shadow attacks were too many and too fast, and it could not recover in time, so it was tattered; once the attacks stopped, it could heal automatically. But here, the number of attacks received was clearly not high, yet every time it was attacked, it left behind wounds that could not be healed.

Tang Zhao saw with his own eyes that hole after hole appeared on the Jinwu's body, as if it were drilling into its heart and gouging its Bone.

Clearly, the pierced Jinwu light-shadow was not just injured; it had lost more essential things.

Tang Zhao only felt it was shocking; if the Jinwu did not have a spirit and had not actively blocked this disaster for him, if any of these injuries had hit him, he would also have an extra hole in his body.

If the Jinwu could not recover, he certainly could not recover either.

Thanks to the Jinwu, Tang Zhao was not actually affected, but he felt shock and grief in his heart as he watched the Jinwu being attacked.

Even though that Jinwu Dianxia had left him, she was still shielding him. Just like at the very beginning.

At this moment, Tang Zhao's chest suddenly felt hot.

It was not the feeling of heat when emotions run high, but a true heat, as if a branding iron had suddenly fallen into his bosom.

That is...

No sooner said than done.

After all, this was an explosion; the most powerful force erupted in one go in an instant. From the Jinwu returning to shield Tang Zhao to being injured one after another and then tending toward calm, it was only a matter of a few breaths. Tang Zhao had just felt his chest heat up, and the explosion was already nearing its end.

The golden light slowly retracted and returned to the appearance of the Jinwu, a bit larger than before; it no longer looked like a sparrow or a crow, but was already the size of a goshawk. Only, there were several transparent holes on its body that were not filled by the gold, and they seemed as if they would never close.

Tang Zhao felt very heartbroken, remembering what Chen Zong had said before about being hit by several bullets in a hail of gunfire; it was probably just like this.

Wait, hit by a bullet?

Tang Zhao seemed to have grasped some key, but he had more important things to confirm right now.

First letting go of the Jinwu, Tang Zhao looked forward. At this moment, the space had completely turned into an ordinary gray color, but he had caught a fleeting black shadow.

Good fellow, it really was still alive!

The self-detonation just now was indeed a diversion; it was actually cutting off its tail to survive...

No, looking at the volume left behind, it should be said that only the tail was left to survive, and the body had all exploded. The volume of that fleeing thing was only the size of a ball.

Run? Where to run?

Can it run away?

Tang Zhao could no longer entangle with it; a Sword Light flashed, and riding the light speed of "White Colt," he caught up to it.

The Wangliang's current appearance was like an octopus without legs, with only a big head left, and a mouth; it was actually still very agile. Seeing Tang Zhao come, it grinned, revealing its teeth, as if it wanted to bite Tang Zhao again.

Tang Zhao did not entangle with it; a Time Jar descended from the sky, trapping it inside.

If it were in the Wangliang's prime, a Sword Technique-level jar really could not trap it, but now this Wangliang, which had lost eight or nine parts of its strength, was no problem, and it instantly became the filling of the jar. Tang Zhao still felt it was not secure, so he turned his head and called to the Jinwu, "Come over and help me..."

Then he heard someone say, "Let me do it."

Tang Zhao turned his head and saw a figure walking gracefully amidst the silver light.

It was a woman with a gentle appearance and quiet, elegant manners, wearing light robes and loose sashes, her sleeves fluttering as if she were a noble lady from a palace or a celestial maiden from the heavens.

Ruyi Sword... Hua Yaozhi.

Tang Zhao had never met her, but he recognized her. The woman walking out of the silver light, with such grace, if she wasn't the Ruyi Sword, then who was she?

Previously, the Ruyi Sword had saved Destruction from the Wangliang's mouth, but she had never appeared, and she had not made another move in the subsequent battles. It was likely that her strength had not recovered, and she had exhausted the power accumulated over so many years by distracting the Wangliang's attention with the Jinwu; she had no more strength to spare. After all, she had already played a key role before, and Tang Zhao could not say anything.

Now that the Ruyi Sword had appeared, she probably had no more concerns.

However, Hua Yaozhi's appearance was different from what Tang Zhao had imagined; she was not that stunningly beautiful.

She was undoubtedly a beauty, but only because her figure was slender, her skin was fair, and she was shrouded in faint silver light, as if in a layer of soft light; any woman with regular features could be called a beauty. If one looked closely at her features, she was not a great beauty with natural grace.

Yet for some reason, her manners, her aura, and her demeanor made Tang Zhao somewhat believe that she was a peerless beauty.

Tang Zhao said politely, "Princess Hua."

Hua Yaozhi nodded slightly, and with a wave of her hand, ten thousand silver threads poured into the jar, filling it in an instant.

Although the space inside the Time Jar is large, the silver silk of the Ruyi Sword can spread throughout the Yinglang, filling an entire independent semi-"Tianwaitian"; what is one jar, then?

Looking into the mouth of the jar, one sees silver light shimmering and rippling slightly, as if it were filled with silver-colored fine wine.

As for Wangliang, it is naturally soaking in the wine.

With Wangliang's current strength, it is impossible to break free from the shackles of the Ruyi Silk. Back then, it trapped the Ruyi Sword in a coffin, forcibly imprisoning it for a hundred years; now, tit for tat, it is also firmly trapped by the Ruyi Sword in a jar, which is not even as spacious as a coffin.

Perhaps it cannot be called tit for tat; it could be called...

A father's debt paid by the son?

In any case, this soaking of Wangliang declares its total defeat, declares the end of a generation of Sword Deities, and also declares that the darkest place in the world, Wangliang Mountain, has become history.

Wangliang Mountain has naturally become history forever, but the title of the darkest place can be immediately inherited by another location.

Tang Zhao looked at the jar and said, "Does Your Highness want Wangliang?"

Hua Yaozhi's expression was calm as she said, "That is your trophy, is it not? I heard from Jinwu that you are an excellent Sword Smith. Then you should make use of this rare material, whether for Sword Casting or to make some kind of Dharma Artifact. It is more useful than being in my hands."

Use a Sword Deity as Sword Casting material?

Isn't that too extravagant?

It is not impossible, though.

Theoretically, everything in the world can be used as Sword Casting material.

In the hands of a more unorthodox Sword Smith, human Bone, human blood, and various human organs can all be used to cast swords, not to mention Internal Energy, Gang Qi, and Sword Essence—a set of wind, fire, and water materials that has already become a classic formula; why couldn't a Sword Deity be used for Sword Casting?

A sword cast from a Sword Deity at the Sword Immortal level would be truly powerful!

Moreover, this is not something an ordinary sword can enjoy; a sword can be recast after increasing its realm, and under the condition that the main framework remains unchanged, optimizing some materials can improve the sword's potential and quality. Those Immortal Swords and Saint Swords likely all have such repairs, and they all use materials of this level.

Sword Immortal materials—if the compatibility were not so poor, Tang Zhao would have been eager to get a portion for himself.

Having hastily dealt with Wangliang, Tang Zhao hurried back to Jinwu.

After the battle, Jinwu could have dissipated; a Sword Image would not normally exist long in the world. However, Tang Zhao did not dare to let it dissipate while carrying these "bullet holes," for he feared such wounds would be like maggots on a bone, forever haunting Jinwu, and Tang Zhao would be unable to let that go.

And also in his arms...

When Tang Zhao leaned in to examine Jinwu, he realized those holes were not holes. Inside the holes, some kind of substance was actually embedded.

The reason it could not heal was because the "bullet casing" had not been removed.

That substance was formless, colorless, and impossible to perceive, but Tang Zhao still recognized it.

It is...

A Sword Seed?!

Tang Zhao suddenly realized: it should indeed be a Sword Seed. The sound of swords shattering he heard earlier was Wangliang breaking swords to extract Sword Seeds. Then, letting the Sword Seeds erupt along with the Shadow—the lethality was indeed astonishing.

It is just... how did it come up with the method of placing Sword Seeds inside the body as shrapnel for a self-detonation?

"To actually waste so many swords!"

At this moment, the Ruyi Sword walked over and said, "It actually understands these things. Sword Seeds are originally Fragments of Sword Law; of course, they are an irresistible power."

Tang Zhao asked in surprise, "What? Fragments of Sword Law?"

The Ruyi Sword said slowly, "This was originally an open secret; you do not need to Ask more. When you reach my realm, you will naturally know."

Many thoughts surged in Tang Zhao's heart, and unable to grasp the point for a moment, he first attended to the immediate matter, pulling out the object that had been constantly hot against his chest.

Glasses.