Chapter 751: Splitting

Tang Zhao opened his eyes and saw that the sky was already bright.

Just a moment ago, the sky had been incredibly gloomy. It was already night, and with dark clouds pressing down from above, it was dark upon dark, with only the thunder light shining brilliantly. Yet in the blink of an eye, the daylight was already bright; it looked to be midday, with brilliant sunlight and not a single dark cloud overhead.

He felt a wave of dizziness, stumbled back a few steps, leaned against a large tree, and slowly sat down with the momentum.

This was the aftereffect of being hit by a sword technique. This aftereffect was a hundred times worse than being sent into exile for three thousand miles; Tang Zhao had almost experienced the feeling of Xing Ji's thousand-fold exile in a single day.

He pushed up his Glasses with his hand, and a line of text flashed on them: "Sword Technique: Free Shuttle." Immediately after, this line of text slowly disappeared, indicating that this was an instantaneous sword technique that would not affect a person for long; it had already dissipated, but what it brought was a permanent change.

This is... the Gaoyuan Marquis's sword technique.

In fact, his current strength was already above the Gaoyuan Marquis, almost transcending the realm of a Sword Hero, and he possessed the "Tiantai," a great lethal weapon that restrained sword techniques, so ordinary sword techniques could hardly be fully effective. Perhaps they could still affect him, but he had the power to break free, or at least win the opportunity to break free.

However, this time it was completely different. After the Gaoyuan Marquis said one sentence, he was instantly sent away; he had no chance to choose at all, and he had never felt any power to break free.

After all, this was a sword technique exchanged for the last third of the Gaoyuan Marquis's life. Moreover, this was not a Human Dao Sword Technique; it was a thorough Heavenly Dao Sword Technique, which the Tiantai could not restrain.

Since it was the Gaoyuan Marquis's sword technique, coupled with the name "Free Shuttle," it was obvious that what was being shuttled was not space, but the category that most could not be "freely" shuttled—time.

Is the power of time not the most powerful Heavenly Dao?

In the blink of an eye, space and time had already changed.

Why?

He knew the Gaoyuan Marquis wanted to send him away to let him escape from a desperate situation. He had also once used a sword technique to send away the weak to protect them before a great battle. But first, Tang Zhao was not weak; he was stronger than the Gaoyuan Marquis, and in that situation, he still had the power to fight. Even if he were to leave, it should have been the Gaoyuan Marquis leaving, or both of them leaving together; it was very strange to let him leave alone.

Second, even if he had to leave, using a space sword technique would have sufficed. Tang Zhao knew the Sword Technique: Transfer, and there were high-level goods like teleportation arrays. If she judged there was danger, she could have let Tang Zhao initiate a spatial shift, and the two of them could have left together immediately, returning directly to Yunzhou and their own territory after escaping; even the Imperial Court could not pursue them, let alone those rebels. Why pay such a great price to use this sword technique?

Furthermore... where is this? What time is it now? Where exactly have I come to?

Knowing nothing, this is simply... time travel.

I wonder if Chen Zong had asked such helpless questions when he first arrived in this world?

However, he soon knew that his "time travel" was bound to be completely different from Chen Zong's. Chen Zong faced an unfamiliar time and an unfamiliar place, while for him, the time was unfamiliar, but the place was not unfamiliar at all.

"Isn't this still Zijin Mountain?"

Before his eyes was the familiar and towering Zijin Mountain, and on Zijin Mountain were the solemn and ethereal Daoist palaces.

After all that, although he did not know how much time had shifted, space had truly not shifted much; he had only moved from the mountain to the foot of the mountain. He was now situated in the forest at the foot of Zijin Mountain. It was not far from the small town where the Disciples lived. This was considered quite lucky; if he had landed a bit off-course in the town, he did not know what kind of uproar it would have caused.

He squinted and looked carefully; people were coming and going in front of the Daoist palace. Although one could not say it was bustling, there were people walking about, and it was definitely not in the state of being completely deserted and empty for those few days.

Is this the daily state of the Daoist palace? In other words, is it no longer those few most special days?

Is it now before the Daoist palace was lured away from its base? Or has order been restored after the great battle?

It could not be distinguished from the phenomena, so Tang Zhao felt it would be better to find someone to ask.

Although he had shifted through time and space, his cultivation was not lacking at all; he easily found someone alone, used courtesy before force, and casually asked for the time.

Today is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

It is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of this year.

Which means he had traveled less than two days in time; it was two days in the future.

It gave him a start; he had thought he had traveled to a new era years, or even decades or centuries later. That would have been a tragedy, because the people around him would not be there, all social relationships would have disappeared, and he would never be able to return; that would truly be boundless loneliness, equivalent to a new life. But now it was only a blank of two days, and it was in the future, so the phenomenon of having two Tang Zhaos at the same time did not exist. He could just go back and see his family; it wouldn't delay anything.

"Great, there is still time!"

Compared to only being separated by two days from seeing his relatives and friends, Tang Zhao was even happier that the current time point was before the fifteenth. One must know that Chong Meng and the others kidnapped the Gaoyuan Marquis to use her at the Yuanxi Banquet on the fifteenth; that is to say, the Gaoyuan Marquis would surely die after the Yuanxi, but her life was secure before the Yuanxi. Even if she had escaped once and attacked Chong Meng, as long as her role was irreplaceable, she was safe; at most, she would be strictly guarded, and even Chong Meng could not harm her life.

"This way, there is still time to save the Gaoyuan Marquis," he could not help but mutter to himself.

"I advise you not to think that way."

An abrupt voice sounded, right by his ear.

Tang Zhao was startled: the person who could approach him without a sound must have strength above his own, and then he blurted out: "State Preceptor?!"

Although the voice was slightly different from his memory, that feeling of being numb and tingling upon hearing it could not be mistaken for anyone else.

He turned his head and saw a faint blue line on his shoulder. If one did not look closely, one would only think it was a loose thread, but when looking carefully, one would see the unfathomable inner essence within the blue, which was as fine as an ox hair. That was not even lightning, but something more concentrated and profound than lightning.

This seemed to be the thing that rushed toward them before the Gaoyuan Marquis's farewell.

Is it actually the State Preceptor? But he clearly remembered that there was still lightning in the sky, and it was very magnificent lightning, and it had not even shown signs of defeat; only a wisp of electrical energy flew over, so how did the State Preceptor come along with him?

Tang Zhao immediately realized: could it be that what the Gaoyuan Marquis used her remaining power to send away was not him, but the State Preceptor?

"It is me," the State Preceptor replied, though his voice, while still able to cause a tingling sensation, was not as intense as before; one could only say the degree was insufficient, but the essence remained, "I may not necessarily count as the State Preceptor."

Tang Zhao immediately thought of the lightning that had been left behind; that was the power belonging to the State Preceptor: "The State Preceptor has... split? Is this appearance of yours a part of the main body?"

Regardless, looking at this appearance of only a single thread, it definitely could not be a human; a human's Soul would not look like this. Sure enough, the State Preceptor is a Sword Deity. If it were a human, unless they had a special sword technique or Sword Art, it would be impossible to survive being split, but a Sword Deity could. Just like the Golden Crow was split from three Sword Intents, and Wang Liang split off a new one to devour the old one; although their intelligence was human-like, the existence rules of Sword Deities were vastly different from humans. Splitting was not strange. If it were truly a split, according to volume, that side was the major portion, and this side was at most scraps.

"It is not a split, it is a stripping away," the State Preceptor still explained, "My power remained there, while my rules were stripped away, saved by Xun Junhui, and came here with you. This is also good; what he wanted was only my power, and as for my rules, he regarded them as a burden, so I imagine he will not pursue me here."

Xun Junhui was naturally the Gaoyuan Marquis's name. The State Preceptor addressed her by her name directly; although it was a matter of status, it showed that they also had an old friendship and were quite familiar.

If they were not familiar, and the relationship had not reached that point, the Gaoyuan Marquis would not have exhausted her power to send him out.

That is to say, as a Sword Deity, the "sword" part of the State Preceptor remained in place, while the "Deity" part was sent here.

Sword Deity, Sword Deity; the "Deity" should be more important than the "sword," and also rarer than the "sword." The power of the sword was not rare nowadays, while the wisdom of the Deity was one in ten thousand. From the perspective of development, a sword without a Deity would have its power gradually wither. And a Deity, once detached from the sword, could still grow. Don't look at this "State Preceptor" now like a strand of hair, but in time, he could still recover his original power.

However... the future is the future, but for the present, this wisp of the State Preceptor was really of no use.

Tang Zhao had previously been very wary of the State Preceptor and could not contend with him head-on, but now if he wanted to, he could directly throw the State Preceptor under his feet and step on him.

Naturally, he was not that bored; he was only interested in the State Preceptor's words:

"You just said, do not think about saving the Gaoyuan Marquis?"

"With your power, it is not enough. They were already very powerful, able to contend with me, and now they have obtained the vast majority of my power, making them much stronger than you. Furthermore, you have already snuck onto the mountain once; they are already alert and will naturally be on guard. You have no chance at all."

Tang Zhao sighed; how could he not know what the State Preceptor said? If he had the ability, wouldn't he have saved the Gaoyuan Marquis during that good opportunity before? Of course, he and the Gaoyuan Marquis could have escaped, but a moment of hesitation caused them to miss it. There was also the State Preceptor's obstruction in this.

However, it happened to be transmitted before the time limit, and because time was reversed, he returned from being an exposed card to a state of lurking in the dark; this was his luck, and perhaps this was the result of auspicious protection. He had obtained a new opportunity; would he waste this bit of luck?

"I will go to contact and seek power that I can rely on; I still have trump cards, and it is not certain that I have no power to contend," Tang Zhao said firmly, and then he added: "State Preceptor, do you not want to retrieve your own power? Do you have any way? I will help you; let us help each other and cooperate, how about that?"

The State Preceptor was silent for a moment and said: "I do not."

Tang Zhao never expected him to say that, and said: "Ah? Why?"

The State Preceptor said, "I am tired. It is more relaxing to have no power."

This... this does not sound like the rule-obsessed State Preceptor, does it? Can the State Preceptor, who is regarded by others as a heartless machine, also get tired?

Tang Zhao's heart stirred, and he said, "State Preceptor, you recognize that golden light that appeared afterward, the one from the person who stripped you of your power, right? Who is it?"