Chapter 76: 73 Appearance

73 Appearance

I... am dead?

My heart has been pierced, my blood is rapidly stagnating, and everything before my eyes is a blur.

Consciousness is slipping away at high speed; the white-haired man feels a sense of bewilderment in his heart.

I... just died like this?

How could I possibly die like this?!

Thinking back to those years... that inhuman torture, the boundless pain, the dangers where death was ten times more likely than life—I did not die!

I am immortal!

"Pure Yang—Seal for me!"

No one heard what he muttered, but the white fish could hear it.

Drifting in the air like a traveler far from home, the white fish received the command, suddenly dived downward, drilled directly into his wound, and came out from behind him.

When it emerged, it held a shattered heart in its mouth.

With the heart in its belly, the belly of the Yang fish grew large again; it swayed its body, unable to bear the burden, and gently spat out strands of red thread.

Every time it spat out a strand of red thread, the white fish's body grew a fraction thinner, and a new wound appeared on the white-haired man's body.

Just as they were sealed back then, so are they spat out now.

Some of those wounds were left just now by Si Liyu's sneak attack, others were not; he did not even know when some of them had been sealed.

Wound after wound appeared out of thin air, fresh blood sprayed, as if someone were holding a small knife and subjecting him to death by a thousand cuts.

"Grr..." The sound of grinding teeth persisted; the white-haired man leaned on his sword and stood up by sheer force of will.

"I am... immortal!"

As he spoke, drops of fresh blood slid down, and the hole piercing his chest was empty, as if wind were passing through it.

The white fish swam before him, and an organ could be faintly seen pulsing within its belly.

Can a person without a heart live?

Yes!

He sneered, blood flowing from his lips and teeth, mixing into the blood covering his body.

"I am immortal—you all go die!"

At this moment, there was no one beside him; he was the only one there, muttering to himself.

Overhead, a shadow blanketed the sky like an extremely thick, heavy dark cloud, but dark clouds were not this sinister, and the night was not this dark; it seemed to be the embodiment of the darkest existence in the world, without a glimmer of light.

That was the shadow just spat out by the white fish; in the blink of an eye, it had become such a behemoth.

Only within the shadow was there a single point of firelight.

A youth held a giant fireball, standing on the ground; the fireball was like a sun, shining in all directions. There was not a shred of shadow beside him.

Si Liyu and Pei Shoujing both stood beside him, bathed in the light, and there were no shadows beneath their feet either.

At this moment, their expressions were grave, as if facing a deep abyss, but they were no longer concerned with the white-haired man—no longer with this enemy who had previously forced them to exhaust all their strength—but with that black shadow that reached from heaven to earth.

"Wangliang! The scum of Wangliang Mountain are truly heinous. He actually brought out a clone of a Wangliang and dared to release it! He has no fear of harming the common people!" Si Liyu's expression was grave, and he gritted his teeth as he said, "Be careful, do not let your own shadows touch the Wangliang, or you will be dragged into the shadow world and sink forever."

The Wangliang seemed to be a legendary monster; Tang Zhao had heard the term, but he did not know such a monster existed. He only felt danger the moment he saw the black shadow and immediately used flames to illuminate the surroundings.

Flames can ward off evil; this was common knowledge in his mind, and this time it was a lucky strike, using light to disperse the shadows and create a shadowless zone. After Si Liyu's attack, he immediately discovered the anomaly and pulled Pei Shoujing into this island of light; had they been any later, someone might have disappeared from this world forever.

The light cast by that flame was their protective shield, but also their cage. The overwhelming shadows had trapped them in an isolated city, cut off from help.

At this time, the white-haired man was no longer important. Escaping from the shadow was the first priority. The Wangliang was a monster that neither Sword Guests nor Sword Heroes could handle; it was not something one could safely walk through just by holding a torch.

However, the white-haired man was still staring at them with venomous hatred.

He was already a man without a heart; his heart was with the white fish—not healed, but completely sealed, maintaining the state of pulsing just before death. He was neither dead nor alive; he was a living corpse abandoned by both Yin and Yang.

His heart was filled with a maddening hatred, yet it carried a trace of bewilderment.

Who snuck up on me?

That sword strike just now was too inexplicable; it was a completely concealed sneak attack from behind. The attacker came and went without leaving a trace. He seemed to have seen a hint of a shadow, but he could not recall it at all; gradually, even the shadow became blurred.

It seemed there was no one else; it could only be that someone among these enemies before him had snuck up on him.

Was it that scum from the Inspection Bureau?

No, he is currently sneaking up on me from the original path underground.

Was it that little bitch from the Pei Family?

No, she is currently swinging her hammer at me from the front.

Is it that pretty boy?

I don't remember where...

Then it must be him!

The white-haired man's hatred burned like a raging flame, almost boiling his blood; staring at Tang Zhao with his eyes, there was a bone-piercing, soul-eating hatred!

Tang Zhao, holding the torch, felt a sudden chill for no reason. He glanced back slightly and saw the white-haired man glaring viciously at him, like a starving, dying beast staring at its prey. He couldn't help but find it strange, thinking: What's wrong? It's one thing for him to hate us, but why stare only at me? Could it be that he wants me to become that... sword slave?

Only, there was a chasm between the two: the Wangliang. A dense shadow shrouded the space between them; whoever wanted to approach the other would inevitably have to walk into the Wangliang.

Tang Zhao would not walk into it, but he worried whether the white-haired man would come in; in that man's state, it looked like he could do anything.

"Do not worry, even people from Wangliang Mountain cannot approach a Wangliang; the Wangliang does not distinguish between friend and foe. They merely use the Wangliang and are used by it. How could they be immune..."

Before Si Liyu could finish his confident statement, the white-haired man stepped into the Wangliang's shadow.

Directly in front of him was the light source Tang Zhao had created; a long, slanted black shadow immediately appeared behind the white-haired man. As the shadow entered the Wangliang's range, the darkness instantly surged madly to drag his shadow away. But the white fish coiled around his body immediately devoured the shadow, leaving the darkness with nowhere to strike.

However, the shadows were inexhaustible; as long as Tang Zhao's light did not go out, new shadows would constantly be born. The white fish had to keep eating, and it soon became stuffed, starting to spit out strands of red thread again.

More wounds appeared on the white-haired man's body, fresh blood gushing out and forming a stream behind him. He seemed unaware, walking toward Tang Zhao step by step.

Si Liyu sighed, held his sword horizontally in front of him, and walked forward.

Firelight can push back the Shadow, but it cannot stop the Shadow from taking the initiative to walk toward them.

Once the white-haired person enters, his Shadow will have already connected with the Wangliang and be able to launch an active attack; Tang Zhao's scattered flames will likely be unable to disperse it. Even if they could disperse it, the white-haired person himself is a powerful Sword Guest; to enter despite being so heavily wounded and clinging to a single breath, his death throes will inevitably be extremely ferocious and dangerous.

There must be one person to block the Shadow outside the light and protect the other two.

Of course, it is also a one-way trip.

That person can only be Si Liyu, and he did not hesitate at all, striding forward.

Tang Zhao's lips moved slightly, but he did not speak.

Just as he had once sacrificed his life to do certain things before, Si Liyu also had his responsibilities, which would not allow others to block him. Tang Zhao could calmly sacrifice himself for others, and he could also respect others sacrificing themselves for their own sake.

It is just that when someone passes away, it is inevitably very sad and painful.

Tang Zhao only hoped that a miracle would appear, that there would be no need for sacrifice...

Whoosh—

The sound of wings flapping; the sound was too much, too loud, and at first listen, it felt as if a tsunami had occurred overhead.

Tang Zhao looked up blankly, only to see countless black shadows flying in from the distant horizon.

Dark and vast, a black shadow covering the sky and earth, flapping its wings and pouncing toward this side.

Crows!

Large groups upon large groups of crows!

Tang Zhao was startled, which stirred up bad memories.

Pei Shoujing frowned and said, "Crows, an omen of misfortune."

Si Liyu said softly, "Jie Crows?"

The flock of crows rushed over in large numbers, appearing almost to merge into one, crashing headlong into the Shadow. The Shadow of the Wangliang has no substance and does not fluctuate due to the collision; it is merely like adding countless dense black spots onto a sheet of black paper.

Tang Zhao suddenly thought: "Where are the shadows of the crows? They aren't in the sky, so they must be on the ground? If the shadow and the main body are far enough apart, can they shuttle through the Wangliang without the shadow touching it?"

In that case, are flying birds a loophole in the Wangliang?

The sky full of crows shuttled through the Wangliang, coming and going, appearing very comfortable and not affected in the slightest.

Suddenly, a portion of the crows left the formation, gathered into a sphere, circled as they fell, and invaded the shadowless environment Tang Zhao had created.

Under the light, the few of them could see clearly that those crows were not real birds, but were also individual illusory shadows, only they were lifelike, with every single feather visible in minute detail.

It really was them!

Tang Zhao became vigilant; he had been attacked by this Art Tool of the crows before. However, the shadows of the crows back then were much rougher than the ones before his eyes, fake at a single glance, and far less realistic than this flock.

What has this small flock of crows come to do now?

The small flock of crows landed and scattered, revealing a person wearing a black cloak, with a half-black, half-white Mask on their face.

Tang Zhao was stunned: "You..."

The black-and-white Mask bowed slightly, as if stepping onto a stage amidst the gaze of the masses, and said, "I heard someone calling for me?"

Tang Zhao twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "Not at all... though there is a Time Jar calling for you, Lord Judge."

The Judge, unseen for many days, said "Oh," and replied, "Since it wasn't you calling me, did I come for nothing? How could I come for nothing? I should look for the main person in charge."

"As for you all, since you aren't willing to show support, why are you wasting time here? All of you, disperse. Little girl... you, three hundred li."

He suddenly drew his sword with a *clang* and swung it over Pei Shoujing's head.

Pei Shoujing did not react in time, and suddenly her body flashed and she disappeared from where she stood.

"Official of the Land Inspection Division, you, one hundred li..." The Judge swung his hand back; Si Liyu's eyes went blank, he did not dodge at all, and he disappeared instantly.

"And you, you've made progress." The Judge finally looked at Tang Zhao, "You can just make do with thirty li—"

"Wait..." Tang Zhao opened his mouth and said, "Remember to go save..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Sword Light descended upon his head, and he also disappeared.

73 enters the scene.