Chapter 805: Intrusion

To avoid arousing doubt, this final shift was carried out entirely according to established procedure. The Son of Fire called in the group who had come from afar from Sishang City to transport the Sacred Fire, had the eight young priests surround the Sacred Fire to form a ritual Law Array, and as the chief officiant, he recited a hymn praising the god and completed several set rituals. Then, he pushed the flames, along with the sacrificial wood rack laid beneath them, into the Sacred Fire pile, watching as the flames flared up with a 'whoosh' and burned even more intensely; even the Sacred Fire at the main altar became a bit more dazzling. The entire ritual took less than a quarter of an hour.

Then, the Son of Fire announced that the ritual was a complete success, thanked the out-of-town priests for their hard work over the past year, and announced the news that the Shenghuodi would be closed for a period of time, with routine activities like the return of the Sacred Fire suspended. Once everyone from top to bottom knew the news, he dismissed the outsiders and thoroughly closed the gates of the Shenghuodi.

Once the gates were locked and the Shenghuodi became completely quiet, that Elder came out and sighed: "It seems the Shenmiao outside is thriving; look at how bright and brilliant that Sacred Fire is? It is as radiant as the Tianmingxing. Now our own Sacred Fire is also growing more and more vigorous; if we can survive this tribulation, who knows how splendid it will become in the future."

The Son of Fire also felt that this time the Sacred Fire was exceptionally bright. Because he was closer, he even felt that this brightness was very special, something he had never seen before. He even felt that it did not look like the Tianmingxing, but rather like that... sun in the Human World and the Suiyu.

The Tianmo Jie, which is their world, the "Lingjie," actually does not have a single sun in the sense of the Human World. Their sky has several "Tianmingxing," each of which can bring a patch of light, and the times each one rises and sets are different, with a special calendar to record them. The places where the Tianmingxing rise are daytime, and where they set are nighttime, so the day and night within the Lingjie are quite chaotic.

Generally speaking, the Lingjie does not have a unified day and night, but there are times when the whole world falls into darkness; that period is called "Constant Night," during which terrifying disasters erupt, a moment that all the Hundred Races of the Lingjie fear. But there is almost no "Constant Day" where all worlds are bright. The Tianmo had just arrived in the Suiyu and were very surprised to find that the Human World actually had orderly days and nights.

Adhering to the principle that "our world is the best, and anything different from us must be bad," the Tianmo would initially mock the Suiyu and the Human World for being monotonous and dull, but after staying here for a long time, they quietly got used to it and even grew to like this point. After all, intelligent beings love a "hope"; stable expectations bring hope for tomorrow, which is something no one can refuse.

Although they would not admit it out loud, the Tianmo, including the Son of Fire, acknowledged that the sun of the Human World was more resplendent; after all, it was the only light in the daytime sky, yet it supported all the myriad living things of the Human World. At the very center of the Sacred Fire that had just arrived from afar, there seemed to be a gleam of light like sunlight. The Son of Fire felt a bit astonished in his heart, but his mind was not on this at the moment, and he did not think much of it, only replying: "This must be a revelation given to us by the god Taixiong, foretelling that the future of our race will be bright and splendid."

Although the two had just denied the god, it did not mean that this Sacred Fire was not their faith; they still believed that the roaring Sacred Fire would illuminate the path ahead for the Fire Spirit race.

"Now..."

The Son of Fire looked at the Elder, revealing an inquiring expression.

The Elder took out a faint golden cover, looking just like a transparent hat; it was both pure gold and crystal clear, and at a glance, it was a treasure. He said: "This is the Constant Gold Glazed Cover we exchanged from the Liujin at a great price, which can serve as a container for the Sacred Fire. You go out first."

Although the Son of Fire very much wanted to see how the subsequent operations would be performed, he had no way to disobey and could only walk out.

Once he went out, the Elder's internal Qi surged, and his body, which was originally less than four feet tall, seemed to stretch to double its size in an instant, tall like a Human, with a momentum spreading like a flood, impacting every corner of the Sheng Huo Tan.

That golden cover suddenly grew larger, instantly becoming similar in size to the Sheng Huo Tan. Following the Elder's shout of "Go!", the cover fell with a boom, enclosing the entire Sacred Fire within it. The temperature of the Sheng Huo Tan dropped all at once; that burning, scorching feeling disappeared instantly, as if a new furnace had been set up in the center of the Sheng Huo Tan, with thick furnace walls on the outside, so no matter how high the temperature of the flames inside was, they could only burn silently within the furnace.

Immediately after, seven shadows appeared around them. These seven shadows were ninety percent solid, and one could see that everyone had red hair on their heads and was somewhat aged; they were clearly all Elders of the Fire Spirit race, and their strength was not below that of the Elder. Together with the first Elder, they surrounded the eight directions, holding up the cover. Immediately after, a huge projection appeared above their heads, but it was not a person; it was a head.

This head also had red hair and protruding eyes; it was clearly another Fire Spirit tribesman, but he looked even older, and even the volume of his red hair was somewhat bottoming out.

With his appearance, the other eight Fire Spirit Elders bowed together and said: "Greetings, Supreme!"

That Supreme gave a grunt, did not say anything else, and said directly: "Begin. My Fire Spirit race has reached this day; whether we succeed or fail depends on this moment!"

Thus, several people shouted in unison, inputting their lifelong internal Qi into the cover to urge the Talismans that were originally on the cover, compressing the roaring flames.

This plan, the first step alone would take seven days and seven nights!

"This is bad!"

In the center of the bright flames, in a place covered by the cover and layers of bright flames where no one could see, a pair of eyes quietly lit up. That was none other than Tang Zhao, who had entered a special state!

So whether it was the priests outside or the Son of Fire inside, they actually had not seen wrong; the flames were different from usual, and the center was too bright, with the color turning golden, precisely because it had been invaded by an external force.

If given time to think carefully, they would also guess whether something had been mixed into the center of the flames, but even if they racked their brains, they would never imagine that a person had actually been mixed into this fire!

Actually, Tang Zhao had not thought of this before either, but in the Shenmiao, Tang Zhao had inadvertently heard the conversation of two priests saying that the Sacred Fire of this Shenmiao would return to the Shenghuodi at night. Tang Zhao's heart stirred: wasn't this the opportunity?

At first, he thought much the same as Xiaochong: why not mix into these priests escorting the Sacred Fire and follow them to the Shenghuodi without anyone noticing?

But on second thought, he felt it was unlikely to be realized. Firstly, Weise was not by his side now, and he did not have the ability to disguise himself to be indistinguishable from the real thing at any time or place; that bit of Sword Art of faint light and illusions was fine for fooling ordinary people, but other Sword Guests might see through it, let alone stronger ones. Furthermore, impersonating was not just about changing a face; what if they had other ways of mutual verification, and he was not very good at disguising—what if he was exposed upon arriving at the scene?

Even taking a step back, even if he got in, these priests might not have high status, and he was afraid he might not have the chance to approach the original Sacred Fire?

So he had to think of a way to mix in that didn't require acting, wouldn't be verified, and could go straight to the core...

An absurd premise. Created a bold idea:

What if I stop being a human?

I want to be fire!

Can it be done?

What Tang Zhao first thought of was letting his Sword Image, which was Sunlight, mix into the Sacred Fire and enter the Shenghuodi, while he himself stayed outside to act as a backup. That would not be difficult; light entering fire, who could tell the difference?

But the limitations were still too great. Not to mention fighting, just consider one point: how to bring the Glasses in?

If that Sacred Fire was truly a carrier for a Fragment as Tang Zhao thought, then collecting the Fragment required the Glasses to act. And the Glasses followed Tang Zhao. That Sword Image might represent Tang Zhao to others, but the Glasses would not recognize it.

Even Tang Zhao himself had no way to abandon the Glasses; he could put the Glasses in one place and walk away, but as long as he walked a certain distance, the Glasses would naturally return to his pocket.

To tell the truth, if it weren't for the fact that the Glasses were of great help to him, this matter itself was quite terrifying, very much like a curse or a demon clinging to one in a story.

So Tang Zhao could send the Sword Image into the flames, and could even share his perspective and power with it, but what about after that? Wouldn't he still have to go in himself? Collecting the Fragment could only be done by his own hands; when the time came, would he sneak in or break in?

It would be better to enter the flames with his true body!

Can it be done?

Tang Zhao first thought of his Tiantai; that was placing himself in the absolute "astronomical" state of the Tiantai. Inside, it counted as non-human, but the external shape of the human body had not changed, and he still looked like a person.

He thought about it; there was probably no ready-made Sword Technique that could directly transform him into light. Perhaps he needed to realize a new Sword Art. Or perhaps...

Think of a way through the Sword Heart and Sword-Controlling Technique.

Tang Zhao made up his mind and told Xiaochong about his plan to leave. But he did not disappear afterwards because he had left; rather, under the cover of the light screen, he stood alone in front of the Sacred Fire for a long time, carefully recalling everything he had learned and realized in the past, and gradually found a train of thought.

Actually, it was not that he had never transformed his external shape; he had a commonly used Sword Technique, which was the speed of light, used both for fighting and for movement. At the Sword Guest realm, this was just a method of movement, charging and crashing along the trajectory of light; although the speed was very fast, it could not be compared to the true speed of light. However, at the level of a Sword Hero, Tang Zhao had already begun to try to approach the true speed of light.

That was a power that a physical body of flesh and blood could not reach; if one wanted to reach it, one had to truly transform into light.

Tang Zhao had done it before. The deeper the cultivation and the higher the realm, the more naturally one could do it. But swords... they are just such idealistic things; you might be able to do it because you have realized it, cultivated it, or had a flash of inspiration and grasped the thought, but that does not mean you understand the principle, and even less does it mean you can reproduce it at will.

Tang Zhao stood in front of the Sacred Fire, staring at the flames, looking for that initial feeling. Unknowingly, he had already entered the Tiantai mode, closer to the Tiantai than at any previous moment.

His person, his sword, his Sword Heart, everything flickered lightly at a certain moment, and the next moment, he transformed into a ray of light and flowed into the Sacred Fire.